I love love love love duets. They make me feel warm and fuzzy inside.
1. Alphabeat - 10,000 Nights of Thunder Let's start a band. We'll sing cute songs like these. And it will be awesome. And poppy. It's got to be poppy.
2. The Anniversary - All Things Ordinary Most of my entries of this list will be bands with two singers - something I know Evan strayed away from. I love the dynamic of a guy and a girl singing. The Anniversary is one of the first bands that I encountered that did this in a way that made sense to me. And since that fateful evening, I've been obsessed with the idea of this kind of band.
3. Mystery Jets - Young Love This is a cute song. I like cute things. Therefore, I like this song.
4. Chairlift - Bruises Yeah, so this was in an iPod commercial, but it's a little subversive while still being a beee-boopy pop song. Beee-boop!
5. Broken Social Scene - 7/4 (Shoreline) Kevin Drew is a lucky man. He often enjoys the pleasure of song with ladies like Amy Millan, Emily Haines, and (in this track) Feist. How does one guy get so lucky?
6. The Teenagers - Homecoming This one is just tongue-in-cheek fun. "I fucked an American slut." v. "I loved my English romance." Perfection.
7. Jason Collett - Hangover Days I think Canada must have just those three girls: Amy, Emily, and Leslie. I believe this is Emily here (on the recording - the video is Feist). I'd give just about anything to be one of these girls.
8. Finley Quaye & William Orbit - Dice I know nothing about these two other than this song was used on The OC. Does that make it automatically good? Sure. As long as it involves a cute Seth Cohen moment.
9. Damien Rice - 9 This woman's voice is hauntingly beautiful. I saw Damien Rice play before 9 Crimes came out, and he brought her along. The audience was breathless with every note she sang. It's unbelievable. 10. Jimmy Eat World - A Praise Chorus And now for something completely different. Davey, sing me something I know!
11. Stars - Midnight Coward Stars will probably go down as one of my favorite bands of all time. I love the Torq/Amy combo. Their songs are stories and their lyrics are often conversations.
12. The Kills - U. R. A. Fever The Kills are like the anti-Stars. While Stars write mostly whimsical love songs, I mostly expect the two in The Kills to be constantly engaged in a fist fight.
13. Mates of State - Everyone Needs an Editor An early track from these indie-darlings. They do everything together it seems: music, live, work, make babies, raise babies. It's all them all the time. I don't know if I think that's awesome or insane.
14. Rainer Maria - Breakfast of Champions Kyle & Cait. Another great pairing of voices.
15. The New Pornographers - Adventures in Solitude A non-Neko Case New Pornos track. I like the addition of this new gal. She compliments A.C. Newman very well.
16. Phil Collins - Separate Lives OOOOOOOOH YES. Here my Phil sings with Marilyn Martin. (I don't know who that is.) And they sing themselves a nice power slow jam ballad. It's awesome. And it deserves to be the closing track because of how awesome it is.
The duet is a tricky beast. First and foremost, the song needs to be good. And I don't mean "good enough" (like a Yanni or a John Tesh song), I mean it has to be a good goddamn song (like something written by Bob Dylan or Bruce Springsteen). Then comes the difficult task of not only picking two singers who are talented and right for the song, but two singers who somehow fit together really well (or clash appropriately). This duet chemistry can usually be attained by making your singers have sex with each other (see half the songs below).
I started writing about why most duets these days are awful, and blah blah blah I sounded like an asshole. So I'll just leave it to the list.
[note: I'm tired, so most of the write-ups are pretty short and weak, much like most of the people who live in this city. That also means no youtubes (which make the pages load like shit, anyways)]
1 - queen and david bowie - under pressure This one is a given. It has to be on here. I'm not saying that like it inconveniences me to put it up here, or that I'd rather not. It's just that you can't really make this list without this song. It's like having a list of songs with "Lesbian" in the title and not having "Lesbian Seagull."
2 - m ward and zooey deschanel - when i get to the border This is where it all started between Matt and Zooey, and to be honest, this is what I was expecting from Volume One. Don't get me wrong, I thought the first release was great, but I'd rather hear them singing together more. "When I Get to the Border" is still my favorite from the duo.
3 - dustin kensrue and josh moore - atlantic city [lazy comment] I think this is the only song on here that hasn't been recorded, but it's fantastic.
4 - nancy sinatra and lee hazelwood - summer wine [lazy comment] Does Nancy wear a wig? If not, how does her hair look like that?
5 - the pogues (shane macgowan and kirsty maccoll) - fairytale of new york [lazy comment] This will undoubtedly make its way onto any x-mas list (if we make one), and definitely deserves a spot here.
6 - johnny cash and june carter - it ain't me babe So it was between this and Jackson, but I feel you can't go wrong with either. Knowing their history makes any June/Johnny duet that much more meaningful and believable.
7 - two tongues (chris conley and max bemis) - tremors [lazy comment] This song made me go back and give Say Anything another shot.
8 - the postal service (ben gibbard and jenny lewis) - nothing better Welp...another postal service song. Ben and Jenny sound awesome together. I wish that bastard had married her and not stolen Zooey away from the rest of us. 9 - jane birkin and serge gainsbourg - je t'aime... moi non plus This is one of the sexiest songs of all-time. It probably should've found a way onto the Seduction list, but I was operating on a non-sexy level that day. From wiki: "The explicit eroticism of the song was declared offensive at the time of its release. The lyrics are commonly thought to refer to the taboo theme of engaging in sex without love, and were delivered in a breathy, suggestive style. The song culminates in simulated orgasm sounds by Birkin: mostly because of this, it was banned from radio play in Italy, Poland, Portugal, Spain, and the UK, and denounced by the Vatican in a public statement."
10 - against me! (tom gabel and tegan quin) - borne on the fm waves The tension in this one is palpable. Probably one of the better male/female duets of the 2000's. It's one of the few songs that when it comes on, I hit pause and go online and watch the video. The video is perfect.
11 - jeff buckley and elizabeth fraser - all flowers in time bend towards the sun [lazy comment] Another great example of a duet that is believable based on personal history.
12 - david gray and annie lennox - full steam This one just came out and I already love it. David Gray has been less than fantastic for some time now, but this is promising. Annie Lennox is cool, too.
13 - joe cocker and jennifer warnes - up where we belong [lazy comment] Come on...the 80's was the decade of fucking movie duets, so I had to include at least one of those on here. Joe Cocker takes this one above all.
14 - morrissey and siouxsie - interlude [lazy no comment]
15 - peabo bryson and regina belle - a whole new world This one goes out to Scott, but in a totally non-i-wanna-do-you way. If Scott ever made a sex tape, you would hear this playing in the background on repeat. The tape would also probably feature his chest hole in some creative and totally sexy way.
16 - glen hansard and markéta irglová - falling slowly I mean, this is basically a movie about duets, but unlike "Duets," it doesn't totally suck. In fact, I really enjoyed this film and would recommend it to anyone
17 - stars (torquil campbell and amy millan) - one more night If there was one Stars song I'd have to recommend to a new listener, this would be it. They masterfully hide raw emotion and intense subject matter under otherwise steady and soothing melodies.
For the past few days, I've been thinking about putting together favorites lists for my favorite artists, much like Allison's Weakerthans list. The first that popped into my mind was Springsteen. This shouldn't come as a shock to any of you who know me, or for the fact that I find a way to fit him on to almost every playlist.
This isn't that list, but while looking for some inspiration, I came across a great series on brucespringsteen.net called "Hangin Out on E Street." It can be found here.
From brucespringsteen.net: "In recent years, it has become evident that Bruce Springsteen´s influence has broadened outside of the mainstream rock community. Musicians of all genres have and will continue to draw inspiration from his music. We sat down with a number of up-and-coming artists to get their take on Bruce and how he has influenced them."
So far, the series includes interviews and covers by artists such as Tim Brantley, Serena Ryder, Sara Bareilles, Valencia, Birdmonster, Josh Ritter, Tegan and Sara, Pete Yorn, The Avett Brothers, The Gaslight Anthem, Ted Leo, Against Me!, Wyclef Jean, Bouncing Souls, Juliana Hatfield, Mat Kearney and Nicole Atkins.
here are the songs i never want to hear again. this list was harder to compile than i thought it'd be. there are tons of songs i hate, but most of them will have some novelty 20 years down the road, or would make for funny covers. i can assure you the songs below don't fit into either category.
further, there are a lot of things said ad nauseum about music that i'd also like to never hear again. here are some examples: "radiohead/oasis/wilco are geniuses, man...they're the best musicians and song writers and omg i have a huge fanboy chubby," "you gotta see phish live, man."
back to the songs:
1 - jason mraz - i'm yours in singapore, my first experience of "let's take a mediocre song from america and absolutely beat it to death" was with this one. to be honest, i don't have anything against jason mraz and this song is OK on its own, but it's inescapable. a few months ago i kinda lol'd when i couldn't go a day without hearing it. now i have acute anxiety attacks whenever and wherever i hear it.
2 - bon jovi - livin on a prayer i hated bon jovi even before going to a school full of kids from new jersey. imagine my pain. (note: there is only one place on earth this song should be considered acceptable, and that's at karaoke in Asia)
3 - katy perry - i kissed a girl katy perry is mildly attractive and has nice boobies, so she can write and sing songs like this. however, prudish, frumpy hetero bitches shouldn't be allowed to sing along. sadly, this happened on an unimaginable scale. shut up or prove it, ladies.
[note: she has jesus tattooed on her wrist. weirdo]
4 - lady gaga - poker face most of the people who were obsessed with katy perry last year have taken that obsession, multiplied it by 10 billion, and transferred it to lady gaga. i can only imagine what obnoxious unholiness 2010 holds.
5 - gretchen wilson - redneck woman this is the uggs/northface/pearls white girl equivalent of some upper-middle-class white kid "really connecting" with eazy e.
6 - lee greenwood - god bless the usa this kid song trash became our de-facto rallying cry post-9/11? you're kidding, right? songs like this are the reason people fly planes into our buildings.
7 - def leppard - pour some sugar on me "oh you watched coyote ugly, too?!?! omg my fave part was when they got on the bar and danced!! we should do that too!! we are rockstars!!"
8 - green day - boulevard of broken dreams this and that chemical brothers song from the bud select commercial were the milan versions of "i'm yours."
9 - black eyed peas - let's get it started i gained a little respect for the black eyed peas when i heard they had a song called "let's get retarded." then they did what i should've expected...they gave in to the pussy-mouthed, rhetoric-fearing general public and changed it to "let's get it started." other than that, the wikipedia entry for this song unintentionally sums up everything i hate about it: (from wiki) "The song was included on the Barbershop 2: Back in Business and Harold and Kumar Go to White Castle soundtracks, as well as the soundtrack for the 2006 romantic comedy "It's a Boy/Girl Thing". The song was also STAR World's first SID. It gained popularity as the theme song for the 2004 NBA Playoffs on ABC and was performed live at the 2004 Democratic National Convention. It was also featured in the film White Chicks. It was used in UK advertisements for the game The Urbz: Sims in the City. This song was remixed for The Black Eyed Peas' fifth studio album The E.N.D. as "Let's Get Re-Started." "Retarded" is sometimes considered an offensive word, making the song unsuitable for play on some radio stations and at sports games. In 2004 the song's lyrics were edited and "Let's Get It Started" found its way onto radio airwaves, movie soundtracks, and video games.
[note: there's nothing wrong with Harold and Kumar]
10 - daniel powter - bad day anna from the OC is in this video, which is cool, but this song makes me constipated which is totally not cool.
[note: i cried when anna left seth at the airport]
11 - grease - megamix this song has become more tolerable in recent years, but only in certain contexts (when i'm totally wasted, naked and alone, singing all the girl parts...pretending i had girl parts). still, why was this song played at every fucking high school dance? no, girls, this isn't a fucking "sock hop" and no i won't be your john travlota and yes i'm gonna go drink in the bathroom and come back and grind my uptucked hardon against you when boyz ii men comes on.
12 - tim mcgraw - live like you were dying fuck you
13 - beyonce - single ladies this crap is headlining "singapore rocks." fuck me.
14 - nickelback - rockstar this band makes me wanna kill myself. i could pretty much pick any of their songs and be satisfied with it being on here. they do make me lol, though.
15 - oar - crazy game of poker fuck this shit so hard in it's stupid richmond frat boy ass.
16 - kanye west - stronger i hate this song for a number of reasons. first, i think kanye is fucking awful. second, those stupid fuckin things on his eyes. third, i love daft punk so any time i hear this come on i'm like "YES!!! DAFT PU...NOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!"
17 - mr. c the slide man - cha cha slide and i thought the electric slide was fucking retarded.
18 - soulja boy - crank that i really don't feel like i need to explain myself here
I hate Evan for making me make this. Normally, I don't stress over these mixes. I can flip through my iPod at my leisure and come up with a long list to cull from. For this one, I agonized by searching through iTunes and getting "inspiration" from googling "worst bands" and "worst songs" and "current top 40 hits." Some things I learned:
a. I don't know 35/40 of the current top 40 hits. Of the five I knew, two are on this list. The other three are by Miley Cyrus and Taylor Swift.
b. People really hate on Starship's "We Built This City"! I was really surprised.
c. People also really hate on my Phil (Collins). Step off, bitches!
Here you go: Sixteen songs that make me want to barf.
1. U2 - Beautiful Day Everything about this song annoys me. Everything about this band annoys me. Bono is a self-worshipping dildo. (Sorry.) They write songs to play in stadiums and arenas, and I just can't get with it. The only time I did not want to throw myself off a bridge when this came on was at an indie-rock dance night in DC a few years ago. We were all having a great time being pretentious and moving about on the floor with our Sparks and then all of a sudden - that heart-pouding (lame) opening bit starts. We looked at one another. Looks of WTF. Then we decided to go with it. And by go with it, I mean we SCREAMED "beautiful day" as loud and as obnoxious as possible. DAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAY. Ugh.
2. Baha Men - Who Let the Dogs Out? CHRIST. Are you kidding me? This is a legit song? That was on the RADIO? People are morons. Two things about this song: 1) Of course, it's one of my mom's favorites. She's thinks it's fucking genius. 2) When I was in charge of a college radio station, we did these outreach programs for boyscouts and community groups. Er - well, one boyscout troup came one time. Success! They earned a badge by getting a tour of the station and then recording a song in a studio. What did they want to record? You got it. WHO LET THE DOGS OUT? (But screeched in ways only six-year-olds can screech.)
3. Aerosmith - I Don't Want to Miss a Thing 44.5 MILLION PEOPLE HAVE WATCHED THIS NONSENSE ON YOUTUBE. Maybe they all watched it for the same reason I just did: This is one of the unintentionally funny videos of the ever. Steven Tyler: Have you looked in a mirror? Like - throughout the course of your whole life?
4. Limp Bizkit - Rollin Guess what wasn't funny? Having people walk past you in the halls in high school and go "Rollin, rollin, rollin" but saying it a little more like "Rowland, rowland, rowland." (That's my last name, BTW.) Awesome guys. Totally original. Can't get enough of your wit. [Also: check out the sad little note from the person who posted this on YouTube: "sorry. my computer has a virus i think and i can't make vids. i made this at my grandparents. i should get a new comp around christmas so hopefully more videos then." Cute!]
5. Rob Thomas - Smooth Here's another song my mom just absolutely adores. Can you blame her? Rob Thomas is so DREAMY. Who can resist those pierced ears? Kill me.
6. Celine Dion - My Heart Will Go On I HAVE NEVER SEEN TITANIC. That will never change. How many times were you subjected to this in the '90s. As if hearing over and over and over and over about some movie about a boat that we all know sinks in the end wasn't bad enough. Only time I ever enjoyed this song: When my friend Rob yelled it (YELLED IT) at Nico's Recovery Room karaoke. Still shocked he didn't get beat up. Still shocked that we were regulars at karaoke there and never got kicked out.
7. 50 Cent - Candyshop UGH
8. Shania Twain - You're Still the One When I was 15 I got a job. I sold snowcones at Mineral Beach: the community pool in the middle of hicktown, Southwestern, PA. This place was a piece of shit. Literally. Once they found a piece of shit in the pool and they had to close down for three days. My snowcone stand was separate from the regular snackbar. This was good and bad. Good: I didn't have to spend six hours a day in a sweaty kitchen flipping burgers with the backwater teens. I got to sit at my own booth reading books and squirting concentrated nonsense juice onto scoops of ice. Bad: I had NO control over the ONLY radio (because it was located in the kitchen). That was the summer of Shania Awful. And I probably heart "You're Still the One" twelve times a day. It's a wonder I didn't drown myself in the shallow water.
9. Creed - Higher I cant listen to this or think about this without laughing. Here are two important things I like knowing about Scott Stapp (both from Wikipedia): - Stapp stated he contemplated suicide sometime in 2003 after drinking a bottle of Jack Daniel's whiskey. He retrieved two MP5's from his collection, put the guns to his head, but failed to pull the trigger after looking at a picture of his son, Jagger. He stated in an interview with Rolling Stone that he was convinced that anyone involved with Creed wanted him dead so he would become a "Kurt Cobain martyr-type" and increase record sales. "I had crazy thoughts going through my head," he says. - Thanksgiving 2005, Stapp was involved in a brawl with SA Martinez, Chad Sexton, and P-Nut of 311 in the hotel lobby of Baltimore's Harbor Court Hotel. Stapp made inappropriate remarks to Martinez's wife, which caused Sexton to ask him not to disrespect the lady's presence. Stapp then asked Sexton to have a shot with him at the bar. Before the shots were even served, Stapp sucker-punched Sexton. That punch grazed Martinez's wife, which got him involved with the fight. They held Stapp down until security arrived.
10. Eminem - Lose Yourself Am I the only person who just didn't get why this was such a big deal?
11. Simon & Garfunkel - Bridge Over Troubled Water I was going to write something about this song, but then I fell asleep. I always hated this song. Then there was a scene in one of my guiltiest of guilty pleasure movies where one of the main characters goes ON AND ON about how awesome it was to hear this song and think about how her mom smelled or something. Worst five minutes of that movie. Terrible, barf-worthy five minutes of song.
12. Four Non Blondes - What's Up Most obnoxious of all time? Ha ha ha ha ha ha to the '90s.
13. Prince - [entire catalog] Two of my good friends LOVE Prince. I think they'd take a bullet for him. I certainly would not.
14. Black Eyed Peas - I Gotta Feeling I gotta feeling that evil robots composed and recorded this song. Are there any actual instruments or humans that created this? Holy shit: this is what people consider music. It boggles my mind that with all the outlets and avenues that exist these days to find legitimately GOOD music that people will still listen to this multiple times a day. That part where it "kicks in" [right before the 1:30 mark] is pretty much a death rattle for all worthwhile music that exists today. UGH UGH UGH UGH. (Also: my mom's current favorite song.)
15. Kings of Leon - Use Somebody Here's what I think happened: Somewhere amidst my Canadian travels I was abducted by aliens. And during my abduction, this band called Kings of Leon started to slowly gain recognition. When I was brought back to Earth, everyone LOVED this band. They were playing fucking arenas before they were playing clubs. (At least, I never ever ever saw them advertised at the Paradise or Middle East in Boston. Maybe they started at the House of Blues?) And now I have to hear this guy nasaly while "somebody" just about every time I'm subjected to the radio. Terrible. Run into a hole and die.
16. Dropkick Murphys - Shipping Up to Boston How happy will I be when this is no longer part of my life? [I can feel the flack coming at my fast. I think it's time for me to make like a tree and leave.]
Tomorrow night, I'm going to see The Weakerthans for the fourth time. The Weakerthans are a band that first brought me into the realm of independent music. I bought Left & Leaving the first time I saw them live: way way way back in 2000 at the Roboto Project. A few months later, my high school boyfriend gave me a copy of Fallow for Christmas (he gave it to me already opened, because he'd wanted to listen to it too - he told me my favorite song off it would be "None of the Above" and it still is). I love this band. In my mind, this is one group that will do no wrong.
Here's an hour's worth of Weakerthan's goodness. Otherwise known as my favorites. 1. Aside (from Left & Leaving) 2. Anchorless (from Fallow) 3. Wellington's Wednesdays (from Fallow) 4. Pamphleteer (from Left & Leaving) 5. None of the Above (from Fallow) 6. Hymn of the Medical Oddity (from Reunion Tour) 7. Plea From a Cat Named Virtute (from Reconstruction Site) 8. Sounds Familiar (from Fallow) 9. The Reasons (from Reconstruction Site) 10. Civil Twilight (from Reunion Tour) 11. Virtute the Cat Explains Her Departure (from Reunion Tour) 12. Elegy for Gump Worsley (from Reunion Tour) 13. Night Windows (from Reunion Tour) 14. Tournament of Hearts (from Reunion Tour) 15. My Favourite Chords (from Left & Leaving) 16. One Great City! (from Reconstruction Site) 17. Left & Leaving (from Left & Leaving)
I still feel like this is too close to the "Most Depressing Songs," but I'll give it a shot. Let's make death fun!
1 - andrew wk - ready to die "u better get ready to die / u better get ready to kill / u better get ready to run / cause here we come / u better get ready to die"
2 - bright eyes - four winds "ur class, ur caste, ur country, sect, ur name or ur tribe / there's people always dying tryin to keep em alive / there's bodies decomposing in containers tonight / in an abandoned building where/ a squatter's made a mural of a mexican girl / with fifteen cans of spray paint in a chemical swirl / she's standin in the ashes at the end of the world / four winds blowin through her hair"
3 - mylène farmer - je t'aime mélancolie (this song's in french but i heard it's pretty gloom)
4 - dmx - ayo kato "yo k let me kick it wit u for a minute / there was things left unsaid dog we wasn't finished / never got to say thank u for bein a friend / dogs for life and u rolled to the end"
5 - blink 182 - i miss you "i miss u i miss u i miss u i miss u"
6 - say anything - died a jew "jesus died a jew / pupils painted blue / haters know it's true / jesus died a jew"
7 - stiff little fingers - die and burn "u can keep ur flags and emblems / i don't need them anymore / so just take ur age-old hatred / and then walk out of the door / i hope that u die and burn tonight / i hope that u die and burn tonight"
8 - aaliyah - miss you "i miss u"
9 - cutting crew - (i just) died in your arms "ohhhhh / i just died in ur arms tonight / must've been somethin u said / i just died in ur arms tonight"
10 - coolio - i'll see you when you get there "little timmy got his diploma and / little jimmy got life / and tamika around the corner / just took her first hit off the pipe / the other homie shot the other homie / and ran away with his money"
11 - the explosion - die by my side "we never tallied up the cost / of body parts and the unknown corpse / something something something / die by my side tonight"
12 - puff daddy - i'll be missing you "when its real, feelings hard to conceal / can't imagine all the pain I feel / give anything to hear half ur breath / i know u still living ur life, after death"
13 - miley cyrus - i miss you "i miss u / i miss ur smile / and i still shed a tear every once in a while / and even though it's different now / ur still here somehow"
14 - mariah carey and boyz ii men - one sweet day "sorry i never told u / all i wanted to say"
15 - bone thugs n harmony - crossroads "tell me what u gonna do / when there ain't nowhere to run / when judgment comes for u / when judgment comes for u"
16 - the misfits - last caress "i got something to say / i killed ur baby today / and it doesn't matter much to me / as long as it's dead"
17 - celine dion - my heart will go on "ur here / there's nothing i fear / and i know that my heart will go on / we'll stay forever this way / u are safe in my heart / and my heart will go on and on"
18 - metallica - fade to black "i have lost the will to live / simply nothing more to give / there is nothing more for me / need the end to set me free"
Evan & Courtney are running around in Cambodia this week. Apparently, this leaves me with thoughts of death and dying? Whatever. I like those subjects. Here's a playlist built around them.
The Weakerthans - Elegy for Gump Worsley "He swore he was never afraid of the puck / We believe him / If anyone asks, my inscription should read / My face was my mask"
From Wikipedia: He was also vehemently opposed to wearing a mask. He was in fact the second-to-last goaltender to play without a mask, wearing one only in the last six games of his career. Asked about why he chose to go without he told reporters; "My face is my mask." Not wearing a mask also presented unique problems for television viewers. Often, when opposing teams scored on him, the ensuing close-ups of the maskless Worsley captured him mouthing expletives. Things to love: Death + Hockey + The Weakerthans. This song is all three. How perfect?
M83 – Graveyard Girl
“Death is her boyfriend / She spits on summers and smiles to the night / She collects crowns made of black roses / But her heart is made of bubblegum”
It would make me proud as a peach if someone ever used these lyrics to describe me. I have a weird fascination with death and cemeteries. My favorite place in Boston is Mt. Auburn Cemetery on the perfect fall day. I don’t remember when I became so inspired by morbid things, but they intrigue me like nothing else ever has. It might have something to do with my love of Halloween and The Nightmare Before Christmas. Jack Skellington = perfect man? M83 has become a master of the morbidly beautiful pop song, and to prove my point, I’m going to break Evan’s cardinal rule of the mix: No multiple songs by the same artist. The video for this song? Fucking brilliant.
Ra Ra Riot - Dying Is Fine "Death, oh baby / You know that dying is fine / But maybe I wouldn't like death / If death were good / Not even if death was good"
When Ra Ra Riot released the self-titled EP, this song was hard to ignore. And then, tragedy struck the band. From Wikipedia: After a show in Providence, the band's original drummer, John Ryan Pike, of Hamilton, Massachusetts, went missing in the early morning of June 2, 2007 at Wilbur's Point in Fairhaven. His body was discovered the following day in nearby Buzzards Bay; Pike was believed to have drowned. Ra Ra Riot issued a statement a few weeks after Pike's funeral that they would continue as a band. When The Rhumb Line was released, I was really surprised to see a reworked version of Dying Is Fine on it. I'm glad it made it to the album, because it's such a great song.
Strung Out - Exhumation of Virginia Madison "Now I've got my Sunday vest / And I'm headed out the door / Dig my fingers deep in soil just to get to her / All dressed in black and she's so pale / She's waiting there for me / A blanket of soil covers us / To fall asleep in eternity / And now I close my eyes"
Does this need an explanation? Love and loss. Simple.
Saves the Day - At Your Funeral "And you can bet / When we mourn the death of you that night / That they'll lay me on the dinner table / And I will be the pig with the apple in my mouth / The food that celebrates your end"
Again - explanation needed? I can't imagine how hard it must be to watch a friend fuck up and fuck up and fuck up over and over until the end. Especially if there's absolutely nothing you can do to make it stop.
Superdrag - The Warmth of the Tomb "While in the warmth of a tomb / I was thinking to presume / You had the gall / Something kept me waiting / For the fall to assume / There was nothing left in bloom"
Amy Millan - Bury Me "Bury me..."
Meet my kindred spirit. Her album titles are Honey from the Tombs and Masters of the Burial. This song is called “Bury Me.” Clearly, we have a gal just as fascinated with death and dying as I am. Add to that her involvement in bands like Stars and Broken Social Scene… AND she’s got the Canadian thing going for her. I wish I was Amy Millan.
Someone Still Loves You Boris Yeltsin - Think I Wanna Die "Think I wanna die / If you don't stay / Drop dead in place / You can forget it / Carry a torch for days / I'm gonna let it burn"
A cheeky little song about death. Charming, even. I love the part where "I wanna die" is repeated over and over. The video is pretty awesome too.
Travis Morrison - People Die "Someday we'll be old and we'll read obituary pages like the sports / And we'll see an old friend's name / And will it hurt? / Well, yeah - of course / Then we'll sigh / And we'll pick up the crosswords 'cos people die"
"People Die" is pretty much in line with my view of death. No one significantly close to me has dies, and those that have (grandparents - all four of them) were likely going to go around whenever they went. It's a fact of life. Of course, it's shocking when someone dies young, but if I make it to 85 or 90, I won't be surprised to hear that people are dying. I'd be a fool if I were.
The Smiths - There is a Light that Never Goes Out "And if a double-decker bus crashes into us / To die by your side is such a heavenly way to die / And if a ten-ton truck kills the both of us / To die by your side / Well, the pleasure, the privilege is mine"
Hands down, my favorite lyric about death and dying. Sung beautifully. I would fall in love with any boy who stood up in crowded karaoke bar and dedicated this song to me.
M83 - Car Chase Terror
[I'd like to officially welcome you to the creepier side of things.]
Let me tell you about the first time I heard "Car Chase Terror." One night, after receiving Before The Dawn Heals Us from a friend, I decided to put it on as I got ready for bed. I enjoyed the intro tracks, so as I got into bed and turned out the lights, I just left the album playing, thinking it would lull me to sleep. I'm drifiting off and then I hear screaming and fear and dread and I'm like, WHAT THE FUCK IS HAPPENING?! (I'm very easily confused upon waking...) Anyhow, this track may not necessarily be about dying, but it can scare you to death if listened to at the wrong place/wrong time.
Genesis - Dreaming While You Sleep "All of my life / I'll be haunted by / All of my life / Just one moment in time / All of my life / Until the day I die / And it will live inside of me / Oh, I will never be free / All my life / Trapped in her memory / All my life / Till the day that you open your eyes"
Another mood-brightener. Way to go, Phil. I'm gonna have to listen to "Invisible Touch" for the rest of night to shake these nightmares I'm about to have.
New Order - ICB "Line of force from heaven / A tear in a stranger's eye / When it goes forever / Where all things never die"
It'd be impossible for me to make a list of songs about death and dying without acknowledging Ian Curtis. So here is my nod.
M83 - Don't Save Us From the Flames "Out of the flames / A piece of brain in my hair / The wheels are melting / A ghost is screaming your name"
Evan, if he were in a grave, would be rolling over in it with this - my third M83 track on the mix. Deal with it. A song about a car crash. We presume the girl, Tina, is young and gone forever. This is probably my favorite M83 song.
Terry Jacks - Seasons in the Sun "Goodbye, Michelle / It's hard to die / When all the birds are singing in the sky / Now that the spring is in the air / With flowers everywhere / I wish that we could both be there"
The wisest $6 I've ever spent was on a book called I Hate Myself and Want to Die: The 52 Most Depressing Songs You've Ever Heard. The writing is pretty poor; some of the choices are pretty lackluster. But I love the way the songs are sectioned off. "Seasons in the Sun" is found in the Perfect Storms section, which is the best way to describe this track.
Sigur Ros - Vidrar vel til Loftarasa [7:55 - album version]
I'm constantly concious of the fact that I will not live forever; I think about death often. Never in a suicidal way, but in a "how will I go" kind of way. Will I live to be 94 and die of old age? Will I live to 28 and die in a car accident? It's the big unknown. The only thing I can control about my death is what happens after. I've been very specific about two things: I do not want anything to happen at a church and this is I want played at my funeral: Sigur Ros' Vidrar vel til Loftarasa.
Allison lives in Boston. Evan lives in Singapore. They both love music and found another mutual love in putting together playlists of all sorts, shapes, and kinds. Here, they challenge each other with a theme, both come up with a mix of songs clocking in under 80 minutes, and work together (er, fight?) to come up with the ultimate playlist for that theme based on their suggestions.
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