Theme Song Mix Tape: "I'm like an opening band for the sun..."
Behold the musical geekery...
This is the soundtrack for the State of the Gwyddon, January through June 2009.
Links to the actual songs are under each title, so you can listen if you're so inclined.
1.) Fight Test ~ Flaming Lips
Listen Here
This song has come to have a rather huge significance in the last few years of my life, and lately it's come in the form of learning to take my own advice.
"oh to fight is to defend...
if it's not now, than tell me when
would be the time that you would stand up and be a man?
cause i'm a man, not a boy...
and there are things you can't avoid
you've got to face them,
when you're not prepared to face them..."
2.) Sweet Euphoria ~ Chris Cornell
Listen Here
This is an incredibly beautiful, simple, yet lyrically imaginative song; one of the sweetest I have ever heard. I consider it a very appropriate theme song for a specific time frame, which was the happiest I've been this year so far.
"sweet euphoria... mine is the heart you stole...
touched and broken are the things you loved
using stars to light your candles...
lost, my love... as it is, i'm truly gone...
in your morning, i will sleep...
fire on an open palm...
death for jesus and plastic armies
wouldn't bring me back again...
sweet as ether eyes, i'm blind to them..."
3.) If You Are to Bloom ~ HUM
Listen Here
HUM = The best Space Rock EVERRRRR. The sound of this band is just amazing all around... we *all* need watering if we are to bloom. Watering = whatever makes us happy or helps us grow, even if those things are often polar opposites. HUM has interesting lyrical style. This also goes along with remembering or envisioning lots of happy times with snazzy individuals.
"i'm thinking of your failing green eyes...
smiling as they greet the day
but they can't see me...
and now i'm picturing us opening wide...
and drinking down our days in haze, and bliss
together til it tumbles aside...
but i just sit and wait for a rhythm in a perfect little thin green line...
and the coil speaks:
i'd like to see us together, i'd like to lay my head low....
i'd like to lean on a soft one, and bring the spin of the world to a big slow...
and you've been gathering angels, and fading further each day...
i love you now as i'll never...
remember my face as you quietly make your way..."
4.) Arms Around Your Love ~ Chris Cornell
Listen Here"
This one was really tough... Back in March, I had to make the decision to remove someone from my life that I'd thought would always be around. Everything worked out for the best though, I am happy to say. :)
"pretend that you don't mind,
but you know
everything that you left behind...
and it would have been alright,
if you'd gave half of the praise
that you held inside...
you thought she'd hang around
for the ride...
now you're just gonna have to take it
coming clean feels so dangerous...
just a little bit...
would have been enough
but you never said
all the words caught in your head,
as if your heart was dead..."
5.) Black Cadillacs ~ Modest Mouse
Listen Here
This song has been the prevailing theme of the year, in terms of cutting the shit in general, and frustrations with certain humans in particular.
"you were so true to yourself,
you were true to no one...
well you just run around yourself, right now...
i've got the time, i got the hours,
i got the days, i got the weeks...
i could say to myself, i've got the words,
but i can't speak...
well, i was done, done, done
with all the circ, circ, circlin round...
i didn't die, and i ain't complainin,
i ain't blamin you...
i didn't know that the words you said to me
meant more to me than they ever could you...
i didn't lie, but i ain't sayin that i told the whole truth...
i didn't know that this game we were playin even had a set of rules...
and we were done, done, done
with all the fuck, fuck, fuckin' around..."
6.) Push Me, Pull Me ~ Pearl Jam
Listen Here
By far, the most unusual PJ song I've heard to date... full of random sound effects, it's more of a spoken word/audio collage, and I can definitely relate to the sense of being confused, worn out, or just needing a breather. This video is pretty awesome, also.
"i had a false belief,
i thought i came here to stay...
we're all just visiting...
all just breaking like waves...
if i behave, can you arrange a spacious hole in the ground?
somewhere nice... make it nice...
where the land meets high tide
push me, pull me,
push me, pull me... or pull me out
i'm like an opening band for the sun..."
7. & 8.) See These Bones & Always Love ~ both by Nada Surf
See These Bones (Live in London)
Always Love
Both these songs are have great ideas behind them... appreciating life for both its joy and its pain before it's gone, and not letting hate and negativity suck the life out of you.
"everyone's right, and no one is sorry...
that's the start and the end of the story
from the sharks and the jets,
to the call in the morning...
and life is just bets anyway
try as they might, no one's immune to
misfiring and acting on the wrong clues
and thinkin' it's time to redo and redo...
i feel rain in the movies and the talk before the screen's lights
...i hear strings in the park
i don't like to call or write, except when its too late at night
...i mostly just think in the dark
we were too tired to eat,
too hungry to sleep...
look alive... see these bones
what you are now, we were once
just like we are, you'll be dust...
just like we are, permanent...
the lights in the city are more or less blinking...
which side of the story decides what you're thinking?
warm arms and cold faces,
we're squinting, we're hurrying
we're digging, we're burning...
we're digging, we're burning..."
***
"to make a mountain of
your life is just a choice...
but i never learned enough
to listen to that voice that told me
always love...
hate will get you,
every time...
always love...
don't wait til the finish line...
self-directed lies...
i wanna know what it'd be like to
aim so high above...
any card that has been dealt to you
slow demands come 'round
squeeze the air, and keep the rest out
it helps to write it down...
even when you then cross it out...
always love...
hate will get you,
every time...
always love...
even when you want to fight..."
9.) Defined By What We Steal ~ Big Wreck
Listen Here (live w/ Toronto Symphony Orchestra)
I don't know quite how to explain this one. It's a beautiful song, and as with everything else this band has done, I can relate on multiple levels. The last part of the lyrics seem to suit many people I have crossed paths with.
"when the lights are low,
we notice down below
how it glows... brightly
and all we've washed away
now comes out to play... with me
but this is a farce...
if it's not in my own words
and i fight for a moment of rest...
just for one second, we're sure we're alive--
then notice our lives are defined...
by what we steal...
trying to reach for you
is such a breach of me...
and my shell... oh, well
so what, if i float? so what, if i drift?
and refuse to believe
that this is all a gift... for me?"
Thanks for Reading. I hope you enjoyed the songs.
:)
*
This is the soundtrack for the State of the Gwyddon, January through June 2009.
Links to the actual songs are under each title, so you can listen if you're so inclined.
1.) Fight Test ~ Flaming Lips
Listen Here
This song has come to have a rather huge significance in the last few years of my life, and lately it's come in the form of learning to take my own advice.
"oh to fight is to defend...
if it's not now, than tell me when
would be the time that you would stand up and be a man?
cause i'm a man, not a boy...
and there are things you can't avoid
you've got to face them,
when you're not prepared to face them..."
2.) Sweet Euphoria ~ Chris Cornell
Listen Here
This is an incredibly beautiful, simple, yet lyrically imaginative song; one of the sweetest I have ever heard. I consider it a very appropriate theme song for a specific time frame, which was the happiest I've been this year so far.
"sweet euphoria... mine is the heart you stole...
touched and broken are the things you loved
using stars to light your candles...
lost, my love... as it is, i'm truly gone...
in your morning, i will sleep...
fire on an open palm...
death for jesus and plastic armies
wouldn't bring me back again...
sweet as ether eyes, i'm blind to them..."
3.) If You Are to Bloom ~ HUM
Listen Here
HUM = The best Space Rock EVERRRRR. The sound of this band is just amazing all around... we *all* need watering if we are to bloom. Watering = whatever makes us happy or helps us grow, even if those things are often polar opposites. HUM has interesting lyrical style. This also goes along with remembering or envisioning lots of happy times with snazzy individuals.
"i'm thinking of your failing green eyes...
smiling as they greet the day
but they can't see me...
and now i'm picturing us opening wide...
and drinking down our days in haze, and bliss
together til it tumbles aside...
but i just sit and wait for a rhythm in a perfect little thin green line...
and the coil speaks:
i'd like to see us together, i'd like to lay my head low....
i'd like to lean on a soft one, and bring the spin of the world to a big slow...
and you've been gathering angels, and fading further each day...
i love you now as i'll never...
remember my face as you quietly make your way..."
4.) Arms Around Your Love ~ Chris Cornell
Listen Here"
This one was really tough... Back in March, I had to make the decision to remove someone from my life that I'd thought would always be around. Everything worked out for the best though, I am happy to say. :)
"pretend that you don't mind,
but you know
everything that you left behind...
and it would have been alright,
if you'd gave half of the praise
that you held inside...
you thought she'd hang around
for the ride...
now you're just gonna have to take it
coming clean feels so dangerous...
just a little bit...
would have been enough
but you never said
all the words caught in your head,
as if your heart was dead..."
5.) Black Cadillacs ~ Modest Mouse
Listen Here
This song has been the prevailing theme of the year, in terms of cutting the shit in general, and frustrations with certain humans in particular.
"you were so true to yourself,
you were true to no one...
well you just run around yourself, right now...
i've got the time, i got the hours,
i got the days, i got the weeks...
i could say to myself, i've got the words,
but i can't speak...
well, i was done, done, done
with all the circ, circ, circlin round...
i didn't die, and i ain't complainin,
i ain't blamin you...
i didn't know that the words you said to me
meant more to me than they ever could you...
i didn't lie, but i ain't sayin that i told the whole truth...
i didn't know that this game we were playin even had a set of rules...
and we were done, done, done
with all the fuck, fuck, fuckin' around..."
6.) Push Me, Pull Me ~ Pearl Jam
Listen Here
By far, the most unusual PJ song I've heard to date... full of random sound effects, it's more of a spoken word/audio collage, and I can definitely relate to the sense of being confused, worn out, or just needing a breather. This video is pretty awesome, also.
"i had a false belief,
i thought i came here to stay...
we're all just visiting...
all just breaking like waves...
if i behave, can you arrange a spacious hole in the ground?
somewhere nice... make it nice...
where the land meets high tide
push me, pull me,
push me, pull me... or pull me out
i'm like an opening band for the sun..."
7. & 8.) See These Bones & Always Love ~ both by Nada Surf
See These Bones (Live in London)
Always Love
Both these songs are have great ideas behind them... appreciating life for both its joy and its pain before it's gone, and not letting hate and negativity suck the life out of you.
"everyone's right, and no one is sorry...
that's the start and the end of the story
from the sharks and the jets,
to the call in the morning...
and life is just bets anyway
try as they might, no one's immune to
misfiring and acting on the wrong clues
and thinkin' it's time to redo and redo...
i feel rain in the movies and the talk before the screen's lights
...i hear strings in the park
i don't like to call or write, except when its too late at night
...i mostly just think in the dark
we were too tired to eat,
too hungry to sleep...
look alive... see these bones
what you are now, we were once
just like we are, you'll be dust...
just like we are, permanent...
the lights in the city are more or less blinking...
which side of the story decides what you're thinking?
warm arms and cold faces,
we're squinting, we're hurrying
we're digging, we're burning...
we're digging, we're burning..."
***
"to make a mountain of
your life is just a choice...
but i never learned enough
to listen to that voice that told me
always love...
hate will get you,
every time...
always love...
don't wait til the finish line...
self-directed lies...
i wanna know what it'd be like to
aim so high above...
any card that has been dealt to you
slow demands come 'round
squeeze the air, and keep the rest out
it helps to write it down...
even when you then cross it out...
always love...
hate will get you,
every time...
always love...
even when you want to fight..."
9.) Defined By What We Steal ~ Big Wreck
Listen Here (live w/ Toronto Symphony Orchestra)
I don't know quite how to explain this one. It's a beautiful song, and as with everything else this band has done, I can relate on multiple levels. The last part of the lyrics seem to suit many people I have crossed paths with.
"when the lights are low,
we notice down below
how it glows... brightly
and all we've washed away
now comes out to play... with me
but this is a farce...
if it's not in my own words
and i fight for a moment of rest...
just for one second, we're sure we're alive--
then notice our lives are defined...
by what we steal...
trying to reach for you
is such a breach of me...
and my shell... oh, well
so what, if i float? so what, if i drift?
and refuse to believe
that this is all a gift... for me?"
Thanks for Reading. I hope you enjoyed the songs.
:)
*