Feb 10

#LOTD2014: March Playlist

Continuing to push through the way-overdue Lyric-of-the-Day project recaps from 2013-2014 with the March 2014 playlist. As a refresher, each day from Jan. 1, 2013 through Dec. 31, 2014, I posted a lyric on my Twitter feed. At the end of each month, I created a Spotify playlist of the songs featured, and throughout much of 2013-14 here on the blog.

Here’s March’s #LOTD2014 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.

  • “I’m filling a need/I’m plugging a hole/My mama’s so glad/I ain’t on the dole” #RollingStones “When The Whip Comes Down” #LOTD2014 3/1
  • “All my friends know the low rider/The low rider is a little higher” #WAR “Low Rider” #LOTD2014 3/2 #BeALotCoolerIfYouDid #McConnaissance (Matthew McConaughey wins the Best Actor Oscar for “Dallas Buyers Club”)
  • “For the millionth time askin’ me/Questions like Wendy Williams harassin’ me” #JayZ “A Million & 1 Questions” #LOTD2014 3/3
  • “I have no fear of falling/But I hate hitting the ground” #TheBadlees “Fear Of Falling” #LOTD2014 3/4 (I took a tumble while jogging in downtown L.A. and broke my left pinkie.)
  • “They can plead/But they can’t see the light/Cause the boy with cold hard cash/Is always Mr. Right” #Madonna “Material Girl” #LOTD2014 3/5
  • “Bend my finger back (snap)/Wrap it in a paper towel/Break a twig in half and set it straight” #VampireWeekend “Finger Back” #LOTD2014 3/6 (Surgery on that broken pinkie with my long-time hand and wrist specialist, Dr. Shin.)
  • “Light up, light up/As if you have a choice/Even if you cannot hear my voice/I’ll be right beside you dear” #SnowPatrol “Run” #LOTD2014 3/7
  • “The infrastructure will collapse/From voltage spikes/Throw your keys in the bowl” #Radiohead “House Of Cards” #LOTD2014 3/8
  • “Take the water prisoner/Fill the sky with screams and cries/Bathe in fiery answers” #TownesVanZandt “Lungs” #LOTD2014 3/9 #TrueDetective (HBO airs the last episode of the amazing first season of “True Detective.”)
  • “Hey brother, do you still believe in one another?/Hey sister, do you still believe in love I wonder?” #Avicii “Hey Brother” #LOTD2014 3/10
  • “Headphones are loud/Chilling on a pillowy cloud/Comfort of codeine & Springsteen pristine” #KurtVile “Snowflakes Are Dancing” #LOTD2014 3/11
  • “Sun’s brighter than its ever been/Why ain’t I?/Cause I’m a Son of an American/ That’s why” #TheSoSoGlos “Son Of An American” #LOTD2014 3/12
  • “Ain’t nuttin goin on but the bomb-ass rap song/Hittin all night long” #IceCube “You Know How We Do It” #LOTD2014 3/13 (cc: @danny_mendoza)
  • “I forget to forget nothing is important/Holding back the fool again” #SmashingPumpkins “To Forgive” #LOTD2014 3/14
  • “Shoefly, dragonfly/Get back t’your mother/Pick up a flat rock/Skip it across Green River” #CCR “Green River” #LOTD2014 3/15 #StPatsChicago (In Chicago for work, but spent the day enjoying the city’s incredible annual St. Patrick’s Day celebration.)
  • “I need a garden/Where nothing’s forbidden/I need an apple/That no one’s been eatin'” #TheWallflowers “When You’re On Top” #LOTD2014 3/16
  • “When the night has no end/And the day yet to begin/As the room spins around/I need your love” #U2 “Hawkmoon 269” #LOTD2014 3/17
  • “Cannonball and rifle/Rifle and cannonball/That’s the way the thunder rumbles” #EchoAndTheBunnymen “Bedbugs And Ballyhoo” #LOTD2014 3/18
  • “We live for just these twenty years/Do we have to die for the fifty more?” #DavidBowie “Young Americans” #LOTD2014 3/19
  • “Does your imagination try to make you what you wanted to be/I’m sorry I do what I did but it came naturally” #Haim “The Wire” #LOTD2014 3/20
  • “Moons and Junes & ferris wheels/The dizzy dancing way you feel/As every fairy tale comes real” #JudyCollins “Both Sides Now” #LOTD2014 3/21 (Attended the “Mad Men” creator and cast roundtable at Paleyfest at the Dolby Theater in Hollywood.)
  • “Hold back the dam/Fill these bags with sand/Every boy, woman, every man/Has got to…” “Lend A Hand” #JakobDylan #LOTD2014 3/22 #SCervice (Worked with a group of underprivileged junior high and high school students interested in journalism as part of USC’s annual Day of Service.)
  • “Put our heads together/Start a new country up/Our father’s father’s father tried/Erased parts he didn’t like”#REM “Cuyahoga” #LOTD2014 3/23
  • “Lake made of sand/And the milk don’t pour/And the honey don’t dance/And the money ain’t yours” #ChanceTheRapper “Pusha Man” #LOTD2014 3/24
  • “Did I tell you how much I miss your smile?/Did I tell you I was okay?/Well no way” #AdamAnt “Wonderful” #LOTD2014 3/25
  • “You wake and let’s wait to start the morning process/Rebuilding & you’re still a work in progress” #Eminem “Beautiful Pain” #LOTD2014 3/26
  • “I’ve been watching you/Think I wanna know ya/I’m a little dangerous/I’d love to show ya” #MorrisDayAndTheTime “Jungle Love” #LOTD2014 3/27
  • “There’s a brand new groove goin’ round/In your city, in your town/And the kick drum is the fault” #Prince “Housequake” #LOTD2014 3/28
  • “Lay your cross down/And let the long reaching arm/Of hope bring you around” #TerenceTrentDarby “Dance Little Sister” #LOTD2014 3/29
  • “Now I’m lookin’ at a flashback Sunday/Zoom lens feelings just won’t disappear” #JGeilsBand “Freeze Frame” #LOTD2014 3/30
  • “There’s music on the station/But I’m just listening to cold wind whistling” #ArcadeFire “Cold Wind” #LOTD2014 3/31

Here’s the Spotify playlist if you’d like to listen along: #LOTD204: March

Jan 27

#LOTD2014: February Playlist

I’m jumping back into the way-overdue Lyric-of-the-Day project recaps from 2013-2014 with the February 2014 playlist. As a refresher, each day from Jan. 1, 2013 through Dec. 31, 2014, I posted a lyric on my Twitter feed. At the end of each month, I created a Spotify playlist of the songs featured, and throughout much of 2013-14 here on the blog.

Here’s February’s #LOTD2014 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.

  • “In all that exists/None have your beauty/I see your face/I will survive” #INXS “Mystify” #LOTD2014 2/1
  • “The soul’s escaping, through this hole that is gaping/This world is mine for the taking” #Eminem “Lose Yourself” #LOTD2014 2/2
  • “I was in a fog, I didn’t notice everything everything/Was coming all apart inside of me” #TheNational “You Were A Kindness” #LOTD2014 2/3
  • “We could be daytime drunks if we wanted/But we’d never get anything done that way, baby” #RiloKiley “The Absence Of God” #LOTD2014 2/4
  • “The light’s shinin’ through on you/Yes, I’m with you my love/It’s the morning and just we two” #Cream “Sunshine Of Your Love” #LOTD2014 2/5
  • “It’s a rainy afternoon in 1990/The big city/Geez, it’s been 20 years/Candy, you were so fine” #IggyPop “Candy” #LOTD2014 2/6
  • “Gonna get me a little oblivion, baby/Try to keep myself away from me” #CountingCrows “Perfect Blue Buildings” #LOTD2014 2/7
  • “Hey, little dolly won’t you say you will/Meet me tonight up on top of the hill” #BruceSpringsteen “Ramrod” #LOTD2014 2/8
  • “Baby if you’re feeling good/Baby if you’re feeling nice/You know your man’s workin’ hard/He’s worth a deuce” #Kiss “Deuce” #LOTD2014 2/9 (The night our crew discovered one of America’s greatest dive bars: Mac’s Club Deuce in Miami Beach.)
  • “Everyone around me is a total stranger/Everyone avoids me like a cyclone ranger” #TheVapors “Turning Japanese” #LOTD2014 2/10
  • “I don’t care/Alright!?About your past, dig/I just want/Hey!/My love to last, come on” #JamesBrown “Cold Sweat” #LOTD2014 2/11
  • “They’ll stone ya and then they’ll say good luck/But I would not feel so all alone” #BobDylan “Rainy Day Women #12 & 35” #LOTD2014 2/12 (An unexpected rooftop suite party in South Beach … thanks Kleiner.)
  • “Love you every day girl/Always on my mind/One thing I can say girl/Love you all the time”#TheBeatles “Eight Days A Week” #LOTD2014 2/13
  • “I’d give this world/Just to dream a dream with you/On our bed of California stars” #WoodyGuthrie #Wilco “California Stars” #LOTD2014 2/14 (Happy Wedding Day, Allen & Meredith!)
  • “Deep beneath the cover of another perfect wonder/Where it’s so white as snow” #RedHotChiliPeppers “Snow (Hey Oh)” #LOTD2014 2/15 (Lounging around in Charlestown, Mass., watching it snow, snow, snow.)
  • “I’m feeling supersonic/Give me gin and tonic/You can have it all but how much do you want it?” #Oasis “Supersonic” #LOTD2014 2/16
  • “President say/Little fat man ain’t it a shame/What the river’s done/To this poor crackers land” #RandyNewman “Louisiana 1927” #LOTD2014 2/17 (“Happy” Presidents Day!)
  • “Whatever you heard about me is true/I change the rules and do what I wanna do” #Prince “Let’s Pretend We’re Married” #LOTD2014 2/18
  • “I am lost, I’m no guide/But I’m by your side/I am right by your side …/Young lover I stand” #PearlJam “Leash” #LOTD2014 2/19
  • “I never did believe in the ways of magic/But I’m beginning to wonder why” #FleetwoodMac “You Make Loving Fun” #LOTD2014 2/20
  • ‘He’s drunk/He tastes like candy/He’s so beautiful/He’s so deep/Like dirty water/God he’s awful” #Hole “Awful” #LOTD2014 2/21
  • “Left for dead left for good/Left for dead not understood/But you/Always came back for more” #Whale “Hobo Humpin’ Slobo Babe” #LOTD2014 2/22 (A random callout in conversation while on a wedding planning trip to Santa Barbara brought this song back into consciousness.)
  • “There was a time/Before we were born/If someone asks this is where I’ll be” #TalkingHeads “This Must Be The Place” #LOTD2014 2/23 (Agreed upon wedding event locations!)
  • “He quoted some poetry/He’s Tennyson in denim & sheepskin/He looked a lot like Izzy Stradlin” #TheHoldSteady” “Chillout Tent” #LOTD2014 2/24
  • “And this is how it all ends up/When you run the whole thing down” #Sugar “Believe What You’re Saying” #LOTD2014 2/25
  • “Me catch a ship across the sea/I sailed the ship all alone/Never think I’ll make it home” #Kingsmen “Louie Louie” #LOTD2014 2/26
  • “And in another world nothing was like this/There may’ve been a girl/There never was a kiss” #TomPetty #Heartbreakers “Echo” #LOTD2014 2/27
  • “Well, show me the way/To the next whiskey bar/Oh, don’t ask why/Oh, don’t ask why” #TheDoors “Alabama Song” #LOTD2014 2/28 (USC hoops and postgame drinks, a long-standing tradition.)

Here’s the Spotify playlist if you’d like to listen along: #LOTD2014: February

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