The Songs That Guide Us

I’ve often been sad in my life, I imagine this is true for the vast majority of you who will read this. Sometimes in this sadness we look for something, anything to bring us out of it. Some of us turn to drugs, some turn to alcohol, most of us turn to music.

We all have a certain song that we need to hear when we are sad. I have several, depending on the reasons for my sadness. Left and Leaving by The Weakerthans is one of those rare songs, that no matter the reason for my sadness, helps to guide me towards the days when life will be a little bit brighter. It has one of the most melancholy riffs (forgive me if this isn’t the right terminology, I’m not really a music guy) I’ve ever heard. At the same time the lyrics of this song are some of the most hopefully uplifting lyrics in a song.

My city’s still breathing (but barely it’s true) through buildings gone missing like teeth. The sidewalks are watching me think about you, all sparkled with broken glass. I’m back with scars to show. Back with the streets I know. They never take me anywhere but here. Those stains in the carpet, this drink in my hand, these strangers whose faces I know. We meet here for our dress-rehearsal to say " I wanted it this way" and wait for the year to drown. Spring forward, fall back down. I’m trying not to wonder where you are. All this time lingers, undefined. Someone choose who’s left and who’s leaving. Memory will rust and erode into lists of all that you gave me: some matches, a blanket, this pain in my chest, the best parts of Lonely, duct-tape and soldered wires, new words for old desires, and every birthday card I threw away. I wait in 4/4 time. Count yellow highway lines that you’re relying on to lead you home.

Yeah its sad, but something about the last lines of the song, give me such a sense of optimism. It’s really beautiful that a song can be so sad for the first 95% of it and then give you so much hope for the future in the last 5% of it. I wait in 4/4 time, count yellow highway lines, that you’re relying on to lead you home. We are all waiting for something, we are all doing something to pass the time until we find what we are looking for. And we are all relying on something to lead us to that place we belong. Every single one of us. No one is exempt from this rule. Our reasons are all different, but that doesn’t change anything. Now whether we get to that place we belong, depends on how hard we are willing to work to get there.

You Can’t Get Every Girl

So maybe I should incorporate some life lesson’s into this blog. I love life, as John K. Samson once aptly said, I’m in love with love and lousy poetry. John I love you man. I love life so much, sometimes, this comes through at such bizarre times. Today I received some bad news, regarding a person I love so dearly. I was a sad panda all day. This girl I met a few weeks ago asked me if I would like to get together and talk, I was like sure. Well I quickly remembered why I was so in love with life. Just when things looked so much like ass I couldn’t bear it, in walks this girl, and I am a better person because of it.

Craig Finn (yes I love this man) once sang that “You can’t get every girl you’ll get the ones you love the best, you can’t love every girl you’ll love the ones you get the best, you have to trust me on this one I had to go through that too” This  is soooooo brilliant. Sometimes life takes you down the strangest roads, and usually once you come out on the other side you are a better person because of it.

Craig Finn knows what he’s talking about, even if he looks like this huge nerd.

You Can Make Them Like You

 

You don’t have to deal with the dealers Let your boyfriend deal with the dealers It only gets inconvenient When you want to get high alone You don’t have to know how to get home Let your boyfriend tell the driver the best way to go It only gets kind of 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 in the upcoming sequel If you get tired of your boyfriend’s things There’s always other boys There’s always other boyfriends If you get tired of your boyfriend’s scene There’s always other scenes There’s always other boyfriends You don’t have to deal with the dealers Let your boyfriend deal with the dealers It only gets inconvenient When you want to get high alone You don’t have to go to the right kind of schools Let your boyfriend come from the right kind of school You can wear his old sweatshirt You can cover yourself like a bruise But if you get tired of your boyfriend’s things There’s always other boys There’s always other boyfriends If you get tired of your football friends There’s always other boys There’s always other boyfriends If you get tired of the car he drives There’s always other boys And you can make him like you If you get tired of the music he likes There’s always other boys And you can make him like you They say you don’t have a problem Until you start to do it alone They say you don’t have a problem Until you start bringing it home They say you don’t have a problem Until you start sleeping alone There’s always other boys There’s always other boyfriends There’s always other boys And you can make him like you There’s always other boys There’s always other boyfriends There’s always other boys And you can make him like you There’s always other boys There’s always other boyfriends There’s always other boys And you can make him like you There’s always other boys There’s always other boyfriends There’s always other boys And you can make him like you

Craig Finn continues to blow my mind, How I ever missed this band, is beyond me. The stories this guy tells ranks right up there with John Darnielle of The Mountain Goats.

The Hold Steady don’t look like rock stars, they look like nerds who work in your companies IT department. This is part of the beauty of this band. I always hated the “Rock Stars” whose only goal in this life was to look as douchey as possible. Nickleback and Hinder, if you happen to stumble across this small blog, do the world a favor and drink a bottle of bleach.

Peeps the point of this is don’t let the radio, or popular culture dictate what you listen to. Have an open mind, go out and find all the great bands who no one has ever heard of. You’re not going to do that though, are you? Prolly not. Oh well I guess that means more for me!!

Most People are DJ’s

well hold steady ybor city. you’re up to your neck in sweat wet confetti.
if you want to get a little bit heady. it’s gonna have to get a little bit heavy. we’re jamming jetskis into the jetty now. with some guy who looks like rocco sefredi. and i’ve heard he’s been dead once already.

it’s going down right now in lowertown. they’re skipping off the good ship ussssssss sexuality. searching for the merchant with the five second delivery. they’re slipping soft rock into the setlist now. they got some new guy that looks just like phil lynott. we’re stumbling but i think we’re still in it.
it’s a big world girl and i can’t understand it. we’re tiny white specks on a bright blue planet.

i was a teenage ice machine. i kept it cool in coolers. and i drank until i dreamed. when i dreamed i always dreamed about the scene. all these kids look like little lambs looking up at me. i was a twin cities trash bin. i did everything they’d give me. i’d jam it in my system. she got me cornered in by kitchen. i said i’ll do anything but listen to some weird talking chick who just can’t understand that we’re hot soft spots on a hard rock planet. baby take off your beret. everyone’s a critic and most people are djs. and everything gets played

working backwards from the doctor to the drugs. from the packie to the taxi to the cabbie to the club. a thousand kids will fall in love in all these clubs tonight. a thousand other kids will end up gushing blood tonight. two thousand kids wont get all that much sleep tonight. two thousand kids they still feel pretty sweet tonight. ya i still feel pretty sweet.

What an amazing song. The Hold Steady do something for me that not many bands do. They give me a massive boner that few bands do. My love for The Hold Steady started almost by accident. I was in love with The Gaslight Anthem, and someone recommended that I check out The Hold Steady. So I went out and bought Boy and Girls in America. I hated it the first time I listened to it. Then I took a chance and listened to it a second time, then a third time and Craig Finn’s voice began to grow on me. Then I really listened to the lyrics and holy shit my mind was blown.

I tend to gravitate towards smart rock. I love a band or songwriter that makes you think. Craig Finn does that He gets in your brain and makes you think in an offbeat kind of way. This is what, imhe makes music great.

 

Think about just the title of this song. Most People are DJ’s, that’s such a true statement. I know it is for me. If I meet a person, who doesn’t know the type of music that I love, I take on the DJ roll and play the shit outta music for them. This is something I really really enjoy doing.

So I’m two post’s into this so we’ll see how this goes. Tell your friends and read this shit. Love you dudes.

Reconstructing Our Dull Lives

 

I’ve been doing the blogging thing for about a year, and the thing that I’ve noticed is there really isn’t a whole lot of good music related blogs. So my foray into the music blogosphere begins now.

I woke up this morning, with Reconstruction Site stuck in my head. I’ve been on a Hold Steady kick lately, but I grabbed the iPod and listened to the entire Reconstruction Site Album. It had probably been  8 or 9 months, since the last time I had listened to it. Holy Shit I can’t believe I went so long. What a fantastic fucking album.

The most beautiful part of this album is its subtle hopefulness. John K Samson is so underappreciated for his lyrical beauty.

Beauty is just another word I’m never certain how its spelled, go tell the nurse to turn the TV back on. And throw away my misery, it never meant that much to me it never sent a get well card.

That is so poignant. Perhaps my favorite line from a song, ever. Think about it for just a second. Beauty is in the eye of the beholder. So no one can really tell you what is or is not beautiful. Beauty really is another word, and I AM NEVER CERTAIN HOW ITS SPELLED.

If you’ve never listened to this album do so know. It will blow your mind. All of the Weakerthans albums are very good, but I think that this one stands above the rest. I’ll close this first post with another video. Thanks for reading!!