Handsome Furs - Repatriated

Oh man, this song. So catchy! I think I got it as a download from them via email, and I like it way better than "What About Us." I do think its interesting that the song is called "Repatriated"...implying that it happened, but the song says that he'll "never be repatriated." Would it have been better to give the song the title, "Never Be Repatriated"? Or how about "(Never Be) Repatriated".

Where did the future go?
I was feeling down
I was feeling so low
Had to get out
Had to get out parts unknown

Where did the feeling go?
I got it back when the plane touched down
I was over
I was over - oh well

Here it comes
Here it comes
Here it comes
Here it comes

The frozen light
I'll never go back there
It was a lie, a lie
Believin' in it is so, it is so hard

I saw the light
Saw the reconstruction
And I will go, I will go
Out in the heat
And the rush and pushin' when its five at night

Your little heart is gonna beat so
Where did the future go?
Parts unknown
Parts unknown

Your little heart is gonna beat so
Where did the feeling go?
Well, it comes and goes
It comes and goes

Here it comes!

Your little heart is gonna beat so
Where did the feeling go?
Well, it comes and goes
It comes and goes

Here it comes
Here it comes

Blackout

I've seen the future
And its comin' in low
I've seen the future
I will never be repatriated

I've seen the future
And its comin' in low
I've seen the future
I will never be repatriated

I'll never be repatriated
Never be repatriated
Never be repatriated
Never be repatriated

If you have any thoughts, put them in the comments!

The Old 97's Should Be On Saturday Night Live [Is America Ready?]

I don't know whats been happening since I received the above blog post in my Google Reader. But it should happen, yo! Go 'Like' the petition over on Facebook.

THIS should be on teevee:



Or "Champaign, Illinois." Or whatever they feel like singing! America must be slammed with Rhett Miller's gyrating hips on Saturday Night Live. It must happen.

White Stripes Call It Quits

Its like they wanted to be a noted band of the 2000s decade.



I'm a little upset that this means that I will never, ever be able to see them live.



The White Stripes will be missed.

[WhiteStripes.com]

Lisa Loeb - "Do You Sleep?" [Or, Laundry is TEH SEX]

On the train (392 Saluki!) up to Champaign from Carbondale, the above song came up on shuffle. 


I really, really loved this song in high school, but never had the stomach to listen to it whenever I was actually going through a similar situation. I mean, "Now I don't know and I don't care if I ever will see you again" comes right after she practically begs to know if he's still thinking of her. Begs to know if he's losing sleep over her. 


And the video? As close as you get to washing a man right out of your hair...er...laundry. Its painful, your hands are going to blister from the hot water, but when you're done its all clean and you're exhausted and it was totally worth it. 


Lyrics:

do you eat sleep do you breathe me anymore?

do you sleep do you count sheep anymore?

do you sleep anymore?

do you take plight on my tounge like lead?

do you fall gracefully into bed anymore?

I saw you as you walked across my room

you looked out the window -- you looked at the moon

and you sat on the corner of my bed and you smoked with the ghost in the back of my head

Now i don't know and i don't care

if i ever see you again

i don't know and i don't care

if i ever will be there

do you eat sleep do you breathe me anymore?

do you sleep do you keep me anymore?

you kick my foot under the table

i kick you back can't say that i'm able

to stand for you or fall for you ever again

wish for a perfect setting

wishing that i am letting you

take me where you want me all over again

you can't give yourself

absolutely to someone else

now i don't know and i don't care

if i ever will see you again

i don't know and i don't care

if i ever will be there

i saw you as you walked across my room

you looked out the window -- you looked at the moon

and you sat on the corner of my bed

and you smoked with the ghost in the back of my head

do you eat sleep do you breathe me anymore?

do you sleep do you count sheep anymore?

do you sleep anymore?

i don't know (do you eat sleep do you breathe me anymore?)

and i don't care (do you sleep do you count sheep anymore?)

if i ever will be there (do you sleep anymore?)

will be there 

Frak it Friday: Elsinore - "Wooden Houses"

http://www.tinymixtapes.com/chocolate-grinder/watch-elsinore-wooden-houses

First alerted to this by tinymixtapes who called Elsinore "orchestral pop wizards."

What a great video to go with such a great song!

Old 97's - "Champaign, Illinois"

I mean, what did you expect from a band who had written a song called "Bloomington"? Apparently (according to the guy who ran the record store in downtown Champaign) their record label used to be based in the area and the used to Champaign concerts all the time. You know, before I went to college there and they stopped doing that.

This song is a sped up, rewritten version of Bob Dylan's song, "Desolation Row". Not so desolate. There's gotta be a place between heaven and hell for the people who really weren't bad, but weren't all that great either. I've gotta say the best line is, "There is an argument that there must be some heaven meant for hearts that are half true."

As a person who spent a time in this lesser heaven (purgatory without release to heaven?), Champaign, IL, I'm not sure its all that bad.

Below are lyrics:

The bottom line's been snorted
the bottom card's been dealt
No one knows like you know right now
How truly bad it felt

All your life you wasted, oh
Dreamin' about the day
When worker bees kill off their queen
and carry all her eggs away

Oh, and if you die fearin' God
And painfully employed
No, you will not go to heaven
You'll go to Champaign, Illinois

Up north is Chicago
Where booze makes no one blush
Memory comes back to you
In a double bourbon rush

The memories aren't all bad
and neither, my friend, are you
There is an argument that there must be some heaven meant
For hearts that are half true

And if you spend your whole life
rollin' horses into Troy
You will not go to heaven
You'll go to Champaign, Illinois
No, you will not go to heaven
You'll go to Champaign, Illinois

Roll on blacktop highway
Circles toward the sun
Springfield's in the distance
And that's the last big one

After that comes judgement
And judgement will be swift
You will be eliminated
But here's a parting gift

If you die fearing God
And painfully employed
You will not go to heaven
You'll go to Champaign, Illinois
No, you will not go to heaven,
You'll go to Champaign, Illinois

[Video note: while the video above is the most clear, there's another one that features Rhett Miller shaking his hips around like Elvis. As a person who's been five feature from Rhett Miller doing that in person, I totally recommend it. He really gets into it around the 1:50 mark. Or this one starting at the 0:42 mark. Really, all the videos on Youtube of this video are awesome. They sound great live.]

Frak it Friday: Cee Lo Green's "Fuck You"

 

So this is less explicit that that "Fuck Me, Ray Bradbury" but no less awesome.

Wolf Parade - Yulia [Song about Space]

 

 So the new Wolf Parade album EXPO 86 leaked, and I'd been playing it off and on all weekend. I knew I liked the way "Yulia" sounded, but Wolf Parade can be hard to understand. (Case in point: rather than "Yulia" my boyfriend thought that were singing, "Too young! Too young!")

I didn't really hear the words until this morning on my commute, and I'm not so clear on all of them, but the ones I am clear on: wow.

Its a song about a astronaut (cosmonaut? Yulia is an Eastern European/Russian name, as for Julia. The Ukrainian PM is named Yulia) singing back to his love on earth. The song begins with the send off for the flight (apologies if lyrics are wrong, see above explanation of WP being hard to understand....and this isn't a full collection of the lyrics, but just the most pertinent/hearable to me):

"I was up there floating with them
and you know that I was gone
The radio sings a patriot song
as the devil gets you low
Yulia

We were standing on the platform
The favorite sons in history"

This is a pretty big deal. They're already national heroes, just for advancing the space program. You know, until:

"The flip one switch at mission control
and I'm never coming home
Yulia"

Its unclear to me whether this was intentional on the space program's part (they fuck up and pull the plug to cover it up) or if it was just that nothing else could be done (no way to save them, so might as well cut your losses).

"I'm standing here
Drifting alone
and my heartbeats slow
and I hope they bring my body back
Yulia"

Doubly heartbreaking. I don't know if its just because I love being earthbound, but the idea of drifting in space, dying and all alone in all that space is terrible. And then knowing, as you are dying, that you'll be alone alone, drifting, for the rest of eternity.

The next is directly put to Yulia:

"So when they turn the camaras on you
Baby please don't speak of me
Point up to the dark above you
As they edit me from history

I'm ten million miles from my comfortable home
And space is very cold
Yulia"

So this guy goes from being the favorite son of his country to being written out of history because of the mission's failure. And gets to die alone for his trouble.

The next part just piles on the heartbreak"

"There's nothing out here
Nothing out here
nothing out
nothing out here
nothing out here"

This is the best song featuring space in a while. 

So, is it significant that her name is Yulia instead of Julia? Is this story more believable if its the Russians doing this? And maybe the failed manned missions from the US didn't get completely covered up, but we definitely don't remember them the way we remember Buzz Aldrin (of Dancing with the Stars fame, now!) or Tom Hanks and Kevin Bacon. Who remembers the names of the astronauts who died in Apollo 1? Its not a cover up, its just the way recent history remembers.

This blog does not have an existential crisis

I was walking to the metro after work today and thinking about the purpose of me keeping this blog. After all, when I started I was underemployed with a lot of time on my hands. Two, three posts a day!

Now, I'm lucky to get one in a week. But even with the tiny output, this blog still helps me think critically. Reading, I'm on constant lookout for a good quotation. I'm always listening or on the lookout for a good video. A good soundbite. Interesting advertisements. Or formulating general angst. Even if I don't post about it.

I'm also equipped for Adsense on this blog, and now am an Amazon Associate. Am I going to make money? No. Over the past two and a half years, I am a tenth of the way on Google Adsense to making enough to actually have a check. It doesn't hurt to try, no? Plus, its supposed to be super easy to use the Amazon Associates, which will be nice sense I almost have posted on several books and gave up when I couldn't find a decent picture of the book. (Also, I assume that Google is making money, however little, off of being able to put ads on my site. Especially if they don't have to pay me.)

So this blog continues to exist. I want to post more.

Frak it Friday - "Giving Up The Gun" by Vampire Weekend

Okay, I love Jake Gyllenhaal cameos and would really like a pair of red tights now, but seriously, Vampire Weekend, tennis? Some don't care for your music because you are oh-so rich and they think it shows up in your music.... and you go ahead and make rich person sport tennis part of your music video?

From the St. Petersburg Times about Vampire Weekend's first album:

At first listen, the boys in Vampire Weekend — four pasty Columbia U. sharps who dub their brainy brand of art-pop "Upper West Side Soweto" — come off like rich-boy villains in a John Hughes movie. They indulge in the well-read lyricism of privilege; they date soapy-smelling heiresses schooled at Middlebury.

I'm just saying. Don't become a stereotype.

Okkervil River - Song of Our So-Called Friend

I keep meaning to send this to my sister, but she stalks me through this blog so this is just as good.

Addicted to this song: Okkervil River - Lost Coastlines