SOTD – Deb Talan “Forgiven”

Deb Talan “Forgiven”

You worry on
hurting anybody anymore
You worry on
small comfort
One of us seems not to tremble
You make a rift inside me
every day
Then you choose to stay
I walk the edge and
push it wider

You are forgiven
I open all my doors
You are forgiven
What a heart is for
I am no martyr
You give me reason
I try harder
and I wait
for a warmer season
Meanwhile,
You are
forgiven

I hear a soft noise like a sigh,
A singing
like a lullaby
It is my heart
It is this wind
that blows through,
Where you held me closer,
Where we whisper
This is
this is true

You are forgiven
I open all my doors
You are forgiven
What a heart is for
I am no martyr
You give me reason
I try harder
And I wait
for a warmer season
Meanwhile,
You are
forgiven

And it’s time
to go
I cannot stay
You cannot know
My love
So dear
Will it be faith
or fear?

You are forgiven
open all my doors
You are forgiven
What a heart is for
I am no martyr
You give me reason
I try harder
And I wait
for a warmer season
Meanwhile,
You are
forgiven

You are
Forgiven

SOTD – Aesthetic Perfection “Schadenfreude”

Here’s the song of the day – BKA “superbadgirl is an angry, angry girl.”

Ah well, at least I’ve managed to turn off the Florence + The Machine album. I actually really love this whole album (A Violent Emotion.) If the F+TM album is all about breakups and painful love from a feminine perspective, this is all about those things from a more aggressive (and not to be sexist but male-feeling) perspective. This is all “I love you a lot but you suck and now I hope you die.”

If you like this, also check out “Pale” by the same band. (also, it’s got a great beat and you can dance to it!)

Aesthetic Perfection “Schadenfreude”

I’m not evil,
You’re just weak,
You’re too afraid to taste a thing so sweet,
It’s ok,
More for me,
I think you’re better off dead.

I can’t deny what is a part of me,
I take joy out of your misery,
Lay down,
Lay down,
Lay down, yeah
I guess that’s what you do best.

I can’t give you what you need but I can give you what you want,
I’ve found that all the things I love I despise,
I can’t give you what you need but I can give you what you want,
And when you hate the things you love then learn to love the things
That you hate.

I want one thing,
Suffering,
I want one thing,
You living in hell,
It’s so much better than apologies,
I want to watch it swell,
Don’t need to be the one who does it to you,
Don’t need to twist the knife or push it through,
Just want to see that you’re in misery too,
Just like me inside.

Their greedy eyes light up,
They’re salivating,
Everyone knows there’s no better way,
It’s like a crime to you,
It’s like the best for me,
Let it all out.

You can’t give me what I need but you will give me what I want,
And then I’ll leave what’s left of you to the flies,
You can’t give us what we need but you will give us what we want,
My dear your guests are waiting,
Time to begin

I want one thing,
Suffering,
I want one thing,
You living in hell,
It’s so much better than apologies,
I want to watch it swell,
Don’t need to be the one who does it to you,
Don’t need to twist the knife or push it through,
Just want to see that you’re in misery too,
Just like me inside.

I think you’re better off dead,
I think you’re better off dead,
I think you’re better off dead,
I think you’re better off dead.

SOTD – Florence + The Machine “Blinding”

Sorry, I know it’s F+TM overload this week, but I am in one of those states where I feel like I might never listen to another album ever again. Give me a week or two to get over it. But SERIOUSLY PEOPLE. This fucking album. It’s… it’s all about everything.

Florence + The Machine “Blinding”

Seems that I have been held, in some dreaming state
A tourist in the waking world, never quite awake
No kiss, no gentle word could wake me from this slumber
Until I realised that it was you who held me under

Felt it in my fists, in my feet, in the hollows of my eyelids
Shaking through my skull, through my spine and down through my ribs

No more dreaming of the dead as if death itself was undone
No more cawing like a crow for a boy, for a body in a garden
No more dreaming like a girl so in love, so in love
No more dreaming like a girl so in love, so in love
No more dreaming like a girl so in love with the wrong world

And I could hear the thunder and see the lightning crack
All around the world was waking, I never could go back
’cause all the walls of dreaming, they were torn wide open
And finally it seemed that the spell was broken

And all my bones began to shake, my eyes flew open
And all my bones began to shake, my eyes flew open

No more dreaming of the dead as if death itself was undone
No more cawing like a crow for a boy, for a body in a garden
No more dreaming like a girl so in love, so in love
No more dreaming like a girl so in love, so in love
No more dreaming like a girl so in love with the wrong world

Snow White’s stitching up the circuitboards
Synapse slipping through the hidden door
Snow White’s stitching up the circuitboard

No more dreaming of the dead as if death itself was undone
No more cawing like a crow for a boy, for a body in a garden
No more dreaming like a girl so in love, so in love
No more dreaming like a girl so in love, so in love
No more dreaming like a girl so in love with the wrong world

Snow White’s stitching up the circuitboards
Synapse slipping through the hidden door
Snow White’s stitching up the circuitboard
Synapse slipping through the hidden door

SOTD – Florence + The Machine “Cosmic Love”

Rarely have I run into music that expresses so perfectly the pain of unhealthy, destructive love. It’s that “I love you so much I’ll let you kill me” and “I’d rather be cold with you than warm alone.” It hurts my everything to be in the middle of these songs.

I seriously love this album and am going to marry and/or make out with it forthwith. I don’t really want to know what happened to this girl, but it had to hurt like hell and I hope that writing and performing these songs has helped her.

Florence + The Machine “Cosmic Love”

A falling star fell from your heart
and landed in my eyes
I screamed aloud, as it tore through them
and now it’s left me blind

The stars, the moon, they have all been blown out
You left me in the dark
No dawn, no day, I’m always in this twilight
In the shadow of your heart

And in the dark, I can hear your heartbeat
I tried to find the sound
But then it stopped, and I was in the darkness,
So darkness I became

The stars, the moon, they have all been blown out
You left me in the dark
No dawn, no day, I’m always in this twilight
In the shadow of your heart

I took the stars from our eyes, and then I made a map
And knew that somehow I could find my way back
Then I heard your heart beating, you were in the darkness too
So I stayed in the darkness with you

The stars, the moon, they have all been blown out
You left me in the dark
No dawn, no day, I’m always in this twilight
In the shadow of your heart

SOTD – A Fine Frenzy “Almost Lover”

A Fine Frenzy – “Almost Lover” Listen at last.fm

Your fingertips across my skin
The palm trees swaying in the wind
Images
You sang me Spanish lullabies
The sweetest sadness in your eyes
Clever trick

Well, I never want to see you unhappy
I thought you’d want the same for me

Goodbye, my almost lover
Goodbye, my hopeless dream
I’m trying not to think about you
Can’t you just let me be?
So long, my luckless romance
My back is turned on you
Should’ve known you’d bring me heartache
Almost lovers always do

We walked along a crowded street
You took my hand and danced with me
Images
And when you left, you kissed my lips
You told me you would never, never forget
These images

No

Well, I’d never want to see you unhappy
I thought you’d want the same for me

Goodbye, my almost lover
Goodbye, my hopeless dream
I’m trying not to think about you
Can’t you just let me be?
So long, my luckless romance
My back is turned on you
Should’ve known you’d bring me heartache
Almost lovers always do

I cannot go to the ocean
I cannot drive the streets at night
I cannot wake up in the morning
Without you on my mind
So you’re gone and I’m haunted
And I bet you are just fine

Did I make it that
Easy to walk right in and out
Of my life?

Goodbye, my almost lover
Goodbye, my hopeless dream
I’m trying not to think about you
Can’t you just let me be?
So long, my luckless romance
My back is turned on you
Should have known you’d bring me heartache
Almost lovers always do

SOTD – Devics “Lie to Me”

Lie to Me

Devics – Lie to Me (listen at their site)

you’re wasting all your time here
riding around in the sun
alone and idling
come wander back to me
you know i’ll always be there

lie to me, lie to me
make like you love me
lie to me, lie to me, oh

with this one you never go
and this one you never show yourself
with this one you tell it all
and turn your world into a ghost town

lie to me, lie to me
make like you love me
lie to me, c’mon it’s easy

don’t think of what we can’t be
i know what you need and you know that you like it
the name you were born with
your soul on your sleeve
let me believe in something

SOTD – Remy Zero “Prophecy”

Kind of an oldie but definitely a goodie. Sometimes you love a song for no reason, and then the reason comes later.

Remy Zero “Prophecy” (listen free at last.fm)

Consider this a sign.
This is a train in the night
And now it’s time for you to go
You know you had a healthy life, boy.

You walk this world like you’re a ghost
Your hands are coming through the needles
Sick of your tragic and your evils
I am the keeper of the songs of everyone

Look into the sun and see your soul is dying
Used to feel the faith, but now you’re tired of trying
Should have left alone what you have stolen from everyone
Mmm…How you feeling?
Seems a little sick to me now

This is a coming of the times
You are a witness to the movement
If all you’re seeing is your lies
You had your chance, but now you’ve blown it.
You want this world so you can own them
I am the keeper of the songs of everyone

Look into the sun and see your soul is dying
Used to feel the faith, but now you’re tired of trying
Should have left alone what you have stolen from everyone
Mmm…How you feeling?
Seems a little sick to me

From the light on high
A chance to change your fate
Forgiveness falling down
On those who chose to wait
Remember the time
Find yourself home again
Deep within your light
Find yourself home again find yourself home again
It’s a choice
You have chosen your own

It’s like I told you
I could turn this into light
If you raise the mask, I could lead us home tonight

Look into the sun and see your soul is dying
Used to feel the faith, but now you’re tired of trying
Should have left alone what you have stolen from everyone
How you feeling?
Look into the sun and see your soul is dying
Used to feel the faith, but now you’re tired of trying
Should have left alone what you have stolen from everyone
Mmm…How you feeling?
Seems a little sick
It seems a little sick
It seems a little sick to me now

SOTD – Over the Rhine “Fool”

Over the Rhine “Fool”

Fool
Fool me
I’m just a sentimental fool
It happened again
When
I remembered you
And all that we’ve been through
Love
Truly
I know this world it can be so cruel
I won’t let you go

Fool
Use me
This is the part that I can’t refuse
Just do what you do
My heart’s becoming true
It aches to make room for you
Fool pursue me
To heaven above or to hell below
Just don’t let go

Fool me
I’m just a sentimental fool
I can’t let you go

SOTD – Jenny Owen Youngs “Fuck Was I”

Jenny Owen Youngs “Fuck Was I” - listen at blip.fm

Love grows in me like a tumor,
parasite bent on devouring its host.
I’m developing my sense of humor,
til I can laugh at my heart between your teeth,
til I can laugh at my face beneath your feet.

Skillet on the stove is such a temptation,
maybe I’ll be the lucky one that doesn’t get burned.
What the fuck was I thinking?

Love plows through me like a dozer,
I’ve got more give than a bale of hay,
and there’s always a big mess left over.
With a what did you do?
And what did you say?

Skillet on the stove is such a temptation,
maybe I’ll be the special one that doesn’t get burned.
What the fuck was I thinking?

Love tears me up like a demon.
Opens the wounds and fills them with lead,
and I’m having some trouble just breathing.
If we weren’t such good friends I think that I’d hate you.
If we weren’t such good friends I’d wish you were dead.

Skillet on the stove is such a temptation,
maybe I’ll be the lucky one that doesn’t get burned.
What the fuck was I thinking?

Oh it’s so embarrassing
(What the fuck was I thinking?)
I’m this awkward and uncomfortable thing,
and I’m running out of places to hide it
I’m running out of places to hide it

What the fuck was I thinking?
(you know that I’ve got what you need)
What the fuck was I thinking?
(you know that I’ve got what you need)
What the fuck was I thinking?
(you know that I’ve got what you need)

SOTD – Kathleen Wilhoite “Wish We Never Met”

Buffy fans will remember this song from the Season 3 episode “Consequences” where Willow finds out that Xander’s had sex with Faith. This is the song that plays while Willow is crying in the bathroom.

Kathleen Wilhoite “Wish We Never Met”

Disappointment stops by from time to time
to see how I’m doing
and he came by last night
right after you left
my life in ruin

When I don’t get what I want
the spoiled child inside breaks down
kickin, screamin, prayin and dreamin
for a love
lost and found

Well I wish we never
wish we never
wish we never met
‘cuz now I’ve got my heart set on you

Humiliation asked me out last night
I had nothing else to do
so we took a cab to loopy drunk,
had conversations
I couldn’t get through

And another stranger’s eyes
were trying desperatly to meet mine
but i looked away tabs to pay lies to say
like “How are you?” “Oh I’m doing fine”

Ohh but I wish we never
wish we never
wish we never met
cuz now I’ve got my heart set
I wish we never
wish we never
wish we never met
‘cuz now I’ve got my heart set on you

And I don’t get what I want
from another strangers eyes
no and I don’t get what I want
from another strangers eyes

I wish we never
I wish we never
wish we never met
‘cuz now I’ve got my heart set on you

I’m set on you

SOTD – The Sundays “My Finest Hour”

The Sundays “My Finest Hour” Listen at last.fm

When the world, it shows me up
My clothes, they show me up
I never knew this before
The finest hour that I’ve ever known
Was finding a pound in the underground

When my words came stumbling out
Then I went tumbling out
I’ve never been hit before
The finest hour that I’ve ever known
Was finding a pound in the underground

And I keep hoping you are the same as me
And I’ll send you letters and come to your house for tea
We are who we are, what do the others know?
But poetry is not for me, so show me the way to go (home)

And the words came stumbling out of my mouth
And I went tumbling out (here, no no, no no)

But I keep hoping you are the same as me
And I’ll send you letters and come to your house for tea
We are who we are, what do the others know?
But poetry is not for me, so show me the way to go
Oh, I’m going home.

But I’ll keep hoping you are the only one
Yes, and I’ll send you letters, oh, wouldn’t it be such fun?
Oh, we are who we are, whatever the others say
But poetry is not for me, as much as I’d like to stay
Oh, I just want to go home

You’re, you’re, you’re too young
Should’ve been, you, you’re, you’re too young
It should’ve been, you too, you’re too, you’re too young
It should’ve been, you, you, you’re too young
You shouldve been… safe here, safe here
Bribed the judge and then sat down
Ooh, you’re, you’re, you’re too young

SOTD – David Gray “Please Forgive Me”

It’s really more the song of the weekend. Or the song of late last week and the weekend. Defintely the song of the supermarket. You can listen to the whole damn thing at last.fm. And you probably should.  A few times.

David Gray “Please Forgive Me”

Please forgive me
if I act a little strange
for I know not what I do.
Feels like lightning
running through my veins
every time I look at you.
Every time I look at you.

Help me out here
all my words are falling short
and there’s so much I want to say.
want to tell you just how good it feels
when you look at me that way, ahhhh
When you look at me that way.

Throw a stone
and watch the ripples flow
Moving out across the bay
Like a stone I fall into your eyes
deep into that mystery, ahhh
Deep into some mystery.

I got half a mind
to scream out loud
I got half a mind to die
So I will never have to
lose you girl
So I won’t ever have to say goodbye
I won’t ever have to lie.
Won’t ever have to say goodbye.

Please forgive me
if I act a little strange
for I know not what I do.
Feels like lightning
running through my veins
every time I look at you.
Every time I look at you.
Every time I look at you.
Every time I look at you.”

SOTD – Bel Canto “Big Belly Butterflies”

Bel Canto – Big Belly Butterflies Listen at blip.fm

I want to give you love but it takes some guts to
have and hold with empathy
To coil around you tenderly
feels like windows open wide,
feels cold,
fresh breeze

So, then why
do tears roll down my cheeks, flow
and flood the temple of my body’s flesh and bones?

My body’s flesh and bones
My body’s flesh and bones

I want to give you more than I ever have
Somehow this is not my curse

The air, too thin,
too many times recycled
feeds my big belly butterflies,
feeds
grows
too wild

Do you want to see me cry?
Yeah, head bent, on my knees? No!
You know I have to let you know that I have to let you go.

Sixteen rifts inside of me,
inside this solitude, inside is solitude,
inside this solitude…
Oh hopefully truth will make me free
Fly, you big belly butter, big jelly-belly butterflies
Is solitude

Inside they do
Inside too
My body’s flesh and bones
My body’s flesh and bones
Free

SOTD – Kristen Hersh “Echo”

Long-time favorite, has some particular resonance today.

Kristen Hersh “Echo” (see the video here)

White label on the backseat
Glows an artificial green
I crave a midnight something
I crave and something hunts me down

I’m scaring everybody
I’m wearing everybody down

White label on the backseat
And something bends me over, down
I crave an empty lifestyle
I crave the very loudest sound

I’m chasing everybody
I’m shaking everybody down

Do you hear the loudest sound?
And you and me in the echo?

White label on the backseat
And something warm across my lap
I never bitched at anyone
I never asked for my heart back

I’m loving everybody
And hating everyone I see
Do you still remember me?
Floating out on the echo

I’m scaring everybody
I’m wearing everybody down
I’m chasing everybody
I’m shaking everybody down
I’m loving everybody
And hating everyone I see

Now please excuse me while I ingest large amounts of chemicals and succumb to blessed unconsciousness.

SOTD – My Life with the Thrill Kill Kult “Waiting for Mommie”

Today’s SOTD is pure flashback. See, I realized the other day that I didn’t have nearly enough TKK on my computer. Every time I am riding around with MyTodd™ listening to his iPod I get all in a TKK mood, and then get home and have nothing to listen to. This is because I bought most of my TKK stuff when I was in full-on WaxTrax! mode, and living in Chicago — so it’s pretty much all vinyl. Which means I have their albums and their 12″s out the fuck, but none of them are digitized. (Yeah, that project is still pending, whatever.)

Anyway, I went over to Todd’s the other night and copied borrowed a bunch of his stuff. I am therefore in full-on retro mood at the moment, and Waiting for Mommie is my song of the day. It’s somewhat subversive-feeling to blast TKK as one gets ready to come to the most horrifically boring and conservative job in the universe, full of rednecks in camouflage caps and guys who think Larry the Cable Guy is the height of wit… and that’s OK, because I don’t think I’ve been feeling subversive enough lately. Must up the subversion factor in my life.

Anyway, I love me some of this song. Although I think I have some remixes somewhere that I love better than the straight-up original version. I guess it’s a sign of my heinous old age that this song still sounds fresh and new to me, though it’s almost 20 years old. (Confessions of a Knife was originally released 1990 when I was one year fresh out of high school. le sigh.)

What’s interesting is that I have been listening to a lot of Combichrist lately, and their just-released song “Spit” reminds me of this. Much harder, but the same vibe, the same feeling. Although what counts as over-the-top enough to be offensive 20 years after we all became inured to TKK makes me laugh. Riding around in my car listening to some girl scream “I hate whore moms! Stupid cunt!” makes me think my mom didn’t know how lucky she had it back in the day when she was aggravated with this demonic imagery stuff.

My Life with the Thrill Kill Kult —Waiting for Mommie (listen here)

(“Okay…we’re gonna have a good time with this dear!”)

well everyone is tellin me that you have been real naughty
running round, starting troubles, playing with somebody
now mommy thinks it time for you to learn a little lesson
and check out who you’re dealin with, and who you be a messin

slam it, jam it, who cares what you do
take it, and make it, i’m comin for you
slam it, jam it, ride it, don’t stop
move it, groove it, when mommy’s on top

Get your hard ass over here
Don’t even try and run
Get your hard ass over here
Time for lesson number one
slam it, jam it, who cares what you do
take it, and make it, i’m comin for you

slam it, jam it, ride it, don’t stop
move it, groove it, when mommy’s on top

(“That’s enough tantrum for one day, lie
down, mother thinks you ought to
sleep it off!”)

(“Okay…we’re gonna have a good time with this dear!”
“Okay…we’re gonna have a good time with this dear!”)

well everybody’s is tellin me that you have been real naughty
running round, starting troubles, playing with somebody
now mommy thinks it time for you to learn a little lesson
and check out who you’re dealin with, and who you be a messin

Get your hard ass over here
Don’t even try and run
Get your hard ass over here
Time for lesson number one

slam it, jam it, who cares what you do
take it, and make it, i’m comin for you
slam it, jam it, ride it, don’t stop
move it, groove it, when mommy’s on top