Editor’s Picks: April 1, 2020

Atwood Magazine is excited to share our Editor’s Picks column, written and curated by Editor-in-Chief Mitch Mosk. Every week, Mitch will share a collection of songs, albums, and artists who have caught his ears, eyes, and heart. There is so much incredible music out there just waiting to be heard, and all it takes from us is an open mind and a willingness to listen. Through our Editor’s Picks, we hope to shine a light on our own music discoveries and showcase a diverse array of new and recent releases.

This week’s Editor’s Picks features The Beatles, Joe Exotic, a noisy couple, my faucet, The Beatles (again), and a single, solitary clapping of the hands!

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Who taught these slick-dressed kids how to spell, and where the heck is Liverpool?! I’ll tell you one thing: This idea of re-recording your hits in other languages is G.O.L.D., and sure to take off big-time thanks to Die Beatles. “Komm, gib mir deine Hand” and “Sie liebt dich” signify the only British Invasion of Germany, sung in the mother tongue: Released in 1964, the German language versions of “I Want to Hold Your Hand” and “She Loves You” are quite frankly even better than their English counterparts, finding Der Fab Four crooning their classic, beloved liebeslieder with passion, poise, and shockingly accurate pronunciation:

Oh, komm doch, komm zu mir
Du nimmst mir den Verstand
Oh, komm doch, komm zu mir
Komm, gib mir deine Hand
Komm, gib mir deine Hand
Komm, gib mir deine Hand

Oh, du bist so schön
Schön wie ein Diamant
Ich will mit dir gehen
Komm, gib mir deine Hand
Komm, gib mir deine Hand
Komm, gib mir deine Hand

In deinen Armen bin ich glücklich und froh
Das war noch nie bei einer Anderen
Einmal so
Einmal so
Einmal so

Many folks the world over learn English from their favorite bands, but I, for one, am taking the road less traveled: I’m learning German from Der Beatles.

“Let him run the jungle, let ‘em roam their land, then stand back and marvel: What a beautiful cat.” The esteemed Tiger King Joe Exotic released his masterpiece “I Saw a Tiger” back in 2013, and thanks to Netflix’s new documentary, we all now know and can celebrate this song’s majestic brilliance. “I saw a Tiger, and a the tiger saw a man,” sings the prolific animal-loving artist, his breathtaking golden vocals blooming over warm pianos and expressive guitars. Nothing hits quite as hard as one man’s love for wildlife, and this astonishing song stands alone as the quintessential peak of such excellence. Keep loving tigers, Joe Exotic; keep loving them tigers.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JUOZUu0t2CA

They know who they are, and they know what they’ve done EVERY SINGLE NIGHT for the past week now. Like clockwork, 6pm rolls around and the stomping feet begin, followed shortly by a cacophonous tirade of yelling and screaming from the otherwise docile, seemingly sweet couple living in the apartment above mine. I met them once when I first moved into the building; I remember them being very friendly and warm, but recently I’ve come to truly understand the saying, “looks can be deceiving.” Theirs is an emotionally-charged explosion of sound – the cursing, the call-outs, the huffs, puffs, and cries. You’d think it was armageddon up there – and all I can do is sit here, turn the music up, and try to drown them out.

droplet of water is a timeless classic that is constantly keeping me awake at night.

Hypnotic, transcendent, and easily one of the greatest minutes of music ever recorded, The Beatles’ “Wild Honey Pie” is a feverish, trippy journey into the nether reaches of 1968 psychedelia. A musical experiment gone right, the song finds Paul McCartney repeatedly chanting the title over and over again, his soulful vocals melting like honey over a gorgeously sublime twang. I think I speak for the four other “Wild Honey Pie” lovers around the globe, in saying that this song is a true masterpiece of musical and sonic brilliance.

God bless Die Beatles, and God bless “Wild Honey Pie” – the bar against which all hits should be measured.

A clean, crisp smack of the hands resonating into a cool, limitless silent abyss. Need I say anything more?

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