Magic Jewball

Nice view, right? This is taken from my Aunt’s street in Israel. But being that today is Independence Day in Israel, I figured I’d show off one of my favorite photos. So, go, visit. Now. Book your trip. I’ll wait.

Back? Rock on. OK, I’d like to dedicate tonight’s post to the bus driver on the #15 bus who, on my last trip there in October, refused to sell me the adult bus pass and insisted I deserved the student one. Here’s to you, Mr. Egged driver! Special mention to the woman on the plane who spent 10 hours regaling me with the story of how she single-handedly began an organization dedicated to the eradication of gossip (lashon harah for my Semitic friends). I assume this is because no one else wanted to be involved. But she told me she no longer discusses people with her friends, just baking and household work. Yes, she must be a hoot at parties.

But anyway.

So, I promised that once you got your Napster account I’d link to some more songs. Since I know you’ve done that, let’s begin. What I’ve decided to do for starters is to link you to all the songs that were in or referenced in my post names. Here we go:

“Passover, no longer just a groovy Joy Division song”
That’s of course Passover by Joy Division.
Joy Division – Passover

“I’d like to drop my trousers to the Queen”
is a line from Nowhere Fast by The Smiths but sadly, that’s not available on Napster. Boo! Hiss! But here’s the Windows Media Player link from Amazon. Conveniently, it starts right on the line at hand.
Nowhere Fast

“I said, hey, hey, you, you, get out of my shot”
is obviously a reference to Get Off of My Cloud by The Rolling Stones. If you didn’t know that then clearly you grew up in Lesotho and just immigrated this week. Welcome!
The Rolling Stones – Get Off of My Cloud

“Caressing the marble and stone”
is the first line of “In A Lonely Place.” Who is it by? That’s a tough one. The song was the last thing ever written by Ian Curtis but he offed himself before Joy Division could record it. The surviving members decided not to follow him and, adding the drummer’s girlfriend, went on as New Order. Hey look! We already have a song! So they recorded it. But a rehearsal of Joy Division doing it still exists. They’re both quite moody, but I think JD wins by hair. Of course, it’s easy to hit just that perfect note of despair when you know you’re going to commit suicide within the next month. But judge for yourself. New Order’s on Napster, Joy Division’s on Amazon.

In A Lonely Place by Joy Division

In A Lonely Place by New Order

(Oh, and depressingly, it seems Bush does do a version of it. But I won’t be inflicting that one on you. You’re welcome.)

“We fade to grey”
Is from Fade to Grey by Visage, a classic early 80’s synth-pop ditty.
Visage – Fade To Grey

And there you have it. All my crazy references. Fantabulous!