The Heavy – What You Want Me to Do

The more I listen to The Heavy, the more I love The Heavy. Fantastic driving music, this. And sounds almost as good live as it does studio.

The Heavy – What You Want Me to Do

I’ve been loved
I don’t feel clever
One mans weakness
Is another man’s pleasure
I got no feelings
I got no heart
Can’t make no sense out of this
But I got to somehow

What you want me to do?
What you want me to say?
How you need me to be?
I can be that way
What you want me to do?
What you want me to say?
How you need me to do?
‘Cause I can do that…

When I feel tender
Like I’ve been lost
Put myself together
‘Cause paid my cost to be the boss
Now I ain’t sleepin’
I aint slept
I see what you see here
But in this life
You give what you get

The Boy Least Likely To – A Fairytale Ending

The Boy Least Likely To – A Fairytale Ending

When I was young I was valiant and bold
I fought off dragons and wrestled with trolls
I was stupid
But I was brave

I’m still as stupid as I was before
And although I’m not that young anymore
I’m still valiant
In my own little way

Limping off into the sunset
With our tails between our legs
Remembering how it all started
And wondering if this is the way that
My fairytale ends

I still remember how gallant I felt
In a suit of armor that I made myself
Out of tin foil
And milk bottle tops

I guess that I’m just like everyone else
I find it difficult to be myself
So I pretend
To be something I’m not

But in the end everything has to
Turn back into pumpkins and frogs
I wish that it didn’t have to
And I’m wondering if this is the way that
My fairytale ends
Ends

Limping off into the sunset
With our tails between our legs
Muttering quietly to myself
And wondering if this is the way that
My fairytale ends
Ends

SOTD – Laura Veirs “Shadow Blues”

Laura Veirs “Shadow Blues”

There’s a shadow beneath the sea
There’s a shadow between you and me
I’ve learned that love is scared of light
Thousand seeds from a flower
Blowing through the night

Your blackened kiss on my cheek
Your blackened kiss runs river deep
A stranded fish dear, I’m on the sand
Blue water from a pool
Up to the clouds I’ll land

Though I am dark ‘bout the whys of wanting
Though I am dark, I’m still a child
Gonna dig a coal mine, climb down deep inside
Where my shadow’s got one place to go
One place to hide…

SOTD Keane—Nothing in My Way

A turning tide
Lovers at a great divide
why d’you laugh
When I know that you hurt inside?

And why’d you say
It’s just another day, nothing in my way
I don’t wanna go, I don’t wanna stay
So there’s nothing left to say

And why’d you lie
When you wanna die, when you hurt inside
Don’t know what you lie for anyway
Now there’s nothing left to say

A tell-tale sign
You don’t know where to draw the line
And why’d you say
It’s just another day, nothing in my way
I don’t wanna go, I don’t wanna stay
So there’s nothing left to say

And why’d you lie
When you wanna die, when you hurt inside
Don’t know what you lie for anyway
Now there’s nothing left to say

Well for a lonely soul, you’re having such a nice time
For a lonely soul, you’re having such a nice time
For a lonely soul, it seems to me that you’re having such a nice time
You’re having such a nice time

For a lonely soul, you’re having such a nice time
For a lonely soul, you’re having such a nice time
For a lonely soul, it seems to me that you’re having such a nice time
You’re having such a nice time

SOTD – Rasputina “My Porcelain Life”

Blah! I can’t find this song online anywhere to link to, so I will just link to a sample from Amazon.

It’s so quiet and calm and sad and lyrically lovely. I. Love. It.

You should buy this album, it’s pretty fantastico. Another song from it (Holocaust of Giants) is available for free download on Amazon right now, and I love that song too, so at least check that one out.

Rasputina “My Porcelain Life”

This letter you get it,
You burn it,
Forget it
It’s not what I meant to say
You might think me a scapegrace
Really a fugitive in decay
I exist here on an acre of nature
In the diminutive
But I’ll be thinking of you, I would wager
My favorite hypocrite

You are a master of the commerce of friendship
So I put all of my feathers on
I wrote you this letter, I’ll send it
When this foul weather is gone
Of your last words to me I am thinking
And of the depth of your eyes
But you can’t halt the profound shrinking
Of this, my porcelain life

You’re vexed that I reject your protection
Well I abhor captivity
I want to live alone in my little section
So very wild and watery
How to preserve my own mistaken perfection?
Or your refined vulgarity
I only tenuously ask you this question
Out of a sense it was for clarity

You are a master of the commerce of friendship
So I put all of my feathers on
I wrote you this letter, I send it
When this foul weather is gone
Of your last words to me I am thinking
And of the depth of your eyes
But you can’t halt the profound shrinking
Of this, my porcelain life

My porcelain life
My porcelain life
I find it very breakable
My porcelain life

SOTD – Swans “I Remember Who You Are”

This song is the song of the day purely because this morning I could not get it out of my head, despite not having listened to it in ten years. So whoever, wherever I read what triggered this song to replay in my head all morning… Thanks? Anyway, now I give this to you:

Swans “I Remember Who You Are”

When other people say
You’re someone to misuse
Shut in behind your young girl’s face
And helpless in your bed of thorns
I’ll remember who you are
Yes I’ll remember who you are
I’ll remember who you are:
A young girl, unchained
Come back here now
I know you’re somewhere still alive
Strong behind your young girl’s tears
I know you’re somewhere unchanged
Oh I remember who you are
Yes I’ll remember who you are
I’ll remember who you are
A young girl, unchained
There stands a young girl naked
In her innocence unused
And she holds me in her small hand
And she smiles down on me
I am innocent in her dark eyes
I will lose my heart in the sand
You’re cruel but you’re good for me
And you hold me in your young girl’s hand
I Remember Who You Are
Yes I Remember Who You Are
I remember who you are
A young girl, unchained

SOTD – This Mortal Coil “Another Day”

This Mortal Coil “Another Day”

The kettle’s on, the sun has gone
another day
She offers me Tibetan tea on a flower tray
She’s at the door, she wants to score
She dearly needs to say

I loved you a long time ago, you know
Where the winds own forget-me-nots blow
But I just couldn’t let myself go
not knowing what on earth there was to know.

But I wish that I had ’cause I’m feeling so sad
that I never had one of your children.

And across the room inside a tomb
a chance is waxed and wanes
The night is young, why are we so hung up
in each others chains
I must take her, I must make her
while the dove domains

and feel the juice run as she flies
run my wings under her sighs
as the flames of eternity rise
to lick us with the first born lash of dawn.

Oh really my dear I can’t see what we fear
Sat here with ourselves in between us.

And at the door we can’t say more
than just another day
and without a sound
I turn around
and I walk away.

SOTD – Bel Canto, Spiderdust

Goddamn, I love Bel Canto. Not one of those bands I think of as a favorite, until I realize how many of their albums I have, and how many of their songs I adore. They’re just that band that’s always around, doing great things in the background.

I particularly love how many languages they sing in. That might be part of their charm, they have a poetry to their lyrics that comes from not being native English speakers. They put words together based on how beautiful they sound, without thoughts constrained so much by meaning. Phrases like:

• Hodgepodge for haunted lusts
• Sixteen rifts inside of me, inside this solid tube, inside is solitude, inside this solid tube…
• There is a chapel in the woods where from the farthest-seeing senses rule

Are not typical English constructions I think. And that makes them beautiful because they can mean whatever you want them to. A little bit of the magic of Cocteau Twins and earlier Dead Can Dance, probably.

I think “Dreaming Girl” is probably my favorite song of theirs – but that changes based on my mood. Today it’s this one. Anyway, not an official video here, but just a way to let you hear the song in case you have not ever.

Bel Canto – Spiderdust

she lived in limbo
time showed no mercy
til an ingrate gave her
doses of a sweet poison
Ooh she got ooh she got hoodooed, voodooed
Ooh she got ooh she got finally released
she stirred huge cauldrons
with toads and henbane and…
spiderdust, spiderdust!
hodgepodge for haunted lusts
spiderdust, spiderdust!
hodgepodge for the evil-eyed
spiderdust, spiderdust!
hodgepodge for spellbound lusts
spiderdust, spiderdust!
Ooh she got ooh she got hoodooed, voodooed
Ooh she got ooh she got finally redeemed
she stirred huge cauldrons
with toads and henbane and…
spiderdust, spiderdust!
hodgepodge for haunted lusts
spiderdust, spiderdust!
hodgepodge for the evil-eyed
spiderdust, spiderdust!
hodgepodge for spellbound lusts
spiderdust, spiderdust!

she bred toads
she got burnt

SOTD – Fever Ray “Triangle Walks”

Can I come over? I need to rest.

Fever Ray “Triangle Walks”

an apple and a berry plant
comes with a house
on the grass
who is that
to come by my house

stands outside my window
sucking on the berries and
eats us out of house and home
keeping us awake
keeping us awake

can i come over, i need to rest
lay down for a while
disconnect
the night was so long
the day even longer
lay down for a while
recollect

five AM
out again
triangle walks
magpies, i throw sticks at them
they laugh behind my back

getting a feeling
maybe i will dream again
having that feeling
when there’s no one awake
no no one awake

can i come over, i need to rest
lay down for a while
disconnect
the night was so long
the day even longer
lay down for a while
recollect

can i come over, i need to rest
lay down for a while
disconnect
the night was so long
the day even longer
lay down for a while
recollect

SOTD – Ditty Bops “Wake Up”

It’s funny, looking for the lyrics to this song online (or a video that wasn’t a truly horrendous amateur cover version. OMG why do people post that shit? I am humiliated on their tone-deaf behalves.) I found that most people entirely missed the point of the song. It’s about checking out, not doing things the way you’re told to – being apart from society. And most people hear the first stanza and apparently think “Oh, what an awesome song about being an asshole extrovert optimist!” Point. Missed.

Anyway, it’s the song of MY day, anyway.

Ditty Bops “Wake Up” (listen at playlist.com)

Wake up and smell the coffee,
Rise and shine,
The early bird gets the worm,
Strike while the iron’s hot,
And whistle while you work

Stay on the trail,
Keep your hands and arms inside the train,
Don’t stray,
Watch your step,
And wipe your feet,
Draw inside the lines

What if you didn’t know where the bad side of town was,
Where would you wander to?
So many places from which to choose
Would you let yourself be?

Don’t cause a scene,
Mind your manners,
Speak only if spoken to,
You know what you are not to do,
Watch and learn

What if you never were short for time?
All meetings cancelled, clocks stopped at nine,
Without alarms the silence beams,
Invited to be

What if you never heard a word they say,
And up were down and night were day?
I bet you’d have a lot more time to play
If you’d let yourself go

Breath deep,
Speak out,
Make up your mind,
Be brave,
Follow your dreams,
Listen to you heart,
Close your eyes,
Make a wish.

SOTD – Au Revoir Simone “Don’t See the Sorrow”

Sometimes when I am driving I learn to love songs better than I do when listening to them any other time. Something about listening to them on headphones, for one thing, really makes the lyrics more clear, or the music somehow more compelling. This song is rather easy to disregard as background, but then I stopped to really listen to it, and it’s sweet and sad. And sweet and sad fits my mood, as it so happens. And so here it is.

(Not the official video, but the best way to post the actual song now that lala is going belly-up :-/)

Au Revoir Simone “Don’t See the Sorrow”

Don’t see the sorrow
Don’t let it creep up through your skin
‘Cause I read somewhere
What you like, you’ll find again
You’ll find it again

I’m on the edge
Of not wanting to feel this way
anymore
I will still try to learn my lessons
There’s no mistakes anyway
I know that

So you
Why won’t you make room
Some room for me?
You
Why won’t you make room
Some room

I see myself in you
I seem to know my own death too
But here on a day this clear
It’s as good a day
To begin
To begin

So you
Why won’t you make room
Some room for me?
You
Why won’t you make room
Some room for me?
You
Why won’t you make room
Some room for me?
You
Why won’t you make room
Some room

SOTD – Zero 7 “Waiting to Die”

Zero 7 “Waiting to Die”

It’s just a day like any other day
A beautiful day for an accident, let’s say
Yes it’s just a day, like any other day
Just one step closer to the end of the buffet
La la la la la la
La la la la, ’cause we’re waiting to die

Now it’s a good time for a tasty glass of wine
Let’s not burden our minds with carbon dioxide
And everyone hurry, don’t sit and abide
Yes, everyone stand up, we’re running out of time
La la la la la la
La la la la, ’cause we’re waiting here to die

Look what a terrible mess that we’ve made
The sun beats us down as we search for the shade
And yes it is true, death is everyone’s fate
But we’ve made it this far, it’s time to celebrate
La la la la la
La la la la, ’cause we’re waiting here to die
La la la la la
La la la la, ’cause we’re waiting here to die

SOTD—Emilie Autumn, Opheliac

I feel pretty dramastical and insane today. Nothing better for that than a lot of Emilie Autumn. Really loudly. Repeat until sane and/or exhausted.

Emilie Autumn – Opheliac

I’m your Opheliac
I’ve been so disillusioned
I know you’d take me back
But still I feign confusion
I couldn’t be your friend
My world was too unstable
You might have seen the end
But you were never able
To keep me breathing
As the water rises up again
Before I slip away

You know the games I play and the words I say when I want my own way
You know the lies I tell when you’ve gone through hell and I say I can’t stay
You know how hard it can be to keep believing in me
When everything and everyone becomes my enemy
And when there’s nothing more you can do I’m gonna blame it on you
It’s not the way I wanna be
I only know that in the end you will see it’s the Opheliac in me…

It’s the Opheliac in me…

I’m your Opheliac
My stalkings prove my virtue
I’m open to attack
But I don’t want to hurt you
Whether I swim or sink
That’s no concern of yours now
How could you possibly think
You had the power to know how to keep me breathing as the water rises up again
Before I slip away

You know the games I play and the words I say when I want my own way
You know the lies I tell when you’ve gone through hell and I say I can’t stay
You know how hard it can be to keep believing in me
When everything and everyone becomes my enemy
And when there’s nothing more you can do I’m gonna blame it on you
It’s not the way I wanna be
I only know that in the end you will see it’s the Opheliac in me…

Studies show intelligent girls are more depressed
Because they know
That the world can lie
I don’t think for a bit they sit around and think every things gonna be alright
They know who: sides, shadows; shapes, a devil, an angel; no in-between
She speaks in third person so that she can forget that she’s me

Doubt thou the stars on fire
Doubt thou the sun doth move
Doubt truth to be a liar
But never doubt

Doubt thou the stars on fire
Doubt thou the sun doth move
Doubt truth to be a liar
But never doubt

Doubt thou the stars on fire
Doubt thou the sun doth move
Doubt truth to be a liar
But never doubt
I love

You know the games I play and the words I say when I want my own way
You know the lies I tell when you’ve gone through hell and I say I cant stay

You know how hard it can be to keep believing in me
When everything and everyone becomes my enemy
And when there’s nothing more you can do I’m gonna blame it on you
It’s not the way I wanna be
I only hope that in the end you will see
But never doubt
You know the games I play and the words I say when I want my own way
You know the lies I tell when you’ve gone through hell and I say I can’t stay
You know how hard it can be to keep believing in me
When everything and everyone becomes my enemy
And when there’s nothing more you can do I’m gonna blame it on you
It’s not the way I wanna be
I only hope that in the end you will see

SOTD – Jewel “I’m Sensitive”

Jewel “I’m Sensitive”

I was thinking that I might fly today
Just to disprove all the things that you say
It doesn’t take a talent to be mean
Your words can crush things that are unseen

So please be careful with me, I’m sensitive
And I’d like to stay that way

You always tell me that it’s impossible
To be respected, and be a girl
Why’s it gotta be so complicated
Why you gotta tell me if I’m hated

Oh please be careful with me, I’m sensitive
And I’d like to stay that way

And I was thinking, that it might do some good
If we robbed the cynics and took all their food
That way what they believe will have taken place
And we ‘ll give it to everybody who has some faith

So please be careful with me, I’m sensitive
And I’d like to stay that way

I have this theory, that if we’re told we’re bad
Then that’s the only idea we’ll ever have
But maybe if we are surrounded in beauty
Someday we will become what we see
‘Cause anyone can start a conflict
it’s harder yet to disregard it
I’d rather see the world from another angle
We are everyday angels
Be careful with me ’cause I’d like to stay that way

SOTD – Rachael Yamagata “Collide”

This has been on my car playlist for the last month or so. Can’t stop listening to it. I do not plan to stop colliding with people, the people I love. But I feel like this song in some way mourns the necessity of it; how we get all hurt by our constant collisions and how we’re drawn together despite them. Tiring yet necessary, that’s the way of human interaction.

Rachael Yamagata – Collide (listen here) http://www.last.fm/music/Rachael+Yamagata/_/Collide

I’ll fascinate you for awhile
My hands in wait to please, so well
When I wake to realize, all I’ve done
I’ll be breaking strings
And all you’re gonna feel
Is untied

I will not stay if you ask me to stay
Do not ask me to stay because I will not stay

Why do we always collide
Stuck on two different sides

No resignation, don’t simplify
It’s not always about
Your love
What I wake up to find
All I’ve done is unkind
All you’re gonna feel is untied
Untied

Why do we always collide
Stuck on two different sides
Why do we always collide
Stuck on two different sides
Why do we always collide
Stuck on two different sides
Why do we all
Why do we all