I am truly sorry that I have neglected you as of late, especially at this most special time — sometime last week marked the 100th read of this little project of mine! To those of you who check in regularly, I’d like to thank you for your support. As you know, I do have another blog which I update more regularly and which has been much more popular, but this one is quite special to me because I get to share with you, not just random thoughts, but real emotion through music. For all the other readers who have just passed through or stumbled upon this blog by searching for songs (WordPress tells me that the old Google lyric-fragment search, which I am all too familiar with, has brought some of you my way), I am glad that I’ve been able to help you find what you’ve been seeking.

To celebrate the 100th read, and to apologize for my recent absence, as well as my upcoming absence (as noted in my other blog, I am staying away from my computer for the next week-or-so while I try to get caught up on some reading and research), I have decided to give you not just one song today, but 5 songs — some of which come from the albums listed in my recent Summer ’09 Top 5′s, and some that just reflect my end-of-summer melancholy mood these days. These songs are as follows (click the links to play the songs, and check out the lyrics below):

1. Sundowner – “One Hundred Resolutions” (from the album Four One Five Two): chosen because of the reference to “one hundred”, and because, although this song is about New Year’s (when he sings “I wonder where you’ll be bringing in the New Year“, with that change in melody, my heart breaks a little every time), the band is #1 on my list of top summer bands (remember that gem “Midsummer Classic”? These are the same guys). I also feel that it is kind of appropriate for this time of year: New Year’s is all about change, yes, but the end of summer is a big time of change as well, especially when you are still in school. I tend to make more resolutions at back-to-school time, in fact, than I do between December and January. (This year I will spend more time working on my thesis and less time blogging perhaps ought to be a September ’09 resolution, for example). And the depressing tone, with the ironic suggestion not of something new, but of something left behind, caters to my miserable feelings lately.

2. Electric President – “Insomnia” (from the album Electric President).

3. Electric President – “Hum“ (from the album Electric President): I absolutely love this band (hence my inability to narrow it down to just one song to include on here), and the whole self-titled album is amazing. Yes, really, the whole thing. Go buy it. Their sound is so fresh and light, even with their heavily unhappy songs. I love their use of electronic sounds for slower songs, rather than dance music (as seems to be more common) — it gives it such a unique and clean, great sound. And the lyrics are so good in both songs — “Hum” especially being, in my mind, a poetic masterpiece.

4. Billy Bragg – “If You Ever Leave“ (from the album Mr. Love and Justice): I find this song is so powerful. Even when I listen to this song in a good mood, it makes me cry. On my Top Played songs on iTunes, this one ranks 4th. Billy Bragg‘s voice sounds wonderful and tragic with the perfectly-complementing instrumentals. And when he sings “If you ever leave my dear, there’s nothing for me here“, I break every time. Perhaps even more so than “One Hundred Resolutions”, this song captures perfectly my end-of-summer sense of loss and nostalgia — Tide and time march onwards… The season’s ever changing, ever moving on…

5. The Smiths – “Asleep” (from the album Louder Than Bombs): A 1980s post-punk band from Manchester, The Smiths are one of those Essential Bands that you must (if you haven’t already) make yourselves acquainted with ASAP. No matter what your current mood, The Smiths will have a song to both match it perfectly and amplify it. If you don’t feel like going through all of their countless songs (although you really should), at least get familiar with “Asleep”, “Back To The Old House”, “Wonderful Woman”, “Paint a Vulgar Picture”, “Unlovable” and “This Charming Man” (and also the great cover of this one by Death Cab for Cutie). “Asleep”, which I have chosen to feature here, is just so deeply sad — it is the 3rd most played song in iTunes not because I listen to it often, but because when I do feel awful, I can loop this song literally for days. So, although the Play Count says almost 400, I have probably only turned this song on 4 times, but let it play 100 times at each time. It is one of those songs that, even though it is over 4 minutes long, I always get the feeling when I listen to it that it is far too short, that I need to listen to it over and over to feel that I’ve fully absorbed all the beauty it has to offer. Listen to it and see for yourself.

—————————————————–

Lyrics: One Hundred Resolutions by Sundowner

Where have I been all your life?
Sitting on fences — a novocaine for all the senses.
Another year will pass us by.
Making sense of nothing, in defense of something.
I laughed too late and dug myself into a grave.
This year I’ll try not to think too much.
This year I’ll try to stand up for myself.
This year I’ll live like I’ve never lived before,
Yeah, this is my year for sure.
Another stupid clumsy story,
More accidental aspirations.
Another explosion of silence.
I think I’m going deaf, or maybe I’m just hearing less.
This year I’ll try to only listen to myself.
This year I’ll try not to think too much.
This year I’ll try to stand up for myself.
And this year I’ll live like I’ve never lived before,
Yeah, this is my year for sure.
I wonder where you’ll be bringing in the New Year.
As midnight clocks are singing,
Good chance I’ll be slobbering, somewhere.
I’ll probably pass out, wasted, and sleep until the smoke clears.
Vague memories of midnight flash in tune to morning sunlight.
I wake up knowing you’ll never be there.
I’ve got one hundred resolutions, but I’ve got no solutions.
I’ve got one song I write a hundred times.
And only a dozen or so rhymes.
This year I’ll try not to drink so much.
This year I’ll try to stand up straight.
This year let’s live like we’ve never lived before,
Yeah, this is our year for sure.

—————————————————–

Lyrics: Insomnia by Electric President

There’s a light bulb dangling from string;
It’s slowly swaying up over my head now
As I jot down the words that’ll never be sung
And wait for my headache to numb.
And the wind sounds as if the world’s sighing,
And the moon’s just a torn fingernail,
As the TV flickers and hums by the wall
And I wait for my eyesight to fade.
So, So, So,
It’s so damn slow.
So, So, So,
It’s so damn slow.
And the bright-eyed choke on ambition,
And the old folks circle their graves,
And the young ones are busy destroying their names,
And you’re still just wasting away.
I sit and watch the screen for a message,
Some kind of sign that says we’re okay,
But the screen stays blank till I turn the thing off
And wait for my conscience to break.
So, So, So,
It’s so damn slow.
So, So, So,
It’s so damn slow.
And I hope you’re learning to listen,
And I hope you’re learning to stay,
And I hope you find what you’re missing,
And I hope that you’re making your way.
And I’m a headcase if I don’t keep moving,
And my head hurts if I don’t sit still.
It’s an itch that I’ll never stop scratching;
It’s a hole that I’ll never quite fill.
So.

—————————————————–

Lyrics: Hum by Electric President

Footsteps echo through hallways;
Beneath the neon lighting, everyone looks sick.
We sit on a rusty staircase;
You write your name with lipstick on the rail near the wall.
What do you think about me now?
And what do you think about me now
That I’ve fallen down?
Watching the crowds on the sidewalks;
A steady hum of nothing is all that fills the air.
And we sit on a nearby rooftop;
It overflows with pigeons, and we idly scare them off.
What do you think about me now
What do you think about me now
What do you think about me now
What do you think about me now
That I’ve fallen down?

—————————————————–

Lyrics: If You Ever Leave by Billy Bragg

Walking out together,
All along the shore.
Arm in arm beneath the cliffs that tower above us
We hear the breakers roar.
Here we found each other,
Here we made our home.
Took the sea, the sky, the sun, the summertime,
Made it all our own.
If you ever leave,
If you ever leave me,
If you ever leave, my dear,
There’s nothing for me here.
The storms that pound the harbor
Scatter driftwood on the beach.
A million stars that fill the winter night sky
Seem just beyond our reach.
Tide and time march onwards,
Just as sunshine follows rain.
The season’s ever changing, ever moving on,
Yet our love remains.
If you ever leave,
If you ever leave me,
If you ever leave, my love,
You can take the stars above.
If you ever leave,
If you ever leave me,
If you ever leave, my love,
You can bring the curtain down
On this lonesome town.

—————————————————–

Lyrics: Asleep by The Smiths

Sing me to sleep.
Sing me to sleep.
I’m tired and I,
I want to go to bed.
Sing me to sleep.
Sing me to sleep,
And then leave me alone.
Don’t try to wake me in the morning
‘Cause I will be gone.
Don’t feel bad for me;
I want you to know,
Deep in the cell of my heart
I will feel so glad to go.
Sing me to sleep.
Sing me to sleep.
I don’t want to wake up
On my own anymore.
Sing to me.
Sing to me.
I don’t want to wake up
On my own anymore.
Don’t feel bad for me;
I want you to know,
Deep in the cell of my heart
I really want to go.
There is another world,
There is a better world.
There must be.
Well, there must be.
Well, there must be.
Well, there must be.
Well…
Bye, bye
Bye, bye
Bye.

—————————————————–

Well, that’s it. I hope you love these songs as much as I do, and that you’ve been able to get through them without developing a severe depression. They’ve all been chosen (aside from the fact that they are absolutely beautiful) to reflect the inevitable feelings of loss that seem to haunt me at this time of year. As much as I do love the Fall and heading back to school, I can never seem to shake the sadness that comes each year with leaving behind the carefree and somewhat mystical days of summer.

Anyway, I hope these 5 songs will keep you busy listening for the next little while, and I promise I will return before too long with all kinds of treasures for you! That is my resolution.

Thanks again to all of you for stopping by!

-W-

So, the song I give you today is Alberta-based Passenger Action‘s instrumental track, “(Good Ones Are Hard To Come By)” from their self-titled album, and indeed songs as beautiful as this are hard to come by. There is more poetry in this instrumental song than in most of my songs that do include lyrics, and for someone who loves words as much as I do, that is saying something. I also think that the title goes so well with the fact that the song has no words. It gives you the sense that you are being let in on a kind of secret — that this is a good one and it needs no further explaining than to let you hear it. The choice of bracketing the title is also perfect (though I’m not sure if the band intended this or if it just shows up this way in the version I have): it makes the statement a side-note, a mumbling, a thing evident in the song but added unnecessarily for clarity. I won’t say anything more about the song, because that would only undo what Passenger Action does with the brilliant title. I will let you listen and see for yourself:

*** PASSENGER ACTION – (GOOD ONES ARE HARD TO COME BY) *** (click to play)

Enjoy!

-W-

Yes, that’s right — for those of you who have kindly been following both of these blogs of mine, you may experience a sense of deja-vu at this title, which is a reference to Matt & Kim‘s song, “Daylight”. There are several reasons for this repetition:

First, I love this song. Now, I wasn’t really sure if I would put a second Matt & Kim song on here (see Track 8 for their song “Lessons Learned”) because I want to encourage you to purchase their album, and I certainly wasn’t intending to put one up so soon, but I figure if it made it onto my original blog (and indeed it was after posting this song that I realized I should just start an exclusively music page), it deserves a spot on here as well.

Second, the sinus infection that has been with me since the launch of this blog is worse than ever, and I find myself having to enjoy my summer vicariously through Matt & Kim and their fun summer tracks. Still confined to my bed in the basement, this song is about the only “Daylight” I’ve been able to experience the past few weeks.

Finally, in reviewing the stats for the parent blog, I’ve noticed that I get most of my traffic lately from people searching the title lyric-fragment. So, to both boost awareness of this much more music-related blog, and to give the people what they want (I must be on too much medication. You will see that this rarely happens — I prefer to force new and unsought music on people), today I give you the second and final Matt & Kim track that will appear here. If you like them, go buy their album! The whole thing is great, as I probably mentioned before, so you won’t be disappointed.

I’m not going to comment in depth on this song, as I’ve been doing with other ones lately (the pain in my face being small contributor to this decision). My rant on “Lessons Learned” applies to this song as well, and to the entire album. I will, however, say that the lyric-fragment so often searched, the wonderful line that makes this post-title, is so full of imagery, and of that element – nostalgia – that I so adore in songs, that I consider it no less than poetry. The image is youthful, immature even, you might say, but it captures, like “Midsummer Classic”, the essence of summer and innocence, and the sad fleetingness of both.

So, all you Google-lyric-searchers, you may now satisfy your song-craving. Here is “Daylight”:

***MATT & KIM – DAYLIGHT*** (click to play)

Lyrics (taken from the band website):

We cut the legs off of our pants
Threw our shoes into the ocean
Sit back and wave through the daylight
Sit back and wave through the daylight

Slip and slide on subway grates
These shoes are poor man’s ice skates
Fall through like change in the daylight
Fall through like change in the daylight

I miss yellow lines in my roads
Some color on monochrome
Maybe I’ll paint them in myself
Maybe I’ll paint them in myself

These sidewalks liquid then stone
Building walls and an old pay-phone
It rings like all through the daylight
It rings like all through the daylight

And in the daylight we can hitchhike to Maine
I hope that someday I’ll see without these frames
And in the daylight I don’t pick up my phone
‘Cause in the daylight anywhere feels like home

I have five clocks in my life
And only one has the time right
I’ll just unplug it for today
I’ll just unplug it for today

Open hydrant rolled down windows
This car might make a good old boat
And float down Grand Street in daylight
And float down Grand Street in daylight

And with just half of a sunburn
New yellow lines that I earned
Step back and here comes the night-time
Step back and here comes the night-time

And in the daylight we can hitchhike to Maine
I hope that someday I’ll see without these frames
And in the daylight I don’t pick up my phone
‘Cause in the daylight anywhere feels like home.

———————————————————————

That’s it for today. Sorry I haven’t put a whole lot of effort into this post. I figure after “Midsummer Classic” I ought to give you guys a break from my song passion and analysis for a little while anyway.

Until next time, keep waving through the daylight (since you can, unlike those of us with sinus infections who are stuck inside),

-W-

The song, “Midsummer Classic” by Sundowner, is, I have to say, my all-time-favorite song. Now, for someone like me, who is intensely obsessed with music, this is a bold statement to make. To think that out of all my Song Loops, all of which affect me so profoundly, I could pick just one, seems outrageous even to me. But from the moment I discovered this song last summer, I knew it was the one.

For one thing, the band describes itself as Acoustic/Folk/Punk — a combination that may initially seem odd, but which actually goes together brilliantly. Add to that the fact that my two favorite music genres are punk and folk — two extremes that seemed irreconcilable until I found Sundowner. And in fact, while this song is by far my favorite on the album Four One Five Two, the whole album is amazing. I first caught glimpses of “Midsummer Classic” in someone’s car, and immediately went home, found out the name of the song (By Google-searching lyric fragments) and bought the album from Amazon. Ok, I admit, I did initially try to download it — not because I thought it wouldn’t be worth the money, but because I was in pain at not being able to hear that song again, and I couldn’t wait the 3-5 business days for shipping (even iTunes store, I was devastated to find out, didn’t carry it at the time). Anyway, aside from going through a kind of withdrawal during the shipping period, I can assuredly say that this CD was the best investment I’ve ever made. All of the songs are great, and the more you listen to it, the better it gets. There is not one song that I’ve listened to under 20 times, and the average play-count for all songs on the album is a staggering 76 (this is according to iTunes, and doesn’t even count the times played in the car, on a CD player, or on MySpace). But while all the songs are great, none have been granted as much play time as “Midsummer Classic.” I’ve listened to “Midsummer Classic” nearly 400 times (again according to iTunes), and it is the only song ever to survive such a high play-count without diminishing at all in effect (see the Track 7 post for a description of the inverse relationship between play-count and level of song-induced paralysis). I am still brought to tears when it plays, still paralyzed by how beautifully devastating it is. And on top of this, I can listen to this song in any mood, in any season (as you may have noticed, songs tend to be categorized as “summer songs” or “winter songs” in my mind, and often I can’t listen to a song out of its designated season), and it is always just as good.

“Midsummer Classic” (as well as some of the other songs on the album) just radiates nostalgia. Everything about it — the singer’s detached-but-slightly-pained voice, the simple, pretty background sound of the acoustic guitar, the brilliantly appropriate title, and the beautiful lyrics — produces the effect of bittersweet memory. When I remember past summer love and frivolity — its beauty and its sadness, its simplicity and complexity, its bitterness and its overwhelming sweetness — I get the exact same feeling that I get when I hear this song. This song encapsulates absolutely those feelings of nostalgia, missing or longing, and the painful recognition of growing up and losing, unwillingly, that past self.

I really can’t say enough about this song, but I will let you listen and see for yourself what I mean:

SUNDOWNER – MIDSUMMER CLASSIC

Lyrics:

I cut corners on the carpets now
I dance quarters on the windowsill
The summer left me to a different fate
This drastic urge will take some time to find its weight.

I run head on into traffic in the afternoon
I log the longest miles alone at night inside my room
Where all directions lead right back to me
All my ambitions swim like driftwood through my dark sea of sleep.

And it’ll take some time
Yeah it’ll take some time
But the dawn will come,
Yeah the tide will rise.

Her eyes swelled up in the bar’s soft lights
I drank and watched her laugh
And then we sang out loud in the dying streets
And I was so drunk my heart floated like a feather in the breeze
I got so high off all the blinking lights,
The colors painted in the night.

Midsummer classic; blue and gold
Our city casts its shadow.
A kettle boil heads for a roll.
Sundowning’s never getting old.
And underneath this crooked moon
I can smell the night begin to bloom,
The northern wind will change again
And my geography will bend
Back and forth across the map until I reach the end
Back and forth across the map until I reach the end.

And it’ll take some time
Yeah it’ll take some time
But the dawn will come
Yeah the tide will rise, yeah.

——————————————————————–

Now, how many of you aren’t taken right back to the summers of your youth with the lines “Her eyes swelled up in the bar’s soft lights. I drank and watched her laugh, and then we sang out loud in the dying streets. And I was so drunk my heart floated like a feather in the breeze. I got so high off all the blinking lights, the colors painted in the night”, and then saddened by the realization that “The northern wind will change again”? I think this song is just so beautiful, and very appropriate as we approach the end of the summer and all its magic.

But before this song sends me into another surge of emotional description, I will leave you to extract your own meanings and emotions from it, hoping only that you are able to see and appreciate its perfection as I do.

Until next time, keep singing, laughing, sundowning,

-W-

The song is “Lessons Learned” by Matt & Kim, off the 2009 album Grand, and I’ve found myself listening to it a lot lately — in particular yesterday and today. I love everything about this song: the upbeat, electronic sound, the perfect harmony of the singers’ voices, the strangely contrasting hopeful and hopeless lyrics. One line in particular I love: “Thinking about tomorrow won’t change how I feel today.” Though this statement initially appears somewhat pessimistic, it comes out with such conviction and resonant truth that it becomes optimistic with its assurance that this is the case, and even if it isn’t the best case, at least now we know. Thinking about tomorrow won’t change how I or you feel today, but somewhere in that statement and the singer’s tone there is the implicit suggestion that although tomorrow won’t change today, it will eventually replace today. The strange paradox of these lines — the hope in giving up on forced hope and just accepting today’s sadness or misfortune — has helped me to get past the self-absorbed, One-Song-Looping depression of yesterday and move on to the happier melodies of Matt & Kim and of today. And I suppose that is the lesson to be learned here.

So, with that being said, here is “Lessons Learned”:

MATT & KIM – LESSONS LEARNED

Lyrics:

Da da da-da-da-da, da da da
Da da da-da-da-da
(repeat)

T-T-Tape holds things that cannot stick
And keep leftovers in the fridge
While lessons learned go down the drain
I can’t believe everything
And all the bad names gone
And the good ones were all wrong

And so I stayed up all night
Slept in all day
This is my sound
Thinking about tomorrow won’t change how I feel today.

Da da da-da-da-da, da da da
Da da da-da-da-da
(repeat)

Never let your mark erase
‘Cause broken legs can be replaced
Two steps to the finish line
Three sips till I finish mine
A straw will always suck it out
Close your eyes and use your mouth
And tell me about your song

And so I stayed up all night
Slept in all day
This is my sound
Thinking about tomorrow won’t change how I feel today.

Da da da-da-da-da, da da da
Da da da-da-da-da
(repeat)

——————————————————————–

That’s it for now — I hope you enjoy this song as much as I do! Their other songs are really great too, so I recommend that you check them out on MySpace, especially the song “Daylight” which I absolutely love. But really, it is impossible to play favorites with this band — just when you think you love one song the most, another comes on and changes your mind. And no matter what song is playing, the melody is just so catchy that you can’t help putting aside your worries or your sadness and just singing along. So check them out, and sing along.

This is our sound.

-W-

I had intended to post this song a few days ago, but couldn’t bring myself to stretch out of the fetal position, pause the Song Loop, and actually get anything done. Now that the intoxicating effects of this song have been somewhat diminished through 2 solid days of over-exposure (Note: songs are like alcohol; the first time you hear/consume a powerful song/drink, it slaps you in the face, leaves you speechless and crying and completely changes everything around you. But just like Alcohol Tolerance — that expensive monster that eventually creeps up on you — listening to a song on repeat for 2 days eventually lessens the song’s hold on you, making it, though no less beautiful, at least less paralyzing), I am able to sit up and write this and share that wonderful piece of perfection with you.

The song is The Decemberist‘s “The Engine Driver” from the album Picaresque, which was introduced to me by fellow music-enthusiast TB in a song-sharing conversation inspired by the very blog that you now read, and when you hear the song in a moment, you will see what a monumental gift that is. I will let the song speak for itself now, adding only that within the first 12 hours of discovering it, my iTunes Play Count soared to 115 plays — a record One Song Loop, even surpassing Regina Spektor’s “Samson” (which will likely show up on here in the near future), which, for 2 years, held the record for most plays in the smallest interval of time.

Here is “The Engine Driver”:

THE DECEMBERISTS – THE ENGINE DRIVER

Lyrics:

I’m an engine driver
On a long run, on a long run
Would I were beside her
She’s a long one, such a long one

And if you don’t love me let me go
And if you don’t love me let me go

I’m a county lineman
On the high line, on the high line
So will be my grandson
There are powerlines in our bloodlines

And if you don’t love me let me go
And if you don’t love me let me go

And I am a writer, writer of fictions
I am the heart that you call home
And I’ve written pages upon pages
Trying to rid you from my bones
My bones
My bones

I’m a money lender
I have fortunes upon fortunes
Take my hand for tender
I am tortured, ever tortured

And if you don’t love me let me go
And if you don’t love me let me go

And I am a writer, writer of fictions
I am the heart that you call home
And I’ve written pages upon pages
Trying to rid you from my bones
I am a writer, I am all that you have hoped on

And I’ve written pages upon pages
Trying to rid you from my bones
My bones
My bones

(And if you don’t love me let me go)
And if you don’t love me let me go
(And if you don’t love me let me go)
And if you don’t love me let me go.

——————————————————————-

This song is tragic on so many levels. Aside from the somewhat-common (though done very differently) unrequited-love theme, there is something so painfully devastating about the lines “There are powerlines in our bloodlines”; “I have fortunes upon fortunes / Take my hand for tender”; and, my personal favorite, “I am a writer, writer of fictions” — a subtle detachment from love, human understanding, and happiness inherent in those lines. In fact, I would say that if you look into the sound and words of this song, you can find just about every human unhappiness lurking there. But its ability to capture the devastation of the human condition is just so.. well.. beautiful. And the fact that TB, cpottie, K (who, perhaps less paralyzingly affected by it, beat me to the blog-sharing of it) and I could all be so deeply moved by this song, all feel that it speaks to our specific and very different emotional struggles and sadnesses, I think supports that claim.

So, now that I’ve said all I can about this song — the perfection of it really being beyond what my meager vocabulary can express — I leave you alone, to enjoy this song with the lonely, undivided attention it deserves.

Until next time, I remain, tortured, ever tortured,

-W-

Now, few songs from my childhood, save for Bob Dylan and other such classics, have made it through my high-school years and remain intact in my heart today — Something Corporate‘s “Konstantine” though, is definitely an exception. A friend of mine actually has a line from this song tattooed on her foot — and yes, this is a song that you can love That Much. Aside from the beautiful and timeless piano in this song, the epic 10 minute length, and the strangely simple-but-complex, common-but-heartbreaking lyrics, it is really the singer’s voice that makes this song. You can actually hear the pain in his words — note especially the passionate repetition of the line, “Did you know I miss you?” — giving the song undeniable, unforgettable character. This is especially the case in the acoustic version, but since I am at this moment unable to locate that version, the studio one will have to do — though it is by no means any less wonderful; it is just wonderful in different ways (for example, the acoustic version has “Did you know I miss you? God I miss you,” which is pronounced with so much pain that it makes you cringe a little; but some of my favorite lines from the studio version — “when the first star you see may not be a star; I’m not your star” — do not appear at all in the acoustic version).

Aside from that, there isn’t a whole lot I can say about this song that would actually do it justice — I think, when you hear it, you will understand why, time and again, over the past 6-or-so years, this song has found its way back into my Song Loop.

So get our your Kleenex, and your tub of chocolate ice-cream, and listen…

SOMETHING CORPORATE – KONSTANTINE

Lyrics:

I can’t imagine all the people that you know
And the places that you go, when the lights are turned down low
And I don’t understand all the things you’ve seen
But I’m slipping in between
You and your big dreams
It’s always you in my big dreams

And you tell me that it’s over
Wake up lying in a patch of four leaf clover
And you’re restless, and I’m naked
You’ve got to get out, you can’t stand to see me shaking
No, could you let me go
I didn’t think so

And you don’t want to be here in the future
So you say the present’s just a pleasant interruption to the past
And you don’t want to look much closer
‘Cause you’re afraid to find out all this hope
You had sent into the sky by now had crashed
And it did, because of me

And then you bring me home
Afraid to find out that you’re alone, no
And I’m sleeping in your living room
But we don’t have much room to live

I had these dreams, in them I learned to play guitar
Maybe cross the country, become a rockstar
And there was hope in me that I could take you there
But damn it you’re so young — well I don’t think I care
And if I hurt you then I’m sorry
Please don’t think that this was easy

And then you bring me home
‘Cause we both know what it’s like to be alone, no
And I’m dreaming in your living room
But we don’t have much room to live

And Konstantine is walking down the stairs
Doesn’t she look good
Standing in her underwear?
And I was thinking, what I was thinking –
But we’ve been drinking and it doesn’t get me anywhere

My Konstantine came walking down the stairs
And all that I could do was touch her long, blonde hair
And I’ve been thinking, but it hurts me thinking
That these nights when we were drinking
No they never got us anywhere, no

This is because I can spell ‘confusion’ with a K, and I can like it
It’s to dying in anothers arms, and why i had to try it
It’s to Jimmy Eat World, and those nights in my car
When the first star you see may not be a star
I’m not your star
Isn’t that what you said, what you thought this song meant?

And if this is what it takes just to lie with my mistakes
And live with what I did to you
And all the hell I put you through
I always catch the clock; it’s 11:11
And now you want to talk
It’s not hard to dream, you’ll always be my Konstantine
My Konstantine

They’ll never hurt you like I do
No, they’ll never hurt you like I do
No, No, No, No, No, No, No, No

This is to a girl who got into my head
With all the pretty things she did
Hey, you know, you keep me up in bed
This is to a girl who got into my head
With all these fucked up things I did
Hey, maybe, baby, you could keep me up in bed
My Konstantine

Yeah, spin around me like a dream
We played out on this movie screen
And I said,
Did you know I missed you?
Did you know I miss you?
Did you know I miss you?
Did you know I miss you?
Did you know I miss you?
Did you know I miss you?
Did you know I miss you?

I miss you.

And then you bring me home
And we go to sleep but this time not alone, no, no,
And you’ll kiss me in your living room, I know,
I know you miss me in your living room
Cause these nights I think maybe that I miss you in my living room
But we don’t have much room
I said, does anybody need that room?
Because we all need a little more room to live

My Konstantine.

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And now, good readers, after writing out those lyrics for you, I am back to a most dejected state, so I will cut this off here. I promise there are happier songs to come in the near future, so don’t abandon me yet!

Until next time, keep dreaming,

-W-

Salut, mes auditeurs fidèles

I’ve chosen “Corbeau” for you today, because, though I have a very limited understanding of French, I feel this song is really tragically beautiful — and in that way, similar to Godard’s film. The last line, “On joue au couteau et on peut partager le même lit”, crudely translates into something along the lines of “We play with the knife and we can share the same bed” (I must here stress my very limited knowledge of the French language, but you can get the idea anyway). This line perfectly summarizes the confused violence and sexuality, and moreover, the essential lostness, of Godard’s “Pepsi Generation,” though it is written some 40-or-so years later. The other day, a friend and I were discussing the various names given to different cultural generations — the Interbellum Generation, the Baby Boomers, Generation X, Generation Y, and whatever others in-between — and I had been confused about which one encompassed Gertrude Stein’s “Lost Generation.” Now, after seeing this film, I realize that though Stein was referring specifically to the period after WWI (up until, it is generally agreed, the Great Depression), that title fits just about any 20th-21st century generation. Thus, Hemingway can write The Sun Also Rises in the early 20s, Godard can create Masculin Féminin in the 60s, and Martin can sing “Corbeau” in 2008 — and though they all can be said to expose a particular period, they all can also be said to share a similar theme of perpetual, incurable loss.

So, to put an end to this tangent that I find myself on, I will now give you the song. As, you know, I know very little French, I can’t be sure if the lyrics, which I found online (though I suspect they are provided with the CD that I have downstairs and am just too lazy to find), are entirely correct. But they seem to sound alright. Here is “Corbeau”:

COEUR DE PIRATE – CORBEAU

Lyrics:

Et deux par deux, sans compter nos morts,

Qu’on laisse derrière des ébauches fanées, des secrets de carrière

Et trois par trois, dans nos cœurs essoufflés,

Des secousses se forment, on réfléchit plus tard, mais n’arrive faut rêver

Et je ne sais plus à quoi penser, c’est dur d’être libre comme toi

Et je ne sais plus à qui penser, c’est fini, rhabille toi.

Et deux par deux, on avale nos mots.

C’est dure d’oublier ce que l’on connais et ce qui imprègne nos peaux.

Et trois par trois, nos cœurs d’la partie.

On joue au couteau et on peut partager le même lit.

Et je ne sais plus à quoi penser, c’est dur d’être libre comme toi

Et je ne sais plus à qui penser, c’est fini, rhabille toi.

Et je ne sais plus à quoi penser, c’est dur d’être libre comme toi

Et je ne sais plus à qui penser, c’est fini, rhabille toi.

Et deux par deux, on avale nos mots.

C’est dure d’oublier se que l’on a connu, qui a imprégné nos peaux

Et trois par trois, nos cœurs d’la partie.

On joue au couteau et on peut partager le même lit.

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If you like this song, or are interested in French music at all, you should check out the rest of her songs. Like I said, I have the album, and it is really quite good.

Until next time, take care, and ne jouez pas aux couteaux,

-W-

Unfortunately, this is another one with difficult-to-make-out and impossible-to-find lyrics, and I really am too warm and tired to try to decipher them for you, as I did earlier this morning with Phoenix. I hope you will forgive me for the laziness of this post. I promise that once the heat dies down, I will give you my all.

Until then, here’s “Re:tired”:

SHOTGUN & JAYBIRD  - RE:TIRED

Love,

-W-

Alright, so today’s band is Phoenix, a Paris-based band that I have recently fallen in LOVE with. The song I post today is best suited to my mood, but my first love by this band was “Lisztomania” (which may show up on here sometime in the future). My iTunes Play-Count for that song was in the triple-digits in a startlingly short period of time (I should note here that I am mildly obsessive-compulsive, but that in no way takes away from the genius of the song, and the band in general). But after spending more time with “Countdown” in an attempt to figure out the lyrics for you, good readers, the position of Favorite has been expanded to fit this song as well. Now, I still may have some of the lyrics wrong — the ones I was able to find online were absolutely atrocious and severely incorrect, and I feel the band deserves more than this, because the song is really brilliant — so if you are able to find any mistakes, please comment and I will make the proper adjustments. Based on what I was able to hear, though, the lyrics are really extraordinary. I can’t help but cry when it comes to those last two stanzas — the music, combined with his voice at this part, and those perfectly tragic lines, is just too beautiful for me to listen to indifferently. The whole Wolfgang Amadeus album is really great though, and I recommend that you check out their other songs on MySpace asap.

For now, though, here is that wonderful “Countdown (Sick for the Big Sun)” — chosen for today’s Track because it is (a) amazing, and (b) reflective of my Sick-ness as a result of the Big Sun, and of my Countdown until this (literally) infernal season is over.

PHOENIX – COUNTDOWN (SICK FOR THE BIG SUN)

Lyrics (as far as I can tell):

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To keep with the Parisian theme (by using one of my limited French stock-phrases): C’est magnifique, non? I suggest that you locate your iTunes Repeat button now.

Until next time, keep looping,

-W-