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

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