Friday, October 31, 2008

Songs of the times

Okay, as a sort of antidote to all the political stuff, here comes a YouTube link dump. (Note that not all the visuals here are terribly interesting.)

I've been thinking of these two tunes a lot lately:





And, in honor of Halloween, several versions of "Casting My Spell On You." First, the definitive Johnny Otis / Marci Lee rendition:



Next, the Talismen, with a young Jimmy Page (synced with some video of the band performing a different tune):



And this version by Roy Orbison, which modulates between cheesy and funky (so of course I like it):



And no Halloween would be complete without the immortal Screamin Jay Hawkins' "I Put a Spell On You" (this one was recorded live on the late lamented Night Music show (so yes, that's David Sanborn in the band)):



And let's round things out with a brief Nina Simone version of that same tune:



Have a scary day, everyone.

6 comments:

Tony Pistilli said...

The New York Times (not a right wing paper by any means) reported that homosexual men had a 50% chance of getting HIV by middle age. While an agreablely ambiguous age it's not a horribly ambiguous statistic.

A study based in Vancoover found that the life expectancy of homosexual men was 8-20 years less than non-homosexual men.

Homosexual marriages produce absolutly no children.

The American Medical Association found a strong link between homosexuality and suicide. Not as analytical, and a 3rd variable could be involved, but still powerful.

The number of homosexuals that die early, and the lack of children they produce should raise some problems. A society cannot function without people and America is dipping closer and closer to the replacement rate.

Tony Pistilli said...

And I'm not sure that homosexuals as a group really want to be married (at least in our out-dated traditional sense of marriage).

The Handbook of Family Diversity reported that only 25% of homosexual men in a committed relationship were monogamous. They also reported that "monogamous" couples reported having 3 to 5 partners in the past year.

The book "The Male Couple" reported that 4.5% of homosexual couples remained faithful to their spouse (compared to 75.5% of married men, and 85% of married women.

And maybe all this won't ever influence my life, but I tend to think it will. There is a reason people get married in a church: it is not a secular act, or at least it wasn't until the common man thought he was wise enough to outsmart the past 15 centuries of recorded philosophy. You could even tack on another 2 or 3 centuries BC to include those great Greek philosophers.

I don't mean to be a thorn in your side when it comes to these political issues. Maybe I'm buying into the great vice of blogging: that people actually care what you have to say. Take my statistic throwing for what it's worth to you.

matt said...

Maria said: The American Medical Association found a strong link between homosexuality and suicide. Not as analytical, and a 3rd variable could be involved, but still powerful.

That third variable could be the pressure and censure placed on homosexuals by parents/clergy that view such an orientation as wicked and abnormal. When people are made to feel guilty and ashamed of who they are, suicidal feelings will obviously increase.

When were these cited studies conducted? Wasn't "The Male Couple" written in 1985? It seems that these statistics might be a tad outdated.

Homosexual couples can and do have children through adoption, artificial insemination, and surrogate motherhood. Also, many heterosexual marriages produce no children--does that make those unions invalid or harmful?

I respect your right to your opinion, but I feel that your arguments are flawed. I say let homosexuals get married--they deserve to be just as happy or unhappy as everybody else.

matt said...

PS: Andrew, you have been tagged:


http://lowercaselifestyle.blogspot.com/2008/11/tag-im-it.html

Hope you and your family are enjoying your weekend--Matt

Andrew Durkin said...

Hey y'all:

Thanks for the comments!

Maria -- I assume you meant to append your comments to the previous post?

In any case, you're entitled to your point of view, and you will always be welcome to chime in here. But I have to agree with Matt that the arguments you present w/r/t this issue are confusing and problematic.

Call me crazy, but even if we set aside Matt's question about the validity of the studies you mention -- let's assume the stats are all true, for arguments' sake -- I don't see how that justifies taking away someone else's right to marry the person of their choosing.

The bottom line is still that same-sex marriage -- even failed same-sex marriage -- doesn't directly affect you. It doesn't impinge on your right to have a traditional wedding, or to only associate with people who have traditional weddings, or even to believe that traditional weddings are better. You are still entitled to enjoy all of those things because marriage is nobody's business but the people who are getting married. And we ought to respect that.

And in an imaginary bizarro world in which our social norms were reversed, I'd be arguing just as hard for your right to heterosexual marriage with all the religious trimmings. Cuz, again, how (and indeed whether) you choose to get married is none of my freaking business.

I'm speaking of the rhetorical "you" here, of course.

Andrew Durkin said...

PS: Andrew, you have been tagged:

Yikes! Typically, I'm horrible at such things, though I'm honored to be asked. I'll try to get to this by the end of the week. Thanks!