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[the-loaf-of-all]

Billy Bragg Changed My Life.

My dear friend! I can't even begin to express how stoked I am that you liked "Waiting for the Great Leap Forwards." Here are a few of my absolute favorites from this most wonderful of songwriters, from across a few of his albums.

To Have And Have Not: Way back in the 90s, I got Joel (from Plow) into Operation Ivy. As a thanks, he says, he made me a mixtape of Billy. I lost that tape when someone broke into my Jetta outside Jen's apartment, but not before almost wearing it out to the point where Bill had already morphed my musical DNA. This was the first song on that tape. In it, you get a little bit of so much that I've come to associate with Bill: workers' rights, class struggles, clever wordplay...and that voice, accompanied by that single guitar. I said he was my cello yesterday, which might not have made sense...apparently, cellos resonate so much with folks because their frequency is closest to the human voice. I think Bill's voice is closest in frequency to whatever frequency my heart sings at.

She's Got a New Spell: "She's gone to let the cat in, the next thing I know she's mumbling in Latin, and she pulled the stars down from the sky and baked them in a pie." C'mon, Bill...that's not fair to the rest of us trying to write. :)

Strange Things Happen: Oh, this one...I'm 90% sure I play guitar like I do because of this one track.

Like Soldiers Do: "Blue eyes fighting the grey eyes fighting the tears." I can't even type those lyrics without tearing up. When Bill was in the army, Bob Marley died, and when he found out, he wept while in formation. Apparently, his DI gave him a bunch of crap about it, which, maybe, is where the impetus for this song came from. it's one of his most beautiful, especially the fucking harmonies at the end after the repeated chorus line, raised in register, that finishes me off, every time.

The Saturday Boy: "In the end it took me a dictionary to find out the meaning of unrequited." Jesus, Bill...give us a chance over here!

Levi Stubbs' Tears: One from his "Difficult Third Album". Sad as fuck, but also simply beautiful.

Lovers' Town Revisited: I can't seem to find the original "Lovers' Town" on Spotify, but I do have a recording of from his Peel Sessions (lemme know if this works, if you'd like another treasure trove of his songs). This is a gorgeous follow-up, if you can call it that (it's really a totally different song). "Sometimes it makes me stop and think and sometimes it makes me turn away." Yup.

Waiting for the Great Leap Forward: Jesus, this one. I'm so glad you liked it! This one taught me in so many ways, and continues to do so to this day. "You can be active with the activists, or sleep in with the sleepers" encapsulates so much of what I do and why, while "in a perfect world we'd all sing in tune, but this is reality, give me room" is permission to belt it out like I do. :) And the live version from this bootleg has about 2/3 alternate lyrics (as he often does at shows) which is why I sent it to you after watching Oppenheimer yesterday.

A New England: If I had to guess, I'd say this is his most famous song. It's so perfect, in every way. "Though I put you on a pedestal, they put you on the pill." Chills. He sang a version of this with Kristy MacColl waaaaay back in the day, too, which was incredible. I thought of the "I saw two shooting stars last night" line when we were down in Summer Lake. :)

There is Power in a Union: I used to play this with a guy named James Stedman at COCC whenever we were together and both had our guitars, which was, predictably, not as often as I would have liked. One of those memories I'm glad we shared when we did, as he was killed in a car crash a few years back. I'll never forget how big he smiled when we would do this. <3

Help Save the Youth of America: Of all the incredible lines in this amazing song, I think "The incident at Chernobyl proves that the world we live in is very small" is my favorite. There's a reason I always write him in for local government positions.

Tank Park Salute: Speaking of sleepers, this one took a few years to grow on me. Then, I found out it was about his dad. <3 I had inadvertently aped the lyrical feel of these verses in my own songs about Max and, reading Billy's lyrics now, I well up, both in my heart and with my eyes. Fuck, I love this guy.

I Dreamt I Saw Phil Ochs Last Night: Absolutely haunting. A play on "I Dreamt I saw Joe Hill Last Night." Aside: Phil Ochs is one of only three artist I have in my vinyl collection that starts with "O" (alongside The Outfield - which I hope you love! - and Operation Ivy - which I think you already do)

You Woke Up My Neighbourhood: Oh, this one. Sometimes, he uses a band - perfectly. Again, the "beneath the Seven Sister stars" ran through my mind when I saw the Pleiades in Summer Lake. Billy's never far in my heart and mind. <3 Listen for Michael Stipe!

The World Turned Upside Down: A very old poem that Billy made his own. The words are painted on the restroom at Peoples' Park in Berkley, which gives me great joy.

There Will Be A Reckoning: The only song in this list from after 2000. :) Here's him doing a soundcheck of it at the Tower in 2010 right before I got to see him the second time. It was election night, and he came onto stage with a little tee shirt that had a 45 adapter on it, and a cup of tea. I melted. And then he said, "No matter what happens out there, you're safe in here." Then I laughed. And cried. For two hours. <3

Upfield: "New England" might be his most well-known song, but I think this one encapsulates his life's work the best. Bill taught me what socialism actually was through this lovely, lovely tune. And the line "I've got socialism of the heart" has guided me in ways innumerate, and will, forever.

Thanks, Bill. For everything.

And thank you , LILI BOWERS! I hope you enjoy him, too.

#thebardofbarking

[the-loaf-of-all]

Entry #4!

THis is SO much better than what I actually have to do this morning. :)

OK! LILI BOWERS! Here are some more goodies from the lads!

Alfredo's (All): I really don't like Dave Smalley's voice, but I adore this song. "My heart yearns for you/my heart burns for you." :D And, they're still in Lomita (just not at the address in the song)!

Boy Named Sue (All): I remember when we played with All in West Chester back in the 90s. They took requests for songs, and I kept yelling this one over and over. They didn't play it. :D Love this cover, though! It's the B-side on the

Dot (All): single. Another quality bopper from Percolator. This one definitely has a disproportionate share of plays on my commuting playlist. Checks all (NO! AL!) the boxes for why I adore this band.

Bubblegum (All): How have I not included more off their greatest album (IMHO, of course)? I totally dig the symbolism of this one, and the music is just so, so fabulous. Bill an Karl are extra rad here.

What's that? You want more Descendents? OK!

Global Probling (Descendents): "Hallraker" is my favorite Descendents live album, and this leadoff track is crazy in-your-face. From an era of their first guitarist, Frank Navetta, who was obviously struggling with a lot of mental issues. It's simultaneously amazing and sad to read about their history with him.

Hey Hey (Descendents): Another from the Frank Era. One of the ones I played along with relentlessly to get speedier and more precise...although I had no idea just how much coffee these guys were consuming to play this quickly. :D Bill's tribute to The Last's John Frank here is pretty evident.

On Paper (Descendents): I love that these guys are so demand self-effacing. And they just keep getting better and better. Karl goes all the fuck OVER the place on this one! <3

Thank You (Descendents): I'll often say "Thank you for paying the way you play" to bands after I see them live. I'm not sure they're singing about any particular band in general, and that makes it even better. <3

Enjoy, my good friend - ENJOY!

[the-loaf-of-all]

Entry #3 (it's the magic number)

"Yes it is, it's the magic number."

Ah, maybe. But! it sure is gonna be fun to add some more to this playlist we've been putting together!

Without further ado (ADIEU?):

Coolidge (Descendents): Ah, this one. One of my favorite ones to play along with, as it has that incredible Stewart-Copeland-Influenced-driving-8th-note-bass-drum beat over open hats with just the right amount of dorky misplaced snare. Thank you, Bill! You're one of my biggest influences. And the riff....absolutely powerful, driving, and perfectly caffeinated. It's got those beautiful Descendents touchess: Karl's roaming bass lines over the chorus, a perfect Stephan solo, the aforementioned genius percussion from Bill, and that hilarious "sorry" Milo moment after the solo. All in All (NO! ALL!), one of my faves - and I loved that the video we saw this week was just more reason to add it here. :) Aside: I've always wanted to play the intro in 6/8, and then launch into the song from there. Someday. :) .

Wonder (All): Another brilliant track from Percolator! My buddy Joel once said that this is the perfect song to describe existentialism. I don't know what that means, but its double-entendre name (and the rest of it) makes me love it. And, of course: Scott Reynolds (swoon).

Hey Bug (All): Worth it just because of the laugh at the end. :D

Pervert (Descendents): One of the most caffeinated, odd-time, disGUSting songs they every wrote. And I adore it. :)

I Like Food (Descendents): I'm sure you've heard me sing this to you. :)

Check One (All): This one just burns. Some of the greatest, most stream-of-consciousness lyrics ever. And I just adore "zip, zilch, zero, jack, squat, none, nil, nada, nope!" This might be the perfect All song. <3

Breathe (All): Or, maybe this one. :)

Shreen (All): As you can see, I lean Scott Reynolds. I can't stand Dave Smalley's voice most of the time, but I do like me some Chad Price - and gat DAYUM this song slaps. One of the simpler Karl bass lines, but Stephen's insanely chunky guitar just drives this monster. I still don't know how these guys didn't get more popular - that turnaround before it goes back to just bass and Chad is just heavenly.

Hurtin' Crue (Descendents): I love that they spelled it "Crue". I love that the main riff of the song is just neanderthal palm muted 16th notes with accents on beat 1. I love that one of the lyrics is "1420...I am better than you..you are a piece of poo." (allegedly what their friend from high school told them after scoring a 1420 on the SAT). I love it because it's so fucking ridiculous....just like them. :)

Cheer (Descendents): And, then, they write this. Definitely some conflicted lyrics in there, but "don't wanna spend the rest of my days dreaming yesterday's daydreams" is gorgeous.

Jean Is Dead (Descendents): A beautiful, aching song about losing a friend. One time, when asked to play this at an All show, Bill (who wrote it) allegedly said, "Some songs, we just don't teach the new guys." When I was younger, I thought the chorus was "Now you're running out of love", which is also powerful, but "Now you're gone and I'm alone" is just heartbreaking.

She Broke My Dick (All): #snort This has all the makings of an Anthrax joke song, except it's fucking technically perfect. :D :D :D

ENJOY MY GOOD FRIEND - ENJOY!!!!!

[the-loaf-of-all]

Entry #2 (electric bugaloo)!

We can all use more ALL! (NO ALL!)! <3

OK - playlist at the bottom, but here's some more tuneage!

Gnutheme (All) - I love this opener from Allroy's Revenge. LOVE it. Everything from Karl's amazing bass runs, to Stephan's beautiful almost-falling-over-itself guitar melody, to Bill's frenetic drumming...it's ALL perfect. :) What a way to start off my fave ALL record! The only thing missing is Scott's wonderful vocals - but there are so *many of those!

Better than That (All) - This one's from the Chad Price vocal years - even though I like Scott better, Chad rips, too! And this one was written by Karl, which is even cooler! The outro is my favorite part, when it drops to just vocals, and then adds drums, then bass, then ALL of it. :)

Myage (Descendents) - this one (and the next) were two that I heard at the show last Friday, and I thought "Hey! Let's put them in LILIL BOWERS' playlist!" :) Legend has it that Bill found a bass in the trash outside the original Descendents practice space, plucked it out, and wrote this song. Legend. The drum part is an exercise in lactic acid mitigation. :)

Suburban Home (Descendents) - another from "Milo Goes To College" (I think). And another with that frenetic "bonus cup" caffeinated surf beat. Killer!

'Merican (Descendents) - I think this was off "Everything Sucks", but I'm not sure. It's pretty acerbic/biting/face slappy, and fucking awesome. They changed a lot when they came back after Milo's break to be a scientist (remind me to tell you about him and DuPont!).

World's on Heroin (All) - this one inspired to me to start writing the song "Why Can't You Just Give A Fuck?" It'll be done at some point. :)

Bikeage (Descendents) - One of my top 3 Descendents songs. Part of it's obvious ("bike"), part not so (lyrics that hit me as hard now as they every did). I also included the cover Plow did of this back in the 90s, and here's an old video of us playing it back in Delaware! So many old friends in that video. :)

ENJOY MY GOOD FRIEND! ENJOY!

[the-loaf-of-all]

Entry #1!

OK! here we go - Sean's first Tumblr (WTF? Again with the dropped GAT-DAYUM vowels. Why not just call it "TMBLR", FFS?).

Anyway! Here's the first of (hopefully) many entries to my playlist of my favorite Descendents and ALL! songs. I can't overstate how important these bands have been - and continue to be - in my musical life, past, present and future. <3

OK! Playlist's below! Here are the first few!

Pep Talk (The Descendents) - the live version of a truly magnificent song (with a little bit of 7 time!). Bill Stevenson (drummer) "taught me from a distance" as I tried to copy what he was doing. Hope I did ya proud, Bill.

Fool (All) - All was the band that happened when Milo Went To College (Bill, Karl and Stephan stayed, and picked up other singers). My favorite of their singers was Scott Reynolds, who's on this track. And my favorite Scott-era ALL! album was "Allroy's Revenge", on which this is track 2. A perfect bit of self-deprecating wordplay (which is probably why I like it so damn much) and beautiful, precise, poppy punk music.

Frog (All) - "I've got a frog in my pocket. It's not a big frog. I like him anyway." You've probably heard me sing this on our hikes, LILI BOWERS! Another Scott-era masterpiece (probably written by Bill).

Smile (Descendents) - the lads broke up for a good long time in the mid-90s, and then reformed and gave us a number of awesome comeback records. The latest, "Hypercaffium Spazzinate", yielded what is my absolute favorite Descents song of ALL! time. The closing line is how I try to attack life: "Toil away, and at the end of the day you can look back on a game well played." Thanks, lads. <3

Kids (on Coffee) (Descendents) - One of the quintessential Descendents songs. You can practically taste the caffeine. They used to make "Bonus Cups", which, in their own words,

"We took ⅓ of a cup of instant coffee grounds, added some hot water, threw in about 5 spoonfuls of sugar, and proceeded to play 10 second songs. The Bonus Cup became a part of everyday Descendents life".

Speaking of 10 Second songs!

No, ALL! - their mantra. :)

Minute (ALL) - the only thing that would make this song better is if it were exactly one minute long. <3

"ENJOY MY GOOD FRIEND! ENJOY!" <3