Sep 01

#LOTD2013: November Playlist

LOTD Nov 13The latest playlist to (finally) get a work-up in my Lyric-of-the-Day project is from November 2013. Here’s that month’s #LOTD2013 playlist (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!

  • “In your head they’re still fighting/With their tanks and their bombs/And their bombs and their guns” #Cranberries “Zombie” #LOTD2013 11/1
  • “That part of me left yesterday/The heart of me is strong today/No regrets I’m blessed to say” #TI #JT “Dead And Gone” #LOTD2013 11/2
  • “She’s got wonderful eyes/And a risque mouth/And when i ask her before/She said she’s holding out” #TheCars “Let’s Go” #LOTD2013 11/3
  • “Want my opinion? I’d give you 10-to-1/Give me a million, a franchise on fun” #ABC “How To Be A Millionaire” #LOTD2013 11/4
  • “Wanted something better/Wished for something new/Wanted something beautiful/Wished for something true” #FooFighters “Wheels” #LOTD2013 11/5
  • “I’ll be fine/I’ll be waiting patiently/Till you see the signs/And come running to my open arms” #DepecheMode “It’s No Good” #LOTD2013 11/6
  • “Law don’t mean shit if you got the right friends/That’s how the country’s run” #DeadKennedys “I Fought the Law (And I Won)” #LOTD2013 11/7 (The first in a string of Bay Area-tinged lyrics to celebrate the annual USC Bay Area weekender for Saturday’s game at Berkeley.)
  • “Walking down to Market St./Feeling my heart skip a beat/To see someone who looks like you” #ChrisIsaak “San Francisco Days” #LOTD2013 11/8
  • “Living and dying and the stories that are true/Secret to a good life is knowing when you’re through” #Rancid “Time Bomb” #LOTD2013 11/9
  • “Watching the ships roll in/Then I watch them roll away again, yeah” #OtisRedding “(Sittin’ On) The Dock Of The Bay” #LOTD2013 11/10 (Spent some nice time sitting watching boats on the bay near the Embarcadero in San Francisco.)
  • “Put a gun in my hand & you hide from my eyes/You turn and run farther when the fast bullets fly” #BobDylan “Masters Of War” #LOTD2013 11/11 (Happy Veterans’ Day, not necessarily to those who’ve often sent those soldiers rather cynically into questionable battles.)
  • “Changing clothes/Now he’s got ventilated slacks/Bouncing off the walls/Mr. Jones is back” #TalkingHeads “Mr. Jones” #LOTD2013 11/12
  • “Mike D come on and get it on y’all/Talking sh*t about a mile a minute” #BeastieBoys “B-Boys Makin With The Freak Freak” #LOTD2013 11/13
  • “Well you’re dirty and sweet/Clad in black/Don’t look back/And I love you” #TRex “Bang A Gong” #LOTD2013 11/14
  • “There’s a king on a throne with his eyes torn out/There’s a blind man looking for a shadow of doubt” #Police “King Of Pain” #LOTD2013 11/15
  • “I said, ‘Hey, what’s your name?/Maybe we can see things the same?'” #Free “All Right Now” #LOTD2013 11/16 #USC#BeatTheFarm (USC 20, Stanford 17. Best moment of the season for the Trojans. Why not celebrate with a rousing rendition of the Cardinal’s “fight song,” which also stands in as the USC band’s song when the Trojans force a turnover.)
  • “When we bend a new corner/I feel like a sweepstake winner” #BobMarley “Satisfy My Soul” #LOTD2013 11/17
  • “Why don’t you tell it like it is/Why don’t you tell it like it really is/Before you go on home” #Stereophonics “Mr. Writer” #LOTD2013 11/18
  • “Jojo was a man who thought he was a loner/But he knew it wouldn’t last” #TheBeatles “Get Back” #LOTD2013 11/19
  • “I could talk all night/My mind goes sleepwalking/While I’m putting the world to right” #ElvisCostello “Oliver’s Army” #LOTD2013 11/20
  • “So never mind the darkness/We still can find a way/’Cause nothin’ lasts forever/Even cold …” “NovemberRain” #GunsNRoses #LOTD2013 11/21 (Cliche, but I had to wait 2/3 of the month for some rain in order to use it!)
  • “Still I have the warmth of the sun/Within me tonight” #BeachBoys “The Warmth Of The Sun” #LOTD2013 11/22 #JFK #JFK50 (Brian Wilson and Mike Love began writing the song early on the morning of 11/22/63 and finished it that afternoon following the news of JFK’s assassination.)
  • “Had to back up off it & sit my cup down/Tanqueray & chronic yeah I’m f*cked up now” #SnoopDogg “Gin & Juice” #LOTD2013 11/23 #Doggystyle20
  • “You’re still alive she said/Do I deserve to be/Is that the question/And if so/Who answers, who answers” #PearlJam “Alive” #LOTD2013 11/24 (One of my favorite lyrics ever. Special to see it live at the L.A. Sports Arena on this night.)
  • “You don’t have to answer me/You don’t have to call me back” #X “Your Phone’s Off The Hook But You’re Not” #LOTD2013 11/25
  • “Can’t get it outta my head/Miss her, kiss her, love her/Wrong move, you’re dead” #BellBivDevoe “Poison” #LOTD2013 11/26 (Impressive cover by Justin Timberlake at his Staples Center show on this fine evening.)
  • “Your fingers weave quick minarets/Speak in secret alphabets/I light another cigarette/Learn to forget” #Doors “Soul Kitchen” #LOTD2013 11/27
  • “Today my world it smiles/Your hand in mine we walk the miles/Thanks to you it will be done” #LedZeppelin “Thank You” #LOTD2013 11/28 (Happy Thanksgiving!)
  • “All the people/So many people/They all go hand in hand/Hand in hand through their parklife” #Blur “Parklife” #LOTD2013 11/29
  • “Palm trees are candles in the murder wind/So many lives are on the breeze” #BadReligion “Los Angeles Is Burning” #LOTD2013 11/30 (A salute to the annual USC-UCLA football game. And, unfortunately in 2013, its outcome.)

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

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

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