Category Archives: Song of the Week

Murder of One

Posted on 20 May 2013 by Josh Witten | Leave a comment

The title of the Counting Crows song from their breakout album, August & Everything After, makes much more sense with the lyrics when you realize that a “murder” is the collective noun for a group of crows. Continue reading →

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Posted in Song of the Week

Tagged August & Everything After, Collective noun, Counting Crows, Doris Day, Dumbo, Dumbo the Flying Elephant

“Space Oddity” represents the best of humanity

Posted on 13 May 2013 by Josh Witten | Leave a comment

As if it is not enough that a guy on a space station communicated regularly with the terrestrially bound of the species via Twitter, one of his last acts before coming home was to make a music video – IN SPACE. Continue reading →

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Posted in Song of the Week

Tagged Chris Hadfield, David Bowie, International Space Station, Space Oddity

cdza demonstrates how to make your music more epic

Posted on 22 April 2013 by Josh Witten | Leave a comment

cdza have a hypothesis: key changes increase the epicness of a song.

They have evidence*.

*I will grant you that this is more of a demonstration to illustrate a point. At best, it is, in isolation, anecdotal. But, it is fun, and unlike unproven, quack cures for cancer, this has almost no side effects.

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Posted in Song of the Week

Tagged cdza, epic, Music

The Bright Side of Life

Posted on 15 April 2013 by Josh Witten | Leave a comment

Milton Mermikides, guitar virtuoso and music theorist, spent 4 months living at Charing Cross Hospital being treated for acute lymphoblastic leukemia. This rendition of “Always Look on The Bright Side of Life” (words and music by Eric Idle) was one of many thank yous to the medical staff that helped save his life.

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Posted in Song of the Week, This Mortal Coil

Tagged acute lymphoblastic leukemia, Always Look on The Bright Side of Life, Charing Cross Hospital, Eric Idle, leukemia, Milton Mermikides, Monty Python

Walking with a Ghost: A Musical Replication Study [Repost]

Posted on 18 March 2013 by mcshanahan | Leave a comment

Editor’s Note: On Twitter today, there is a hashtag #twopaired making the rounds. Folks are posting favorite duets. That is not enough for us. This post has a duet of duets, featuring duo Tegan & Sara and duo The White Stripes both taking a run at Walking with a Ghost. Originally posted 22 October 2012.

Last week, I got on the topic of replication studies. Dan Mangan’s new EP got me thinking about how our human desire to be pleasantly surprised is one way of thinking about why readers, reviewers and editors often prioritize novel findings over careful verification. This week, I’m pleased to present what I think is my favourite musical example of a replication study. Continue reading →