Marie Osmond, the singer/entertainer/Nutrisystem spokeswoman known for her 1970s television show and current Las Vegas show with brother Donny Osmond and a recent stint on “Dancing with the Stars,” has suffered a tragic loss today with the death of her 18-year-old son by apparent suicide. Twitter is alive with condolences and prayers, and the Associated Press’s story has been picked up worldwide. According to the AP:

LOS ANGELES – Marie Osmond’s 18-year-old son Michael Blosil has died, the entertainer said Saturday.

Osmond said in a statement through her publicist that her family is devastated by the “tragic loss.” She did not provide details on the death.

Entertainment Tonight reported on its Web site that Blosil jumped to his death Friday night from a downtown Los Angeles apartment building.

We join her fans in expressing condolences for Marie and her family’s loss.

Have you discovered Chromeo yet? If not, now’s the time! They’re giving away a free download of their new single, Night by Night, and all you have to do is visit GreenLabelSound.com to get it!

To warm you up for your Chromeo, here’s the video for this hot, new track that’ll get your feet moving…

Lately, it seems like nobody wants to go the traditional route anymore. On SuperWeddings.com, there’s a huge message board dedicated just to the songs women are planning to walk down the aisle to, and most of the entries specifically note their desire not to go the traditional route.

Beyond the music, lots of couples are going as far as choreographing elaborate entry routines. Maybe you’ve seen the one below, famously parodied during the “Jim & Pam’s Wedding” episode of “The Office.”

Have you thought about this at all? If you’re married, tell us about the song you walked down the aisle to. If you’re single or engaged and planning ahead, tell us what you’re thinking about. This blogger has a thing for David Bowie’s “Sound and Vision.” Check it out, but don’t steal it!

Yahoo’s OMG has Rhianna’s new haircut on their “What Were They Thinking?” slideshow, and they call it “disastrous.” The fashion-forward singer is always pushing the envelope, but we think this look is actually pretty tame– it even makes her look younger somehow. What do you think? Fashion do or don’t?

If you haven’t already seen it, what he’s talking about is the new version of the classic song that’s helping raise funds and awareness for Haiti relief. Jay-Z thinks they should have just written a new song instead of covering a legendary one. Here are both versions for you to consider. What do you think?

The original

The cover

1. Sara Bareilles’ “Love Song.” The title might say Love Song, but the lyrics say Trouble in Paradise. Sara’s not writing a love song for this guy until he gives her a good reason!

2. Wings’ “Silly Love Songs.” This really is a silly love song, but it does get stuck in your head. Stuck like love!

3. The J. Geils Band’s “Love Stinks.” Maybe you remember Adam Sandler’s version of this one from The Wedding Singer better than the original. Either way, sometimes the lyrics ring true.

4. Whitney Houston’s “I Will Always Love You.” Although Dolly Parton wrote and first recorded this song, since The Bodyguard, Whitney’s version has been the go-to for copycats and pop culture references.

5. Kanye West’s “Love Lockdown.” Is this even a love song really? It’s got a great beat, whatever it is.

What did we miss? If you were ranking your favorite love- or anti-love-songs, which ones would top the list?

The original

The Mandy Moore version

The Linkin Park (???) version

The Plain White Ts version

Which is your favorite?

The inspiration

The Beastie Boys

The original

When the New Orleans Saints won the Super Bowl today, New Orleans and those who were rooting for the underdogs around the world celebrated together. There are a few songs that the Super Bowl evokes– Queen’s “We Are The Champions” and “We Will Rock You,” Hank Williams Jr.’s “Are You Ready For Some Football?”… and the 1985 Chicago Bears doing “The Super Bowl Shuffle.”

Like tonight’s Champion Saints, the Super Bowl XX Champion Bears were taking their franchise’s first Super Bowl victory. Shortly before they did, some of the team’s members came together to record a novelty rap that has been spoofed and recycled repeatedly. If you’re too young to have seen it before or old enough not to have seen it for a while, we hope you’ll enjoy The Super Bowl Shuffle…

]]> http://metrolyricsblog.com/2010/02/08/the-saints-win-the-super-bowl-time-for-the-super-bowl-shuffle/feed/ 2 http://metrolyricsblog.com/2010/02/04/the-covers-my-humps/ http://metrolyricsblog.com/2010/02/04/the-covers-my-humps/#comments Thu, 04 Feb 2010 21:39:06 +0000 leona laurie http://metrolyricsblog.com/?p=367 One of the best covers we’ve come across is Alanis Morissette’s melodramatic treatment of The Black Eyed Peas’ “My Humps.” If you haven’t already seen it, you’re missing out. Enjoy!

The Original

The Cover

In this episode, Eugene, Oregon’s “The Stagger and Sway’s” lead singer, Mike Last, shares the story behind their eponymous song “Stagger and Sway.”

This song was written on the tail-end of a LONG drive from Chicago to Eugene, Oregon, in a rattle-trap of a box-van. This was the kind of drive where the beginning marked the end of one journey, and the end-of-the-road marked the start of a whole new adventure.

But in between, there was a long drive, with plenty to think about.

This song nearly wrote itself, like a reconciliation of my own personal, if very common, “better-to-have-loved-and-lost” type of story. Phone conversations had begun to reveal more and more in the fuzzy line-hum between our sentences; a quiet staggering off of “the straight and narrow” that didn’t seem to fit our steps anymore.

This long drive ended with a peaceful resolve, where I could tell myself, “Here is a very good person, who’s been a good friend … so let’s nevermind all that other bs, okay?”

I hope that feeling of resolution resonates with people; of putting aside whatever past grievances — not out of spite, or attrition, or for the sake of being right — but out of being just ready to actually move on.

Stagger and Sway

So far gone, escape Cook County crimes;
they say a good friend is hard to find.
Okay, oh well, nevermind.

Valleys crossed to face steep canyon climbs,
they say a good friend is hard to find;
okay, oh well, nevermind.

Now whatcha doin’,
since the stagger and the sway
came across the static on the phone?

No regret in placing second bets;
lift a smile through embarassment,
like a bumbershoot in the cold
and in the wet.

Clutch in coast down a slow decline,
they say a good friend is hard to find.
Okay, oh well, nevermind.

Now whatcha doin’,
since the stagger and the sway
came across the static on the phone?

In this episode, Mentone, CA’s Steve Carroll shares the story behind his song “Fall.”

Lately I’ve been in the habit of ending each show with this song. It has a nice flow to it. Poetic and emotional, and resonant, maybe it echos within people a little after I finish, which is a good way to end, I think.

“Fall” was inspired by a conversation I had with a friend of mine. It was her first winter in windy Chicago, and we were going back an forth about her experience during those first few months. She said it was cold and lonely, and that the wind blew bitterly cold off the lake. I just kinna sat and listened to it all, when one of her statements caught me a little by surprise. It was such a small observation that that’s why I think it hit me like it did. She said the snow in the city was so dirty and ugly.

I think someone who had grown up in a big city would have never made that same observation, but for her this was important. After all, snow should be something white and beautiful, but the city pushed it aside, making it dirty and ugly.

When I sat down to write “Fall” I meant it to be just about her experience, but what came out was really a broader statement than that. It’s about how we all, myself included, can take for granted those things that we should really enjoy. How we can ignorantly or greedily drink down the gifts of each day and not once think of the purposes for those things that have been given us or from whom they were given.

Fall

It falls on the lovers,
and the cheaters and the cry’n,
on the hands of the guilty,
and the tongues of the lie’n,
on the backs of the hopeless,
and the heads of the prayerful when they don’t.

It falls on our fathers, and mothers and daughters,
on the skins of the aged, and breaths of our hatred,
in every mouth open wide, it tastes the same.

And we let it fall,
in the cups of our hands,
and we drink it in,
but we don’t understand.

Though the black in our veins,
it runs through our cities,
in every alley, oh profaning mercy, still it falls.

And it falls for our harvests, and brimming our waters,
though none should be grateful for its presence, still it falls.

And we let it fall,
in the cups of our hands,
and we drink it in,
but we don’t understand.
And I let it fall,
in the cups of my hands,
and I drink it in grinning,
but I don’t understand.

In this episode, Kathryn Ostenberg, of Hollywood & Colorado, shares the story behind her song “Who Really Knows.” Kathryn will be playing at the Hotel Cafe in Los Angeles on January 30th. Details for this and other upcoming shows are available on her MySpace page.

This is definitely the most personal song I’ve written, even though I feel like I’m more vague with they lyrics in this song than I am in my other songs. It’s about finding someone you completely connect with, but the timing is off or there is some road block in the relationship. This particular road block I ran into was me falling for this one guy immediately…almost right off the bat. We were friends and as things progressed and were going well he totally froze up. And I was kind of like ‘Hey wait a minute I know you feel something too…we have something good!’ And unfortunately, I’m pretty sure the fact of the matter was that deep down he was scared as hell to actually get close to someone…and I realized he was totally guarded…(total opposite of me) Definitely a road block…It’s a bummer because I find as I get older people are more and more scared of taking a risk, falling in love, etc. and it’s so easy to miss out on the good things in life because of that fear. This song was kind of a way of me letting all get all these feelings out…(that I never really got to express to him by the way) and still maintaining hope for things to work out if they are supposed to work out. And then there was the whole notion of ‘If you’re going to not let me in..when you realize that there is something there you will find that because of you now I’m guarded…I’m scared..etc’ But the point of this song is that no one ever really knows what is going to happen and life can take you by surprise but I think it’s important to be hopeful that whatever is supposed to happen, will happen and I want to be positive and rely on that even if I might get my heart broken along the way.

Who Really Knows

trouble’s not hard to find
when you’re looking at love right in the eye
don’t know why I lose my mind
can’t stop a clock from running out of time

and i don’t know
why you won’t
jump in with out looking down
won’t lose control
can’t let it go
won’t give it up and just fall for me

you said ‘i won’t leap unless i know how deep I’ll be fallin’
if you won’t take my lead I’ll take a lesson from you
I build my walls up so high you can’t come in
I’ll be up down off on
one second here
next second gone
and maybe you will miss me
and the way you used to kiss me oh oh oh
who really knows

and things can break so easily
when they’re full of plans
bursting at the seams
of how each thing is supposed to be
face it baby,nothing’s guaranteed
and you can go to bed peacefully
cuz you followed the lines so perfectly
but what if its just passing you by?
can’t be the one to make you realize

and i don’t know
why you won’t
jump in with out looking down
won’t lose control
can’t let it go
won’t give it up and just fall for me

you said ‘i won’t leap unless i know how deep I’ll be fallin’
if you won’t take my lead I’ll take a lesson from you
I build my walls up so high you can’t come in
I’ll be up down off on
one second here
next second gone
and maybe you will miss me
and the way you used to kiss me oh oh oh
who really knows

you said “i won’t leap unless I know how deep I’ll be fallin”

Wikipedia says: “According to the Guinness Book of Records, “Yesterday” has the most cover versions of any song ever written. The song remains popular today with more than 3,000 recorded cover versions, the first hitting the United Kingdom top 10 three months after the release of Help!. Broadcast Music Incorporated (BMI) asserts that it was performed over seven million times in the 20th century alone.”

Here are a few famous covers and the original. Which do you like best? Is there a great cover of this song that we missed?

Here’s Paul McCartney playing the original:

Frank Sinatra does Yesterday

Marianne Faithful does Yesterday

Tom Jones does Yesterday

Bob Dylan does Yesterday