The Regular Friday Post

Rando Lyrics: Rolling down that empty ocean road

Jul 12, 2024

Bit of a milestone this week:

THANK YOU!! To all the folks who’ve been with me since the beginning, and our latest subscribers - we’re just getting started!!

Last week’s rando lyrics: The lyric, “Here's a little ghost for the offering” is from the song "Man On The Moon”, performed by R.E.M. Written by Michael Stipe, Peter Buck, Mike Mills & Bill Berry (Ed. - the members of R.E.M.), it was released as Track 10 on the 1992 album “Automatic For The People”. Produced by R.E.M. & Scott Litt.

Credit: Genius Link >Man On The Moon<

““Initially, I insisted that “Man on the Moon” should be an instrumental. I told the band that the song was finished. Because, as an instrumental “Man on the Moon” was incredible, the song didn’t need me. However, the rest of the band started fussing, and told me that I needed to get some words down on the paper. From way earlier I had a VHS recording of Andy Kaufman, and we used to sit for hours laughing. So when I eventually had to write the lyrics, I remembered Andy Kaufman and it was as if he was reborn inside of me. I never thought I was going to write a song about Andy Kaufman and the Moon Landing, but it ended up being a song about faith, timelessness, spirituality, time and space, death and darkness"
– Michael Stipe in an interview with Aftenposten 10.11.2017””

““Man on the Moon” is Michael’s Stipe’s tribute to the late Andy Kaufman, an entertainer who was made famous by his appearances on late-night television (namely Saturday Night Live and Late Night with David Letterman) and his role as Latka Gravas on the sitcom Taxi. Kaufman was known for his comedy, though he referred to himself not as a comedian, but as a “song-and-dance man”.

Thematically linked (by the idea of heaven and Andy Kaufman) is “The Great Beyond”, a 1999 song that was written for the soundtrack of Man on the Moon – a film about Kaufman’s life starring Jim Carrey.””

Credit: Genius, ibid

This Week’s Documentary Film Recommendation:

“Mick & Keith” - a documentary about….yeah. I found it on Plex, but it appears to be on a number of services, some requiring subscriptions, others apparently not so much.

Things I Found On Social Media:

Ed. - Stones sponsored by AARP made me laugh more than I should have….

Welcome to The Regular Friday post!

For Today:

Help me Obi-Wan Goldberg……

Earworms and Song Loops By Steve Goldberg I freely admit that lately most of the songs I choose for the “A Song To Play” feature are ones that have been stubborn earworms for me and have somehow been immune to the usual “play the opening riff of “Don’t Fear The Reaper” in your head” treatment. Meh.

“Man On The Moon” was in my head all week last week and the song that’s today’s Rando Lyrics selection is there this week. Ed. Fabulous….!! Anyway, I’ve always liked today’s song (and most everything else R.E.M. has ever done, for that matter) - it’s an easy play with one Bm chord that you’re welcome to sorta slide sideways past if you want (“cheat code” below). Have fun and I hope it’s cooler where you are this week than it is here!

A Song To Play…

If you need to cheat a little because barre chords are difficult for you or the chord change timing is a bit too quick, my favorite is to play a Bm7 chord instead of the normal Bm. They sound close enough to each other the difference is minimal and the 7 chord may actually sound better. Your guitar instructor will tell you to learn the chord the right way and that’s not wrong, but….

Man on the Moon Lyrics

[Verse 1]
Mott the Hoople and the Game of Life
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah
Andy Kaufman in the wrestling match
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah
Monopoly, Twenty-One, checkers and chess
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah
Mister Fred Blassie in a breakfast mess
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah
Let's play Twister, let's play Risk
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah
See you in heaven if you make the list
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah

[Pre-Chorus]
Now, Andy, did you hear about this one?
Tell me, are you locked in the punch?
Andy, are you goofing on Elvis? Hey, baby
Are we losing touch?

[Chorus]
If you believed they put a man on the moon
Man on the moon
If you believed there's nothing up his sleeve
Then nothing is cool

[Pre-Chorus]
Now, Andy, did you hear about this one?
Tell me, are you locked in the punch?
Hey, Andy, are you goofing on Elvis? Hey, baby
Are we losing touch?

[Chorus]
If you believed they put a man on the moon
Man on the moon
If you believed there's nothing up his sleeve
Then nothing is cool

[Outro]
If you believed they put a man on the moon
Man on the moon
If you believed there's nothing up his sleeve
Then nothing is cool
If you believed they put a man on the moon
Man on the moon
If you believed there's nothing up his sleeve
Then nothing is cool
If you believed they put a man on the moon
Man on the moon
If you believed there's nothing up his sleeve
Then nothing is cool

Other Voices:

She’s sooo cool! Follow her for the Song Of The Day! Link: >MK Piatkowski<

If you’ve got kids, relatives, friends who might be headed to college this fall, you can’t afford not to be reading this! Link: >Dave The Scholarship Coach<

The “ME!” Section…..

What I’m Listening2: Spotify Link: >Little Bit O'Somethin'<

Shameless Self Promotion Section:

My song is out! Link: “>Long Road Back<”click on this link for streaming options, then scroll down for links (or just click on these links) to Amazon, Apple, Pandora, iTunes and even Spotify

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Disclaimer Section

This Substack is free, I receive no compensation of any kind from companies or products I mention. Some linked or quoted material may be copyrighted by others, and I credit them. I rely on the “Fair Use” doctrine for educational purposes (Link: Fair Use). *I do not use AI, things I link to might…

-Michael Acoustic

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Some Links For Today

ED. None of these result in compensation to me in any way, and I’m not endorsing any of them, but some of my readers may find them as interesting as I did…

(Ed. Kind of a slow week for links….)

From the Disc Makers Blog:

What Is Music Publishing? - If you have a song, and you want to get it out there, here are some of the things to think about. We’ve covered much of this before across many different posts, this is a pretty good round-up of copyright issues (there are 3 copyrights - you should own all 3!) and other subjects before you get too far down this road,

Using Reverb And Delay - It’s one thing to read about how these concepts affect sound - this article goes further and uses examples from commercial songs (ones that you’ve actually heard of - yes, even including “the Magic Break”!!!)

Tidal vs. Spotify - Let’s face it, your first time out, you’ll want your song on every possible platform that’s out there. Here’s some advice, but you’re probably not going to take it at first. Just like the rest of us….

Thank You To Our New Subscribers and Followers!! This Week’s Conversation With Mika, the Cat:

Me: “Wut?”

Mika: “Meow! I feel good, I knew that I would now - So good! So good!”

Cheers and keep playing!!

Michael Acoustic

“It’s never really final - you just run out of things you can bear to change…”