Want vs. Work

Today I didn’t want to come to work. Today I wanted to stay home and lay on my couch  and listen to the rain and Ani Difranco and read books and doze off and then drink fresh strawberry lemonade over crushed ice.

But such was not my fate, too much to do at work today to really taken an unneeded sick day.

However, I can still have an Ani soundtrack in the background here if I want to, and look forward to some lemonade when I get home.

Oh, and this one just because it makes me laugh and is nice to drive to.

Easy Does It

Good morning, and the happiest of Fridays. Please to listen to some Supertramp.

Easy Does It

Supertramp – Easy Does It

And if my thoughts had wings,
I’d be the bird that sings,
I’d fly where love isn’t shy
And everyone is willing to try.

And if we had the time,
And time’s so hard to find,
I could believe what you say,
Start sending those shadows away,

And if you know who you are,
You are your own superstar,
And only you can shape the movie that you make,
So when the lights disappear
And only the silence is near
Watch yourself, easy does it, easy while you wait.

And if you know who you are,
You are your own superstar
And only you can shape the music that you make.
So when the crowds disappear,
And only the silence is here
Watch yourself, easy does it, easy does it, easy while you wait.

Over the Rhine – Fool

There are a few truisms to which I subscribe:

1. There’s a Jane Austen quote for any situation.
2. There’s an Over the Rhine song to match any feeling you’ve ever had.
3. Things can always get worse.

Could not find this online (what up, YouTube?) But the link here should play it for you.

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 me go

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

SOTD: The Weepies – Happiness

I know it’s hot and we’re all going to die of the climate change and cicadas and whatnot, but I don’t care. I am really glad it’s summer.

The Weepies – Happiness

Friday 13, lights go red/green, in a coffee shop
I’m giving you a look
While someone else
Is fingering your wallet in my pocketbook

It’s a mean town but I don’t care
Try and steal this
Can’t steal happiness

Got a charger, no cell phone, I can’t call out
Unless it’s to cry your name out the open window
To a sky that looks right back
And says it’s never seen rain
Sometimes you gotta start clean
You gotta begin not begin again, oh no

It’s a mean town but I don’t care
Try and steal this
Can’t steal happiness

And as we fly around the sun
We know we’re not the only ones
Love for the lonely
It’s been a long time coming
Can you hear that hopeful heart?
Hold on, hold on.

Night settles, still working on a way to breathe
Don’t you go, don’t you go down
Take a helium taxi home to me

‘Cause it’s a mean town, we don’t care
Try and steal this
Can’t steal happiness

Benediction and Hail Dents

So a couple of things really.

A) Realized that I have a huge hail dent on the passenger side of the roof of my car, and now I have to call the insurance company and get that looked at. Once I noticed it, it kept getting bigger and bigger, and now it seems to me that whole side of the car is caved in and the car itself barely drivable. I feel like that dent is a giant blinking red light over the car screaming “Something’s wrong. Something’s wrong here.”

Not giving a crap what it looked like is the only thing I miss about my old car.

B) Was listening to random stuff on my iPod in the car this morning (having finally moved on from the Decemberists, for awhile) and forgot that I did not have it on shuffle, which means the songs were playing alphabetically. Which, that’s fine except I thought it strange that all the songs it played seemed to be about bells. Like some kind of message from beyond: take heed, listen to the bells! (Who knew so many songs were titled with “Bells” at the beginning?)

C) Then this Joshua James song (Benediction) came on. Dang, I do love him. I saw him last year, and had tickets to see him again this year, but turns out he was playing in Soulard in the middle of Mardi Gras, and I did not feel at all up to getting in the middle of that, so I ended up not going to the show. I was sad to miss seeing him, but not too forlorn, since I had already seen him once. I was more sad that I am not the type of person who’d say ‘”Fuck a drunken crowd, I do what I want!” But, I am not that type of person.

Anyway, this song is sweet and sad, and sometimes the nice thing about random iPod fodder is running into things like this, that you’d forgotten.

OK OK

So I need to stop with the Decemberists, I know. But I am still listening to them, whether I post about it or not. Now I’ve firmly moved over into “The King is Dead” territory, letting that album slip up on me and get familiar while I wasn’t paying attention. This morning’s selection is “This is Why We Fight” (does anyone else find the “when we die, we will die with our arms unbound” thing a little reminiscent of Morrissey’s “And I will die with both my hands untied” from “Irish Blood, English Heart”? Or is that theme just well used enough that it’s not a thing? It kinda feels like a thing.)

Other good things in the world include a new stripey dress to make up for the fact that it’s too hot for stripey socks, and awesome new hairclips from Katatomic Labs, gifted for my assistance in helping her prep for this weekend’s Craft-o-matic fair.

OK, OK I wasn’t going to post it because I feel I am stuck in a Decemberists rut, but fuck it. Listen to this, it’s lovely and stirring. And there are worse ruts in which to be stuck.

This is Why We Fight

Come the war
Come the avarice
Come the war
Come hell

Come attrition
Come the reek of bones
Come attrition
Come hell

This is why
Why we fight
Why we lie awake
And this is why
This is why we fight

When we die
We will die
With our arms unbound

And this is why
This is why
Why we fight
Come hell

Bride of quiet
Bride of all unquiet things
Bride of quiet
Bride of hell

Come the archers
Come the infantry
Come the archers
Of hell

This is why
Why we fight
Why we lie awake
This is why
This is why we fight

And when we die
We will die
With our arms unbound
And this is why
This is why we fight
Come hell
Come hell

This is why
Why we fight
Why we lie awake
This is why
This is why we fight

When we die
We will die with our arms unbound
And this is why
This is why we fight

So come to me
Come to me now
Lay your arms around me
And this is why
This is why
We fight
Come hell
Come hell
Come hell
Come hell

January Hymn

The Decemberists – January Hymn

On a winter Sunday I ɡο
Tο clear away tһе snow
Anԁ green tһе ground below

April аƖƖ аn ocean away
Is this tһе better way tο spend thе day?
Keeping thе winter аt bay

Wһаt wеrе tһе words I meant tο ѕау before уοu left?
Wһеn I сουƖԁ see уουr breath lead wһеrе уοu wеrе going tο

Maybe I should just let it be
and maybe it will all come back to me
Sing oh January oh!

Hοw I lived a childhood іn snow
Anԁ аƖƖ mу teens іn tow
Stuffed іn strata οf glow

Hail tһе winter days аftеr dаrk
Wandering thе gray memorial park
A fleeting beating οf hearts

What were the words I meant to say before she left?
When I could see her breath lead where she was going to

Maybe I should just let it be
And maybe it will all come back to me
Sing oh Janu…
Oh January oh

The Decemberists – Sons & Daughters

The Decemberists – Sons & Daughters

When we arrive
Sons & daughters
We’ll make our homes on the water
We’ll build our walls, aluminum
We’ll fill our mouths with cinnamon now

These currents pull us ‘cross the border
Steady your boats
Arms to shoulder
’till tides are pulled
Hold our grounds
Making this cold harbor now home

Take up your arms
Sons and daughters
We will arise from the bunkers
By land, by sea, by dirigible
We’ll leave our tracks untraceable now

When we arrive
Sons and daughters
We’ll make our homes on the water
We’ll build our walls, aluminum
We’ll fill our mouths with cinnamon

When we arrive
Sons and daughters
We’ll make our homes on the water
We’ll build our walls, aluminum
We’ll fill our mouths with cinnamon

Hear all the bombs fade away
Hear all the bombs fade away
Hear all the bombs fade away
Hear all the bombs fade away

Decemberists – The Crane Wife 3

Crane Wife 3

And under the boughs unbowed
All clothed in a snowy shroud
She had no heart so hardened
All under the boughs unbowed

Each feather it fell from skin
Till threadbare she grew thin
How were my eyes so blinded?
Each feather it fell from skin

And I will hang my head, hang my head low
And I will hang my head, hang my head low

A gray sky, a bitter sting
A rain cloud, a crane on wing
All out beyond horizon
A gray sky, a bitter sting

And I will hang my head, hang my head low
And I will hang my head, hang my head low

The Decemberists – The Culling of the Fold

The Decemberists – The Culling of the Fold

Cut him up boy
You’ve got to cut him up boy
He’s a wicked disgrace
And he said it to your face
You better cut him up boy

Take him by the teeth
Get him down on his knees
With your hands all shaking
That’ll teach him how to take it

Gotta cut him up boy
And how

Ply her heart with gold and silver
And take your sweetheart down to the river

Dash her on the paving stones
It may break your heart
To break her bones
But someones got to do, the culling of the fold

cut him up girl
Really cut him up girl
He lives by himself in a hole in a wall,
You’ve gotta cut him up girl

You can take him in a stitch
Dump his body in a ditch
Leave his limbs all naked
That’ll teach him how to take it

Better cut him up girl
And how

Ply her heart with gold and silver
And take your sweetheart down to the river

Dash her on the paving stones
It may break your heart
To break her bones
But someones got to do, the culling of the fold

Listen up boy
And listen up girl
It’s a shallow little trench
And it’s giving off a stench

It’s a shallow little world

Feeling down in the face
Could you use a little space
When the radio crackles
And the inlaws cackle

You better cut him up boy
And cut him up girl

Ply her heart with gold and silver
And take your sweetheart down to the river

Dash her on the paving stones
It may break your heart
To break her bones
But someones got to do, the culling of the fold

Editors – An End Has a Start

Editors – An End Has a Start

I don’t think that it’s
Gonna rain again today
There’s a devil at your side
But an angel on her way

Someone hit the light
‘Cause there’s more here to be seen
When you caught my eye
I saw everywhere I’d been
And wanna go to

You came on your own
That’s how you’ll leave
With hope in your hands
And air to breathe

I won’t disappoint you
As you fall apart
Some things should be simple
Even an end has a start

Someone hit the light
‘Cause there’s more here to be seen
When you caught my eye
I saw everywhere I’d been
And wanna go to

You came on your own
That’s how you’ll leave
With hope in your hands
And air to breathe

You lose everything
By the end
Still my broken limbs
You find time to mend

More and more people
I know are getting ill
Pull something good from
The ashes now be still

You came on your own
That’s how you’ll leave
With hope in your hands
And air to breathe

You lose everything
By the end
Still my broken limbs
You choose to mend

You came on your own
That’s how you’ll leave
You came on your own
That’s how you’ll leave

You came on your own

You came on your own

The Bird and the Bee – Kiss on my List

Over the Rhine – Who Will Guard the Door

My day has been about this song. Could not find the video anywhere, unfortunately, but you should be able to play the song from this link.  I really hate that no one else I know loves this band like I do.

Who Will Guard the Door

Over the Rhine – Who Will Guard the Door

You were the hand that I tried to take
You’re the decision that I could not make
You’re the religion that I should forsake

You were the story I tried to tell
You were the savior that tripped and fell
Beautiful dancing infidel

Who will guard the door
When I am sleeping
Who will guard the door
When I am sleeping
I’m not sleeping

You were the season that would
not change
I often was the same
Then four horseman came and stole
my name

Who will guard the door
When I am sleeping
Who will guard the door
When I am sleeping
I’m not sleeping

I never saw you fall apart
Never saw you work so hard
I never saw you need no one
I am my father’s son

You were the hand that I tried to take
You’re the decision that I could not make
You’re the religion that I should forsake

Who will guard the door
When I am sleeping
Who will guard the door
When I am sleeping
I’m not sleeping

Oh yeah!

Sometimes I forget how much I like The Cardigans, and then I re-hear them and I get all “Oh! Yeah!”

Also, there’s something a little later-Bjorkian in this one, is there not?

Cardigans – Do You Believe

Do you really think
that love is gonna save the world
Well I don’t think so
I just don’t think so

And do you really think
that love is gonna save your soul
Well I sure hope so
Oh, I really, really hope so
But I don’t think so

Do you really think
that love is gonna save the world
Well I don’t think so

I just don’t think so
And do you really think
that love is gonna save your soul
Well I sure hope so

Oh yes, I really, really hope so
I don’t think so

Musical Funk/Time Without End

So yeah, I am in a musical funk here lately. Nothing seems to be resonating with my state of mind, and because of the new car and the new house the way I consume music has changed quite a bit.

The car has one of those awesome hookups for your iPod so it plays through the car stereo, which is super-fantabulous and whatnot, but it actually makes scrolling through your iPod looking for music much harder. You have to use the car stereo controls to go through every single song/artist/album alphabetically, and the scrolling never speeds up like it does on your iPod. And once it’s connected, you cannot use the iPod controls at all, they’re disabled. So I’ve gone to using a 5GB flash drive pre-loaded with music that I plug into the car’s USB jack – and that I just have to have on random, which is also annoying as the music I want to hear in the morning is different than the music that I want to hear in the afternoon, and neither is likely to be served up in the short time it takes me to get to and from work each day.

At home I am mostly listening to music on my iPod and I can’t freaking decide what I want to hear, and then if I have that on random I lurch from classic country to dark electro with a jarring… well, discord. And yes, I realize this is a super whiny first-world rant and my life is full of magic and mystery and convenience and at least my house is not wiped away by the tsunami.* But, you know what? The only life I can comment on authentically is the one I am living, and in the life I am living, I am in a musical funk. Whatever I hear is just off somehow.

Maybe I don’t know what mood I am in, so nothing seems to suit my mood. That could be it. Anyway, last night this song came on, and I remembered how much I loved this album when it was released, and how I could only listen to Songs of Mysterious and Dramatic Sadness back then, and how this suited that. And then I realized that I really still loved the song, because it’s an awesome song, but the me I am now would really like to hear a different version. And I think that version is the as-yet-nonexistent DICEGRINDER version. I can actually really hear Jamie Toon belting these lyrics out over a crunchy metallic cover of this song.

Hey, a girl can dream about the music she wants to hear, can’t she?

Bel Canto – Time Without End

Hope measuring time without end
You could be, You could be  just like the sun
Beautiful like a dream
Innocent like a child
Heroic and brave
Like the kings and the warriors in the legends

Behold the depths of your innermost soul
A minotaur walking in endless despair
Mythical like a dream
Invisible like a soft breath of wind
But still in your fantasy
This will always be real

I’ll show you who you are
I’ll furnish you with a burning desire
I’ll show you who you are
I’ll furnish you with a burning desire

*I remember when I was in college my friend-who-always-drove’s car’s stereo was broken, and as shotgun I was tasked with holding and operating the giant boom box we had to take with us everywhere, on which (as long as we had batteries or money for batteries) we listened to mixtapes we painstakingly made from albums. Tapes that we had to fast-forward by hand. And everything I have now is infinitely better than that, mechanically, and still somehow nowhere near as awesome. And there. Now I have romanticized an unhappy and confusing time in my life, and must now join the ranks of people who reminisce quite stupidly on their rose-tinted youth. Are you happy now?