I Love You and Buddha Too by Mason Jennings
Simple, almost stupid (is that too harsh), this song is. But you know what, there is something so cute, so happy, so pleasant, so nice... that I can't help but enjoy it. Nothing about this song is all that insightful or intellectual, in fact Mason's struggle with faith at this point is sort of annoying since it's the same question, "Jesus, I love you, but where are you and what about all these other characters?"
You can also listen here.
But the beat, the back ground vocals, the Lennon/McCartney like ditty rises above all else in this song; and because it sounds like it was fun preforming this song makes it fun to listen to. And in an age where music isn't nearly as much fun as it used to be, I appreciate what Mason is doing here. I like how he seems to be having fun, the straight forward lyrics, and the attempt to make us all think about religion and love.
Showing posts with label Mason Jennings. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Mason Jennings. Show all posts
Tuesday, December 16, 2008
Wednesday, October 15, 2008
Lemon Grove Avenue
Lemon Grove Avenue by Mason Jennings
You can find and listen to it here.
A perfect summer time song. Lemon Grove Avenue is one of those songs that whenever I listen to it, I wish this is what life was like—there are birds in the trees, stars at night, a summer breeze, and you're living life with the one you love and you don't have to be anywhere in particular. Life is happy, it's worryless, it is carefree. In movies or while we're toiling away at work this is what we want—we want to live on Lemon Grove Avenue—a carefree life where mmm-bop-la-de-da-de-da is playing faintly from someones porch as you walk down the street, hand-in-hand, with the one you love.
It's not a sophisticated song, and honestly in the dead of a Chicago winter it's the last song you want to hear... but if I feel like getting away from reality and pretending, just for a few minutes, about a life I'll never live... we'll I might just turn this song on.
You can find and listen to it here.
A perfect summer time song. Lemon Grove Avenue is one of those songs that whenever I listen to it, I wish this is what life was like—there are birds in the trees, stars at night, a summer breeze, and you're living life with the one you love and you don't have to be anywhere in particular. Life is happy, it's worryless, it is carefree. In movies or while we're toiling away at work this is what we want—we want to live on Lemon Grove Avenue—a carefree life where mmm-bop-la-de-da-de-da is playing faintly from someones porch as you walk down the street, hand-in-hand, with the one you love.
It's not a sophisticated song, and honestly in the dead of a Chicago winter it's the last song you want to hear... but if I feel like getting away from reality and pretending, just for a few minutes, about a life I'll never live... we'll I might just turn this song on.
Tuesday, September 30, 2008
Your New Man
Your New Man by Mason Jennings
There is bad news, there is sad news, and then there is finding out that the girl you just broke up with is now dating another guy... yeah, she's got a new man.
This has happened to me twice and neither time was it an enjoyable experience. The New Man—no matter who he is or what you thought of him before (if you know him)—is now the biggest asshole, creep ball, son of a bitch to ever walk the Earth. No if and or buts. He just is. Everything sort of creepy that he ever said or you ever heard about him comes creeping into your head and all you want to do is to tell the—now old—girlfriend is: WHAT ARE YOU THINKING!!!! DO YOU REALIZE HOW MUCH BETTER I AM THAN THIS SLIME BALL!!! HE PROBABLY KILLS BABY SEALS AND I WILL GUARANTEE YOU HE WILL CHEAT ON YOU!!!!
Of course, who knows... there might be some truth, but there's also a lot of bullshit in all this. The process of rejection and choosing someone else over yourself is an interesting one since it's completely irrational.
Over time of course, this all goes away. You wish everyone luck... since odds are you've become the New Man to someone else.
However there is a flip side: every time you think you know someone, you realize that you don't know them all that well. Or at least that's been my case. The "New Man", in my experience, I've know both times. Are they bad guys? Nah. Both moved in on the Love while the Love and I still had something going on, so that's kind of like rubbing salt in the wounds since everything because so fucking obvious in retrospect, but c'est le via. Am I shocked that the former loves choose the guys they did? Of course. Why? I'm keeping that to myself, but let's say I've found the irony both times.
There is bad news, there is sad news, and then there is finding out that the girl you just broke up with is now dating another guy... yeah, she's got a new man.
This has happened to me twice and neither time was it an enjoyable experience. The New Man—no matter who he is or what you thought of him before (if you know him)—is now the biggest asshole, creep ball, son of a bitch to ever walk the Earth. No if and or buts. He just is. Everything sort of creepy that he ever said or you ever heard about him comes creeping into your head and all you want to do is to tell the—now old—girlfriend is: WHAT ARE YOU THINKING!!!! DO YOU REALIZE HOW MUCH BETTER I AM THAN THIS SLIME BALL!!! HE PROBABLY KILLS BABY SEALS AND I WILL GUARANTEE YOU HE WILL CHEAT ON YOU!!!!
Of course, who knows... there might be some truth, but there's also a lot of bullshit in all this. The process of rejection and choosing someone else over yourself is an interesting one since it's completely irrational.
Over time of course, this all goes away. You wish everyone luck... since odds are you've become the New Man to someone else.
However there is a flip side: every time you think you know someone, you realize that you don't know them all that well. Or at least that's been my case. The "New Man", in my experience, I've know both times. Are they bad guys? Nah. Both moved in on the Love while the Love and I still had something going on, so that's kind of like rubbing salt in the wounds since everything because so fucking obvious in retrospect, but c'est le via. Am I shocked that the former loves choose the guys they did? Of course. Why? I'm keeping that to myself, but let's say I've found the irony both times.
Wednesday, September 24, 2008
Be Here Now
Be Here Now by Mason Jennings
Mason's Video
It was going to happen at some point... today might as well be the day.
The first time I heard Mason sing this song was on a cold February night in Washington, D.C. at the Black Cat. Patty had promised to go to the show with me since she lived two blocks away... and to make a long story short we were standing there taking in the Mason show when he played this song. Both of us were, it was just one of those songs where you went, "wow" you heard it.
Fast forward 19 months—now I'm in Chicago, and the Girl surprised me with tickets to the Mason show a few weeks before. We were a few weeks removed from my birthday and something had to happen in our relationship. On our way to the show we stopped to get something to eat, but we were running late and had to do some sort of fast food. Potbelly's won out. And at some point during dinner we got in a bit of a fight about us as a relationship, as a couple.
The fight carried out onto Belmont Avenue. Walking east, The Girl and I made no progress in our situation. When we finally arrived, the theater was packed and Mason had already started playing. There was no where for us to really sit, and as we stood there trying to get comfortable, our uncomfortableness of the current situation in our relationship boiled over. She was frustrated with me, I was frustrated with her... neither one of us was enjoying the show even though we had only been there a few minutes... the night had disaster written all over it.
But then Mason started singing, "Be here now, no other place to be." The Girl and I weren't even in the seating area at this point, we were just outside the doors in the lobby talking about us but we could hear Mason clearly.
"Sun comes up and we start again..."
As Mason continued to sing, two thoughts, in this order, crossed my mind:
1) I love this song.
2) This is the perfect song to tell The Girl that I love her.
"All the doubts that linger, just set them free"
As the Girl looked at me all frustrated, wanting to leave, I decided that I had to let her know. "Don't you know?" A blank look on her face was the response. "I love you." A smile and a hug... then a kiss. "You are the love of my life," I found myself repeating Mason's words to The Girl. She loved me too.
It was like something from a movie... not the profession of our love, but rather the song Mason was playing at that moment provided a soundtrack to our lives. Had I planned to tell The Girl that I was in love with her that night at the show while Mason played "Be Here Now"? No. But it happened that way... it was like a dream... For a night, I lived a moment that I had always dreamt about—I told a girl that I loved that I loved her while Mason Jennings provided the soundtrack. Life doesn't give us very many serendipitous moments, but when one does arise, we should all take full advantage of it. Because those serendipitous moments are among the best in life.
But I was no Mr. Darcy that night, and even though this is a great love song, Mason's lyrics don't match Mr. Darcy's words, "In vain I have struggled. It will not do. My feelings will not be repressed. You must allow me to tell you how ardently I admire and love you." But for a moment in time I lived in my very own song, my very own movie... it didn't last more than a few seconds because eventually Mason moved on to the next song. And I can't go back and rewatch or re-experience that night ever again... it's over. It is now just a memory... a memory that may even be forgotten someday later in life.
Mason's Video
It was going to happen at some point... today might as well be the day.
The first time I heard Mason sing this song was on a cold February night in Washington, D.C. at the Black Cat. Patty had promised to go to the show with me since she lived two blocks away... and to make a long story short we were standing there taking in the Mason show when he played this song. Both of us were, it was just one of those songs where you went, "wow" you heard it.
Fast forward 19 months—now I'm in Chicago, and the Girl surprised me with tickets to the Mason show a few weeks before. We were a few weeks removed from my birthday and something had to happen in our relationship. On our way to the show we stopped to get something to eat, but we were running late and had to do some sort of fast food. Potbelly's won out. And at some point during dinner we got in a bit of a fight about us as a relationship, as a couple.
The fight carried out onto Belmont Avenue. Walking east, The Girl and I made no progress in our situation. When we finally arrived, the theater was packed and Mason had already started playing. There was no where for us to really sit, and as we stood there trying to get comfortable, our uncomfortableness of the current situation in our relationship boiled over. She was frustrated with me, I was frustrated with her... neither one of us was enjoying the show even though we had only been there a few minutes... the night had disaster written all over it.
But then Mason started singing, "Be here now, no other place to be." The Girl and I weren't even in the seating area at this point, we were just outside the doors in the lobby talking about us but we could hear Mason clearly.
"Sun comes up and we start again..."
As Mason continued to sing, two thoughts, in this order, crossed my mind:
1) I love this song.
2) This is the perfect song to tell The Girl that I love her.
"All the doubts that linger, just set them free"
As the Girl looked at me all frustrated, wanting to leave, I decided that I had to let her know. "Don't you know?" A blank look on her face was the response. "I love you." A smile and a hug... then a kiss. "You are the love of my life," I found myself repeating Mason's words to The Girl. She loved me too.
It was like something from a movie... not the profession of our love, but rather the song Mason was playing at that moment provided a soundtrack to our lives. Had I planned to tell The Girl that I was in love with her that night at the show while Mason played "Be Here Now"? No. But it happened that way... it was like a dream... For a night, I lived a moment that I had always dreamt about—I told a girl that I loved that I loved her while Mason Jennings provided the soundtrack. Life doesn't give us very many serendipitous moments, but when one does arise, we should all take full advantage of it. Because those serendipitous moments are among the best in life.
But I was no Mr. Darcy that night, and even though this is a great love song, Mason's lyrics don't match Mr. Darcy's words, "In vain I have struggled. It will not do. My feelings will not be repressed. You must allow me to tell you how ardently I admire and love you." But for a moment in time I lived in my very own song, my very own movie... it didn't last more than a few seconds because eventually Mason moved on to the next song. And I can't go back and rewatch or re-experience that night ever again... it's over. It is now just a memory... a memory that may even be forgotten someday later in life.
Monday, June 16, 2008
Killer's Creek
Killer's Creek by Mason Jennings
When songs become biographical, it's always a weird sensation. What you're doing is using someone else's work and making it apart of your life. I'm not sure if this is fair, the artist did not write a song/book/movie with (in this case) me in mind. I'm just borrowing their words and art for my own personal purposes.
And currently, that's what I'm doing with this song. In fact, I find myself doing this with a lot of Mason songs. But right now these words stand out:
"Talk to me, please I beg you/I'm a wounded man/All is lost if trust is broken/Help me understand/Promise me that you won't let me go/If you fail me please don't fail me now"
Pretty much this is my current person life. Two people are in love, trust is broken, they break up, but the love still burns... talking between the two people is limited, at times frustrating, and all you want is for the other person to hold you, even though you DON'T want them to hold you at the same time. And in the end, you don't want them(her) to fail you. And yet she does. Even though the love still burns inside of both of you and you both admit as much to each other.
So what happens to love unrealized? What happens to that burning love? Is it real? Do we lie to ourselves until it goes away over time? Do we find distractions to take our mind off of what is real? Is this a healthy thing? And do we all do it because we don't want to face the facts? Or do we distract ourselves to make the pain go away just a little bit?
Over the course of our lives we all make decisions—some good some bad. What motivates us for each and everyone of those decisions is different. Why we do what we do is a mystery to those around us and often is a mystery to ourselves. Why am I here typing away about this? What am I getting out of this and why even bother because odds are no one is reading this?
I'm not sure... that's the mystery. Knowing ourselves is hard, if not impossible, in fact I would say knowing oneself is the hardest thing to do. So why do we even bother trying to figure out why others do (or don't do) what they do if it's so hard to know ourselves?
Too often I think we forget what matters and what should guide us. I think the answer is simple, and Victor Frankl summed it up perfectly—love. I guess we can all hope that in the end, love will win the day. And if that happens, then does anything else really matter?
When songs become biographical, it's always a weird sensation. What you're doing is using someone else's work and making it apart of your life. I'm not sure if this is fair, the artist did not write a song/book/movie with (in this case) me in mind. I'm just borrowing their words and art for my own personal purposes.
And currently, that's what I'm doing with this song. In fact, I find myself doing this with a lot of Mason songs. But right now these words stand out:
"Talk to me, please I beg you/I'm a wounded man/All is lost if trust is broken/Help me understand/Promise me that you won't let me go/If you fail me please don't fail me now"
Pretty much this is my current person life. Two people are in love, trust is broken, they break up, but the love still burns... talking between the two people is limited, at times frustrating, and all you want is for the other person to hold you, even though you DON'T want them to hold you at the same time. And in the end, you don't want them(her) to fail you. And yet she does. Even though the love still burns inside of both of you and you both admit as much to each other.
So what happens to love unrealized? What happens to that burning love? Is it real? Do we lie to ourselves until it goes away over time? Do we find distractions to take our mind off of what is real? Is this a healthy thing? And do we all do it because we don't want to face the facts? Or do we distract ourselves to make the pain go away just a little bit?
Over the course of our lives we all make decisions—some good some bad. What motivates us for each and everyone of those decisions is different. Why we do what we do is a mystery to those around us and often is a mystery to ourselves. Why am I here typing away about this? What am I getting out of this and why even bother because odds are no one is reading this?
I'm not sure... that's the mystery. Knowing ourselves is hard, if not impossible, in fact I would say knowing oneself is the hardest thing to do. So why do we even bother trying to figure out why others do (or don't do) what they do if it's so hard to know ourselves?
Too often I think we forget what matters and what should guide us. I think the answer is simple, and Victor Frankl summed it up perfectly—love. I guess we can all hope that in the end, love will win the day. And if that happens, then does anything else really matter?
Wednesday, April 2, 2008
1997
1997 by Mason Jennings
This is D's favorite Mason song... and it's probably in my top three. Just a pretty and thoughtful song. It reminds me of all those days past that were nice, good days. Days that were some how special... days that linger in the back of your mind for some reason, neither good or bad, they just were. Some times the best of days are days that just were.
These days tend to be a bit bittersweet. They weren't perfect days, but upon reflection, it's the imperfect of these days that makes them perfect. (I realize that by saying that I don't mean anything, but I think it sounds cool and it makes perfect sense in my mind; and yes I said perfect three times in that sentence). ANYWAYS, maybe it was just a bit too cool out side. Maybe it was a little too humid out. Maybe you didn't say the right things that night, but you still kissed and cuddled when you went to bed. And for that reason, you still remember that day. Maybe not what you talked about, but how you felt.
Literally, this song is much different. But forget that for the moment... the song reminds me of those days when I'd walk around Old Town. And when the chorus starts up, I take a deep breath, and a small smile comes across my face. Those weren't always the best of days. But they weren't the worst of days either. I had a piece of mind and that's always nice.
Was it a sign? I think it probably was.
This is D's favorite Mason song... and it's probably in my top three. Just a pretty and thoughtful song. It reminds me of all those days past that were nice, good days. Days that were some how special... days that linger in the back of your mind for some reason, neither good or bad, they just were. Some times the best of days are days that just were.
These days tend to be a bit bittersweet. They weren't perfect days, but upon reflection, it's the imperfect of these days that makes them perfect. (I realize that by saying that I don't mean anything, but I think it sounds cool and it makes perfect sense in my mind; and yes I said perfect three times in that sentence). ANYWAYS, maybe it was just a bit too cool out side. Maybe it was a little too humid out. Maybe you didn't say the right things that night, but you still kissed and cuddled when you went to bed. And for that reason, you still remember that day. Maybe not what you talked about, but how you felt.
Literally, this song is much different. But forget that for the moment... the song reminds me of those days when I'd walk around Old Town. And when the chorus starts up, I take a deep breath, and a small smile comes across my face. Those weren't always the best of days. But they weren't the worst of days either. I had a piece of mind and that's always nice.
Was it a sign? I think it probably was.
Sunday, April 15, 2007
Rebecca Deville
Rebecca Deville by Mason Jennings
As I said, Mason is a good story teller. This song is no different. Poor Rebecca… I was going to skip this song. It's nice but it didn't mean anything to me. But how soon I forget. When I was living in London, it was difficult to listen to music that I enjoyed. I didn't own a laptop which housed all my music and I couldn't bring my CD collection across the Atlantic... so I was SOL. I did have my fathers a laptop for my months in London, but that only had the 20 CDs that I could import in the hour or so I had before leaving the USA (Don't ask me what my Desert Island 20 albums were at that time... I honestly don't remember besides The Strokes "Is This It", Graceland, a few Beatles, and Pete Yorn). So there I was in London stuck with the same 15 or 20 CDs for months upon months. I bought a few CDs while I was there (The Smiths, Blur, a Beulah EP), but CDs in London are really expensive. This left me bored with what I had after six weeks. But then came my ray of hope... EBS was coming to visit. I asked her ever so kindly to make me a CD of a few artists I liked. I gave her a list, I think U2 was on it and I forget the rest... but I know Mason Jennings was on that list. This was the days of Napster, so EBS DLed a few songs by Mason for me, burned them on to a CD, and came to London. I had never heard "Rebecca Devile" when EBS gave me that CD. I listened to it a bunch of times over the next five weeks, but then, when I returned to the USA, the song was gone. Lost... until Mason put out some sort of something on iTunes about a year ago. And wouldn't you know, Rebecca Devile was there and I downloaded it. Thanks E.
As I said, Mason is a good story teller. This song is no different. Poor Rebecca… I was going to skip this song. It's nice but it didn't mean anything to me. But how soon I forget. When I was living in London, it was difficult to listen to music that I enjoyed. I didn't own a laptop which housed all my music and I couldn't bring my CD collection across the Atlantic... so I was SOL. I did have my fathers a laptop for my months in London, but that only had the 20 CDs that I could import in the hour or so I had before leaving the USA (Don't ask me what my Desert Island 20 albums were at that time... I honestly don't remember besides The Strokes "Is This It", Graceland, a few Beatles, and Pete Yorn). So there I was in London stuck with the same 15 or 20 CDs for months upon months. I bought a few CDs while I was there (The Smiths, Blur, a Beulah EP), but CDs in London are really expensive. This left me bored with what I had after six weeks. But then came my ray of hope... EBS was coming to visit. I asked her ever so kindly to make me a CD of a few artists I liked. I gave her a list, I think U2 was on it and I forget the rest... but I know Mason Jennings was on that list. This was the days of Napster, so EBS DLed a few songs by Mason for me, burned them on to a CD, and came to London. I had never heard "Rebecca Devile" when EBS gave me that CD. I listened to it a bunch of times over the next five weeks, but then, when I returned to the USA, the song was gone. Lost... until Mason put out some sort of something on iTunes about a year ago. And wouldn't you know, Rebecca Devile was there and I downloaded it. Thanks E.
Sunday, April 1, 2007
Jackson Square
Jackson Square by Mason Jennings
I'm shocked this is my first Mason song… anyway, Mason's a pretty good storyteller. And this is one of his better stories: meets a girl, falls in love, she goes nuts, kills herself, and he misses her to the point where he almost kills himself - and all this happens around Jackson Square. There are a few Jackson Squares, one in San Fran and another in New Orleans... but after a little googling it seems like Mason is referring to the one in New Orleans. But that doesn't matter, I sort of picture Jackson Square as something more Paris-like in its look and feel than anything else. Or maybe something like one of those small squares off of DuPont in DC. This makes sense since I listened to this song like 100 times in the summer of 2006 often times while walking around Northwest DC. A good song and I love the opening line "Dust cloud coming off an old dirt road/that leads up here to this little graveyard". Though for the past week or so, I've been fixated on the line "Life is something you can't control/when you try to hold on to it/it makes you let go". My knee jerk reaction is that I agree with these words, but upon more reflection, I sort of disagree with it. I agree, we can't control life. But does it make us let go? I would think - if anything - we hold onto moments of our lives, even after these moments have long passed. Time goes on, but life stalls. We are all guilty of this, of becoming stuck in a moment or a feeling... some people move on from these moments better than others. I can name a few friends who are stuck on the girl who dumped them four years ago or the guy whose glory days were in high school, and he's still living that dream at 26. Life doesn't make us let go, maybe we should let go, but life does not make us do so. But I will give Mason this, "Anyone who says that life is clear/has never seen a mirror/or been to Jackson Square"
*This just came to me, but this song could be about Katrina...
Listen:
If you want to see 12 seconds of a live preformance of this song...
I'm shocked this is my first Mason song… anyway, Mason's a pretty good storyteller. And this is one of his better stories: meets a girl, falls in love, she goes nuts, kills herself, and he misses her to the point where he almost kills himself - and all this happens around Jackson Square. There are a few Jackson Squares, one in San Fran and another in New Orleans... but after a little googling it seems like Mason is referring to the one in New Orleans. But that doesn't matter, I sort of picture Jackson Square as something more Paris-like in its look and feel than anything else. Or maybe something like one of those small squares off of DuPont in DC. This makes sense since I listened to this song like 100 times in the summer of 2006 often times while walking around Northwest DC. A good song and I love the opening line "Dust cloud coming off an old dirt road/that leads up here to this little graveyard". Though for the past week or so, I've been fixated on the line "Life is something you can't control/when you try to hold on to it/it makes you let go". My knee jerk reaction is that I agree with these words, but upon more reflection, I sort of disagree with it. I agree, we can't control life. But does it make us let go? I would think - if anything - we hold onto moments of our lives, even after these moments have long passed. Time goes on, but life stalls. We are all guilty of this, of becoming stuck in a moment or a feeling... some people move on from these moments better than others. I can name a few friends who are stuck on the girl who dumped them four years ago or the guy whose glory days were in high school, and he's still living that dream at 26. Life doesn't make us let go, maybe we should let go, but life does not make us do so. But I will give Mason this, "Anyone who says that life is clear/has never seen a mirror/or been to Jackson Square"
*This just came to me, but this song could be about Katrina...
Listen:
If you want to see 12 seconds of a live preformance of this song...
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