I recently got asked on my
formspring.me account "yo coco who is your biggest musical influence and why?" and I honestly didn't know. I thought about it and then realised I knew exactly who it is.
Beethoven, The Beatles, my family and Cake are my biggest musical influences.
Beethoven because he was just amazing. He was almost completely deaf by the time he wrote his ninth symphony and he worked unbelievably hard without question. I probably look up to him because my work ethic isn't the greatest and I am constantly distracted and I know that if I became deaf, I would be insanely upset at knowing that I would never be able to hear things again.
Not only that, but I really, really like his stuff. Cliché'd, maybe but I really do. Almost as much as Bach but not really. Again, I repeat myself: his ninth symphony is amazing yet he was deaf. I think by the time he wrote it, he didn't even need his ears anymore he could just feel the music.
But The Beatles, oh you guys! They blow my mind. Each one of their songs kind of has it's own personality and has a certain depth to it. Can I even begin to explain? No, but I'll try.
With each chord and each strum and each note, it seems I begin to think about the work that was put into these songs. All their first hits, "I Want To Hold Your Hand" etc. don't talk about sex or swearing but something so much more simpler, just love.
Thom from Nick and Norah's Infinite Playlist says it all. Sure, there are probably some hidden inuendos in there but lets just look past them.
All four of them have some kind of manic power where their music hits you and makes you think "Oh. Oh wow. Oh wow, oh wow."
A couple of weeks ago my dad, knowing my love for this band, gave me a book called "A Hard Days Write" which has the story behind all of the songs. You know the rumor that Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds is about LSD? Wrong. Shut your gob, you know its wrong. John Lennon's son Julian came home with a drawing one day and said it was his friend Lucy and that she was in the sky with diamonds and bada bing you've got the hit that caused so much drama.
Also, I recently had to write a report on Michael Moore's 2002 Bowling For Columbine and, curious as the cat, I decided to look into the meaning of Happiness is a Warm Gun, seeing as Moore uses it in the most
ironic way possible. Does it have anything to do with guns? No, Lennon just liked the saying.
The way they use their voices and orchestrate all their songs bewilders me. I want to be able to harmonise like them!
They have got to be one of the most ifluential groups, I think. I mean, who sings about little piggies? And who sings about a guy called Maxwell bludgering people? Not that many, unless their seriously disturbed or just kinda awesomely cool and no one cares if they do. Like The Beatles.
My third musical influence has got to be my household. Corny, I know, but I honestly don't care. I grew up listening to music and playing music and singing music. They know how to get my going, and at any given moment we can break into songs and harmony or put S Club 7 on and dance wildly around the kitchen.
Finally! Cake! No, not the food ya goof, the band. I love them. Enough said. They make me want to sing and write my own songs even more than SP00N. John McCrea has a voice that makes me melt. That is all.
This post took me ages to write, hence the lack of posting. I couldn't really get what I wanted to say right and all of it seemed so much the same and dull, but I'm hoping it didn't turn out that way.
Muso's for the win!!
