May 02

#LOTD2013: March Playlist

#LOTD2013: MarchA busy April means I’m still playing a little bit of catch-up with my two “A-Day” projects for 2013. I’m pretty close on the Photo-A-Day project, but with the calendar turning to May yesterday, I’m now officially way behind on my Lyric of the Day recaps.

But, good news! I was able to pull together the list of March’s Tweets (find the Spotify playlist I’ve created from these lyrics linked at the end of the post or on the clickable image at right), with some brief explanations (in italics) for a number of the lyrics. Remember, if you want to see the lyrics as they pop up daily, just give me a follow on Twitter!

  • “Once I get you up there/Where the air is rarefied/We’ll just glide/Starry-eyed” #FrankSinatra “Come Fly With Me” #LOTD2013 3/1 (One day home between flights from Miami and to Chicago.)
  • Chairman back2back “My kind of town, Chicago is/My kind of razmatazz/And it has all that jazz” #FrankSinatra “My Kind Of Town” #LOTD2013 3/2 (On to Chicago, perhaps the most American city.)
  • “Believe, believe in me, believe/That life can change, that you’re not stuck in vain” #SmashingPumpkins “Tonight, Tonight” #LOTD2013 3/3
  • “Will I catch the moon/Like a bird in a cage/It’s for you I swoon/I’m always in love” #Wilco “I’m Always In Love” #LOTD2013 3/4
  • “I’ll wait up in the dark/For you to speak to me/I’ll open up/Release me” #PearlJam “Release” #LOTD2013 3/5
  • “I’ve been runnin’/And I’ve been racin’/So many different towns/So many different places” #GLove “Home” #LOTD2013 3/6 (Finally home for a bit after a couple weeks on the road.)
  • “Little things amuse little minds/Well, nothin’s free except a little bit of bad advice” #Wallflowers “Laughing Out Loud” #LOTD2013 3/7
  • “I dreamed you/I saw your face/Caught my lifeline/Drifting through space” #TomPettyandtheHeartbreakers “Angel Dream (No. 4)” #LOTD2013 3/8
  • “They’re forming in a straight line/They’re going through a tight wind/Kids are losing their minds” #Ramones “Blitzkrieg Bop” #LOTD2013 3/9
  • “Hey, hey it’s okay to make/A little mess out of your life” #Cracker “This Is Cracker Soul” #LOTD2013 3/10
  • “We write songs about wrong cause it’s hard to see right/Look to the sky hoping it will bleed light” #Common “The Corner” #LOTD2013 3/11 (A favorite running song of mine, especially effective on this date.)
  • “In a parked car/A crowded street/You see your love/Made complete/Thread is ripping/Knot is slipping” #U2 “Love Is Blindness” #LOTD2013 3/12
  • “Meet the new boss/Same as the old boss” #TheWho “Won’t Get Fooled Again” #LOTD2013 3/13 #newpope (Sorry, I’m not remotely religious and the supposed importance of picking this figurehead who ends up standing for so many outdated ideas always baffles me.)
  • “Who’s usin’ who? What should we do?/Well you can’t be a pimp and a prostitute too” #TheWhiteStripes “Icky Thump” #LOTD2013 3/14
  • “A million dead-end streets & every time I thought I’d got it made/It seemed the taste was not so sweet”#DavidBowie “Changes” #LOTD2013 3/15
  • “Don’t need convincing at all/I love this place enough to have no doubt” #SnowPatrol “Take Back The City” #LOTD2013 3/16
  • “I want to feel sunlight on my face/I see the dust cloud disappear/Without a trace” #U2 “Where The Streets Have No Name” #LOTD2013 3/17 (The best song by the best Irish rock band of all time. Happy St. Pat’s!)
  • “Success is a state of mind/With a little bit of follow thru/And then you failed at that too” #JennyLewis “Bad Man’s World” #LOTD2013 3/18
  • “What’s gonna set you free/Look inside and you’ll see/When you’ve got so much to say/It’s called…” #BeastieBoys “Gratitude” #LOTD2013 3/19
  • “It was just to see, just to see/All the things you knew I’d written about you/So many illustrations” #Morrissey “Suedehead” #LOTD2013 3/20
  • “The sparkle in your eyes/Keeps me alive/And the sparkle in your eyes/Keeps me alive” #TheCult “She Sells Sanctuary” #LOTD2013 3/21
  • “She’s well acquainted/With the touch of a velvet hand/Like a lizard on a window pane” #TheBeatles “Happiness Is A Warm Gun” #LOTD2013 3/22 (Dinner at El Coyote gets a lyric from the White Album. You figure out the connection. ;-))
  • “She gets confused/Flying over the dateline/Her hands turn red/Cause the days change at night” #X “Los Angeles” #LOTD2013 3/23 (An especially great L.A. Saturday.)
  • “Nothing short a’ dying/Half as lonesome as the sound/Of the sleeping city sidewalk” #JohnnyCash “Sunday Morning Coming Down” #LOTD2013 3/24
  • “Do you go to the country/It isn’t very far/There’s people there who will hurt you/Cos of who you are” #Blur “Coffee and TV” #LOTD2013 3/25 (Coachella wristbands were delivered. Weeks later, Blur would deliver, as well.)
  • “The frozen Tundra ain’t cold enough/And baby ain’t old enough/For this game I’m rollin’ up” #IceCube “Pushin’ Weight” #LOTD2013 3/26
  • “This is the springtime of my loving/The second season I am to know/You are the sunlight …” #LedZeppelin “The Rain Song” #LOTD2013 3/27
  • “There’s this store where the creatures meet/I wonder what they do in there” #TheDoors “Love Street” #LOTD2013 3/28
  • “The hwy is for gamblers/Better use your sense/Take what you’ve gathered from coincidence”#Dylan “It’s All Over Now Baby Blue”#LOTD2013 3/29 (The final day of preparation for Response Expo 2013.)
  • “Can you keep them in the dark for life/Can you hide them from the waiting world” #Danzig “Mother” #LOTD2013 3/30
  • “Remember what the dormouse said/’Feed your head/Feed your head'” #JeffersonAirplane “White Rabbit” #LOTD2013 3/31 #HappyEaster (Guess it’s clear this one goes hand-in-hand with March 13.)

Here’s the Spotify playlist if you’d like to listen along: #LOTD2013: March

Mar 16

#LOTD2013: February Playlist

#LOTD2013 February PlaylistAs I explained in last month’s recap post of the January playlist, along with the Photo-a-Day project I launched on Jan. 1, I also decided to take on a daily Twitter project: sharing a Lyric of the Day (hence the #LOTD2013 hashtag that goes along with each Tweet).

Here’s the list of February’s Tweets (find the Spotify playlist I’ve created from these lyrics linked at the end of the post or on the image at right), with some brief explanations (in italics) for a number of the lyrics. Remember, if you want to see the lyrics as they pop up daily, just give me a follow on Twitter!

  • “Quench me when I’m thirsty/Come on and cool me down, baby, when I’m hot. (ooh-ooh-ooh-ooh)” #BobMarley “Stir It Up” #LOTD2013 2/1
  • “If I look hard enuf into the setting sun/My love will laugh with me before the morning comes” #RollingStones “Paint It Black” #LOTD2013 2/2
  • “I’d like to hear a little guitar/I guess it’s time to put the top down” #CountingCrows “Raining in Baltimore” #LOTD2013 2/3 – The Baltimore Ravens win Super Bowl XLVII, 34-31, over the San Francisco 49ers.
  • “Don’t it suck about the succubi, the bloodsuckers and the parasites/They’re never funny” #TheHoldSteady “A Slight Discomfort” #LOTD2013 2/4
  • “Rampart boys with loaded rifles/Guatemalan soccer ball instant replays/Mango ladies, vendedoras” #Beck “Que Onda Guero” #LOTD2013 2/5
  • “Because my inside is outside/My right side’s on the left side/’Cause I’m writing to reach you” #Travis “Writing to Reach You” #LOTD2013 2/6
  • “Some fools love to perform/U know the type loud as a motorbike/But wouldn’t bust a grape in a fruit fight” #JayZ “99 Problems” #LOTD2013 2/7 – Dedicated to fake tough guy lifting in my building’s rooftop gym.
  • “Stranded in this spooky town/Stoplights are swaying, phone lines are down/This floor is crackling cold” #KingsofLeon “Closer” #LOTD2013 2/8
  • “Please see for me if her hair hangs long/If it rolls and flows all down her breast.” #BobDylan “Girl From the North Country” #LOTD2013 2/9 – Struck by the placement of this song in “Silver Linings Playbook,” which I saw this Saturday night.
  • “Run a mile for the cause, I’m righteous above the law/Playa my style’s raw, I’m born to mack …” #Nelly “Country Grammar” #LOTD2013 2/10 – One of my top running songs, it shuffled on to my iPod at just the right moment this morning when I was running my first competitive 10k race in Santa Monica.
  • “Poets, priests and politicians/Have words to thank for their positions” #ThePolice “De Do Do Do, De Da Da Da” #LOTD2013 2/11
  • “Nothin’ much to say I guess/Just the same as all the rest” #U2 “Tryin’ To Throw Your Arms Around The World” #LOTD2013 2/12
  • “Give all of my mercy/Give all of my heart/Never thought I’d miss you/That I’d miss you so much” #TheJayhawks “Blue” #LOTD2013 2/13
  • “Cupid, draw back your bow and let your arrow go/Straight to my lover’s heart for me, for me” #SamCooke “Cupid” #LOTD2013 2/14 #HappyVDay – My favorite vaguely Valentine’s Day-related song.
  • “All day you’ve been working that hard line/Now tonight you’re gonna have a good time” #BruceSpringsteen “Out In The Street” #LOTD2013 2/15
  • “A live wire, barely a beginner/But just watch that lady go/She’s on fire …” #VanHalen “Dance The Night Away” #LOTD2013 2/16
  • “Cause I have done it before/And I can do it some more/I’ve got my eye on the score” #TheHives “Tick Tick Boom” #LOTD2013 2/17 – Experienced 11-plus amusing and rocking minutes of this tune at the House of Blues Anaheim on this fine night.
  • “When my thoughts start to feel like mine/They’re taken from me, it seems to happen every time” #TheWhiteStripes “Do” #LOTD2013 2/18
  • “Yeah, ya got plastic boots/Y’all got cocaine eyes/Yeah, ya got speed-freak jive” #RollingStones “Can’t You Hear Me Knocking” #LOTD2013 2/19
  • “Motion pictures on my TV screen/A home away from home, livin’ in between” #NeilYoung “Motion Pictures” #LOTD2013 2/20
  • “Clean as a whistle/Smellin like a rose/She got no dirty little fingers/Bloodshot eyes are gone” #BlackCrowes “Twice As Hard” #LOTD2013 2/21
  • “Only a lad/Really can’t blame him/Only a lad/Society made him/Only a lad/He’s our responsibility” #OingoBoingo “Only A Lad” #LOTD2013 2/22
  • “Got the wheels, petrol’s cheap/Only went there for a week/Got the sun got the sand/Got batteries in the handycam” #U2 “Miami” #LOTD2013 2/23 – Arrival day in Miami Beach for an annual work trip. Always excited to arrive there.
  • “Glaciers melting in the dead of night/And the superstars sucked into the supermassive” #Muse “Supermassive Black Hole” #LOTD2013 2/24
  • “Feelin’ rough/Feelin’ raw/In the prime of my life/Make some music & some money/Find models for wives” #MGMT “Time To Pretend” #LOTD2013 2/25 – It’s nearly inevitable that at some point during a trip to Miami Beach, you find yourself noticing that much of it is actually closer to L.A.’s plastic reputation than L.A. really is.
  • “Hell-bent or heaven-sent/Listen to the propaganda/Listen to the latest slander” #ElvisCostello “Pump It Up” #LOTD2013 2/26
  • “All I get is these vampires and blood suckers/All I see is these ni**as I’ve made millionaires” #JayZ #KanyeWest “Monster” #LOTD2013 2/27
  • “The bus is running/It’s time to leave/The summer’s gone/And so are we” #CountingCrows “Miami” #LOTD2013 2/28 – Check-out day in Miami Beach. Always excited to leave there.

Here’s the Spotify playlist if you’d like to listen along! #LOTD2013: February

Feb 10

#LOTD2013: January Playlist

Along with the Photo-a-Day project I launched on Jan. 1, I also decided to take on a daily Twitter project: sharing a Lyric of the Day (hence the #LOTD2013 hashtag that goes along with each Tweet).

I wasn’t sure which direction this was going to go when I started. Would it be more affected by just songs that popped up that day for me, whether on an iTunes shuffle, on Spotify or in the car? Or would it be something that would speak more often to a happening on that day or some other theme?

Spotify PlaylistTurns out — like most things — it’s fallen somewhere in the middle. Here’s the list of January’s Tweets (find the Spotify playlist I’ve created from these lyrics linked at the end of the post or on the image at right), with some brief explanations (in italics) for a number of the lyrics. I’m planning on recapping monthly in this space, but if you want to see the lyrics as they pop up daily, just give me a follow on Twitter!

  • New on my feed for ’13: lyric of the day. “I want to be with you/Be with you night and day/Nothing changes on New Year’s Day” #LOTD2013 1/1
  • “I go to work/Like a boxer/Train the brain and aim/To outfox ya/Like a punch my rhyme knocks ya” #KoolMoeDee “I Go To Work” #LOTD2013 1/2 — First day back at work in 2013 gets one of my favorite rap songs from way back when.
  • “I’ve got a handful of this/What do I do with it?/I’ve got a barrel of this/What do I do with it?” #Echo “Do It Clean” #LOTD2013 1/3
  • “I’ll eat the lotus and peyote/I’ll want to hear the caged bird sing/I’ll want the secrets of the temple” #REM “Be Mine” #LOTD2013 1/4
  • “Cause he had to run, run, run, run, run/Take a drag or two/Run, run, run, run, run” #VelvetUnderground “Run Run Run” #LOTD2013 1/5 — Ran my first competitive race, a nighttime 5K through downtown L.A. on Jan. 5
  • “Beans and Cornbread had a fight/Beans knocked Cornbread outta sight” #LouisJordan “Beans and Cornbread” #LOTD2013 1/6 — Someone made me homemade chili and cornbread for dinner. 🙂
  • “They call Alabama the Crimson Tide/Call me Deacon Blues” #SteelyDan “Deacon Blues” #LOTD2013 1/7 — Alabama 42, ND 14 in the BCS title game.
  • “Bound with all the weight of all the words he tried to say/As he faced the sun he cast no shadow” #Oasis “Cast No Shadow” #LOTD2013 1/8
  • “You’re an idea man not a yes man/With a point to make you’re bound to take a stand” #BeastieBoys “Finger Lickin’ Good” #LOTD2013 1/9
  • “I remember running through the wet grass/Falling a step behind/Both of us never tired” #BetterThanEzra “Desperately Wanting” #LOTD2013 1/10
  • “I’m on my way/Can’t settle down/I’m stuck in ways of being an ass/And I got a lot of nerve …” #TheHives “Main Offender” #LOTD2013 1/11 — Tickets were acquired for a Feb. 17 show from Howlin’ Pelle and his band at the House of Blues Anaheim.
  • “And I’m floating in a most peculiar way/And the stars look very different today” #DavidBowie “Space Oddity” #LOTD2013 1/12 — Visited the Space Shuttle Endeavour in Exposition Park.
  • “Paris was a place you could hide away/If you felt you didn’t fit in” #RodStewart “Every Picture Tells A Story” #LOTD2013 1/13 — Spent a big chunk of the day editing pictures taken in Paris last October.
  • “I’m gonna pack my pa and I’m gonna pack my aunt/I’m gonna take ’em down to the Cadillac Ranch” #Springsteen “Cadillac Ranch” #LOTD2013 1/14
  • “In the dark of night/By my side/In the dark of night/By my side/I wish you were/I wish you were” #INXS “By My Side” #LOTD2013 1/15
  • “Where are you now?/All alone/And I wonder what you’re thinking?/You don’t say anything anymore” #Solarcade “Imaginary Girl” #LOTD 1/16 — The day we all found out about Manti Te’o and his fake dead girlfriend.
  • “Me used to be angry young man/Me hiding me head in the sand/You gave me the word/I finally heard” #Beatles “Getting Better” #LOTD 1/17
  • “Shoulda been coulda been woulda been dead/If I didn’t get the message goin thru my head/I am what I am” #RHCP “Suck My Kiss” #LOTD2013 1/18
  • “Will you defeat them/Your demons and all the non-believers” #MyChemicalRomance “Welcome to the Black Parade” #LOTD2013 1/19 (#GoKingsGo) — Pretty much the only way to get me into a MyChem song was for the Kings to set an awesome pregame video used throughout the playoffs last year to this one and create an emotional tie. Jan. 19 was the day the Kings raised the 2011-12 Stanley Cup Champions banner.
  • “It’s on the outskirts of town, by the railroad tracks/Where the country moon shines.” #SocialDistortion “Prison Bound” #LOTD2013 1/20 — Saw another great Social D show at House of Blues Sunset Strip.
  • 1/21 #LOTD2013, a shout-out to small-town Wisconsin bars: “Watchin’ the world go by/Surprisin’ it goes so fast” #BadCo “Shooting Star” — Yes, I was at Lucky Mojo’s in Burlington, Wis. Yes, it was 1 degree Fahrenheit. Yes, this song came on.
  • “His little brother came in/Holding the milk man’s hat and a bottle of gin/Singin’ la la la la” #Raconteurs “Carolina Drama” #LOTD2013 1/22
  • “I need a lil money/I knew I could count on you/After that night in Vegas/And the hell we went through” #TomPetty “Swingin'” #LOTD2013 1/23
  • “He floated back down coz he wanted to share/His key to the locks on the chains he saw everywhere” #PearlJam “Given to Fly'” #LOTD2013 1/24
  • “Save some face, you know you’ve only got one/Change your ways while you’re young” #Killers “Smile Like You Mean It” #LOTD2013 1/25
  • “When you’re down, it’s a long way up/When you’re up, it’s a long way down” #LoveAndRockets “No New Tale To Tell” #LOTD2013 1/26
  • “California sunlight, sweet Calcutta rain/Honolulu starbright …” #LedZeppelin “The Song Remains the Same” #LOTD2013 1/27
  • “Then the door was open and the wind appeared/The candles blew and then disappeared” #BOC “Don’t Fear the Reaper” #LOTD2013 1/28 (#Cowbell) — Went to see Jeff Garlin in conversation with Will Ferrell at the Largo. The subject of cowbell came up.
  • “The laws of man/Don’t apply/When blood gets in/A woman’s eye” #TheBlackKeys “Ten Cent Pistol” #LOTD2013 1/29
  • “Why don’t you tell me what’s goin’ on?/Why don’t you tell me who’s on the phone?” #FleetwoodMac “Tusk” #LOTD2013 1/30 #FightOn @USC_Hoops — USC 75, UCLA 71 (OT)
  • “Her green plastic watering can/For her fake Chinese rubber plant/In the fake plastic earth” #Radiohead “Fake Plastic Trees” #LOTD2013 1/31 — Scottsdale bars, folks. Like if a cougar bar in Newport Coast had a baby with a cougar bar in West L.A. and it moved to the desert.

Here’s the Spotify playlist if you’d like to listen along!