“She’s got a bottle of tequila, a bottle of gin,
And if I bring a little music, I can fit right in.”
I love those lyrics everytime I hear them. Seems fitting for my life. I’ll let others try to interpret the song because their views are probably more correct than mine, but I wanted to just sort of get away and that’s what this song’s about for me.
Having said that, it’s a beautiful song from the Counting Crows and desperately underrated. I tend to rank it among my favorites. I hope that you enjoy the song or if you’re in the same boat as me, maybe we can fly to Barcelona…
Edits and remixes tend to augment and add to the original. Dj Moodz does the opposite here and it’s an amazing version and job well done. I had to share it. Dj Moodz notes that the edit “[focuses] more on the beauty of the song than the beats.” That’s a great description for this version of What’s Going On.
I’ve noted that Marvin Gaye is vocally on a whole another level to me, so of course when I see one of my favorite songs of his, I’m excited and nervous at the same time because most of the time the remixes fall short. But not here.
I’m in an introspective mood. I’m just thinking and listening today. Sort of daydreaming and yearning for something but not sure what. It’s a feeling that I’m not properly describing but it’s one of those times where you’re kind of anti-social and just want to be alone and not concentrate on anything. Not depression; it’s more like I imagine losing something you love, you need to find your coping mechanism yourself, and haven’t quite yet.
In the process of sitting here thinking and listening, I feel there are sounds that can be like a fall. Something that’s going downward, that inevitably leads to a crash. And even knowing the what the result will be, we are lulled in. Like a siren of comfort, an illusion of an acceptable circumstance. I picture some dramatic cinematic scene, slowed down. Where a man is floating towards the ground instead of actually accelerating downwards.
Well, that’s where this song takes me: into a thought process that questions our vulnerabilities, perspectives, and reality. We’re only human for a little while. We’re girls or boys then a graveyard. Yeah, not exactly the happiest sentiment or the correct interpretation of Jeremy Messersmith’s song but where I’m at listening to it.
It’s a rainy day here and I seem to be in a melancholy mood. I don’t know if it’s the weather or it’s Monday or if I’m just in that type of mood to start. So a sad song was a necessity. Something where the lyrics are closer to depressing than celebratory. Despite the need for a sad song, I know I need to keep on the sunny side. If I Ever Feel Better is a happy way to express such a sadness. It fits what I need today. A sad song, that has upbeat allure about it: to say that the circumstances can will be better.
LYRICS: [DDET They say an end can be a start]
Feels like I’ve been buried yet I’m still alive
It’s like a bad day that never ends
I feel the chaos around me
A thing I don’t try to deny
I’d better learn to accept that
There are things in my life that I can’t control
They say love ain’t nothing but a sore
I don’t even know what love is
Too many tears have had to fall
Don’t you know I’m so tired of it all
I have known terror dizzy spells
Finding out the secrets words won’t tell
Whatever it is it can’t be named
There’s a part of my world that’ s fading away
You know I don’t want to be clever
To be brilliant or superior
True like ice, true like fire
Now I know that a breeze can blow me away
Now I know there’s much more dignity
In defeat than in the brightest victory
I’m losing my balance on the tight rope
Tell me please, tell me please, tell me please…
If I ever feel better
Remind me to spend some good time with you
You can give me your number
When it’s all over I’ll let you know
Hang on to the good days
I can lean on my friends
They help me going through hard times
But I’m feeding the enemy
I’m in league with the foe
Blame me for what’s happening
I can’t try, I can’t try, I can’t try…
No one knows the hard times I went through
If happiness came I miss the call
The stormy days ain’t over
I’ve tried and lost know I think that I pay the cost
Now I’ve watched all my castles fall
They were made of dust, after all
Someday all this mess will make me laugh
I can’t wait, I can’t wait, I can’t wait…
If I ever feel better
Remind me to spend some good time with you
You can give me your number
When it’s all over I’ll let you know
If I ever feel better
Remind me to spend some good time with you
You can give me your number
When it’s all over I’ll let you know
It’s like somebody took my place
I ain’t even playing my own game
The rules have changed well I didn’t know
There are things in my life I can’t control
I feel the chaos around me
A thing I don’t try to deny
I’d better learn to accept that
There’s a part of my life that will go away
Dark is the night, cold is the ground
In the circular solitude of my heart
As one who strives a hill to climb
I am sure I’ll come through I don’t know how
They say an end can be a start
Feels like I’ve been buried yet I’m still alive
I’m losing my balance on the tight rope
Tell me please, tell me please, tell me please…
If I ever feel better
Remind me to spend some good time with you
You can give me your number
When it’s all over I’ll let you know
If I ever feel better
Remind me to spend some good time with you
You can give me your number
When it’s all over I’ll let you know
If I ever feel better
Remind me to spend some good time with you
You can give me your number
When it’s all over I’ll let you know[/DDET]
I love the weekend. For obvious reasons, of course. But also because it’s the start of a pair of days filled with football. I can sit back and enjoy college football on Saturday. And then I can watch the pros go at it on Sunday. It’s free(ish) to watch it all and that’s the best price for entertainment. So I get some pizza and turn into a fifty year old man yelling at the TV after the ref makes a ridiculous call or there’s an amazing play. I can give lectures on how absurd that there’s an automatic first down associated with the illegal contact penalty downfield in the NFL. The real football season starts this week. No more cupcakes for college powers. And Pittsburgh and Baltimore hook up for the first time in the pros. So I thought to celebrate the start of real football weekends, I would recall a football-related song.
Hellogoodbye’s Touchdown Turnaround isn’t necessarily about the boys of fall but it works here. Why? Because I said so ;). I really got into Hellogoodbye well after they broke through with Here (In Your Arms). One aspect I enjoy about football is the puncher’s chance that all underdogs have. There’s App. State’s and James Madison’s each year. I guess I really relate with the sentiment: don’t give up on me.
Hellogoodbye is planning on releasing their next album in November. I’m looking forward to it. Until then, I’m going to enjoy this song, and maybe a little bit of watching football.
Self described “slutty new wave/electro duo” Kids Of 88 are awesome. I came across them on a blog I was perusing. So hat tip to meltyface.com for helping me discover them.
I can see the duo from New Zealand being the next big thing. There’s a little bit of Passion Pit and MGMT mixed with kiwi. It’s a recipe that I love. Even though I’m throwing out Passion Pit and MGMT doesn’t mean that they particularly sound like them. It’s probably better if I said that this might be what Duran Duran sounds like if they grew up influenced by those two bands. Or I could just be talking out my ass.
Actually, in a lot of ways they compare favorably to fellow kiwis, The Young And The Famous. The Young And The Famous are just breaking through and suspect that Kids of 88 will be following soon. It seems like New Zealand is giving us some of the best new music right now.
They were signed by Sony earlier this year and put out Sugarpills, their debut album in August. Check it out on iTunes. Also, check out their website kidsof88.com.
Okay, not everything coming out of Delaware is crazy bad or just crazy like Christine O’Donnell. Thank goodness. I’d be kinda of embarrassed to say a US Senator dabbled in witchcraft so please don’t ever let her onto the Senate floor. But anyways, The Great Valley is an unsigned pair of brothers hailing from the First State. I came across them because of their music video for Wrecking Ball. And all I can say is, poor fish.
The brothers, Louis and Nick, have three great stripped songs free via AOL that put their talent on full display. I’m really digging Above The City. Check that out before buying the Wrecking Ball EP. They’ve been making the rounds in the Mid-Atlantic and you might be able to catch them at a Hot Topic.
