Have you gotten your copy of my new book: a collection of serial tales & flash fiction, Séduire (E-Book and Paperback) yet?
I recently signed up to write on Substack as well. Poking the Bear’s Belly for Fun is a place of healing as I speak about the most recent events with my place of employment, as it pertains to racism and discrimination. I welcome your visit.
This will probably be my favorite segment on my blog in a very long time! Welcome to Opening Lyrics to Songs That I Love!
100° and Rising is an album by the British acid jazz band Incognito, produced by band leader Jean-Paul “Bluey” Maunick and released in 1995 on Talkin’ Loud Records.[1] The album peaked at No. 11 on the UK Albums Chart and No. 2 on the UK R&B Albums Chart.[2] In the United States, it reached No. 2 on the Billboard Top Contemporary Jazz Albums chart and No. 29 on the Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums chart.
Stephen Thomas Erlewine of AllMusic hailed the album saying “On 100 Degrees and Rising, the pioneering acid house outfit, Incognito, turn in another first-rate record, featuring their trademark mixture of jazz, soul, and funk. There’s not much to distinguish 100 Degrees from their previous handful of records, but the band is smooth, accomplished, and deep, finding new variations on their trademark sound.”
Spellbound and Speechless is No. 8 on the album, and it gripped my heart, wrung it free of its blood, and washed me clean when I first heard it. Joy Malcolm is the lead singer on this track. Her voice is luring, exceptionally fluid, and memorable. The opening lyrics pulled me in and gave me pause. They make me wish for a love-at-first-sight kind of love. Here is a live rendition of the song… Joy is killing it here, too!
This is a forever JAM for me, and I hope it becomes one for you, too.
For the next five Sundays, I’ll share with you my favorite opening lyrics to songs I truly love. Maybe you’ll enjoy it. Maybe you won’t. Perhaps you’ll share favorite opening lyrics to songs you love as well. Perhaps you won’t. Either way, we’re going to have a good damn time.
See you next week!
This will probably be my favorite segment on my blog in a very long time! Welcome to Opening Lyrics to Songs That I Love!
Ambrosia is an American rock band formed in Los Angeles in 1970. Ambrosia had five Top 40 hit singles released between 1975 and 1980, including the Top 5 hits “How Much I Feel” and “Biggest Part of Me“, and Top 20 hits “You’re the Only Woman (You & I)” and “Holdin’ on to Yesterday“. Most of the original band members have been active with the group continuously since their 1989 reformation to the present day, with the notable exception of original guitarist and lead vocalist David Pack who left in 2000.
“How Much I Feel” is a 1978 song by American rock band Ambrosia. The song, written by the band’s guitarist/vocalist David Pack, was released in the summer of 1978 as the lead single from their third album, Life Beyond L.A., peaking at position three on the Billboard Hot 100 chart[5] and number two for three weeks on the Cash Box Top 100.
I don’t know how anyone can hear David Pack’s crooning and not fall completely in love with this song. My favorite part (aside from the opening lyrics & the chorus) is the riff in the song where he says, “So you try to make amends/But you’re better off as friends” and he takes it up another octave and you can just hear the emotion in the pitch… Whew! It gets me every single time.
Ambrosia has a couple of other songs that I truly love as well, “Biggest Part of Me” and “You’re the Only Woman”, and I won’t deny the fact that those two pull just as much emotion from me, too, but something about them still doesn’t hold a candle to “How Much I Feel.”
For the next six Sundays, I’ll share with you my favorite opening lyrics to songs I truly love. Maybe you’ll enjoy it. Maybe you won’t. Perhaps you’ll share favorite opening lyrics to songs you love as well. Perhaps you won’t. Either way, we’re going to have a good damn time.
See you next week!
We hadn’t realized how important life was until we were all doomed to accept unmitigated, exhausting change. The stroke of every clock sounded, and we ignored them–content to wade in our sullied waters until the next defeat. And now . . . we wallow in a sea of mesmerizing tears, unable to fetch the happiness we prayed for four years ago. How odd–the way life jokes around and pulls its highest card when we believe we’ve won at a game of spades.
Sorrow flows from hearts
Life’s unfailing trials spin us
Another hand’s dealt
Thank you to the indomitable Melissa Lemay for hosting our work in Collaborature, and to my homie and long-time artist friend, Victor Garcia, for his gifts.
attempted to hawk
my wares at one of
the antique spots not too
far from me.
a father & son duo–two
local fellas pimpin’ old
money into new money.
I ain’t mad at them.
I walked around the
hole-in-the-wall, snapped
photos of my favorites, and chit-chatted
with the son
who doted on one particular
piece, but was saddened to let
me go without an offer.
the first person I thought about
who’d love to wear holes
in this place’s carpeted
floors was Mama.
I can’t wait to introduce her
to our very own
Antiques Roadshow
and watch her lose her mind,
fretting about
ancient artifacts and dope pieces
neither of us can afford.
Have you gotten your copy of my new book: a collection of serial tales & flash fiction, Séduire (E-Book and Paperback) yet?
I recently signed up to write on Substack as well. Poking the Bear’s Belly for Fun is a place of healing as I speak about the most recent events with my place of employment as it pertains to racism and discrimination. I welcome your visit.
until it all fades
we’re all just moving
about robotically;
carrying years of
hurt on our backs.
our scrabbly efforts
have done nothing to
alleviate the pain.
forced to exist in a
world of crafted
terror, the light at the
end of the tunnel
f a d e s.
Have you gotten your copy of my new book: a collection of serial tales & flash fiction, Séduire (E-Book and Paperback) yet?
I recently signed up to write on Substack as well. Poking the Bear’s Belly for Fun is a place of healing as I speak about the most recent events with my place of employment as it pertains to racism and discrimination. I welcome your visit.
A Cornered Gurl 
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