Live 105 was my favorite radio station in the late 80's. That is, it was when I was able to listen to it. It's a San Francisco station and I lived over an hour away in a small San Joaquin Valley town. This small town girl seized every opportunity to visit the big city, and opportunities were aplenty.
The mid '90s to the early aughts were troubled times in my love affair with Live 105. It became a corporate machine. Alex Bennett was forced out, Howard Stern moved in, and sucky playlists made me wonder if I'd ever listen to radio again.
As I pulled into Chevy's parking lot, the evening I took the fake bird photo last month, the lyrics of a song playing on the radio grabbed my attention. The song had a funky electronic sound reminiscent of Erasure and of Depeche Mode's early music (common denominator: Vince Clarke). It is one of those songs you keep listening to even after you park your car. And that's exactly what I did.
I lingered a bit longer after the song ended in hope that the DJ would reveal the song and artist. Much to my surprise, he did. Even more, he told the story of when he first heard it. I vaguely remember the story, but I think it goes something like this: He was in a bar, and the song was playing in the background. He asked the bartender if she knew the song, and luckily she did. Ever since he's been playing it on Live 105.
When I got home I turned on the shuffle mix on my iPod. The first song sounded very familiar. (I have nearly 4,000 songs, and I have yet to listen to them all!) It was from my newly downloaded Garden State soundtrack. (A very good compilation, by the way.) The song? A slower and acoustic version of the same Live 105 song with nice lyrics.
"That's crazy," I thought to myself. "Blogworthy crazy."
I like the acoustic one much better than the electronic pop one. It's one of those songs that makes you wish you knew how to play the guitar.
My love affair with Live 105 has never been better. It seems the corporate radio machine over at Live 105 learned to stick to what they do best and give the music back to the DJ's. Hallelujah.
Corporations have sucky taste in music.
Oh, yeah. The song. It's "Such Great Heights."
From the Garden State soundtrack, the artist is Iron and Wine.
As heard on Live 105, the artist is The Postal Service.
.
8 comments:
I've listened to both versions of Such Great Heights a gazillion times and never realized that they were two different versions of the same song. What a knucklehead I am! After reading your post, I did my own comparison and my fave is the The Postal Service song. Interestingly, the Postal Service version was used for the movie's trailer but the Iron and Wine remake was used in the actual film.
I agree though about the Garden State soundtrack -- it's really quite good. I've been addicted to In the Waiting Line by Zero 7 for weeks.
Two neat facts about "Such Great Heights":
1. ABC used it to plug Grey's Anatomy when it first came out. Yes, it's on that soundtrack too.
2. You can hear a very slow acoustic version in an M&M's commercial that has a kaleidoscopic effect.
Tonya: I don't know if I would've noticed that they were the same song had I not heard them back-to-back.
Another thing I like about the album is how The Only Living Boy in New York, the original version nonetheless, fits so nicely in the mix.
Who put this compilation together? I think we should name a street--no, a state! I never liked the word "Idaho"--after him/her.
Neel: Oooo... those are interesting facts. What other facts do you have hiding under that hat of yours?
I miss the Alex Bennett show. I used to see a fair bit of stand-up comedy, so there were a lot of familiar voices on the show.
Speaking of the fake bird photo, didn't I win something?? And what the heck was it? ;-)
Mike: Did you do stand up comedy, too? It doesn't take a huge stretch of the imagination to see you up on stage.
Rrramone: I saw from the prize post comment section that you found what you were looking for. I'm glad you liked your prize. :)
Oh, god, no. I'm more of a peanut-gallery humorist.
So humble!
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