Andreas Haugstrup Pedersen | solitude.dk

In no particular order here are ten love songs from my iTunes library that all have parentheses in their titles.

• You're So Square (Baby, I Don't Care)—Buddy Holly
• My Mistake (Was to Love You)—Marvin Gaye
• (Night Time Is) The Right Time—Ray Charles
• Anyway You Want Me (That's How I Will Be)—Elvis Presley
• Wishing (If I Had a Photograph of You)—A Flock of Seagulls
• Gimme! Gimme! Gimme! (A Man After Midnight)—ABBA
• Lady (You Bring Me Up)—The Commodores
• Ready or Not Here I Come (Can't Hide from Love)—The Delfonics
• How Sweet It Is (To Be Loved By You)—Marvin Gaye
• You Won't Be Satisfied (Until You Break My Heart)—Louis Armstrong

The other half of the show. More lumiere videos.

Haven't had one of these in a while. More lumiere videos.

Until tonight I was under the impression that Rivers of Babylon was by Bonnie Tyler. Boy, was it a surprise to see photos of them side-by-side.

I don't recommend that first YouTube link, by the way.

When I was a kid I was a big fan of the Saturday Night Fever soundtrack. I did then and do now have trouble hearing lyrics in English songs. So when Tavares sang:

"More than a woman / More than a woman to me baby" What I heard was: More man than woman / More man than woman to me

I may have a thing for the compression of videoblog videos from 2004-2005, but this old-ish gem has more to offer. DVblog re-posted (with permission) a Ja Rule/Ashanti cover from the long gone Random Show. It's a subtle homage using just a guitar and I can't stop watching it.

This is a lumiere video. The video contains no audio. Feel free to leave your own music running.

Saw Cat Power (photo1, photo2) last night. Highly recommended, but not easily video-able. Opening before her was Appaloosa (photo1, photo2), a London/Paris based duo playing electro/pop/house. This video is a clip of Appaloosa's London half turning som knobs.

It's the second real day of spring, and this goes out to Adam. When it comes to music not much can compare to a guy (or girl) and an acoustic guitar.

I was walking to the bank to get money for next month's rent when I passed this guy sitting on Main Street. It really brightened my day to hear a minute of his music. His name is Paul Miller, his website is located at pauljmilesmusic.com. You can also buy his cds there. He has been nominated for two Detroit Music Awards this year (Best R&B/Blues Album and Best Writer).

They don't make music like this in Denmark.

I call the shots med tibetanertøj fra Mars I shoot the calls en wannabe Darth Vader

For Christmas I got an album by the Danish band Nephew, and a book on the history of the English language. Linguistics is something I really like reading about, and I've enjoyed the few college courses I've taken. I like to think of it as a hobby, but I probably don't spend enough time on the topic for it to be one. Languages really do amaze me (human languages, computer languages are too rigid to be amazing).

But back to Nephew… Their lyrics are interesting because they mix Danish and English as you can see in the quotes above and below from the song “En Wannabe Darth Vader”.

Fuck af, get in and shout hvor fra kom Twix? — fra Raider breathe in, breathe out hvor fra kom jeg? — Darth Vader

I think it's a pretty interesting use of language to mix things together like that. Personally I would be a bit sad if everyone talked in a mixed tongue in their daily life. At the same time I can only be glad that Danish is alive to an extent where mixing is not only possible, but not a problem at all.

In recent times English has certainly influenced Danish very much. All computer-related words in Danish come from English. Computer, laptop and software are all valid Danish words. DSN (the official agency for the Danish Language) tells me that 13% of new words in Danish between 1955 and 1999 come directly from English (like Dolby, deathmetal and never mind). In addition 14% are hybrids where part of the new word comes directly from English (like hårspray). We even have pseudo English words like babylift and bigshopper that do not exist in English, but look and sound like English words. I should remember to note that 57% of the new words are completely Danish constructions (like reservebedstemor — literally “spare grandmother”).

If you prefer English over Danish I just skimmed through Dean Esmay's Understanding Language (via Anil). It talks about Black Vernacular English and how this should be taken as seriously as any other language instead. It looks very interesting.

I'll go back to listening to Newphew now. The band has made a one minute sound clip of “En Wannabe Darth Vader” [940 kilobyte] available if you would like to listen to some great Danish rock music.