Jul 09

#LOTD2013: June Playlist

#LOTD2013: JuneThere’s no doubt: it’s a heck of a lot easier to catch up on the #LOTD2013 playlists on a monthly basis than it is to do so on the weekly Photo-A-Day posts. Without further ado, here are June’s Lyric-of-the-Day 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!

  • “Stretched to the limit attention spans/Snap back retract/Collapse into laugh tracks/Noise response applause” #Beck “Hell Yes” #LOTD2013 6/1
  • “Laughing on the bus/Playing games with the faces/She said the man in the gabardine suit was a spy” #SimonAndGarfunkel “America” #LOTD2013 6/2
  • “If there’s something inside that you want to say/Say it out loud it’ll be okay” #TheBetaBand “Dry The Rain” #LOTD2013 6/3
  • “She looks me in the eye & says/We’re gonna last forever/And ya know I can’t begin to doubt it” #TomPetty “Here Comes My Girl” #LOTD2013 6/4 (The most special and personal treat of a great Petty show at the Fonda Theater in Hollywood.)
  • “Under a big old sky, out in a field of green/There’s gotta be something left for us to believe” #TPATH “Kings Highway” #LOTD2013 6/5 (And the second best personal treat from the night before.)
  • “Stand up and deliver/Your wildest fantasy/Do what the fuck you want to/There’s no one to appease” #Muse “Panic Station” #LOTD2013 6/6
  • “Our god is a sinner, our king is a con/The room’s about to crumble as I burst into song” #TheHives “Go Right Ahead” #LOTD2013 6/7
  • “Sold me out for chump change/Told me they had it all arranged/You handed me down, that’s a fact” #JamesBrown “The Payback”
  • “Eight miles high/And when you touch down/You’ll find that it’s/Stranger than known” #TheByrds “Eight Miles High” #LOTD2013 6/9
  • “Love don’t play any games with me/Anymore like she did before” #RyanAdams “New York, New York” #LOTD2013 6/10 (A week of NYC-related tunes kicks off with a rocking choice for the arrival in town.)
  • “There’s a woman/On the outside/Looking inside/Does she see me?” #SuzanneVega “Tom’s Diner” #LOTD2013 6/11
  • “Wearin’ the cross of my calling/On wheels of fire I come rollin’ down here” #BruceSpringsteen “The Rising” #LOTD2013 6/12 (After a business meeting in lower Manhattan, I got a chance to walk down and check the progress of the new World Trade Center building.)
  • “Subway steam, like silhouettes in dreams/They stood by me, just like moonbeams” #TheWallflowers “6th Avenue Heartache” #LOTD2013 6/13
  • “Tom, get your plane right on time/I know you’ve been eager to fly now” #SimonAndGarfunkel “The Only Living Boy In New York” #LOTD2013 6/14 (Got my plane back to L.A. on time. Unfortunately, American Airlines was into their own delays — as usual — on this long Friday.)
  • “It’s the room, the sun and the sky/It’s the room, the sun and the sky” #SilversunPickups “Lazy Eye” #LOTD2013 6/15
  • “You’re the reason I sing/You’re the reason why the opera is in me” #U2 “Sometimes You Can’t Make It On Your Own” #LOTD2013 6/16 (For my dad.)
  • “The first mate he got drunk/Broke in the cap’ns trunk/The constable had to come and take him away” #BeachBoys “Sloop John B” #LOTD2013 6/17
  • “I knew it when I met you/I’m not gonna let you runaway/I knew it when I held you I wasn’t letting go” #Killers “Runaways” #LOTD2013 6/18
  • “What a gas it was to see him/Walk her every day/Into a shady place/With her lips she said” #ThePixies “Gigantic” #LOTD2013 6/19
  • “Before anybody wanted K-West beats/Me and my girl split the buffet at KFC” #KanyeWest “Touch The Sky” #LOTD2013 6/20
  • “At the drive-in/In the old man’s Ford/Behind the bushes/Until I’m screamin’ for more” #Poison “Talk Dirty To Me” #LOTD2013 6/21 (Thanks to that post-game jukebox in Wrigleyville.)
  • “People talking, people laughing/A man selling ice cream/Singing Italian songs” #Chicago “Saturday In The Park” #LOTD2013 6/22 (As I posted that day, I was eating brunch in Chicago on a Saturday in Wicker Park when this song came on the diner’s loudspeakers. The start of a really good day.)
  • “Mercury is rising still/Turn the fan on high/I won’t step on my own shadow/No one wants to cry” #REM “Summer Turns To High” #LOTD2013 6/23
  • “And I’ll be workin’/From sun up to midnight” #MichaelJackson “Workin’ Day And Night” #LOTD2013 6/24
  • “There been times I thought I couldn’t last for long/But now I think I’m able to carry on” #SamCooke “A Change Is Gonna Come” #LOTD2013 6/25 (After this day’s, um, amazing(?) Voting Rights Act decision by the Supreme Court, I guess the change is going to have to come … again.)
  • “But no matter what you do/It always feels as though you tripped and fell” #TheRaconteurs “Steady, As She Goes” #LOTD2013 6/26
  • “She’s a Georgia Peach never within reach/He’s a felon from Baton Rouge” #BetterThanEzra “A Southern Thing” #LOTD2013 6/27
  • “Door is locked just you and me/Can I take you to a restaurant that’s got glass tables” #EnglishBeat “Mirror In The Bathroom” #LOTD2013 6/28
  • “The temperature’s about 88/Hop in the water plug just for old times sake” #DJJazzyJeffAndTheFreshPrince “Summertime” #LOTD2013 6/29 (SoCal’s first summer heat wave of 2013 hit hard on this sunny Saturday.)
  • “Maybe you’re the same as me/We see things they’ll never see/You and I, we’re gonna …” “Live Forever” #Oasis #LOTD2013 6/30

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

Jul 07

#LOTD2013: May Playlist

#LOTD2013: MayThanks to the long holiday weekend, I’ve been working on pulling together my Lyric-of-the-Day (#LOTD2013) playlists. Here are May’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!

  • “Start again in the month of May/Come on and blow the wires away” #ArcadeFire “Month of May” #LOTD2013 5/1
  • “The stars are blazing like rebel diamonds cut out of the sun” #TheKillers “Read My Mind” #LOTD2013 5/2 (Another great Killers show, tonight at the L.A. Sports Arena. And this one’s always fantastic live.)
  • “There was so much space/I cut me a piece/With some fine wine/It brought peace to my mind” #JanesAddiction “Summertime Rolls” #LOTD2013 5/3
  • “I’ve got more rhymes than I’ve got gray hairs/And that’s a lot because I’ve got my share” #BeastieBoys “Sure Shot” #LOTD2013 5/4 #RIPMCA (A salute to Adam Yauch on the one-year anniversary of his passing, far too soon.)
  • “Singing songs of passion/It’s the truth they all look for/One thing they must keep alive” #LosLobos “Will The Wolf Survive?” #LOTD2013 5/5 (One of the best from some of L.A’s favorite Latino sons on Cinco de Mayo.)
  • “We’ll be playing and having fun/And it makes me feel so fine/I can’t control my brain” #Weezer “Island In The Sun” #LOTD2013 5/6
  • “Baby, stop me when I’m passin’ by/See now all my flavors are guaranteed to satisfy” #VanHalen “Ice Cream Man” #LOTD2013 5/7
  • “Happiness will make you wonder/Will I feel OK?/It scares the disenchanted/Far away” #SmashingPumpkins “Hummer” #LOTD2013 5/8
  • “Everybody, get on the beat/We’re gonna show U mothers how 2 scream/People everywhere, loosen up your hair” #Prince “D.M.S.R.” #LOTD2013 5/9
  • “Listen to my gearshift/I’m blastin, outlastin/Kinda like Shaft/You could say I’m shaftin” #LLCoolJ “Mama Said Knock You Out” #LOTD2013 5/10
  • “Look now, look all around, there’s no sign of life/Voices, another sound, can you hear me now?” #DuranDuran “Planet Earth” #LOTD2013 5/11
  • “I’m all 6s and 7s and 9s/Say now baby, I’m the rank outsider/You can be my partner in crime” #RollingStones “Tumbling Dice” #LOTD2013 5/12 (This song could be my #LOTD pretty much any day that I hear it. I love it that much.)
  • “Love myself/Better than you/I know it’s wrong/So what should I do?” #Nirvana “On A Plain” #LOTD2013 5/13
  • “And when I look in my window/So many different people to be/It’s strange, sure it’s strange” #Donovan “Season Of The Witch” #LOTD2013 5/14
  • “Free to fly the crimson sky/The sun won’t melt our wings tonight/Oh now here she comes” #U2 “Even Better Than The Real Thing” #LOTD2013 5/15 (On my 42nd birthday, a song from my favorite band relating to how I feel about someone rather special.)
  • “If I could just be/Everything and everyone to you/This life would just be so easy” #INXS “Not Enough Time” #LOTD2013 5/16
  • “Mr. Wendal, a man, a human in flesh but not by law/I feed you dignity to stand with pride” #ArrestedDevelopment “Mr. Wendal” #LOTD2013 5/17
  • “I like you and I’d like to/Be free, be free, be free, be free/Yeah, I like you and I’d like to/Be free” #Travis “Quite Free” LOTD2013 5/18
  • “I got a new suit of clothes, a pretty red rose/And a woman I can call my friend” #BruceSpringsteen “Better Days” #LOTD2013 5/19
  • “Dance on fire as it intends/Music is your only friend/Until the end/Until the end” #TheDoors “When The Music’s Over” #LOTD2013 5/20 #RIPRay (A salute to Doors’ keyboardist Ray Manzarek on his passing. I grew up with The Doors, thanks to my dad, and Manzarek’s sound will always remain distinct.)
  • “Blindly snap the broken beats/Said it’s cut with a dirty trick/It’s taken all these days to find ya” #Kasabian “Club Foot” #LOTD2013 5/21
  • “I’m your conscious/I am love/All I really need is 2 know that/U believe” #Prince “I Would Die 4 U” #LOTD2013 5/22
  • “Turn the crowd up now/We’ll never back down/Shoot down a skyline/Watch it in primetime” #SwedishHouseMafia “Save The World” #LOTD2013 5/23
  • “Keep your head on tight/Make it thru the night/You gotta make a friend along the way” #BlackCrowes “Movin’ On Down The Line” #LOTD2013 5/24
  • “Have another beer/What’d we do without all these jerks anyway?/Besides all our friends are here” #DonHenley “Sunset Grill” #LOTD2013 5/25
  • “I’ll go away/And I’ll turn around this little game/Cuz I don’t need your praise” #Cracker #FlaminGroovies “Shake Some Action”#LOTD2013 5/26 (Saw a screening of “Clueless” thanks to Cinespia at Hollywood Forever Cemetery, and remembered Cracker’s version of this little gem popping up in it.)
  • “They send you down to war/When you ask them/How much should we give/They only answer more” #CCR “Fortunate Son” #LOTD2013 5/27 #MemorialDay
  • “Drove down the hwy/Til I came to Los Angeles/Town of the angels/Best this country can do” #Mellencamp “Hotdogs & Hamburgers” #LOTD2013 5/28
  • “How long do I have to climb/Up on the side of this mountain of mine?” #Coldplay “Speed Of Sound” #LOTD2013 5/29
  • “No longer overwhelmed & it seems so simple now/Funny when things change so much/It’s all state of mind” #PearlJam “In Hiding” #LOTD2013 5/30
  • “As it was again it will be/Though the course may change sometimes/Rivers always reach the sea” #LedZeppelin “Ten Years Gone” #LOTD2013 5/31 (My wedding was 10 years ago today. Though things have changed and divorce came down the line, it’s not a day I regret in the least.)

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

May 12

#LOTD2013: April Playlist

LOTD AprilIn a much more timely fashion, here is the April recap of my Lyric-of-the-Day (#LOTD2013) project!

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

  • It’s #LOTD2013 catch-up day: “Heaven is the whole of the heart/Paradise is by the dashboard light” #TheHoldSteady “We Can Get Together” 4/1 (With Response Expo April 1-4, I don’t think I started Tweeting until April 5, catching up for missed days. Think of this – “We Can Get Together” – as an invitation to those heading to San Diego for the event)
  • “Here everybody has a neighbor/Everybody has a friend/Everybody has a reason to begin again” #BruceSpringsteen “Long Walk Home” #LOTD2013 4/2
  • “The time to rise has been engaged/You’re better best to rearrange/I’m talking here to me alone” #REM “Finest Worksong” #LOTD2013 4/3
  • “Cold coolin at a bar/Lookin for some action/But like Mick Jagger said/I Can’t Get No Satisfaction” #ToneLoc “Funky Cold Medina” #LOTD2013 4/4 (The Expo’s closing night party was a mini-flashback to my senior year of high school, with Loc putting on a great half-hour for all of our attendees.)
  • “It’s all right, doing the best you can/Well it’s all right, as long as you lend a hand” #TravelingWilburys “End Of The Line” #LOTD2013 4/5
  • “Could’ve been a lame jogger maybe/Or someone just about to do the freeway strangler, baby” #MissingPersons “Walking In L.A.” #LOTD2013 4/6 (Back in L.A., finally, after a long week in San Diego.)
  • “Forever we’d be free/Free to spend our whole lives running/From people who would be…” “The Death Of You & Me”#NoelGallagher #LOTD2013 4/7
  • “Do you see my smoking guns?/They’re smoking from a shootin’/Smokin’ from shootin'” #MyMorningJacket “Smokin’ From Shootin'” #LOTD2013 4/8
  • “I think I found my place/Can’t you feel it growing stronger?/Little conquerors” #FooFighters “Walk” #LOTD2013 4/9
  • “I rope-a-dope the evil with righteous/Bobbin’ and weavin’ & let the good get even” #PublicEnemy “Welcome To The Terrordome” #LOTD2013 4/10 (April 10 was the 23rd anniversary of the release of PE’s classic “Fear Of A Black Planet.”)
  • “I’ll shout and scream/I’ll kill the king/I’ll rail at all his servants” #RollingStones “Street Fighting Man” #LOTD2013 4/11
  • “What you wanted to see good/Has made you blind/What you wanted to be yours/Has made it mine”#Soundgarden “Fell On Black Days”#LOTD2013 4/12
  • “No good for nothin else/If you like to drink your whiskey/You might even shoot yourself” #Skynyrd “Saturday Night Special” #LOTD2013 4/13 (I imagine many current-day Skynyrd fans would be surprised by the rather, ahem, “liberal” message behind this song.)
  • “We ran til the gas got low/We were flyin close to heaven/Everything’s startin to glow” #TomPetty “The Trip to Pirate’s Cove” #LOTD2013 4/14
  • “Ya down by the river/Down by the banks of the river Charles/That’s what’s happenin baby” #TheStandells “Dirty Water” #LOTD2013 4/15 #Boston (Boston Marathon bombing. Enough said.)
  • “Now this looks like a job for me/So everybody just follow me/’Cause we need a little controversy” #Eminem “Without Me” #LOTD2013 4/16
  • “Will the wind ever remember/The names it has blown in the past?” #JimiHendrix “The Wind Cries Mary” #LOTD2013 4/17
  • “Oh this desert life/This high life/Here at the dying end of the day/I wasn’t made for this scene” #CountingCrows “High Life” #LOTD2013 4/18 (Arrival night in the low desert for Coachella 2013.)
  • “And when she lets me slip away/She turns me on/All my violence is gone/Nothing is wrong” #Blur “Beetlebum” #LOTD2013 4/19 #Coachella (A great set from Blur, with the surprisingly rocking version of “Beetlebum” as one of the highlights.)
  • “Here are all one & our hearts are true/The towers on the heights reach the heavens’ own blue” #DropkickMurphys “For Boston” #LOTD2013 4/20 (The Murphys’ emotional set, their first since Monday’s Boston tragedy, began powerfully with the raising of the Boston city flag.)
  • “The sun may rise in the east/At least it settles in the final location” #RedHotChiliPeppers “Californication” #LOTD2013 4/21 #Coachella (My favorite line in this song. Hard not to feel some home state goosebumps during this performance.)
  • “If that’s all that takes my sense/I’d catch it on a breeze and fill my lungs” #AlexClare “Where Is The Heart” #LOTD2013 4/22
  • “So many people to see/So many people you can check up on/And add to your collection” #ElvisCostello “Accidents Will Happen” #LOTD2013 4/23
  • “Oh, lovely Rita meter maid/Where would I be without you?/Give us a wink and make me think of you” #TheBeatles “Lovely Rita” #LOTD2013 4/24
  • “I’m throwing the childhood scenes away/I’m thru ripping myself off/Done ripping myself off” #Raconteurs “Broken Boy Soldier” #LOTD2013 4/25
  • “If you’re lonely/You know I’m here waiting for you/Just a crosshair/Just a shot away from you” #FranzFerdinand “Take Me Out” #LOTD2013 4/26 (Just thinking back to Franz Ferdinand’s very satisyfying Coachella set the previous weekend.)
  • “We keep it beaming like a beacon/If it’s clearance that you’re seeking” #Jurassic5 “Quality Control” #LOTD2013 4/27
  • “There’s alot of honey in this world/Baby, this honey’s for me/You’ve got to do what you do/Do it with me” #REM “Me In Honey” #LOTD2013 4/28
  • “She stirs the ice in her glass with her elegant finger/I wanna be what she’s drinking” #JohnMellencamp “Key West Intermezzo” #LOTD2013 4/29
  • “And you thought that we were faking/That we were all just money making/You do not believe we’re for real” #SexPistols “EMI” #LOTD2013 4/30

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