listen to more music.

The stereo is frequently warm. There are more tapes waiting to hit the car tapedeck. The MP3 player is full of fresh songs. I’m continuing this, but marking it as done. It’s back in my blood…

I know it’s ridiculously old fashioned, but I still get a little bit giddy listening to itty bitty portable music devices in public. I don’t do it often but I think I should.

Today I listened to random songs the whole time I was out and I loved it. I had to stop myself from singing along.

Is on If I Should Fall From Grace With God by The Pogues…


FAIRYTALE OF NEW YORK

It was Christmas Eve babe
In the drunk tank
An old man said to me, won’t see another one
And then he sang a song
The Rare Old Mountain Dew
I turned my face away
And dreamed about you

Got on a lucky one
Came in eighteen to one
I’ve got a feeling
This year’s for me and you
So happy Christmas
I love you baby
I can see a better time
When all our dreams come true

They’ve got cars big as bars
They’ve got rivers of gold
But the wind goes right through you
It’s no place for the old
When you first took my hand
On a cold Christmas Eve
You promised me
Broadway was waiting for me

You were handsome
You were pretty
Queen of New York City
When the band finished playing
They howled out for more
Sinatra was swinging,
All the drunks they were singing
We kissed on a corner
Then danced through the night

The boys of the NYPD choir
Were singing “Galway Bay”
And the bells were ringing out
For Christmas day

You’re a bum
You’re a punk
You’re an old slut on junk
Lying there almost dead on a drip in that bed
You scumbag, you maggot
You cheap lousy faggot
Happy Christmas your arse
I pray God it’s our last

I could have been someone
Well so could anyone
You took my dreams from me
When I first found you
I kept them with me babe
I put them with my own
Can’t make it all alone
I’ve built my dreams around you

The Violent Femmes. They make me all nostalgic for my teenaged years. Once a bunch of friends and I went on a roadtrip to see them on campus in Bellingham, then hopped back in the car to Vancouver & caught them here too. They conjure up so many great memories. And they make me dance around. And I don’t even remember… if we were lovers… or if I just wanted toooooooo…

Add It Up: 1981-1993 is an excellent album… it’s long and it has a little bit of everything on it.

(Hey! I know why I put this on… because the other day I ran into one of the people I went on that roadtrip with over a decade and a half ago…)

But 8? 8? I forget what 8 was for…

Listening to the new (picked up yesterday) 2 disc Frank Black, Fast Man Raider Man. Yay! New music! (and I like the cover of Dirty Old Town too…). There has been much dancing in the living-room lately.

Once I found a golden trumpet
In the mash of an old landfill
Now I play for the spirits
When the paint grows darker still

Winter waited in my garden
When the sun did refuse to shine
Honeybees all in a slumber
Skies filled up the sea
Falling down on me

I installed the new Media Player and reloaded several disks of MP3’s. Then I hit random.

A CD’s worth of the resulting random selections:

Baby’s on Fire – Brian Eno
The Passenger – Iggy Pop
Anger as Beauty – Hawksley Workman
The Streets of Laredo – Johnny Cash
Watch Your Step – Elvis Costello
Way Down – Tori Amos
The Lady is a Tramp – Frank Sinatra
Rip Hey to Shreds – Blondie
Bullet With Butterfly Wings – Smashing Pumpkins
Don’t Worry About Me – Joey Ramone
Time Bomb – Tzefa
Hang on St. Christopher – Tom Waits
If It Makes You Happy – Sheryl Crow
Take a Chance On Me – ABBA
Where Has Everybody Gone – Pretenders
Da Ya Think I’m Sexy? – Revolting Cocks
Mechanical Animals – Marilyn Manson
500 Miles – Nice Cave
Daydream Believer – Monkees
Sexy & 17 – Stray Cats
Standing Outside – Primitive Radio Gods
Wear My Ring Around Your Neck – Elvis Presley
Down By the Water – PJ Harvey
Super Star – Sonic Youth
Use Once and Destroy – Hole

Yeah, I felt like a little classic Frankie today (Sinatra Sings His Greatest Hits ). Someone started dancing right away, so I copied his moves… back and forth stamping steps, around in circles, shoulder shakes. I’m relatively sure my son is a much better dancer than I am (I love those baby moves, not caring a bit what anyone thinks – just feeling the music), so I’m going to copy him from now on. Perhaps for 30 minutes a day. He can be my new personal trainer.

Music that accompanied my extreme house tackling attempt included Jane’s Addiction,Billie Holiday, Bjork, and The Clash. Oh the sweet, sweet balance.

Sirens are screaming
Inside the winding sheets are pale
Devils are dreaming
Dreaming of the blue angel

This is the rainiest day we’ve had for months. Cold and grey. Markus is out at the hardware store getting weather-stripping, Isak’s napping on the couch, and I have a lovely sense of alone that I haven’t felt for a long time. I lit the aging pumpkin even though Halloween’s over and it’s the middle of the afternoon.

I’m listening to Sackcloth ‘N’ Ashes by 16 Horsepower – one of my favorite albums. It sort of sounds like… what would happen if Nick Cave partied down South with the Violent Femmes. With some banjoes and dusty whisky bottles balanced on bibles.

Coffee’s on (extra strong) and I have a big bag of truffles waiting. I’m watching the rain. There’s nothing I have to do right this second.

Scrawled In Sap

O the sky grey orange
An the walls stained blue
An I laid right down on golden satin with you
Into sweet dark circles of beautiful eyesI go round
O Lord
I go roundWill you tell me once again
Cream white skin
You are my friend
I seen you walkin' and your white hips sway
O girl I will have you moreTo the moan in your voice
Not a charm do you lack
Your skin to touch as a black ravens back
But I cannot go far with these words as they rhyme
As to tell, of the pleasure, your hand in mineAn I pray as I say this song in this way
That your eyes they would close
An your head begin to sway
An you'll feel how he heals
With his blood on our skin
I am yours lady scrawled an thinWill you tell me once again
Cream white skin
You are my friend
I seen you walkin' in your husbands way
Girl I will have you more