Kimya Dawson - Alphabutt

This one goes out to all those mommies out there! I know you, I love you, and although I don't always care about what your little darling is doing, I still love both of you, and can babysit for you as soon as he or she is fully potty-trained!

Most of you have probably have heard of Kimya Dawson from Juno. Remember that film? It was amazing! This is one of the first songs of hers that I randomly stumbled upon. It has come to me after years of listening to the tunes from the soundtrack on my iPod. This one is just as delightful as the ones I already know all the words to!

Maybe one day I'll know the words to this one too...your baby might beat me to it!

Down With Love: Sherwood ~ Alley Cat and Advice from Dan Savage

So far, this month, I've been trying to avoid love songs... Why?!? you must be thinking. Especially in February? To be different?!?

No. I feel like there is a lot of pressure this month to be "in love." I feel like there is so much pressure in this world to be "in love." And, yeah, it's pretty awesome, but it's not without its dark side.

I was listening to Dan Savage - best known for his alt-newspaper column, Savage Love (if you're keen on liberal ideas re:sexuality, love and relationships, I highly recommend both reading his column and listening to his podcasts!) - the other day and was blown away by the best advice, as it generally happens when I listen to Dan Savage. There was a fifteen-year-young caller asking for advice on finding a boyfriend in his homophobic town. Dan's advice was very encouraging for this young man, which is not surprising coming from a founder of the "It Gets Better" campaign. The highlight, in my opinion, was not to worry about getting his fifteen-year-old self laid as much as he should worry about getting his twenty-yer-old self laid. Most people, a young Dan included, feel at some point that all of their problems will be solved if only they had a boyfriend/girlfriend/somebody to spend the rest of their life with. Once they find that person, though, maybe one problem is solved, but so many more problems have been created...

(Click on the title of this post to be taken directly to Dan Savage's website - and LISTEN to all his old podcasts; and READ all his old columns. This man is a hero of mine!)

This song captures that desire - the misled notion of finding peace in a relationship alone - in such an interesting way. For me, I see this girl he talks about as just one more of those lost souls looking for love for the mere joy of finding it. Now, I understand the fear of being alone for the rest of one's life as a serious concern, especially as our society still tries to figure out this marrying for real love rather than social protection. (As an ex-feminist, I've read extensively on society's persecution of the spinster, and the short timespan we have only recently spent marrrying for love.) But, have you ever thought about what's worse than being alone for the rest of your life?

Three years ago, around this time of year, I embraced the notion of being a spinster for the rest of my life. I had never been in love at that time, but I had wanted to fall in love for so long that I was just sick of constantly feeling like I was missing something. How great would my life be, though, if I was never in a serious relationship? If I was a spinster for the rest of my life, would I be any less of a fabulous individual? No. I'd be awesome. I'd be the fun auntie who spoils her nieces and nephews because she never had her own children to discipline. I'd go on holidays WHEREVER I wanted to go. I could move to a new place whenever I got sick of something. Basically, I could plan my entire future without thinking about what somebody else wanted for their future, too. Perhaps, these thoughts were selfish, but they were also amazing for my self esteem. I realized how fabulous my life could be if I had it to myself, rather than wasting my time looking for somebody to share with it.

Now, it'd be a shame to not tell you that within a month of making this decision about my life, I met somebody and had a taste of love. It was a lot of fun; I enjoyed the excitement of it all; and I'd love to tell you that when it ended, I picked up exactly where I had left off with my pledge to spinsterhood...but, we all have to struggle with something. And I don't know that I'm ready to give up on love just yet. I don't want it to be the focus of my life, but sometimes it is the necessary distraction to get through the other junk going on in your life...and one day, maybe magic will happen and I'll find somebody lucky enough to keep in my life for the rest of my life, or at least want to try to keep them in my life for the rest of my life. Until then, I'll just worry about being the best me...

Nellie McKay - Identity Theft

It's been awhile since I've posted some bluegrass, so I hope you enjoy!

Nellie McKay comes to me via a Regina Spektor mix created by YouTube...yeah, not that random, but a splendid discovery nonetheless! This is the second of two songs of hers that I heard this morning and fell in love with.

This song has the perfect combination of several things I love about music: fast speed; a good rhythm, that changes throughout the song; fab lyrics; and a political message. I've only begun to scratch the surface of Nelli McKay's work, but so far: me likey! I hope you do, too!

Click on the title of this post to go to her website, Nellie McKay, where you can buy her music, preview more songs, and learn more about how fabulous this bluegrass artist really is!

Metric- Wet Blanket

It's Friday!

I had a small dance party, alone, in my apartment this morning to this song. It's a great song for dance parties...

Luckily, tonight I'm going out dancing for a friend's birthday. I know I won't be dancing to myself...I hope they play Metric at some point...pretty stoked!

I hope you are too! Even if you're a Wet Blanket who only wants a folk song...or do you get something else from these lyrics?

P!nk - F**kin' Perfect

I had a conversation with a friend yesterday about reading "self help" books. She is currently finding them extremely helpful, as I have also found them in the past, and present. Within that conversation, we discussed the humility of "helping" one's self. I never had the chance to say it, but I do think we should change that genre from "self help" to "self improvement." In a sense, P!nk is right, we're already "perfect," but working on ourselves is part of being perfect, too.

Right now, I'm really trying to concentrate on just being happy being me. Of course, I have fifteen other projects on the go, but for me - my self - I am not listing the habits I want to change, the body parts I "hate," or even the character flaws I know exist. Instead, and for many years, I have been working on finding my strengths - the things about myself that I love - and flaunting them. As I venture down this Rabbit Hole, which somedays appears to be more like Narcissism than "Self Improvement," my strengths become even stronger, and my list is starting to include those areas that would have been on a "Weakness" List if I had ever wanted to create one of those despicable things. Me, I'm Perfect, Flaws and All!

Vampire Weekend ~ Cousins

I have almost hit the point of Obsession with Vampire Weekend! I think I'm still safe. I find them enjoyable, I will listen to them whenever possible, and I only know 3/4 of the lyrics to my fav songs of theirs...but I find I'm getting close to the point where I will be sick of their songs. And so, I MUST post this song today. I hope they don't fade in my favour as Razorlight did, because I miss how much I used to enjoy Razorlight - I just overplayed them. As a preventative measure, I think I'll take 48 hours now to not listen to Vampire Weekend (after spending the past 48 hours listening to their cd on repeat...). But you should enjoy them in that time!

K T Tunstall ~ Suddenly I See

Every time I hear this song, I feel empowered! It's beautiful

Nearly two years ago, I did some ruminating on the concept of "face is a map of the world." It began with a query on the phrase as it appears in 30 Seconds From Mars' song, From Yesterday. I posted the note to all of my FB friends, and there was only one response, from the friend who had recommended the band and the song to me anyways. His easy exit out of the discussion was that it changes with the mood you are in when you listen to it. I can call that a valid point, especially after many of my seemingly non-chalant posts on here. I went on, though, in the comments with my interpretation of K T Tunstall's song, Suddenly I See, and its use of "face is a map of the world." My comments follow:

I like your ideas. Yes, they're good. The thing about many lyrics and other forms of art is that they change so quickly based on your moods or what somebody has made you think about. To deny that fact would put you into the same characte...r as the scientist I left arguing about Star Trek with in the Eatery - now there was a close-minded scholar!

I don't know that everyone can have on their face a map of the world, but perhaps the guy in the song represents everybody. By that, I mean, he could be any one in the world: "He's a stranger to some" (we don't all know ourselves) "and a vision to none" (who want to be Mr. Ordinary?)

The question then becomes: Who is this guy? I think he must be a traveller, as he "can never get enough .... of this world." But in the same instance, he could be the devil because "On a mountain he sits, not of gold but of sin...He'll decide when he's done with the innocent."

The answer to this new question alters the answer to the first...

The phrase is also in K T Tunstall's "Suddenly I See":

Her face is a map of the world
Is a map of the world
You can see she's a beautiful girl
...She's a beautiful girl
And everything around her is a silver pool of light
The people who surround her feel the benefit of it
It makes you calm
She holds you captivated in her palm

Suddenly I see (Suddenly I see)
This is what I wanna be
Suddenly I see (Suddenly I see)
Why the hell it means so much to me

I feel like walking the world
Like walking the world
You can hear she's a beautiful girl
She's a beautiful girl
She fills up every corner like she's born in black and white
Makes you feel warmer when you're trying to remember
What you heard
She likes to leave you hanging on her word

Chorus

And she's taller than most
And she's looking at me
I can see her eyes looking from a page in a magazine
Oh she makes me feel like I could be a tower
A big strong tower
She got the power to be
The power to give
The power to see

Chorus

Once again, we have the reference to travelling. "I feel like walking the world / Like walking the world." The phrase has changed slightly though, from "on his face" to the literal image of "her face is." I think both lines are aiming for ...the same sort of imagery, though.

This song is much lighter, yet in both I am drawn to the character being sung about...perhaps merely because they are being sung about. I think there's something more to it than that. I hate to call a mango an orange, but there is something to be said about nasel-gazing; if it's an orange, we should not call it a mango. When you compare it to the other one, I cannot help but be reminded of the feminization of angels in the 17th century and wonder when the devil became masculinized? But that has nothing to do with her face being a map of the world, unless you follow the belief that to be human is to sin and to sin is human; therefore as part of the world, we are all sinners.

I think the phrase, on it's own, does refer to wisdom. This person has seen the world. You can tell just by looking at their face. In "From Yesterday," this wisdom is something to be scared of, but that is not inherent in the line in que...stion. In "Suddenly I See," this wisdom is something to be drawn towards, and I think that is important to the line. The former is much more negative about this wisdom, perhaps because it is a darker tune. Perhaps also because the wisdom is kept to himself rather than shared with "the people around her" who "feel the benefit of it."

I don't know. It's interesting to think about. Perhaps I should have done literature rather than history....

Now, I think this is the perfect song for my February resolution - be more me, less wishing to be me.