"They say there is no crown for little monkey in this town."

There is no crown for Germany, anyway. But maybe France has a chance. I could talk about how upset I am about the outcome of the first semi-final match, but I think for now I'll try to remain positive and celebrate France, the team that faces Portugal in the second semi-final. France is represented today by Mano Negra, a band which, although from France, was kind of a mutt, really. They sang songs in English, Spanish, and yes, a little French. I'm thinking there's probably some other languages in there too, if you listen close. If fact, a key member of the band, who now goes by the name Manu Chao, is, according to Wikipedia, a "French Latin folk singer of Spanish origin...Manu Chao sings in French, Spanish, Arabic, Galician, Portuguese, English, and Wolof, often mixing them in the same song."

The headline of this post comes from the song King of Bongo, which appears on today's offering, King of Bongo by Mano Negra. This song was rerecorded by Manu Chao on his first solo album as Bongo Bong. The two versions are similar, but different, and both are good in their own ways. I would like to point out to anyone familiar with Manu Chao's solo material that Mano Negra was, as I just said, similar, but different, and both are good in their own ways. Mano Chao was less, eclectic, less sprawling, less all-over-the-place. Mano Negra was more about straight-ahead rock, less ambitious, but still fun to listen to. There are plenty of good songs on this CD besides the title track. They are all good, really, but in particular, Letter To The Censors rocks fairly hard.

I don't know who will win this semi-final match. I'd kind of like France to win, for a number of reasons that include their stellar performance against Brazil. All I know is, whoever wins, come Sunday I'll be rooting for them to kick Italian butts.

http://rapidshare.de/files/24959061/Bongo.rar.html
pw = Chao