Carl

We just uploaded a bunch of new songs. We'll have a more complete list in the newsletter, but here are a few: Jessie Kid A In A Lonely Place Angels Stuck In The Middle With You Fell In Love With A Girl Ram On Far Behind Vapor Trails Hot Child In The City Also, don't forget to check out the Billy Steinberg songs like "True Colors" and "I Drove All Night." Great stories there.

Online advertising is confusing. We're learning a lot as we dip in, but there's going to be a lot of trial and error (the current ads at the top are an error). There are places where you can click a link to hear a song sample and buy the album. I haven't figured out how this works yet, but as Mike suggests, it would be a great feature. Somewhere, there's a server with all this music, and we have to get permission to tap into it. The good news is that we're structured as a database, which makes us compatible.

We are due for an upgrade, but I look forward to that the same way as a dentist appointment. We'll probably let them work the bugs out of the new version of the boards and then take on the challenge.

Billy Joel - "Scenes From An Italian Restaurant"

It was very well-written, smart and funny. It also had lots of humping dogs and an irresistable Natalie Portman. It's probably funnier if you have been to New Jersey, where you know it's entirely possible to find a bottomless sinkhole in Newark. You would like it.

I just saw the movie Commedian last week. It's a great rental if you are into stand up commedy and can tollerate Jerry Seinfeld. The guy who Seinfeld and Chris Rock say puts them to shame is... Bill Cosby.

You guys may have saved us pain. We were thinking of seeing this the other night, but read these posts and saw Garden State instead. Now that's a movie.

I have one of her albums, and I really like it. There's a great track on it called "Alone." I think she is (rightfully) considered Blues, which makes it hard for her to get airplay. She's definitely worth a listen. - Isn't she married to another Blues musician?

George Clinton, The Turtles and Lynyrd Skynyrd at the same festival... I have a new respect for Alabama. That sounds like some monster fun.

We've been online since 1999, so I guess we're not going anywhere. Besides, we're having too much fun.

Here's my case for why Nirvana revolutionized music: In 1991, Top-40 or Contemporary Hit Radio (CHR) was a very popular format. It was real easy to program - you just played what was popular. The airwaves were lush with the sounds of Roxette, Amy Grant and Color Me Badd. It was safe and effective, you could play it at work and no one would complain. When "Smells Like Teen Spirit" became a huge hit, most CHR stations stayed away or added it as a quirky novelty, unaware that it would soon destroy their format. Soon, there wasn't enough Mariah Carey to satisfy demand. Stations had to add some Hip Hop (Boyz II Men, Mary J Blige) or give in to the Grunge (Nirvana, Pearl Jam, STP). Some stations resisted by digging into their archives and adding songs from the '80s and even some Disco, but there was no escape. Nirvana gave rise to the Modern Rock format and along with Hip Hop, killed CHR radio. That's revolutionary.

Jennifer from Little Rock, AR wins the clean and comfortable Songfacts T-Shirt. Here are the answers: What singer had a backup band called "The Pips"? - Gladys Knight What popular singer recently got engaged to one of her backup dancers? - Britney Spears What was the first double album in Rock? - Blonde On Blonde by Bob Dylan Popular guesses were The Beatles' White Album and Frank Zappa's Freak Out, which both came out later. What popular band has 2 albums named after Groucho Marx movies? - Queen A Night At The Opera, A Day At The Races What hit song contains a rap about a man from Mars who eats cars? - "Rapture" by Blondie Which UK band took their name from an eccentric character in a Pulitzer Prize winning novel? - The Boo Radleys The group is named after a character in Harper Lee's Pulitzer Prize winning novel To Kill A Mockingbird. Uriah Heep was not a correct answer because Charles Dickens' novel, David Copperfield, did not win a Pulitzer Prize. What song contains the lyric, "A cat named Frankenstein"? - "Another Saturday Night" by Sam Cooke (also recorded by Cat Stevens) What singer or band released the album with the longest title among those that charted? - Fiona Apple The album known as When The Pawn... contains another 87 words. So far in 2004, what singer or band has played the concert with the largest audience? - Simon And Garfunkel On the last show on their tour, they played to 600,000 people at the Colosseum in Rome. What band has a drummer named Ringo who was not a member of The Beatles? - Los Lonely Boys Their drummer's name is Ringo Garza. Tiebreaker: How many CDs did the Songfacts staff buy in August? 6 Thanks to everyone who took the quiz, and be sure to take the new one here.

You may have noticed the Google ads at the top of the boards. This is an effort to offset our bandwidth and hosting fees while preserving the integrity of the boards. We might mess around with positioning and sizes. Thanks.

Peter runs away from death. Death replies: "I caught Flo Jo, I can catch you too." Stewie traps another kid in the pit of forgotten children: "Steve walks warily down the street with his brim pulled way down low."

If it's a direct quote from the artist or songwriter, we like to leave it in tact and provide the source if possible: "In 1990, Kurt Cobain told Rolling Stone, 'that was the best song I ever wrote.'" We don't want to plagarize the work of others, so if you come across some writing that would make great Songfacts, please either: 1) Ask permission to use it - we are happy to provide credit. You can always let us know where it came from and let us ask. 2) Use it as the basis for your own commentary. I hope this helps - let us know if we can tell you more.

And I thought our Mighty Songfacts Trivia Quiz questions were hard... I can't piece it together, but I was thinking of "Zombie Zoo" by Tom Petty, which would place the band in one of his movies. Sadly, that song is from 1989.

"Fallin'" by Alicia Keys has a great piano open that I believe is Chopin. I've always wondered if the open to Madonna's "Papa Don't Preach" is based on a classical piece, or if it's original.

For no vocals, but plenty of good sax, check out "Lily Was Here" by Candy Dulfer. My favorite use of sax in song is Clarence Clemons when he blows on Bruce Spingsteen's "Rosalita."

I'm not familiar with "Summer Breeze" by The Isleys - I'm assuming it's not the same song as the Soft Rock favorite (Seals & Crofts?). "Sweet Home Alabama" has cleansing properties for me. Odd, since I've never even been to Alabama.

It seems like many of the Protest/Political songs that come out these days seem forced - nothing like "Ohio" or "Sunday Bloody Sunday." My theory is that we're sick of politics, and no one can say anything we don't already know. Most of us listen to music for entertainment and inspiration, and a protest song is the equivalent of the guy who ruins a perfectly good discussion by asking what everyone thinks of George Bush. I respect artists like Pearl Jam, Springsteen and R.E.M. for speaking their mind through their art, but what was the last overtly political song that really stuck in your head?

We recently spoke with Billy Steinberg. With his songwriting partner Tom Kelly, he has written some amazing songs that are not only very popular, but incredibly well crafted and meaningful. Please check these out and post your thoughts. They are a must-read for anyone interested in the art of songwriting: True Colors Like A Virgin Eternal Flame I Drove All Night So Emotional In Your Room Alone I'll Stand By You

Funky Stevie Wonder is, in my opinion, the best Stevie Wonder. I have to second "Master Blaster," and I'll add "Pasttime Paradise." Some other stuff you might like: "Love Rollercoaster" by The Ohio Players "Pope" by Prince "Kickin' Back" by LTD "Tell Me Something Good" by Rufus Also, check out the latest album from Tower Of Power - it's called The Oakland Zone. Love the horns.

In Office Space, I love the scene where he strolls through the office to the sounds of Ice Cube's "Gangsta N----". There's also a Chevy Chase movie called Funny Farm. It's a bad movie, but there's a great scene where the dog catches fire and is too lazy to do anything about it. The song Napolean danced to is "Canned Heat" by Jamiriqui (It sounds like "Candy") - I stayed through the credits to find out, and was rewarded with the extra scene.

A note about "Ohio": Jerry Casale, who is a founding member of Devo, was there, and hearing him describe what happened that day made me realize that America is not quite as free as I thought it was. The government of Ohio got away with it by declaring Martial Law, which means anything goes - no constitutional protections apply. Please read the Songfacts to get a first person account. The scary thing is, this could easily happen again.

I'll agree with the Arlo Guthrie and raise you "Rock Lobster" by the B-52s ("Here comes the dogfish - woof, woof). I'm not much of an Offspring fan, but "Pretty Fly For A White Guy" is inspired. I like when he tries to buy Ice Cube but gets Vanilla Ice.