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

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