THE SONGS IN YOUR HEAD…
This list will probably include some of my all-time favorite songs but the truth is this week I was lazy and didn’t feel up to or really had the time to write a proper post so instead I compiled a brief off-the-top-of-my-head list of songs whose lyrics stay in my head long after the song has stopped playing. I also probably should mention who the songwriters are, but maybe at some point I’ll come by and add that info. There are many more songs like this spanning most genres but I gave myself 15 minutes to write down whatever came to my head and here you have it:
The Box Tops – “Whiter Shade of Pale”
I know Procul Harem popularized this song, but I much prefer the Box Tops version (I’ll almost always prefer Alex Chilton’s version of anything). Their version makes it one of the most perfect songs ever written/composed in my book.
“We skipped the light fandango
Turned cartwheels ‘cross the floor
I was feeling kinda seasick
But the crowd called out for more
The room was humming harder
As the ceiling flew away”
The Rainman Suite – “59 Days”
This song belongs to a time that I have fond memories of. Times when the songs were all about either each other or people we knew. It’s the perfect example of how relationships can suffer when constant touring is involved. Josh Robinson is one of my favorite people and favorite songwriters. If you never listened to this local band when they were playing out you should check out some of their other songs like “Cahuenga Blvd” and really listen to the lyrics.
“Tell me one more time how I’ve gone astray, by this time tomorrow I’ll be two states away”
“My poster’s hanging lonely on your wall. You’d take it down, but you’d rather see it fall.”
The Replacements – “We Know the Night”
Paul Westerberg is one of the most perfect un-perfect individuals in my book. I’d definitely consider him one of the genius songwriters of our time. So many lyrics he’s penned get stuck in my head upon hearing his songs.
“With scissors and a comb I cut my lawn
And there’s no one in the world I’m counting on
There’s a war ragin’ outside – I hope my grass stays green”
“Best things always come when your mind’s at rest
In the afternoon, my mind ain’t sleepy, it’s preoccupied
Till the day is late and we let out a sigh
‘Cause we know the night could fall at any time”
Garth Brooks – “Much Too Young (To Feel this Damn Old)”
I don’t get a lot of sleep. I used to say that I was too busy to sleep but the truth is I’m just a night owl who somehow manages to function semi-efficiently during the day. Even being as young as I was when this song hit the airwaves I could still relate.
Also, I grew up on the late Chris LeDoux (when I was little I really gravitated towards the more upbeat Western/Texas Swing styles of LeDoux and George Strait’s music) so I have a soft spot for any song that mentions his name as he was a “Cowboy” who not only sang the songs of that lifestyle but also lived it with his Rodeo Cowboy background.
“Sleep would be best, but I just can’t afford the rest”
“The worn out tape of Chris LeDoux, lonely women, and bad booze
Seem to be the only friends I’ve left at all”
Chris LeDoux and Garth Brooks collaborated in the early 90’s on a track called “Whatcha Gonna Do With a Cowboy”
However, here’s Chris LeDoux with “Country Star”
Trisha Yearwood – “Sleep While I Drive”
I like this version better than Melissa Etheridge’s original. I find this song to be so sad. For some reason this part of the song is what always lingers in my head.
“I’ll buy you boots down in Texas, a hat from New Orleans
And in the morning you can tell me your dreams”
The Randies – “Wrecking Ball (The Shovel Song)”
Again, a band from another time, when the songs were about us. Also great songwriters especially with their early stuff like “Hyperion” and “Boys in Stereo”
“I tried to build a strong foundation based on moral fabric, but then I met someone whose image fit the shape of my bad habit. And like construction in reverse I’m taking down the timbers one by one they come undone…the thrill of demolition.”
Camera Obscura – “The Sweetest Thing”
This is L.A. Half of the people we know or have dated have been in a magazine or on T.V.
“My love, you’re in a magazine
My love, you’re doing fine, you’re on TV”
“On the bus radio, “Fifty ways to leave your lover alone”
I laughed at the irony
But life is stupid, the irony’s all lost on me”
Talking Heads “Uh-Oh, Love Comes to Town”
This line always makes me laugh.
“I’ve been to college, I’ve been to school
I’ve met the people that you read about in books”
Devendra Banhart – “Queen Bee”
I just really like this song and for some reason this is what sticks.
“I saw everything I’ve seen
And I meant everything I mean”
Of Montreal – “A Sentence of Sorts in Kongsvinger“
“I spent the winter with my nose buried in a book (more…)
TRAFFIK SCHOOL W/PROFESSOR PANCAKE TODAY (FRIDAY 2/25) ON INTRAFFIKRADIO.COM AT 2PM
RE-BROADCAST OF TRAFFIK SCHOOL W/ PROFESSOR PANCAKE – EPISODE 2
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OUR BAND COULD BE YOUR LIFE: SCENES FROM THE AMERICAN INDIE UNDERGROUND
LISTEN VIA WWW.INTRAFFIKRADIO.COM
In this Second Episode of TRAffIK School w/ Professor Pancake, a show that will re-visit the foundations of the music world and showcase those pioneers of music that have been the inspiration to many a modern day musician all the while educating the listener on these class acts, he continues to walk you through the world of the DIY bands of the 80’s as portrayed via Michael Azzerad’s book “Our Band Could Be Your Life, Scenes from the American Indie Underground” (the official text book of this four episode series)
Here is a little about the book (as taken from the book jacket:
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“It was a musical revolution that happened right under the nose of the Reagan Eighties: a small but sprawling network of bands, labels, fanzines, radio stations, and other subversives who reshaped and reenergized American rock music with punk rock’s revolutionary do-it-yourself credo. The music that resulted was deeply personal, often brilliant, always challenging, and immensely influential. Remarkably, the stories of these now-legendary bands have never been told in any depth – until now.”
Episode Two – Our Band Could Be Your Life (focusing on Minor Threat, Husker Du, and The Replacements)– Part Two (Episode Originally Streamed on 2/18/11)
Playlist:
I. Minor Threat
1. Minor Threat – “Minor Threat”
2. The Cramps – “Jailhouse Rock”
3. The Teen Idles – “Get Up and Go”
4. Minor Threat – “Straight Edge”
5. The Germs – “What We Do is Secret”
6. Minor Threat – “Screaming at a Wall”
7. AFI – “Triple Zero”
8. Minor Threat – “Think Again”
9. Heroin – “In General”
10. Melt-Banana – “Tapir’s Flown Away”
II. Husker Du
11. Husker Du – “Pink Turns To Blue”
12. Dead Kennedys – “Holiday in Cambodia”
13. Husker Du – “Broken Home, Broken Heart”
14. Husker Du – “Terms of Psychic Warfare”
15. The Pixies – “Break My Body”
16. Husker Du –” Chartered Trips”
17. Jawbreaker – “I Love You So Much, It’s Killing Us Both”
18. Sugar – “Fortune Teller”
III. The Replacements
19. The Replacements – “Bastards of Young/I’m in Trouble (live)”
20. The Only Ones – “Another Girl, Another Planet”
21. The Replacements – “Left of the Dial”
22. The Gaslight Anthem – “High Lonesome”
23. The Replacements – “Alex Chilton”
24. Big Star – “Nighttime”
25. The Replacements – “I’ll Be You”
26. Wilco – “Pot Kettle Black”
27. Joan Jett & Paul Westerberg – “Let’s Do It”
SIRIA’S FEBRUARY PLAYLIST
WHAT I FELL ASLEEP TO IN FEBRUARY:
Camera Obscura – “The Sweetest Thing”
My Maudlin Career, which came out about a year ago, as a whole is great to fall asleep to. My favorite tracks off that cd are probably this and “French Navy”
Bob Dylan – “Positively 4th Street”
This has to be my favorite Bob Dylan song. Many artists have covered this song, however my favorite versions would have to be by Stereophonics and X
Radiohead “Subterranean Homesick Alien”
Frank Black “Honey Comb”
The Crystals “He’s a Rebel”
Iggy Pop – “Cry For Love”
DELTRON 3030 RECOMMENDED: Various Artists ‘Adventureland’
The marketing campaign for this movie lied to me! It wasn’t the fun loving goofball comedy that I was expecting. Instead the movie was full of broken hearts, broken homes, and broken promises. I was bamboozled! I’m guessing it tested poorly so the studio decided to do some re-shoots, adding in the multiple punches to the groin that were peppered throughout the movie. I lost count but there were at least five separate fist to balls in there. Comedy Gold. Needless to say I was a bit letdown by the movie. Even still I gave this movie three stars in my netflix account…. all based solely on the power of the kick ass soundtrack. Top to bottom it is chock full of goodness. The true test of a soundtrack’s skill is if it effortlessly blends the obvious hits (“Your Love,” “Just Like Heaven,” “Rock Me Amadeus”) with some lesser known neglected songs (I’m in Love With a Girl, Modern Love, Don’t Want to Know if You Are Lonely”. It’s like making a killer mix tape. You want to rope them in with something they know, then when you have them entranced with a sense of security and familiarity you drop the knowledge on them. Two people in film today stand out in my eyes for soundtrack mix tape building: Tarantino and Cameron Crowe. Their consistent mixing excellence makes them the measuring sticks for all other Hollywood mix tape makers. Whoever worked on Adventureland’s mix is now right up there with them. The movie single handedly made me go home and download a few albums I probably already should have had: (more…)