I'm Always in Love

I'm Always in Love by Jeff Tweedy (live)

There are days when Jeff Tweedy is my favorite musician of all time. And there are days when "I'm Always In Love" is my favorite song of all time. Today may be one of those days. Let's take Jeff first... he's going to be 40 in a few months, but he seems forever stuck at the age of 25 or 28 doesn't he? Who knows, maybe at 50 Tweedy will mature like Paul Simon or Bruce or Ron Sexsmith or any other singer song-writer that ages write songs about growing older and the issues that people with kids and families and fame and life as a middle aged man presents. Or maybe he'll continue to write tunes that speak of a conflicted, just out of college, what am I going to do with my life, what does anything mean 20something yet translate to people of every age. It will be interesting to listen to over time... but back to the song. The lyrics of this song are a bit addicting and probably ring true to most everyone. From "It's for you I swoon/I'm always in love" to "I'm worried/I'm always in love" or "I'm braggin/I'm always in love" But for me, I always find myself diggin' "It's a drag I snag/I'm always in love." This happens to me frequently... walking down the street, back in the day it would be sitting in class... maybe it's listening to a song or reading about an interesting female... it doesn't take much for me to fall in love. And maybe that's why it's so hard for me to actually fall in love. Who knows.

Listen by clicking this:

(I also found this, a huge database of live Tweedy songs including covers of some fun songs (King of Carrot Flowers Part 1). Huge find if you ask me.)

*Yep, two posts today because I missed a day this week and I wanted to catch up because Monday I have had a song planned for a while and figured might as well get back on track rather than push everything back until Tuesday...

Clocks

Clocks by Coldplay

The BBC played the intro or outro to this song roughly 29,387 times a day between programming. And still today, I am not sick of this song. This, frankly, is amazing. I hear those first few notes and I'm immediately flying, about 100 feet above London, down Tottenham Court Road and then Charing Cross Road, though Leicester Square, around Trafalgar Square and down Whitehall passing Whitehall in the process. I finally come to Westminster and Big Ben and Victoria Tower. Or I'm walking along the Embankment and there is the Thames on my left... or better yet I'm atop the hill in Regent's Park. In other words, if I ever want to go back to London, I just put on Clocks. The beautiful piano takes me there just like that.

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Ooh La La

Ooh La La by the Faces

To be 100% honest, I don't know how or what I'm suppose to think of Rod Stewart. He's one of the few guys that doesn't really translate - in other words, since I didn't grow up during the Rod Stewart Era, I'm not sure what to think or do with him. Since late 1970s Rod isn't big on the radio and everyone has either forgotten or just makes fun of him during this era, what I get instead is Rod Stewart - Scottish dude who was a good football player turned lead singer of the Faces. That's pretty cool if you ask me... but then like five people will remind me he wore leather pants and sang "Do You Think I'm Sexy". I just pretend that it didn't happen but I think this is why people hate Rod Stewart, but as I said, I sorta missed out on the career of Rod Stewart so I have no real fair opinion of the man. Okay, the song... if you've ever seen Rushmore, this song and movie go hand and hand. And for all of pop music's cliches and lack of intellectualism, you really can't beat "I wish that I knew what I knew now/when I was younger."

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Tears Of A Clown

Tears of A Clown by Smokey Robinson & the Miricles (40/365)

When I was a senior in high school, I declared in my Urban Studies class that this was the greatest song of all time. Seven years later, I'll go this far… "Tears of a Clown" and "(Your Love Keeps Lifting Me) Higher and Higher" are the two greatest Motown songs of all time and quite frankly, you can't go wrong with either one. This songs got hooks, a nice bass line, bridges, and all the good stuff you would expect from a great song. A sad song has never sounded so good.

Listen:


A Ska Cover I found on Accident:

03 tears of a clow...

Keep Me In Your Heart

Keep Me In Your Heart by Warren Zevon

When ever I listen to this song, it tears my heart out of my body… so bittersweet, so sad, yet so thankful… the last words of a dying man. I was in my uncle's truck and we were listening to XRT, I have no clue where we were going, I think he was driving me back to Hyde Park after I did him a favor by meeting up with him and a kid my age... anyway, this song came on the radio and we just listened to it. I think I went home and ordered the album that night. I guess "In My Life" finally has competition when it comes to songs people will wanted played at their funeral. Just a beautiful song, even if it's one of the sadder songs I've ever heard.

(btw, I sort of think one of my uncle's looks like Warren).

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Another Sunny Day

Another Sunny Day by Belle & Sebastian

I once said that if I ever wrote music, it would sound like Belle & Sebastian… ummm whatever that means. ANYWAY, I really enjoyed this song last spring (2006), it was a great background song to pretty much everything - it's light, airy, fun, and bright. I remember listening to this song on a lazy Saturday or Sunday in late February or early March on the iPod while playing NCAA football... weird memory, but I'm actually in my room in Alexandria listening to this song. It was a really small room and the walls were a faint yellow. I had one window that looked out to an empty former homeless shelter... man that room was small, I couldn't do much of anything in there but lay in bed. And for some reason I'm also thinking of this Middle Eastern restaurant that I walked by every day but rarely saw anyone in it. I bought a Gatorade there once but never ate there... I sort of feel bad about that. It opened up right after I moved to DC, but no one was ever in there. Anyway, this is a fun song. Enjoy.

Listen to the mp3

Take Your Mama

Take Your Mama by Scissor Sisters

I heard this song all the time, liked it, but never really knew who did it and never bothered to find out who sung it. So the song existed for a long time before I knew who it was. I remember talking to someone about the Scissor Sisters back when grad school just started and she was going on and on about how great they were. And I just stood there thinking, I've heard of them but I can't name one song by them. Then Eliz left an album of theirs at the 'rents house and I ganked it, ripped it onto iTunes... and 2+2=4. The Scissor Sisters did "Take Your Momma" ahhh, okay! Always a fun feeling.

Watch It:

We Used To Vacation

We Used to Vacation by Cold War Kids

I love the name of this band… anyway, I discovered this song via the blogs! Oh what fun… this might be your classic "don't trust pitchfork too much" band since Pitchfork didn't like these guys because they didn’t discover them. No matter, these guys are good and I like their website (hit the name, folks). The story in this song is interesting, and I think we all know someone who is like the narrator in this song. The demons of addiction... anyway, I wish I had some sort of story here, but I don't. It's a good song that just hits me.

Listen:

Download it here!

Life Wasted

Life Wasted by Pearl Jam

I probably put this best in my year in review… "But in the end, like most of this decade, it's [Pearl Jam's self titled album] an attempt to go back to the 90s. Don't we all wish we could." I probably have never said anything more correct in my life. This song is nice, like everyone else who likes Pearl Jam I was pumped for this ablum last summer. While good, it just didn't do it. I remember playing poker with Web and Hags one night last summer listening to this ablum and everyone just sort of nodding along, saying "hey this is pretty good", but in the end no one was bowled over. I miss the 90s.

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Santa Monica

Santa Monica by Everclear

I first heard Everclear in high school. They were fine. I didn’t think much of them, and still today, I don’t think much of them. This song is good and probably the only song that they ever really brought to the table. I guess the lead singer was sort of big in the late 90s on MTV since these guys didn’t completely suck. And now that I think about it, this was sort of like pop grunges last stand... anyway what really gets me is the name of the band… Everclear? Really guys? Isn’t everclear like the most disgusting thing anyone can drink? I guess at 16 not everyone knows about everclear (well compared to gin, whiskey, and vodka). But still, I think Everclear would be one of the last names I’d ever choose for a band.

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(Note, no one may have noticed… but I was away this weekend which is why I missed a day and the posts seemed half assed, sorry).

11:11

11:11 by Andrew Bird

This song will forever be tied to the Lou, for better or for worse. It's a long story, but I can shorten it for the blog. I was dating the Lou and really liked her. She moved off to New Haven and I moved back to DC. So we were doing the long distance thing for a few months, she came down to visit me, I went up to visit her and so on. At the time I had very little going for me at the time - for two months I was unemployed. I was unsure about everything in life. I was scared to do much of anything. I had little clue of what I really wanted to do. In a way, the Lou was all I had. And she made me happy. I enjoyed visiting her and I fell for New Haven in the process and planned on going back up there in October over Columbus Day. In my mind, everything was fine and dandy. In reality, things were not. And the moment I got off the train on that fine Friday afternoon in New Haven, I knew something was up. We had an awkward lunch. We went back to her place. She broke up with me*. I was now faced with a problem... do I stay or do I go? We had planned on going up to Boston to see a BC football game. I couldn't go anywhere that night since it was going to be tough to get a train back to DC (plus I was going to try and give it once last shot, what the hell right?). So the Lou says, yeah stick around for the weekend. I say fine. On Saturday, we get up and since it's raining like the end of the world, we end up going to her home parents house in Farmington, CT. We spent that Saturday doing pretty much everything broken up couples do not do, in other words acting like a couple. This was probably not a good idea in the long run, but that's life. Sunday, we go back to New Haven, and Monday is my train back to DC. But in the process of all this driving, we listened to Andrew Bird a good five or six times. I am really enjoying him and 11:11 especially. So right before I leave for DC, the Lou gives me a CD of Andrew Bird's Swimming Hour. Of course, 11:11 became the song of that late fall of 2005. I listened to it all the time while I sat around doing nothing but watching Gilmore Girls reruns. I got a temp job, and eventually I would listen to it walking to and from the King Street Metro... singing along as I danced (figuratively) down Cameroon Ave. Wow... okay, there's also memories of sitting a top the hill that surrounds New Haven, looking out upon the town, and thoughts of Gilmore Girls, and milk... I love this song, even if the memory is pretty bittersweet (as far as the Lou... we pretty much never talked again after that weekend and needless to say it took me a few months to get over her; what a weird break up, oh well).

Listen:

Listen whole song now!
Andrew Bird "The Swimming Hour"— 11-11

*[NOTE: The White Sox were also playing the Red Sox as this was happening, but I won't get into that].

The Big Guns

The Big Guns by Jenny Lewis with the Watson Twins

I remember trying to find this ablum at a Best Buy in Tinley Town the weekend of the Final Four last year. George Mason was playing and Jim was buying a new laptop. Denis was down that weekend. I couldn't find this ablum, and I have no clue why I wanted it so… I mean it got an okay review on Pitchfork and Rilo Kiley is fine, but nothing more than that... so why did I want to buy it so badly? I have no clue. But I was dead set on buying this album and Neko Case's ablum. Since this wasn't at Best Buy, I didn't buy either album. Anyway... I finally did get this ablum like a week later and I fell in love with this song. I can't tell you how much I loved this song. Once again, another song I listened to all the time walking home from the Metro it that perfect spring that was DC in 2006. I loved it when the drums kicked in because it was a great beat to walk to... and I love the lyrics "I'll pretend that everyone here wants peace". Finally, it only took about 30 times for me to realize that Jenny was singing about God. But this song brings back so many plesent memories... I'd get home from work, and a lot of days I just go for a walk around Old Town (the first of the day). I miss that life a bit.

Watch it Live:

Volunteers

Volunteers by Oxford Collapse

Winter hasn't set in yet, but it's night time. I'm looking north up Harper Ave out at a dark Lake Michigan and downtown Chicago. I'm totally unorginized and I hate microeconomics. I can't get over the fact that the market does not act in any way shape or form that the professor is telling us. I'm beyond annoyed with Chicago School Economics and I'm overwhelmed with everything I'm learning. I'm a first year, first quarter grad student. About all I enjoy at the moment is the Oxford Collaspe amazing ablity to write really good songs to drink to. But sadly (or thankfully), I am not drinking when listening to this song most of the time. The Oxford Collaspe didn't help me get though any part of my life, but I really enjoyed listening to them during these 'hard' times.


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Corduroy

Corduroy by Pearl Jam

I was in 7th grade when Vitalogy came out and I remember it being sort of a big deal. This was Peral Jam's first record after Cobain had killed himself and everyone was all worried that Eddie would do the same (we were 13 remember). I remember sitting in my gifted class room with a few other kids and we were talking about this album. One of the kids was wearing a Phish shirt and trying to sound like he actually knew a lot about Phish (the idea of any 13 year old actually enjoying Phish seems ridiculous looking back). It was a sunny day and the room was bright... we weren't doing anything, just 'missing' class since in the gifted program you got to miss class twice a week or something. It's a shame we weren't older, like in high school or something, since those conversation would probably had been a lot more enjoyable than sitting there trying not to be awkward, trying to be cool, and attempting to do nothing that might bring about ridicule. Oh, 7th grade... Anyway, I'm not sure how I ended up with this album, but I did. And I listened to it a lot. And this was my favorite song on the album. I loved the chorus "Can't be what I want because it's free..." loved it then and I love it now.

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Coffee & TV

Coffee & TV by Blur

I'm not sure why Blur hasn't gotten more ups here in the States, but they haven't which is a shame. None the less, Coffee & TV is a solid effort. I remember it more for the fantastic music video… love the milk carton. Ummm, I can imagine walking down the street in the summer chillin' to this song. Other than that... it's all I got. Sorry.

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Levon

Levon by Elton John

This is Hags' favorite Elton John song. And I'm not sure if it's my favorite, but it cracks the top three. I really have nothing to add other than that... it's a good song and Hags loves it which is when I bought it drunk on iTunes last year. As for Elton… much to write so I'll leave you with these two facts: 1) Elton is a huge Watford fan, like myself, and even owned the team at one point. 2) He's one of the few people to be married twice, once to a women and once to a man.

Listen to the MP3

Listen Live

Bold As Love

Bold As Love by Jimi Hendrix

I know I've said that I had nothing and no one in high school, no one to get me into this band or that band (like Pavement). But that's sort of a lie, I did have Andrew. It helped that we went to different high schools, so by default we ran with different crowds. But we shared a love for music. We started off by going though our all father's old albums, so bands like the Kinks, the Band, and old Motown albums were unEarthed and played. We got to know 'deeper' Who and Stones tracks. We used to walk two towns over to go to a record store that had used tapes (for some reason we were really into tapes. If we would have known that mp3s were just around the corner, I doubt we would have bought all those freakin' tapes since they're pretty much impossible to rip; effing 1998). Anyway, Andrew and I pretty much went though every classic rock band discovering the pros and cons to each and every band in the process. We concluded that the Who rocked, that the Doors suck, and while we like Led Zepplin, in the end they aren't as good as everyone seems to think they are. We may have become music snobs, but it was fun. And it helped that we liked different types of music... I'm a sucker for the three cord pop song and power cords, Andrew preferred jam bands and sounds. And what this has to do with Bold As Love... not sure, but Andrew once described the solo at the end as Jimi trying to play underwater... I just think it's the best Jimi track out there.

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Letter From an Occupant

Letter From an Occupant by The New Pornographers

The first time I heard The Voice. I have no clue what the lyrics mean… but it doesn't matter. This is a happy, it's spring, let your worries be gone and enjoy yourself for a moment song. I must have listened to this song about 250 times over the months of March-June of 2005. I loved this song. I'm not kidding, I'd walk home from the hospital and every time I walked though Nichols Park, I'd be listening to this song. "Were have all sensations gone?" Oh that voice... Neko just effing nails this song. This is a six-star rated, A++++++, song from the 1:55 point onwards. Anyway, this song WAS the spring of 2005 for me. Walking to get Dunkin' Dounuts with Denis, flowers, new relationships, making 'life decisions' like moving back to DC, and then the beginning of the 2005 White Sox season... throughout it all, Letter From an Occupant was playing the background. You would think with all that was going on I'd have more concrete memories... I don't. All I know is that I listened to this song all the time.

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Do You Want To

Do You Want To by Franz Ferdinand (25/365)

These guys sort of came out of no where didn't they? And everyone seems to have forgotten about them right? Anyway… I really liked this song for like two months. I remember walking down Cameroon in Old Town, playing this on my iPod in the extended spring of 2006. When I was sure no one was looking (which was most of the time) I broke out a hop here or there as I bounced down the street. The opening is all indie and then like all good Franz song, it goes disco on us which would put the hop in my step. In fact I'd listen to the first twenty seconds, then hit the back button and listen to those first twenty seconds again just to hear Franz break it down for me all over again.

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Locked in the Trunk of a Car

Locked in the Trunk of a Car by The Tragically Hip

Oh… the Hip. The Hip basically got me though the late 90s and thus high school. I'm not sure how or why, but they were about all I had (along with the Who, Beatles, etc) musically. I'm not sure how old I was when my uncle gave me Fully, Completely for Christmas, but I must have been about 14. I missed the genius of it all at the time, and it wasn't until my uncle threw a few Hip songs on a mix tape a year or two later than I was hooked. I went back, dug up this album, and it was placed in the rotation. I spent hours upon hours listening to Gordie's lyrics in high school (which I still don't fully understand, damn Canadians). The Hip seemed like the end of the world at the time... I had NO ONE. I don't think people understand this... I had NO ONE in high school. Pearl Jam offered up the underrated Yeild, but outside of that I had to pick between Dave Matthews, Britney, Boy Bands, random one hit wonders, and the Counting Crows. Sure Pavement and Neutral Milk Hotel and Wilco all existed; but I didn't have an older brother so Pavement was out. Neutral Milk Hotel were such a shot in the pan that it didn't matter, and Wilco hadn't released Summerteeth at that point. So I was left with the Tragically Hip. I must have made 100 people in high school listen to these fine men from Canada... and still today it's always fun to drop a Gordie reference to any Canuck I meet.

Last thing... for years I thought the opening lyrics were about anything but amour from the 16th century and a conquistador. And gotta love the "It'd be better for us if you don't understand/better for me if you don't understand."

Watch....
Listen:

Cattle and the Creeping Things

Cattle and the Creeping Things by The Hold Steady

The Horn Law applies here… but only after that pounding guitar and Craig Finn's voice kick everything off. I know at first his voice seems like the worst thing ever, but honestly, I love it. It's a fantastic story telling voice and Craig Finn tells great stories. The fact that he's got a kick ass back up band only helps. I don't know about anyone else, but I feeling like drinking when I hear this song. I also wish I had nights like Craig Finn more often. He meets so many interesting people and does so many interesting things!

Listen:


And an acoustic MP3 (it's pretty cool)

Last Goodbye

Last Goodbye by Jeff Buckley

On my all time Rip My Heart Out Songs, this is probably #1 or #2 depending on the day and the girl. I could write forever on this song, but I'll keep it short. I wish I actually experienced this song. I wish I knew when I saw a girl that it would be the last time I saw her. That this was it, that there would be a never again. Because if I knew it would be the last time, I would tell her thanks, I would tell her that she gave me more than she'll ever know. But life does not work that way, there never is a conscious last time since you'll either run into that person again (randomly) or you'll never hear from them again (which if you knew it really was the last time you'd see that person in your life I would highly suggest buying a lottery ticket and telling me who's going to win the next five Super Bowls). But this song brings back those memories of those few girls that meant more than just 'another'. They probably don't know how much they did for me, and I probably don't know how much I did for them. Funny how relationships work in the end, you spend all this time with someone only to stop all communication with them pretty much entirely within six months of saying goodbye. C'est le via.

And I should say... this might be one of my top ten, maybe five, songs of all time.

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Concerning the UFO Sighting near Highland, Illinois

Concerning the UFO Sighting near Highland, Illinois by Sufjan Stevens (21/365)

What a way to start an album… the song is mysterious and scary. Sort of like UFOs. But it's also beautiful and I can help but think of a lonely, wintry, night on the prairie when I hear the opening bars of this song. It's the piano isn't it? Maybe it's the flute... I don't know. But it's just so early or late winter in Chicago. I imagine two high schoolers from around Peoria driving late at night when I hear this song.

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The MP3

Chewing Gum

Chewing Gum by Annie

I've seen Annie twice. Both times I was convinced that I was witnessing history - like seeing Kylie or Madonna at the very beginning of their careers. So far, almost unjustly, Annie hasn't seen the success that either one of those females have seen. I guesses there is time. But whenever I feel like pop music has nothing else to offer besides generic crap; I hear something like "Chewing Gum" and think, it ain't over yet. This song is just infectious and while the lyrics aren't mind blowing, but they are fun and damn mean. When I hear Annie sing about treating men as chewing gum, I actually like it. Good for her. We live in an age when Sex and the City is viewed as female liberating show, and to me it only 'liberates' women to act like men (which seems hypocritical to the entire feminist movement imo). I think I would like Carrie and her 'friends' a lot more if they acted more like Annie in "Chewing Gum" rather than some sort of frat boy in $450 shoes, and hates the Subway.

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The Right Profile

The Right Profile by the Clash

If I have one theory about music, and pop/rock music specifically, it's that if you have horns in the song, it will be a good song. Often times horns make the song. And this effort from the Clash is no different. The horns play that infectious hook that seems to hold this song together. As for a story... there's a lot to be said about the Clash, but I guess I'll keep it short this time: It's pretty cool that Lily Allen is the niece of Joe Strummer.

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The Funeral

The Funeral by Band of Horses

Personally, I think Pitchfork is about 50/50 when they give a recommendation for a band. Sometimes the band is as good as they say, sometimes the band isn't. With that in mind, I'm always weary going out a buying an albums just because Pitchfork gave it a good review. But for some reason I decided that Band of Horses would be a good band to buy without listening to. At first I was underwhelmed, but as the year wore on, I started to like this album more and more. And no song grew on me more so than The Funeral. It's pretty, it's sentimental, it's I'm "25 years old and have no clue how I got here...", and like all good indie songs (or so it seems) the song starts slow and then builds upon itself until it becomes a massive sound attack. Even though this song didn't crack My Top 30 last year, it's still a fantastic song. So here's to 2006, King Street, and Band of Horses.

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Shiver

Shiver by Coldplay

Oh, Coldplay… you frustrating group of guys you… Let's see, Chris Martin bagged Gwyneth, I apparently lived down the block from where they lived when they went to UCL when I lived in London which means I probably drank in the same pubs that Chris Martin did. They've produced some absolute crap lite rock and they've also wrote some great songs. And this is a great song. I wish they wrote this song more often. I'd argue that this is the best Coldplay has to offer, Martin's vocals are good, the hooks are nice, the guitar work is interesting, and the lyrics are true. And interestingly enough, despite the greatness of this song, no one comes to mind when I hear it. I guess I haven't met her yet.

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My My, Hey Hey (Out of the Blue)

My My, Hey Hey (Out of the Blue) by Neil Young

I think it's safe to say that the late 70s and the late 90s were two of the worst periods for rock music. Bread, REO Speedwago, Styx, Boston, etc all were far too 'big' in the 70s and Britney, Christina, 'N Sync, and the Backstreet Boys were far to big in the 90s. Not to say all those bands were bad, I enjoy Britney's "Toxic" as much as I enjoy a few Boston songs, but it wasn't really a time to rock out. Anyway, my uncle gave me "Rust Never Sleeps" in the late 90s and told me how in the late 70s the line "Rock'n'roll can never die" was sort of a rallying call; a sort of, 'things might be shitty now, but rock will be back'. Looking at the music I heard on the radio, the line easily registered with me also. And rock came back by the time I was leaving for college in 2000. I love this song and the album... and let's not forget that Kurt Cobain jotted down "It's better to burn out/than to fade away" in his suicide note. Shit, you could write a lot on this song.

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I Want You Back

I Want You Back by The Jackson Five

This song begin and ends with one of the greatest bass lines… and throw in Micheal's voice of God… well there you go. Who cares a 8 year old is singing this song (becuase when you start thinking about that it's creepy and then you realize, oh maybe THAT'S why Micheal Jackson is messed up)… how can you not move a little when that bass line starts up. One of the finest pop songs out there. I remember listening to this song all the time in high school, I think I even danced to this song with my little sister one night in high school. Either this one or ABC. No matter, that was fun.

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Thinking of a Dream I Had

Thinking of A Dream I Had by the Walkmen (14/365):

It just rocks… I love it. The drums, the guitar, the organ… if someone asked me to pick a song that sounds like New York at night, this is the song I'd pick. I could careless if you're going uptown or downtown to the Upper East side or the Village… you're waiting for the subway line, you're gonna have a good time to night, you don't want to be left alone... just everything about this song sounds like a night out in New York. Meeting random people, laughing, fun, and the fact that you're in New York which is always cool. And that's what this song is... cool.

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