A Day In The Life

Rolling Stone has labeled "A Day In The Life" the #1 rock song of all time.

You've Got To Hide Your Love Away

We are continuing with The Year Of John Lennon at The Walrus Speaks.

The Stupid War On Drugs

Here is a picture of the AIDS virus, which is being spread by law enforcement on a global level. 

When I rant on and on about how stupid the war on drugs is, I am usually talking about stupid cannabis policies. But there is so much more that should be said, and an article from Time points out that the criminalization of other substances also wrecks society. The stupid hysteria about injected drugs, too, is completely crazy, because it is spreading AIDS.

Read the article.

Bruce Springsteen - One Step Up

"Last night I dreamed I held you in my arms
The music was never-ending..."

Fiona Apple - Paper Bag

From The Standard hotel in New York.

Across The Universe

I'm dedicating this one to the Station Agent.

Jenny Lewis - Rise Up with Fists

From Monday's show in L.A.

John Lennon - I'm In Love

I don't bother posting unfinished and unreleased songs by almost any artist, but the Beatles are an exception. I don't usually post theirs either, but I think Lennon's "I'm In Love" had potential that was never realized. I don't know when this demo was recorded, but I can hear it in my mind's ear polished up and produced very nicely for Double Fantasy. Lennon always had a desire to get back to his roots. McCartney hauled "When  I'm Sixty-Four" out of his backlog of compositions from the late 1950's and released it in 1967, so I don't see why not. 

Anyway, it would be nice if someone were to take "I'm In Love" and record it with a great band. That someone would be Julian or Sean, but they have never listened to me. 

Japanese Garden Music

A beautiful flute solo.

Jenny Lewis - Just One of the Guys

Jenny Lewis rolls out a new song at a recent show in Santa Ana, California. 

JJAMZ, Jenny Lewis - Silver Lining

Supergroup JJAMZ got even more super when drummer Jason Boesel's Rilo Kiley cohort Jenny Lewis joined them on stage to play a spacey, off-beat version of Rilo's "Silver Lining". 

Jenny Lewis - Give A Little Love

Jenny and the twins dip into the RK catalog for a sweet reworked version of Under the Blacklight's "Give a Little Love".

MC Yogi - Son Of Shiva

One of the best Indian-Western fusions I have heard.

Mandala Music

Turn off your mind, relax, and float downstream...

Mike Dawes - Somebody That I Used To Know

The Gotye covers keep coming, this time in the form of a brilliant instrumental rendition from Mike Dawes.

Ticket To Ride

A great vocal by Lennon.

Jenny Lewis - You Are What You Love

Not sure when or where this clip is from, but it's pretty magical.

Uruguay Legalizes Cannabis Sales

This little country in South America gets The Walrus Speaks Progressive Little Country Award.

Read about it.

MC Yogi - Give Love

Give it away!

Relaxation Music

There is some disagreement over whether this music is Chinese or Japanese. Anyway, it is quite beautiful.

Revolution

There was the faster single version, and the slower album version. This is the album version. Om shooby doo-wop, om shooby-doo-wop.

Jenny Lewis - Bad Man's World

Here's another one from Big Sur.  I really like this stripped-down version--just drums, piano and vocals.

Fiona Apple - Let Me Roll It

In honor of Paul McCartney's 70th birthday, Ms. Apple covered one of his song with the Roots as a web exclusive.

Julia

Everyone knows this song is about Lennon's mother, run over by a bus or something when he was a teen. Well, everyone should know.

MC Yogi - Be The Change That You Want To See

I am posting this for the Station Agent, and anyone who respects positive change.

In My Life

We are continuing with our 2012 Year Of John Lennon here at The Walrus Speaks.

Doomtree - Little Mercy

This is the first Doomtree song I've heard, but this is very promising. I'm very thankful for radio stations like KEXP that showcase good emerging musicians like this.

Jenny Lewis - Silver Lining

Classic.

Jenny Lewis - Big Wave

This post is for Jenny Lewis/Rilo Kiley people only, though this is not Rilo Kiley. But it is Jenny Lewis. It is very, very Jenny Lewis.

Jenny Lewis - Acid Tongue

To have witnessed this performance would be a rare experience and privilege.

Jenny Lewis - Portions For Foxes

J-Lew covered herself circa RK during her set last week at the Henry Miller Memorial Library in Big Sur, California. 

Yann Tiersen - I'm Gonna Live Anyhow

From KEXP. Also from Mars. 

The Year Of John Lennon - I'm So Tired

It is 2012. Some people say the world is going to end. So we'll listen to John Lennon.

Fiona Apple - Anything We Want

Fiona Apple's new album, The Idler Wheel..., is out today and it is fantastic.

Ed Sheeran - You Need Me, I Don't Need You

Ed Sheeran brings so much to this performance. What a talent.

Happiness Is A Warm Gun

Although it is Paul McCartney's birthday today, we are continuing with The Year of John Lennon here at The Walrus Speaks.

DEA Harasses Doctors

Many Americans these days are experiencing difficulty getting medications they need for pain or for sleeping. Why? Because the DEA has begun to lean on pharmacies and doctors who prescribe the meds. Why? Because Congress is leaning on the DEA. Why? You know the reason why. It is because we elect anti-drug fanatics, many of whom take a drink whenever they feel like it. When will this lunacy end?

Hey Jude

We are continuing our celebration of Paul McCartney's life on his 70th birthday. St. Paul Day.









The first time I heard "She's Leaving Home", I was stunned. You young pups out there must understand that at the time, there had been nothing like this song. Like everything the Beatles did.

Paul McCartney's Greatest Hits

"Greatest Hits" is completely subjective, but we'll play some of Old Mac's best known melodies today, his 70th birthday, on The Walrus Speaks. As for the reminder that Paul had a song writing partner, we still know which songs were mostly his with small contributions from John or the others. If he wrote "Yesterday" with anyone, it was George Martin. This was the first Beatles recording featuring only one Beatle.

Paul McCartney's 70th Birthday Today

June 18, 1942, a musical genius was born in Liverpool.

John Lennon - Starting Over

This is not the album version. Try it.

Dear Prudence

Prudence Farrow, the sister of Mia Farrow, is a good friend of mine. We studied together at U.C. Berkeley in the '90s.

I Am The Walrus

We are all together.

Neil Young - The Restless Consumer

Don't need no more lies.

Mayer Hawthorne - The Walk

Mayer Hawthorne proves that being utterly derivative is not necessarily a bad thing in this engaging performance for KCRW.

Cannabis Decriminalization Victory!

Take a good look, folks. This is a picture of Governor Lincoln Chafee, who yesterday signed the decriminalization of marijuana into Rhode Island law. Chafee has won The Walrus Speaks' Excellence in Governance Award.

Good work, Governor.

Mike Bloom - Til It's Over

Mike Bloom of The Elected has a new live performance up of the song "Til It's Over". 

Rilo Kiley - With Arms Outstretched

Yeah...the Promised Land...

The Continuing Story Of Bungalow Bill

McCartney claims that "The Continuing Story of Bungalow Bill" was Lennon's way of advocating vegetarianism. 

Los Campesinos - You! Me! Dancing!

From the Vigo Transforma 2011 festival in Spain.

Glass Onion

2012 is The Year of John Lennon. So if the world ends, we will be listening to good music, from a guru, of sorts.

Jenny Lewis - You are What you Love

"You are what you love, Tim, not what loves you back..."



Got it, Tim?

Kimbra - Good Intent

Kimbra is embarking on a tour of the states with Foster the People and as a headliner. Brooklyn Vegan has oodles of pictures, videos and tour dates.

Blind Melon - Paper Scratcher

"Shuffle can to can nobody really gives a damn
For every living day I give myself a hand
Now I'm scroungy as can be
I got all you normals looking at me
I'll scratch a hole in my life
So everyone can see..."

John Lennon - Woman

Lennon nails it...lthough I am not so sure about the "meaning of success" reference, unless we are talking about the Goddess as the woman, and success means something very spiritual.

Jenny Lewis - The Next Messiah

Jenny Lewis recently spoke to Brandon Ferguson at OC Weekly. Once again, we get a reference to the long anticipated Rilo Kiley B-sides collection, but still no release date.

John Lennon - Stand By Me

The Station Agent says this is his favorite version of this song.

Janis Joplin - Me And Bobby McGee

Not the radio version.

Which One Are You?

I love the Venn diagram, because it helps to put things in perspective. Where do you fit in here? I would want to know what is meant by "God" (or God(s)) and what would be accepted as "proof", to answer my own question.

I am guessing that the Station Agent would admit to the Agnostic Atheist section. Perhaps at times he wanders over into the Agnostic Theist section...but then finds himself firmly in the Agnostic Atheist section again.

The big question is this: Does God need a woman to look after Him?

Help!

Well. This says it all. Won't you please help me?

Across The Universe

It's interesting that Lennon ridiculed gurus, and reverenced gurus. This version is from the Anthology.

The Year Of John Lennon - 2012 Revolution

Om shooby-do-wop, om shooby-do-wop...

Nook & Cranny - Letter

Here's a laid back jam from Gainesville, Florida's own Nook & Cranny performing downtown back in the fall of 2011.


What does N & C have in common with The Minutemen? Head over to Nine Bullets to find out.

Bright Eyes - Lua

"It's not something I would recommend
But it is one way to live
Cause what is simple in the moonlight
By the morning never is..."

JJAMZ - Never Enough

Rilo Kiley drummer Jason Boesel has a new band in the works. He's teaming up with members of bands like The Like, Phantom Planet and Maroon 5. This is their first offering. Their debut album Suicide Pact will levitate on July 10th.

Ivy and Gold - Somebody That I Used To Know

In this version of Gotye's "Somebody That I Used To Know," Ivy and Gold's lead singer handles both parts making the song not make sense.But it sounds good.

Johnny Cash - In My Life

John Lennon, who wrote "In My Life", at "Mendips", his boyhood home in Liverpool.

Amma, The Hugging Guru

I posted this for you, Jewel. I hope you will open it, with determination. Amma hugs thousands and thousands of people a day!

Come Together

A grittier vocal in a unreleased version of "Come Together" that is worth listening to. Especially if you are a Beatles person, but not, perhaps, if you are the sort of person who cannot actually listen to the Beatles because "separation" from them is too great.

For all these people (although I don't think they are plentiful) all I can say is...Goddess bless you.

What's "bobo"? I thought maybe it was a British expression indicating something sexual, but I could not locate anything like that. Hmm...

Travis Ratledge and Jenny Lane - Somebody That I Used to Know

Here's a lush orchestral recording of "Somebody That I Used to Know" posted last month that I somehow missed in the barrage of covers of this song. 

Fun - Somebody That I Used To Know

Fun and Hayley Williams (not pictured) take on Gotye's "Somebody That I Used To Know" for BBC Radio. This is the eleventy billionth version of the song and I have posted many of them, so I guess this is just what life is now--new covers of this song every few days.

Duran Duran - Come Undone

One of the few DD songs I like. This is the Unplugged version. 

Heathers - This Year (Mountain Goats Cover)

"I am gonna make it through this year if it kills me..."

The Mountain Goats - Never Quite Free

All month long the fabulous album All Eternals Deck is on sale for $5 at Amazon.

John Lennon - Jealous Guy

They are going to cry no matter what you do, but you don't want to get blamed for it. At least, that has been my experience.

Get Back

Jojo left his home in Tuscon, Arizona, for some California grass...would someone actually do that?

Let It Be

McCartney looks like he had slept in a London park...

The Submarines - Shoelaces

From last summer. 

Come Together

He wear no shoe shine? The nerve!