Of all of the videos, this is the clearest one by far. It's "The Rain Fell Down" and it's a pretty interesting, if racy, number. I like the guitar play here, as well as the urban colors and dense feel of the production. I've also included the lyrics below the video.
Rain Fell Down Lyrics from http://www.sing365.com
It was a filthy block of flats
Trash was on the floor
The stink was in my nose
Hinges off the doors
She took me in her room
All was spick and span
Fixed me up a drink
Turned down all the lamps
And the rain fell down
On the cold hard ground
And the phone kept ringing
And me made sweet love
Why do we live in this strange grey town?
They build it up and let it all fall down
Feel like we're living in a battleground
Everybody's jazzed
Why do we live in this strange grey town?
The paint is peeling and the sky's turned brown
The bankers are wankers and every Thursday night
they just vomit on the ground
And the rain fell down
On the cold grey town
And the phone kept ringing
And we made sweet love
And we made sweet love
Everybody's dreaming
Everybody's scheming
Watching the rain fall down
She cooked me up some eggs
Then she made some tea
Kissed me on the cheek
Then I turned on her tv
It was all the usual crap
All the usual sleeze
For 10,000 quid
Some bimbo spilled the beans
And the rain fell down
On the cold grey town
And the phone kept ringing
And we made sweet love
And we made sweet love
Tuesday, May 30, 2006
Rolling Stones - Paint It Black Video - 1966
The Rolling Stones are captured in this black and white video singing their now iconic hit "Paint it Black." Here's the video, folloed by the lyrics:
I see a red door and I want it painted black No colors anymore I want them to turn black I see the girls walk by dressed in their summer clothes. I have to turn my head until my darkness goes
I see a line of cars and they're all painted black. With flowers and my love, both never to come back
I see people turn their heads and quickly look away. Like a newborn baby it just happens ev'ryday
I look inside myself and see my heart is black. I see my red door and it has been painted black
Maybe then I'll fade away and not have to face the facts. It's not easy facing up when your whole world is black
No more will my green sea go turn a deeper blue. I could not forsee this thing happening to you
If I look hard enough into the setting sun. My love will laugh with me before the morning comes
I see a red door and I want it painted black. No colors anymore I want them to turn black
I see the girls walk by dressed in their summer clothes. I have to turn my head until my darkness goes
Hmm, hmm, hmm...
I wanna see it painted black, painted black. Black as night, black as coal. I wanna see the sun, blotted out from the sky
I wanna see it painted, painted, painted, painted black. Yeah
I see a red door and I want it painted black No colors anymore I want them to turn black I see the girls walk by dressed in their summer clothes. I have to turn my head until my darkness goes
I see a line of cars and they're all painted black. With flowers and my love, both never to come back
I see people turn their heads and quickly look away. Like a newborn baby it just happens ev'ryday
I look inside myself and see my heart is black. I see my red door and it has been painted black
Maybe then I'll fade away and not have to face the facts. It's not easy facing up when your whole world is black
No more will my green sea go turn a deeper blue. I could not forsee this thing happening to you
If I look hard enough into the setting sun. My love will laugh with me before the morning comes
I see a red door and I want it painted black. No colors anymore I want them to turn black
I see the girls walk by dressed in their summer clothes. I have to turn my head until my darkness goes
Hmm, hmm, hmm...
I wanna see it painted black, painted black. Black as night, black as coal. I wanna see the sun, blotted out from the sky
I wanna see it painted, painted, painted, painted black. Yeah
Monday, May 29, 2006
"Net Neutrality" Lining Up As Battle Between Old Economy (AT&T, etc,) and New (Google, Microsoft, etc.)
The matter of the maintenance of "Net Neutriality" is growing to massive proportions in the online world. On May 26th, the US house passed legislation that should keep the flow of online information unfettered by price gouging.
The basic objective is to make sure that the free flow of data remains just that -- free. There's legislation presented and backed by a set of large, old economy telecommunications firms, and led by AT&T, such that faster connection speeds would require payment of a fee. It's believed that this cost is large enough to essentially divide the Internet into "haves and have nots" and hamper the ability of small web-based companies (like mine) to grow. Indeed, the simple application of a charge of any size splits the Internet into two economies. It's for that reason -- to start -- that any user fee proposal should be rejected.
Look, we're not talking about an Internet tax; this is a way for the Old Economy companies to make money. The AT&T's of the world are upset that the small firms like Vonage and Skype are able to undercut their business by offering free long distance service using your computer and their phone lines (!) through the Internet, thus reducing the need for the services offered Old Economy firms.
The Old Economy firms are threatened by the continuation of a process that started almost 20 years ago: the constant and inexorable decrease in market value that they have suffered since the mid-80s. A chain of events started when the Federal Government forced the then-powerful AT&T to share its cable lines with other long distance providers. Ever since that point, the "Baby Bells" have been trying to slow the rate of decrease in market share and in any way.
Now, the only proof I have of this is rather powerful. In 1988 I was to be hired as part of a consulting team led by The San Francisco Consulting Group. I was to constuct a System Dynamics model of the US long distance telephone industry. That team was to determine how the market for long distance service was changing and how the client -- GTE -- should respond to this change. In other words, how they should achieve "a soft landing" as their market share decreased. The schematic I created for the model was formed to have a pattern of numerical behavior such that each long distance company was losing market share as new players arrived on the scene.
That was before the emergence of the Internet, which didn't become a major factor in how we communicate until 1995. But after that year, the number of Internet-equipped computers increased dramatically, as did the number of Internet-based services and companies. In 10 years, we've went from dial up to DSL to Broadband, and the one constant in this process has been the use of phone lines used by companies like AT&T.
Ever hungry for new forms of revenue generation, the firms that provide Broadband service -- and standard telephone service -- saw a way to cut off competition from the "Vonages" of the World: force them to pay for faster Internet speeds.
In this, they found the perfect driver to increase revenues and at the same time hamper the growth of the Global Economy. It's easier now than even before in our history for a small business to have a global reach using the World Wide Web. The cost barrier to entry for many is close to zero if one knows how to find the free services needed.
But from the perspective of thee AT&T's of the World, their revenue gain would be unescapable; absent a way of hacking the system, billions of users would have to pay them for faster access, thus introducing a new barrier to entry for small companies in the Global market.
As I think about it, such a move isn't even good for the AT&T's of the World.
Why?
Hackers and Viruses.
The incorporation of such a fee -- an economic tax -- would invite the anger of geeks everywhere. And when geeks get angry, they don't pick fights, they change systems. AT&T would be the target of every geek hacker in the World. Eventually -- I believe -- there would be a set of gates or holes that would eventually hamper the collection of fees for faster access. But I give this process ten years to unfold and another five to render the fee system useless. Meanwhile, the World's economy would stuffer from the delayed birth of the next Vonage, Google, or Sports Business Simulations.
Thank god Congress made the right step toward net netrality.
The basic objective is to make sure that the free flow of data remains just that -- free. There's legislation presented and backed by a set of large, old economy telecommunications firms, and led by AT&T, such that faster connection speeds would require payment of a fee. It's believed that this cost is large enough to essentially divide the Internet into "haves and have nots" and hamper the ability of small web-based companies (like mine) to grow. Indeed, the simple application of a charge of any size splits the Internet into two economies. It's for that reason -- to start -- that any user fee proposal should be rejected.
Look, we're not talking about an Internet tax; this is a way for the Old Economy companies to make money. The AT&T's of the world are upset that the small firms like Vonage and Skype are able to undercut their business by offering free long distance service using your computer and their phone lines (!) through the Internet, thus reducing the need for the services offered Old Economy firms.
The Old Economy firms are threatened by the continuation of a process that started almost 20 years ago: the constant and inexorable decrease in market value that they have suffered since the mid-80s. A chain of events started when the Federal Government forced the then-powerful AT&T to share its cable lines with other long distance providers. Ever since that point, the "Baby Bells" have been trying to slow the rate of decrease in market share and in any way.
Now, the only proof I have of this is rather powerful. In 1988 I was to be hired as part of a consulting team led by The San Francisco Consulting Group. I was to constuct a System Dynamics model of the US long distance telephone industry. That team was to determine how the market for long distance service was changing and how the client -- GTE -- should respond to this change. In other words, how they should achieve "a soft landing" as their market share decreased. The schematic I created for the model was formed to have a pattern of numerical behavior such that each long distance company was losing market share as new players arrived on the scene.
That was before the emergence of the Internet, which didn't become a major factor in how we communicate until 1995. But after that year, the number of Internet-equipped computers increased dramatically, as did the number of Internet-based services and companies. In 10 years, we've went from dial up to DSL to Broadband, and the one constant in this process has been the use of phone lines used by companies like AT&T.
Ever hungry for new forms of revenue generation, the firms that provide Broadband service -- and standard telephone service -- saw a way to cut off competition from the "Vonages" of the World: force them to pay for faster Internet speeds.
In this, they found the perfect driver to increase revenues and at the same time hamper the growth of the Global Economy. It's easier now than even before in our history for a small business to have a global reach using the World Wide Web. The cost barrier to entry for many is close to zero if one knows how to find the free services needed.
But from the perspective of thee AT&T's of the World, their revenue gain would be unescapable; absent a way of hacking the system, billions of users would have to pay them for faster access, thus introducing a new barrier to entry for small companies in the Global market.
As I think about it, such a move isn't even good for the AT&T's of the World.
Why?
Hackers and Viruses.
The incorporation of such a fee -- an economic tax -- would invite the anger of geeks everywhere. And when geeks get angry, they don't pick fights, they change systems. AT&T would be the target of every geek hacker in the World. Eventually -- I believe -- there would be a set of gates or holes that would eventually hamper the collection of fees for faster access. But I give this process ten years to unfold and another five to render the fee system useless. Meanwhile, the World's economy would stuffer from the delayed birth of the next Vonage, Google, or Sports Business Simulations.
Thank god Congress made the right step toward net netrality.
"Oilers Rap" - An Example of The Worldwide Spread Of Afro-American Culture
This fan was captured on camera "freestyling" -- coming up with rap lyrics on que without notes -- after an Edmonton Oliers NHL Hockey playoff game. His girlfriend provides the "beat box."
Now, if I told you this happened, you might assume the people were black and American. You'd be wrong.
You might think they were wearing "hip hop" clothing. Wrong again. (They're well dressed.)
Marketers should take note of this video, because it's a shining example not just of the Worldwide spread of African American culture, but of how the music tastes of young people have changed. Think about it. The guy rapping in this video probably practices this daily. It's not bad.
Here's the video I call "Oilers Rap."
Now, if I told you this happened, you might assume the people were black and American. You'd be wrong.
You might think they were wearing "hip hop" clothing. Wrong again. (They're well dressed.)
Marketers should take note of this video, because it's a shining example not just of the Worldwide spread of African American culture, but of how the music tastes of young people have changed. Think about it. The guy rapping in this video probably practices this daily. It's not bad.
Here's the video I call "Oilers Rap."
Saturday, May 27, 2006
The Rolling Stones - Gimme Shelter - A Classic Song
If you want to feel the cultural impact of the Rolling Stones, just play the video below and give a listen to "Gimme Shelter". You'll come away saying "I know I've listened to that tune tons of times -- in movies, grocery stores, and bars...wow." It's another song from the greatest rock band in the World.
Here's the video:
Here's the video:
The Rolling Stones - Under My Thumb
It's amazing to think this single song is as old as me, and it still rocks. The Rolling Stones are a band that comes along perhaps once in a millenium. Artists who bring people together regardless of age, race , or sex. They're still playing "Under My Thumb" -- live.
Check out this black and white video for a blast to the past. For more on the Rolling Stones, see Wikipedia with a click here.
Check out this black and white video for a blast to the past. For more on the Rolling Stones, see Wikipedia with a click here.
Sarah McLachlan - Building A Mystery - Almost 10 Years Later, It Still Endures
I'm not an expert on the analysis of music, but it's amazing that Sarah McLachlan's "Building a Mystery" has lasted so long beyond its 1997 introduction. I even found an interesting technical analysis of the song.
Whatever the reason it is -- to me -- a haunting song about a woman talking about the reasons she both loves and lothes her male lover. Still, it can be quickly turned around to apply to a male thinking of a female lover. I remember playing this song over and over again while driving from Oakland to Pasadena in 1998, and to see a woman I cared about very much, but seemed a little bit distant emotionally. So, at least the song seems to apply in my life -- but that's not the subject here.
I think this video helps to communicate her song by simply playing her song.
Here's "Building a Mystery"
Whatever the reason it is -- to me -- a haunting song about a woman talking about the reasons she both loves and lothes her male lover. Still, it can be quickly turned around to apply to a male thinking of a female lover. I remember playing this song over and over again while driving from Oakland to Pasadena in 1998, and to see a woman I cared about very much, but seemed a little bit distant emotionally. So, at least the song seems to apply in my life -- but that's not the subject here.
I think this video helps to communicate her song by simply playing her song.
Here's "Building a Mystery"
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