SOUNDTRACK: PEARL JAM-“Angel” (1993).
On December 2, Pearl Jam announced that their fan club holiday singles will be released to streaming services. Their first holiday single was released back in 1991. It was “Let Me Sleep (Christmas Time).” They are rolling out the songs one at a time under the banner 12 Days of Pearl Jam.
These releases are coming out as a daily surprise.
This song goes back to 1993 and has the logo from Vs.
It’s not a Christmas song (not every year end 7″ was Christmas themed). Rather this sounds like an outtake from Vitalogy more than Vs. Interestingly, they played it at the Fenway Park show that S. and I went to in 2016 (August 7), although I obviously didn’t know it. I’m secretly impressed that I was there when they played this song–only the sixth time they’ve ever played it.
It’s a quiet acoustic guitar-based song. The chords sound a little off–a little unsettled.
The song opens with the first section, the “like an angel” section. When the second part comes next, a second guitar is added in along with some backing vocals, (especially on the word “tortured”) giving the song an eerier harmony. The guitar on this part is consistent until the 80 second mark when it suddenly shifts to a pretty melody.
There’s upbeat chords with some lovely backing vocals as Eddie sings lyrics he can’t seem to get out fast enough and some surprisingly high notes.
It’s certainly an oddball song–three minutes with no chorus and some certainly odd chords. But the sentiment is quite nice.
[READ: December 5, 2019] “Acknowledgements”
This year, S. ordered me The Short Story Advent Calendar. This is my fourth time reading the Calendar. I didn’t know about the first one until it was long out of print (sigh), but each year since has been very enjoyable. Here’s what they say this year
The Short Story Advent Calendar is back! And to celebrate its fifth anniversary, we’ve decided to make the festivities even more festive, with five different coloured editions to help you ring in the holiday season.
No matter which colour you choose, the insides are the same: it’s another collection of expertly curated, individually bound short stories from some of the best writers in North America and beyond.
(This is a collection of literary, non-religious short stories for adults. For more information, visit our Frequently Asked Questions page.)
As always, each story is a surprise, so you won’t know what you’re getting until you crack the seal every morning starting December 1. Once you’ve read that day’s story, check back here to read an exclusive interview with the author.
Want a copy? Order one here.
I’m pairing music this year with some Christmas songs that I have come across this year.
This story was fantastic. I loved everything about it–tone, content, style, humor. This had it all.
It is about a young writer who named his writer-protagonists after himself and wrote about how underappreciated he was as a writer. The acknowledgements that the title refers to are in his debut novel which was just published. It is called The Canon According to D. M. Murphy by D. M. Murphy.
But before getting to the people who impacted this novel, he gives us some extensive background about himself–birthday, birth method, etc. He reveals his name is Daniel Manitou Murphy. He liked the “Manitou” part although why his parents would name him after the islands in Lake Michigan (whose legend is that they were the Great Spirit’s memorial to her dead cubs) was always confusing to him. He thought about going by D. Manitou, but he feared that it would be seen as appropriation. And then of course there are the awkward years: “I had somewhere entered that phase of bourgeoisie adulthood in which one uses brunch as a verb.” (more…)
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I was blown away the first time I heard Chris Forsyth’s album Dreaming in the Non-Dream. When I saw his Tiny Desk Concert I was convinced that he was someone I wanted to see live.
