Songs of the month - February 2021

Another Month, some more songs, let's cut to the chase.

Into the Mystic - Van Morrison

"Into the Mystic" is a song written by Van Morrison for his Moondance album (1970).

The words "Into the Mystic" describe entering the unknown, and the song is similar to Van's other songs describing spiritual journey. As he said to the crowd at Whisky A Go Go in Los Angeles in 1969, "I guess the song is just about being part of the universe.”

It was originally called "Into the Misty", but Van Morrison later changed it to "Into the Mystic". Many people compare the song to "Yesterday" by The Beatles, as both songs just seem to fit the same artistic flavour of the lyrics perfectly fitting the emotion conveyed by the music.

Mr Jones - Counting Crows

Mr Jones was written by David Bryson and Adam Duritz of Counting Crows as a lead single and third track for their 1993 debut album August and Everything After.

The song is about a series of fictional events by a character called "Mr Jones" in New York City (mentioned in the song as "New Amsterdam").

The song is about wanting to not be lonely, and looking forward to hopeful fame.

Snow (Hey Oh) - Red Hot Chili Peppers

Snow (Hey Oh) is a song from the 2006 Red Hot Chili Peppers album called "Stadium Arcadium".

Singer Anthony Kiedis says that the song is "about surviving, starting fresh." He goes on to say "I've made a mess of everything, but I have a blank slate—a canvas of snow—and I get to start over". People believe that the "snow" can reference "drugs", and the song is about being clean from them.

I think that the song is about finding the truth. The truth is covered by layers of snow, constantly building up. We believe that the snow is at the ground level, and we can never truly register the depth of the snow or the topography of the true ground until we set foot in the snow. I think it's about how truth and trust is hard to come-by in a modern world.

(Don't Fear) The Reaper - Blue Öyster Cult

The song is written and sung by lead guitarist Donald "Buck Dharma" Roeser for the band's 1976 album called "Agents of Fortune"

The song is about the inevitability of death, and foolishness of fearing it, referencing "The Grim Reaper"; often seen as the personification of Death itself. The Reaper would collect the souls of a person, causing the victim's death.

At approximately 2:30, the song changes theme. I think this references the change between life and death and confrontation of "The Reaper".

Just Like Heaven - The Cure

The Cure wrote "Just Like Heaven" in Southern France in 1987 for their album Kiss Me, Kiss Me, Kiss Me and became their first American Hit after it's release in 1988.

The song, according to Robert Smith, is about a trip with his wife to Beachy Head in Sussex; Which I happened to visit last year during a inter-lockdown free-travel period.

The music video was also filmed at Pinewood Studios, where the 007 films were filmed and not too far from where I'm writing this.

Should I Stay or Should I Go? - The Clash

I first heard this song in the 2016 series Stranger Things and didn't think much more of it at the time, but this song managed to return to me this month, thanks to the Youtube Algorithm.

The song is by The Clash, from their album 1981 Combat Rock, featuring Mick Jones on lead vocals.

The song is about indecision, and the two-brainedness of the song compliments it's theme well. What do I mean? Well, the Spanish and English lyrics contrasting shows that the singer has two opinions of what he should do.

That's it for this month!

Tune in later for more!