dancing in the dungeon every sunday night
Sep. 29th, 2010 01:16 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
labellementeuseI made a mixtape!
Last week![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
bad_mushroom suggested we swap mixtapes for new music recs. Now, I personally find that you need at least two songs to tell if you're going to be into someone, so there are at least two songs by each artist in this mix. I tried to get them to demonstrate the range of the artist as well. I also tried to give it some kind of logical order but I totally failed, so uh, go me?
Anyway, I thought some of the flist might also be interested, so here we go. If anyone wants specific songs, let me know. Also, Alida darling, there's probably a lot you already know on here and I'm sorry about that!
Tracklisting
1. Strawpeople feat. Stephanie Tauevihi, "Love Explodes"
My obsessions are strange
But you stretch my range
Kiss me goodbye
Trivia: “Love Explodes” is my custom friendspage title right now.
2. Janelle Monae, “Come Alive (The Wars of the Roses)”
We’re kicking at your window and keeping you up
And if you come to find me I’ll color you red
We're dancing in the dungeon every Monday night
That’s when I come alive
Trivia: Janelle Monae's first EP and album form the three suites of a high-concept SF work about sexbot androids falling in love with people. IKR? She's amazing.
3. Goldenhorse, “Maybe Tomorrow”
There's a story I know
We all live and let go
There is nothing to hold us
In a moment of time
When the fruit becomes wine
And the thought becomes the memory.
Trivia: Kirsten Morrell, the lead singer for Goldenhorse, now has a solo career about which I know ... absolutely nothing.
4. Bright Eyes, “Another Travelin' Song”
I'm screamin' at my brother on a cellphone
he is far away
And I'm saying nothing in the past or future
ever will feel like today
until we're parking in an alley
just hoping that our shit is safe
Trivia: this song really reminds me of the Winchester brothers from the TV show Supernatural. Look, OK, no-one said trivia had to be interesting!
5. Metric, “Gimme Sympathy”
Who'd you rather be
The Beatles or The Rolling Stones?
Oh, seriously
You're going to make mistakes you're young
Come on baby, play me something
Like "Here Comes the Sun"
Trivia: I am a sucker for things with pop culture references, including, apparently, pop songs that reference other pop songs.
6. Tegan & Sara, “City Girl”
I got uncertain promise
I'll be perfect from now on
But all my promises
They're out the window once you're gone
You pack your bags
You say I love you but I cannot stay
So I started smoking
Thought the signals
Would scare your wolves away
Trivia: Every queer girl loves Tegan & Sara and overidentifies with at least one song they sing, but little is more divisive than arguing about which is your favourite album. Mine is sometimes So Jealous but usually If It Was You, which I consistently typo as If It Were You, and this is the song I overidentify with.
7. Metric, “Collect Call”
Keep me closer,
I'm a lazy dancer
When you move I move with you
Trivia: Metric is one of the two bands on this playlist that I've been listening to for less than a month. However, because a friend of mine is apparently really, really, severely into them, I now have practically their entire discography, which is going to keep me really, really, severely busy for the next, like, six weeks. Thanks, @seemsforever. Also, there was a Metric song on the Vampire Diaries last season.
8. Camille, “1, 2, 3”
Je croise son double au détour des rues
Quand je suis dans tes bras
Je ne vois plus que lui
Trivia: I think the French there is wrong: I got it off google and my French is no longer good enough to fix it, but I think there should be an accent on croisé. Or maybe it should be croisais. I'm really not sure. Anyway, I do know what it means: I saw your twin out on the street/when I'm in your arms/I only see him.
9. Rosy Tin Teacaddy, “Chestnut”
Stop talking chocolate to me
Pouring from you seamlessly
You’re leaving dents in wooden floor
Like stiletto, like stiletto
Trivia: I've heard this song live at least four times and, this is a bit mean, I like it a lot better live. (It's mean because they're a teeny-tiny Wellington band and the chances of most people reading this ever seeing it live are slim! You can Youtube it though.)
10. Muse, “Undisclosed Desires”
I want to reconcile the violence in your heart
I want to recognise your beauty's not just a mask
I want to exorcise the demons from your past
I want to satisfy the undisclosed desires in your heart
Trivia: This is the first song that made me go and actually listen to some Muse instead of being vaguely aware of them, and I first listened to it because someone said it was a great Dean/Castiel song. This probably makes me a terrible person, but it is a great song. (I think it's an awesome Dean/Castiel/Lisa song, actually, which will probably be the sum total of my commentary on 6x01, for those who are interested.)
11. Dar Williams, “Another Mystery”
The alligator, the God that made her,
And all the creatures that got left behind
In Mycenea, ave Maria
and everything you gotta dig harder to find
I don't want to be a vapour of heavenly light
Have everybody guess if I'm an angel or sprite
Trivia: This is my song for TV's “shallow” girls, who I always love, and who so often get the hard end of the misogyny stick. Interestingly, it also makes a great Nita song, even though she's the opposite of those girls in so many ways.
12. Poe, “Not a Virgin”
Just thought you should know
Before you let another lie get through your crooked little teeth
I don't think you wanna start that shit with me
Much better yet, tell me something dangerous and true
Oh yeah that looks much sexier than you
Careful what it is you say
'Cause I can see right through you on a cloudy day
And darling I think you want to play?
I'm not a virgin anymore.
Trivia: IDK. I just love this song. Poe are terrific. Sometimes you (I) just want to listen to overtly feminist music, you know?
13. The Hold Steady, “Citrus”
I feel Jesus in the clumsiness of young and awkward lovers
I feel Judas in the long odds of the rackets on the corners
I feel Jesus in the tenements of honest, nervous lovers
I feel Judas in the pistols and the pagers that come with all the powders
Trivia: This song is SUCH A CHEAT as a pimping song, because none of the rest of this album sounds like this song at all! However, it is really pretty. This album is called Boys and Girls in America, and once upon a time I downloaded a song that was, IDK, a B-side or a spinoff of the album called Boys and Girls in America, and it was the best song ever, and then I lost it, so it's not on this mix or, indeed, anywhere on my hard-drive, and I personally find that devastating. </cool story bro.>
14. The Postal Service, “Clark Gable”
The script it called for rain but it was clear that day
So we faked it. The marker snapped
and I yelled “Quiet on the set”, and then called “Action”
& I kissed you in a style Clark Gable would have admired
I thought it classic ...
Trivia: I also really like songs that are about very specific, quotidian details, which is also one of my favourite things in poetry.
14. Mumford & Sons, “The Cave”
So come out of your cave walking on your hands
And see the world hanging upside down
You can understand dependence when you know the maker's slant
So make your siren's call
And sing all you want
I will not hear what you have to say
Trivia: I went back and forth on which song to put in this spot so many times: it was between this song and “Little Lion Man”, which is also a seriously charming song. “The Cave” won out, however, because it references both the cave allegory AND the Odyssey (earlier in the song he gets tied to a post & his ears blocked) and, I'm pretty sure, some other mythology and/or literature that I'm missing. There's also someone on songmeanings.com who thinks it's a reference to Indian independence from the UK. My point here is: those are some hard-working lyrics and I love that.
Also, a M&S (hm, unfortunate acronym) song featured on Grey's Anatomy this week and caused my friendskadi to lose her shit hilariously. I am OK with it because Grey's breaks a lot of good music of the indie flavour, to be honest, I mean, check it: The Postal Service, Tegan & Sara, Rilo Kiley (whoa! I haven't got any Rilo Kiley on here!), Inara George, KT Tunstall, etc etc.
15. Camille, “Paris”
Fini le ciel gris
Les matins moroses
On dit qu'à Toulouse les briques sont roses
Oh là bas, Paris, les briques sont roses
Trivia: For a really long time this song and “1, 2, 3” were the only Camille songs I knew, they were given to me by Clara, the french exchange student who lived with my family for a year. She's finally coming back to New Zealand tomorrow and I am SO excited to see her.
Lyrics: I'm done with the grey sky/And the glum mornings/They say that in Toulouse the bricks are pink/ Yeah, Paris, the bricks are pink there. (look, it sounds a lot nicer in French, OK?)
16. The Mountain Goats, “This Year”
the scene ends badly
as you might imagine
in a cavalcade of anger and fear
there will be feasting and dancing
in Jerusalem next year
Trivia: This song is from an album, The Sunset Tree, that absolutely everyone in the world should listen to. It's just an excellent, excellent album.
17. Rosy Tin Teacaddy, “Crosswords”
Suddenly you are the sun through the window:
Three across.
Comfortably settle yourself in a smile:
Twelve down.
This cryptic crossword means we won't be up for awhile.
Lend me a biro, I like the way you form your letters.
Trivia: This song is why Rosy Tin Teacaddy are my personal nomination for Most Twee Band of the New Millenium. I think it's adorable (and I think after “This Year” everyone needs a break.) By the way, you can buy Rosy Tin Teacaddy's album The Homeward Stretch from Amplifier for NZ$20, which is a pretty good deal at most exchange rates!
18. Tegan & Sara, “Someday”
Yell “Right on!”
The class-act president
You are my boss I am confident in your eyes
They yell “move up!”
Don't stand back here and wait
Like an animal at the farmer's gate
Am I food or am I free?
So “speak up!”
This is your last chance my friend
Trivia: So you know what I was saying above about Tegan & Sara's different albums? So this is from their newest album, Sainthood, which is ... not my favourite. I think the sound is rather different and much less acoustic. However, there are a couple of songs on there I really like and this is one of them. Also, that thing I was trying to do with range, I guess.
19. Muse, “Glorious”
But I still want more
With the cuts and the bruises
Don't close the door
On what you adore
Trivia: this is the song to maybe my favourite vid of all time. I have to rewatch the vid every time I listen to the song, which is difficult when I have it on repeat on the bus ... Also, this song is an extra or a B-side or something and was a pain to track down but I did it because I love this vid SO MUCH. (And the song. The song is good.)
20. The Mountain Goats, “Old College Try”
From the entrance to the exit
Is longer than it looks from where we stand
I wanna say I'm sorry for stuff I haven't done yet
Things will shortly get completely out of hand...
I will walk down to the end with you
If you will come all the way down with me.
Trivia: Rarrr, it was really really hard to pick just two Mountain Goats songs! This one is from the album Tallahassee, which is songs about a fictional couple called the “alpha couple”. John Darnielle, who basically is the Mountain Goats, wrote a whole bunch of songs about them on this album and others. They are pretty unhappy, but this is an awesome song that can seem borderline happy. If, um, you're not listening properly, anyway.
21. Goldenhorse, “Don't Wake Me Up”
A love that lies down like a fool
Gets walked on by the crowd
Screaming in the dark
But watch your step, watch out
The cracks can take you down anytime
I've got this feeling we'll be fine
It's just the blind leading the blind.
Trivia: This is the first song on Goldenhorse's second album, Out Of The Moon (if you downloaded that Dairine mix I made a long time ago I'm fairly sure the title track was on it). In the halls at university I used to have an alarm clock that could wake you up with a CD, and I woke up to this song basically all year, because the irony pleased me. However, I now associate this song with wakin up bleary-eyed for MATH105 at 8am every morning, and absolutely hate it. However, I remember why I used to like it and here it is. :P
22. Melissa Etheridge & k.d. lang, “You Can Sleep While I Drive”
Come on baby let's get out of this town
I've got a full tank of gas and the top rolled down
If you won't take me with you,
I'll go before night is through
But baby you can sleep while I drive.
Trivia: This is a live recording and I have no idea where it's from, because I originally got this version from a Supernatural fanmix way, way back in the day, like 2006. I do have an album version (by Melissa Etheridge) but this one is just nicer.
23. Janelle Monae, “Violet Stars Happy Hunting!”
I'm a slavegirl without a race (without a face)
On the run 'cause they're here to erase and chase my kind
They've come to destroy me
Trivia: This song, and another song on the EP, “Many Moons”, are totally my Carmela-is-an-intergalactic-bounty-hunter songs. The music video for “Many Moons” is AMAZING and you should watch it. Yes, you.
24. Strawpeople feat. Fiona McDonald, “Taller Than God”
I don't believe that Heaven waits above the sky
I don't believe but maybe it's in the room with you, disguised
Trivia: Strawpeople once did a song featuring Bic Runga, it's called “Drive”, which is really annoying because she had a song called “Drive” already and it was sort of famous. It was on an album called Sway, and here's some genuine trivia: it has been estimated that, on average, every New Zealand household owns not one but two copies of Sway.
25. Vienna Teng, “In Another Life”
In another life
I was married at thirteen
You were killed at twenty-one
On a minor battlefield
I was buried beside my second stillborn child
My last thought it seemed
A fever dream
Trivia: No trivia, just a comment: It was really hard to pick the Vienna songs to put on here since Alida said she already had a few and I didn't want to duplicate, but on the other hand, Vienna! Ilher to pieces! So I picked two of my current faves.
26. Poe, “A Rose is a Rose”
Before her Joyce will babble,
And Pound has gone insane,
Eliot is paralyzed by,
Thoughts of April rain.
When she refused Lenin,
He vowed to start a war.
Stravinsky beat The Rite of Spring,
Right there on the floor.
Trivia: And we're back to my pathetic weakness for allusion in song. Fourteen famous literary and artistic men are mentioned in this song, but only one person really counts: Gertrude Stein, naturally. Did you know that the phrase “a rose is a rose is a rose is a rose” has its own wikipedia page? It does! Here's something I found out on that wikipedia page: there was a character in Carmen Sandiego called Rosa Zarrosas-Arroz. That's sort of wonderful, isn't it?
27. The Mountain Goats, “Love Love Love”
Some things you do for money
And some you'll do for fun
But the things you do for love
Are gonna come back to you one by one
Trivia: OH GOD OKAY I couldn't help it! This is a great song! The Mountain Goats are prolific, they can stand to have three songs on here, okay?! SO MUCH PUNCTUATION.
28. Florence + the Machine, “My Boy Builds Coffins”
My boy builds coffins with hammers and nails
He doesn't build ships, he has no use for sails
He doesn't make tables, dressers or chairs
He can't carve a whistle cause he just doesn't care
Trivia: Alida said she knew “that one song” by Florence, which is a problem because that could be Kiss with a Fist, Dog Days are Over, or Rabbit Heart (Raise It Up). I guessed it would be one of the latter two, so I'm showing a bit of Florence's macabre side in my selections.
29. The Hold Steady, “You Can Make Him Like You”
You don't have to know how to get home
Let your boyfriend tell the driver the best way to go
It only gets kinda weird when you want to go home alone
You don't have to know the inspiring people
Let your boyfriend know the inspiring people
You can hang in the kitchen, talk about the stars and the upcoming season
Trivia: I really know nothing about the Hold Steady or this song. Dammit.
30. Melissa Etheridge, “Secret Agent”
You got nowhere to run
Got her phasers on stun
With her toys like the boys
She is second to none
Trivia: This is another live recording because once again I have lost the original that I had of this song, which I'm pretty sure was not live. However, w/e, it's actually OK.
31. Florence + the Machine, “Girl With One Eye”
I said hey, girl with one eye
get your filthy fingers out of my pie
Trivia: See? Macabre. This song is a cover by a male artist, which is neat; one of my favourite things in the world is covers that don't flip the genders. (Other favourites: “Come On Eileen” by Save Ferris and, of course, “Son of a Preacher Man” by Cam Clarke.)
32. Mumford & Sons, “Dustbowl Dance”
Well yes sir, yes sir, yes it was me
I know what I've done, 'cause I know what I've seen
I went out back and I got my gun
I said “You haven't met me, I am the only son...”
Trivia: I avoided this song for a really long time because it was the title to a cowboy AU that I also avoided reading b/c I don't like cowboy AUs. However, it turns out that the song isn't really about cowboys but is actually really incredible.
33. Vienna Teng, “Unwritten Letter No. 1”
You gave me truth, I chose illusion
Now we are used to this confusion
But I know, yes I know this story has to end
Trivia: I frigging love the violin solo in this. Loooooove it.
34. Metric, “Stadium Love:
Wanna make a trade
Cougar for a snake
Wanna fall in love?
Wanna make a deal?
Angel verses eel
Owl verses dove.
Trivia: I have no fucking idea what this song is about, but it always sort of makes me think of trading card games and I find that hilarious, especially because it's probably really ~deep and meaningful. Anyway, it's also a good song for gym/running/being pissed at people/doing the dishes.
ETA: OH WAIT I GOOGLED THIS IS HILARIOUS. So this paragraph is attributed to Emily Haines, who wrote the song:
ahahahahahaahhah.
35. Bright Eyes, “Road to Joy”
Well I could have been a famous singer
If I'd had someone else's voice
But failure's always sounded better
Let's fuck it up, boys, make some noise.
Trivia: obviously this is to the tune of Ode to Joy, and it makes it kind of incredible. Love this song sfm.
36. Dar Williams, “As Cool As I Am”
You look out of the kitchen window and you shake your head and say low,
“If I could believe that stuff I'd say that woman has a halo,”
And I look out and say “Yeah, she's really glowing,”
And then I go outside to join the others, I am the others.
Trivia: The actual lyric above is “Yeah, she's really blond”, but fuck it, I like my mondegreen better. Also, I once used a lyric from this song to title a fic I wrote (about Joanne Virella. Ha ha ha.)
37. The Postal Service, “Such Great Heights”
I tried my best to leave this all on your machine
But the persistent beat it sounded thin upon listening in
And that frankly will not fly, you will hear the shrillest highs
and lowest lows with the windows down, when this is guiding you home.
Trivia: The Postal Service is a project of Ben Gibbard from Death Cab for Cutie and some other producer dude from this band I don't know (SHUT UP) and their first album, Give Up, is really brilliant and beautiful. Unfortunately, it'll probably be their only album, which is nearly the worst thing I learned today! (The worst thing is [Outrageous Fortune spoilers redacted.])
38. Janelle Monae, “BaBopByeYa”
I heed echos of your laughter in the corners of my mind
While I memorise each detail of your intricate design
In your hair there is a symphony
Your lips, a string quartet
They tell stories of a Neon Valley Street
Where we first met
Trivia: OK, a third Janelle Monae song. She's incredible so I don't feel bad, and also this is song is super different from the other two, so I think it's OK.
Plus, honestly? I just think this song is the perfect song to finish any album or mixtape. It's absolutely operatic. I really dig it.
get the .rar here!
Last week
bad_mushroom suggested we swap mixtapes for new music recs. Now, I personally find that you need at least two songs to tell if you're going to be into someone, so there are at least two songs by each artist in this mix. I tried to get them to demonstrate the range of the artist as well. I also tried to give it some kind of logical order but I totally failed, so uh, go me? Anyway, I thought some of the flist might also be interested, so here we go. If anyone wants specific songs, let me know. Also, Alida darling, there's probably a lot you already know on here and I'm sorry about that!
Tracklisting
1. Strawpeople feat. Stephanie Tauevihi, "Love Explodes"
My obsessions are strange
But you stretch my range
Kiss me goodbye
Trivia: “Love Explodes” is my custom friendspage title right now.
2. Janelle Monae, “Come Alive (The Wars of the Roses)”
We’re kicking at your window and keeping you up
And if you come to find me I’ll color you red
We're dancing in the dungeon every Monday night
That’s when I come alive
Trivia: Janelle Monae's first EP and album form the three suites of a high-concept SF work about sexbot androids falling in love with people. IKR? She's amazing.
3. Goldenhorse, “Maybe Tomorrow”
There's a story I know
We all live and let go
There is nothing to hold us
In a moment of time
When the fruit becomes wine
And the thought becomes the memory.
Trivia: Kirsten Morrell, the lead singer for Goldenhorse, now has a solo career about which I know ... absolutely nothing.
4. Bright Eyes, “Another Travelin' Song”
I'm screamin' at my brother on a cellphone
he is far away
And I'm saying nothing in the past or future
ever will feel like today
until we're parking in an alley
just hoping that our shit is safe
Trivia: this song really reminds me of the Winchester brothers from the TV show Supernatural. Look, OK, no-one said trivia had to be interesting!
5. Metric, “Gimme Sympathy”
Who'd you rather be
The Beatles or The Rolling Stones?
Oh, seriously
You're going to make mistakes you're young
Come on baby, play me something
Like "Here Comes the Sun"
Trivia: I am a sucker for things with pop culture references, including, apparently, pop songs that reference other pop songs.
6. Tegan & Sara, “City Girl”
I got uncertain promise
I'll be perfect from now on
But all my promises
They're out the window once you're gone
You pack your bags
You say I love you but I cannot stay
So I started smoking
Thought the signals
Would scare your wolves away
Trivia: Every queer girl loves Tegan & Sara and overidentifies with at least one song they sing, but little is more divisive than arguing about which is your favourite album. Mine is sometimes So Jealous but usually If It Was You, which I consistently typo as If It Were You, and this is the song I overidentify with.
7. Metric, “Collect Call”
Keep me closer,
I'm a lazy dancer
When you move I move with you
Trivia: Metric is one of the two bands on this playlist that I've been listening to for less than a month. However, because a friend of mine is apparently really, really, severely into them, I now have practically their entire discography, which is going to keep me really, really, severely busy for the next, like, six weeks. Thanks, @seemsforever. Also, there was a Metric song on the Vampire Diaries last season.
8. Camille, “1, 2, 3”
Je croise son double au détour des rues
Quand je suis dans tes bras
Je ne vois plus que lui
Trivia: I think the French there is wrong: I got it off google and my French is no longer good enough to fix it, but I think there should be an accent on croisé. Or maybe it should be croisais. I'm really not sure. Anyway, I do know what it means: I saw your twin out on the street/when I'm in your arms/I only see him.
9. Rosy Tin Teacaddy, “Chestnut”
Stop talking chocolate to me
Pouring from you seamlessly
You’re leaving dents in wooden floor
Like stiletto, like stiletto
Trivia: I've heard this song live at least four times and, this is a bit mean, I like it a lot better live. (It's mean because they're a teeny-tiny Wellington band and the chances of most people reading this ever seeing it live are slim! You can Youtube it though.)
10. Muse, “Undisclosed Desires”
I want to reconcile the violence in your heart
I want to recognise your beauty's not just a mask
I want to exorcise the demons from your past
I want to satisfy the undisclosed desires in your heart
Trivia: This is the first song that made me go and actually listen to some Muse instead of being vaguely aware of them, and I first listened to it because someone said it was a great Dean/Castiel song. This probably makes me a terrible person, but it is a great song. (I think it's an awesome Dean/Castiel/Lisa song, actually, which will probably be the sum total of my commentary on 6x01, for those who are interested.)
11. Dar Williams, “Another Mystery”
The alligator, the God that made her,
And all the creatures that got left behind
In Mycenea, ave Maria
and everything you gotta dig harder to find
I don't want to be a vapour of heavenly light
Have everybody guess if I'm an angel or sprite
Trivia: This is my song for TV's “shallow” girls, who I always love, and who so often get the hard end of the misogyny stick. Interestingly, it also makes a great Nita song, even though she's the opposite of those girls in so many ways.
12. Poe, “Not a Virgin”
Just thought you should know
Before you let another lie get through your crooked little teeth
I don't think you wanna start that shit with me
Much better yet, tell me something dangerous and true
Oh yeah that looks much sexier than you
Careful what it is you say
'Cause I can see right through you on a cloudy day
And darling I think you want to play?
I'm not a virgin anymore.
Trivia: IDK. I just love this song. Poe are terrific. Sometimes you (I) just want to listen to overtly feminist music, you know?
13. The Hold Steady, “Citrus”
I feel Jesus in the clumsiness of young and awkward lovers
I feel Judas in the long odds of the rackets on the corners
I feel Jesus in the tenements of honest, nervous lovers
I feel Judas in the pistols and the pagers that come with all the powders
Trivia: This song is SUCH A CHEAT as a pimping song, because none of the rest of this album sounds like this song at all! However, it is really pretty. This album is called Boys and Girls in America, and once upon a time I downloaded a song that was, IDK, a B-side or a spinoff of the album called Boys and Girls in America, and it was the best song ever, and then I lost it, so it's not on this mix or, indeed, anywhere on my hard-drive, and I personally find that devastating. </cool story bro.>
14. The Postal Service, “Clark Gable”
The script it called for rain but it was clear that day
So we faked it. The marker snapped
and I yelled “Quiet on the set”, and then called “Action”
& I kissed you in a style Clark Gable would have admired
I thought it classic ...
Trivia: I also really like songs that are about very specific, quotidian details, which is also one of my favourite things in poetry.
14. Mumford & Sons, “The Cave”
So come out of your cave walking on your hands
And see the world hanging upside down
You can understand dependence when you know the maker's slant
So make your siren's call
And sing all you want
I will not hear what you have to say
Trivia: I went back and forth on which song to put in this spot so many times: it was between this song and “Little Lion Man”, which is also a seriously charming song. “The Cave” won out, however, because it references both the cave allegory AND the Odyssey (earlier in the song he gets tied to a post & his ears blocked) and, I'm pretty sure, some other mythology and/or literature that I'm missing. There's also someone on songmeanings.com who thinks it's a reference to Indian independence from the UK. My point here is: those are some hard-working lyrics and I love that.
Also, a M&S (hm, unfortunate acronym) song featured on Grey's Anatomy this week and caused my friend
skadi to lose her shit hilariously. I am OK with it because Grey's breaks a lot of good music of the indie flavour, to be honest, I mean, check it: The Postal Service, Tegan & Sara, Rilo Kiley (whoa! I haven't got any Rilo Kiley on here!), Inara George, KT Tunstall, etc etc. 15. Camille, “Paris”
Fini le ciel gris
Les matins moroses
On dit qu'à Toulouse les briques sont roses
Oh là bas, Paris, les briques sont roses
Trivia: For a really long time this song and “1, 2, 3” were the only Camille songs I knew, they were given to me by Clara, the french exchange student who lived with my family for a year. She's finally coming back to New Zealand tomorrow and I am SO excited to see her.
Lyrics: I'm done with the grey sky/And the glum mornings/They say that in Toulouse the bricks are pink/ Yeah, Paris, the bricks are pink there. (look, it sounds a lot nicer in French, OK?)
16. The Mountain Goats, “This Year”
the scene ends badly
as you might imagine
in a cavalcade of anger and fear
there will be feasting and dancing
in Jerusalem next year
Trivia: This song is from an album, The Sunset Tree, that absolutely everyone in the world should listen to. It's just an excellent, excellent album.
17. Rosy Tin Teacaddy, “Crosswords”
Suddenly you are the sun through the window:
Three across.
Comfortably settle yourself in a smile:
Twelve down.
This cryptic crossword means we won't be up for awhile.
Lend me a biro, I like the way you form your letters.
Trivia: This song is why Rosy Tin Teacaddy are my personal nomination for Most Twee Band of the New Millenium. I think it's adorable (and I think after “This Year” everyone needs a break.) By the way, you can buy Rosy Tin Teacaddy's album The Homeward Stretch from Amplifier for NZ$20, which is a pretty good deal at most exchange rates!
18. Tegan & Sara, “Someday”
Yell “Right on!”
The class-act president
You are my boss I am confident in your eyes
They yell “move up!”
Don't stand back here and wait
Like an animal at the farmer's gate
Am I food or am I free?
So “speak up!”
This is your last chance my friend
Trivia: So you know what I was saying above about Tegan & Sara's different albums? So this is from their newest album, Sainthood, which is ... not my favourite. I think the sound is rather different and much less acoustic. However, there are a couple of songs on there I really like and this is one of them. Also, that thing I was trying to do with range, I guess.
19. Muse, “Glorious”
But I still want more
With the cuts and the bruises
Don't close the door
On what you adore
Trivia: this is the song to maybe my favourite vid of all time. I have to rewatch the vid every time I listen to the song, which is difficult when I have it on repeat on the bus ... Also, this song is an extra or a B-side or something and was a pain to track down but I did it because I love this vid SO MUCH. (And the song. The song is good.)
20. The Mountain Goats, “Old College Try”
From the entrance to the exit
Is longer than it looks from where we stand
I wanna say I'm sorry for stuff I haven't done yet
Things will shortly get completely out of hand...
I will walk down to the end with you
If you will come all the way down with me.
Trivia: Rarrr, it was really really hard to pick just two Mountain Goats songs! This one is from the album Tallahassee, which is songs about a fictional couple called the “alpha couple”. John Darnielle, who basically is the Mountain Goats, wrote a whole bunch of songs about them on this album and others. They are pretty unhappy, but this is an awesome song that can seem borderline happy. If, um, you're not listening properly, anyway.
21. Goldenhorse, “Don't Wake Me Up”
A love that lies down like a fool
Gets walked on by the crowd
Screaming in the dark
But watch your step, watch out
The cracks can take you down anytime
I've got this feeling we'll be fine
It's just the blind leading the blind.
Trivia: This is the first song on Goldenhorse's second album, Out Of The Moon (if you downloaded that Dairine mix I made a long time ago I'm fairly sure the title track was on it). In the halls at university I used to have an alarm clock that could wake you up with a CD, and I woke up to this song basically all year, because the irony pleased me. However, I now associate this song with wakin up bleary-eyed for MATH105 at 8am every morning, and absolutely hate it. However, I remember why I used to like it and here it is. :P
22. Melissa Etheridge & k.d. lang, “You Can Sleep While I Drive”
Come on baby let's get out of this town
I've got a full tank of gas and the top rolled down
If you won't take me with you,
I'll go before night is through
But baby you can sleep while I drive.
Trivia: This is a live recording and I have no idea where it's from, because I originally got this version from a Supernatural fanmix way, way back in the day, like 2006. I do have an album version (by Melissa Etheridge) but this one is just nicer.
23. Janelle Monae, “Violet Stars Happy Hunting!”
I'm a slavegirl without a race (without a face)
On the run 'cause they're here to erase and chase my kind
They've come to destroy me
Trivia: This song, and another song on the EP, “Many Moons”, are totally my Carmela-is-an-intergalactic-bounty-hunter songs. The music video for “Many Moons” is AMAZING and you should watch it. Yes, you.
24. Strawpeople feat. Fiona McDonald, “Taller Than God”
I don't believe that Heaven waits above the sky
I don't believe but maybe it's in the room with you, disguised
Trivia: Strawpeople once did a song featuring Bic Runga, it's called “Drive”, which is really annoying because she had a song called “Drive” already and it was sort of famous. It was on an album called Sway, and here's some genuine trivia: it has been estimated that, on average, every New Zealand household owns not one but two copies of Sway.
25. Vienna Teng, “In Another Life”
In another life
I was married at thirteen
You were killed at twenty-one
On a minor battlefield
I was buried beside my second stillborn child
My last thought it seemed
A fever dream
Trivia: No trivia, just a comment: It was really hard to pick the Vienna songs to put on here since Alida said she already had a few and I didn't want to duplicate, but on the other hand, Vienna! Ilher to pieces! So I picked two of my current faves.
26. Poe, “A Rose is a Rose”
Before her Joyce will babble,
And Pound has gone insane,
Eliot is paralyzed by,
Thoughts of April rain.
When she refused Lenin,
He vowed to start a war.
Stravinsky beat The Rite of Spring,
Right there on the floor.
Trivia: And we're back to my pathetic weakness for allusion in song. Fourteen famous literary and artistic men are mentioned in this song, but only one person really counts: Gertrude Stein, naturally. Did you know that the phrase “a rose is a rose is a rose is a rose” has its own wikipedia page? It does! Here's something I found out on that wikipedia page: there was a character in Carmen Sandiego called Rosa Zarrosas-Arroz. That's sort of wonderful, isn't it?
27. The Mountain Goats, “Love Love Love”
Some things you do for money
And some you'll do for fun
But the things you do for love
Are gonna come back to you one by one
Trivia: OH GOD OKAY I couldn't help it! This is a great song! The Mountain Goats are prolific, they can stand to have three songs on here, okay?! SO MUCH PUNCTUATION.
28. Florence + the Machine, “My Boy Builds Coffins”
My boy builds coffins with hammers and nails
He doesn't build ships, he has no use for sails
He doesn't make tables, dressers or chairs
He can't carve a whistle cause he just doesn't care
Trivia: Alida said she knew “that one song” by Florence, which is a problem because that could be Kiss with a Fist, Dog Days are Over, or Rabbit Heart (Raise It Up). I guessed it would be one of the latter two, so I'm showing a bit of Florence's macabre side in my selections.
29. The Hold Steady, “You Can Make Him Like You”
You don't have to know how to get home
Let your boyfriend tell the driver the best way to go
It only gets kinda weird when you want to go home alone
You don't have to know the inspiring people
Let your boyfriend know the inspiring people
You can hang in the kitchen, talk about the stars and the upcoming season
Trivia: I really know nothing about the Hold Steady or this song. Dammit.
30. Melissa Etheridge, “Secret Agent”
You got nowhere to run
Got her phasers on stun
With her toys like the boys
She is second to none
Trivia: This is another live recording because once again I have lost the original that I had of this song, which I'm pretty sure was not live. However, w/e, it's actually OK.
31. Florence + the Machine, “Girl With One Eye”
I said hey, girl with one eye
get your filthy fingers out of my pie
Trivia: See? Macabre. This song is a cover by a male artist, which is neat; one of my favourite things in the world is covers that don't flip the genders. (Other favourites: “Come On Eileen” by Save Ferris and, of course, “Son of a Preacher Man” by Cam Clarke.)
32. Mumford & Sons, “Dustbowl Dance”
Well yes sir, yes sir, yes it was me
I know what I've done, 'cause I know what I've seen
I went out back and I got my gun
I said “You haven't met me, I am the only son...”
Trivia: I avoided this song for a really long time because it was the title to a cowboy AU that I also avoided reading b/c I don't like cowboy AUs. However, it turns out that the song isn't really about cowboys but is actually really incredible.
33. Vienna Teng, “Unwritten Letter No. 1”
You gave me truth, I chose illusion
Now we are used to this confusion
But I know, yes I know this story has to end
Trivia: I frigging love the violin solo in this. Loooooove it.
34. Metric, “Stadium Love:
Wanna make a trade
Cougar for a snake
Wanna fall in love?
Wanna make a deal?
Angel verses eel
Owl verses dove.
Trivia: I have no fucking idea what this song is about, but it always sort of makes me think of trading card games and I find that hilarious, especially because it's probably really ~deep and meaningful. Anyway, it's also a good song for gym/running/being pissed at people/doing the dishes.
ETA: OH WAIT I GOOGLED THIS IS HILARIOUS. So this paragraph is attributed to Emily Haines, who wrote the song:
I had just gotten back from Coachella, and I walked into the studio and noticed on the bulletin board that Joules had written ‘spider vs bat,’ i think he had been obsessively watching all these National Geographic animals-fighting-each-other-videos in his hotel room. For me, that phrase triggered an entire narrative that was about a gladiator-style enormo-dome where everything turns in on itself, with every form of aggression on display for spectators: monster trucks ramming into each other, bull fighting, sweaty men wrestling. And then you have these animals completely disconnected from the logic of their natural habitat, so you have a swan pecking the shit out of an elephant and pigs biting the necks out of tigers, and bats attacking spiders. And then in the seats, the spectators are kicking the shit out of each other too. There’s this completely blurred line between spectator and participant, and we’re all trapped in this fucked up Noah’s Ark. The images came to me all at once, and I wrote the lyrics on the spot.
ahahahahahaahhah.
35. Bright Eyes, “Road to Joy”
Well I could have been a famous singer
If I'd had someone else's voice
But failure's always sounded better
Let's fuck it up, boys, make some noise.
Trivia: obviously this is to the tune of Ode to Joy, and it makes it kind of incredible. Love this song sfm.
36. Dar Williams, “As Cool As I Am”
You look out of the kitchen window and you shake your head and say low,
“If I could believe that stuff I'd say that woman has a halo,”
And I look out and say “Yeah, she's really glowing,”
And then I go outside to join the others, I am the others.
Trivia: The actual lyric above is “Yeah, she's really blond”, but fuck it, I like my mondegreen better. Also, I once used a lyric from this song to title a fic I wrote (about Joanne Virella. Ha ha ha.)
37. The Postal Service, “Such Great Heights”
I tried my best to leave this all on your machine
But the persistent beat it sounded thin upon listening in
And that frankly will not fly, you will hear the shrillest highs
and lowest lows with the windows down, when this is guiding you home.
Trivia: The Postal Service is a project of Ben Gibbard from Death Cab for Cutie and some other producer dude from this band I don't know (SHUT UP) and their first album, Give Up, is really brilliant and beautiful. Unfortunately, it'll probably be their only album, which is nearly the worst thing I learned today! (The worst thing is [Outrageous Fortune spoilers redacted.])
38. Janelle Monae, “BaBopByeYa”
I heed echos of your laughter in the corners of my mind
While I memorise each detail of your intricate design
In your hair there is a symphony
Your lips, a string quartet
They tell stories of a Neon Valley Street
Where we first met
Trivia: OK, a third Janelle Monae song. She's incredible so I don't feel bad, and also this is song is super different from the other two, so I think it's OK.
Plus, honestly? I just think this song is the perfect song to finish any album or mixtape. It's absolutely operatic. I really dig it.
get the .rar here!
no subject
Date: 2010-09-29 01:24 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-09-29 01:52 am (UTC)"Unwritten Letter No. 1" is FABULOUS. It's so different from most of her other songs too. It's just so slinky and jazzy and a bit, hm, rawer? than her other songs.
no subject
Date: 2010-09-29 02:03 am (UTC)Agreed! It reminds me of November nights walking home from school... And my friend Eric and I covered Recessional at DWcon, which was a whole lot of fun to do - voice and guitar as opposed to voice, piano and trumpet, and a slightly different speed. *grin*
no subject
Date: 2010-09-29 11:06 pm (UTC)(aaaaaaaaaaaagh i have to get myself admin privileges on this comp, aaaaaaaaaaaagh, SELF, REMEMBER THIS)
no subject
Date: 2010-09-30 12:04 am (UTC)