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I'm just saying...

  • I would pay extra for an edition of the New York Times with no opinion pieces.
  • Evite should run reviews and ratings from party guests.
  • Prius drivers are the worst.
  • Someday I'd like to have a washing machine that's not at knee-level.
  • Train travel is better in the abstract.
  • Artists should have websites indicating where their works are on display, the way musicians' websites list upcoming shows.
  • Why is stand-up comedy in movies always so terrible?
  • Nothing kills the vibe at a restaurant bar like a laptop.
  • Is a "knowledge base" ever useful?
  • Houseguests are like newborns: Great pains should be taken to keep them asleep.
  • Sometimes I think everyone I know is on the spectrum.
  • Best to avoid any gas pump that also offers diesel.
  • Skip the exit interview.
  • When did car windshields get impossible to clean on the inside?
  • Cookbooks should be very clear about which recipe is featured on the cover.
  • Penne is the saddest pasta.
  • Don't eat a dish named after a volcano.
  • Nobody cares about your app.
  • It's time to remove that note at the end of your emails asking people not to print them.
  • If you think about it, gum is weird.
  • Business idea: TV channel devoted to terror attacks.
  • Please don't tell me about your favorite TV show.
  • The more reachable I've become, the less likely I am to answer my phone.

previous lyrics

  • I kissed you in a style Clark Gable would have admired. I thought it classic
  • If you knew how I felt now, you wouldn't act so adult now
  • Under the kitchen light, you still look like dynamite
  • The culture is lit, and if this is it, I had a ball
  • I was dreaming when I wrote this, so sue me if I go too fast
  • I never wanted to be your weekend lover
  • Sometimes I wish for a mistake
  • Downstairs the party is going full swing. The people we came with haven't noticed a thing
  • It’s not safe to go out, it’s not right to stay home. Listen, my advice is to carry a gun
  • And anyways I'd rather listen to Coltrane than go through all that shit again
  • Up to Lexington, 125—feel sick and dirty, more dead than alive
  • Whoever brought me here is gonna have to take me home
  • I hear you knockin', but there ain't nobody home
  • What's practical? What's logical? What the hell, who cares?
  • I don't know what I knew before, but now I know I want to win the war
  • Tell me something that you mean, not just what comes to mind
  • I don't know my future after this weekend, and I don't want to
  • I see you driving sports cars, ain't hitting the throttle, and I'll be down to do a hundred, top down and goggles
  • Sing me another love song, but this time with a little dedication
  • You got a look in your eye when you're saying goodbye, like you want to say hi
  • I'll settle for a cup of coffee, but you know what I really need

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07 February 2010

The 365-Song Mixtape (#32–45)

33. Ignition (Remix) by R. Kelly (Chocolate Factory)
"Now usually I don't do this but uh..." I have reservations about even mentioning R. Kelly, who is clearly a creep, but "Ignition (Remix)"—probably the slowest song ever about the joys of partying—is so good it makes me want to do karaoke.

34. Give It Up, Turn It Loose by En Vogue (Funky Divas)
What went wrong with En Vogue? Around the time of Funky Divas, they could do no wrong—including this sweet girl-power kiss-off—and then they just collapsed.

35. Hard Road by Sam Roberts (We Were Born in a Flame)
The biggest Canadian musician that Americans have never heard of.

36. Oh My God by Pink featuring Peaches (Try This)
I have a soft spot for Pink, particularly when she lowers the bombast. Her duet with Peaches—all murmur, no scream—should be the theme song to The L Word.

37. The Sun, The Moon and Stars by Prince (Rave Un2 the Joy Fantastic)
I've already mentioned how I like Prince best as a kooky romantic, a side he hasn't shown as much in recent years. But just listen to his reggae-ish rap here; he's having a ball singing about making someone "come like the cold winter dew in Montreal."

38. La Vie en Rose by Grace Jones (Island Life)
Is it wrong to prefer this "La Vie en Rose" to Edith Piaf's? So what. The semi-acoustic disco is all peaks and valleys, and Grace's singing—she goes from talking to cooing to belting to screeching, sending it in a very New Wave direction—is right even when it's wrong.

39. The Love Parade by Dream Academy (Dream Academy)
The Dream Academy is best-known for "Life in a Northern Town," a legitimate classic. But I've always liked "The Love Parade" more. Not sure why, to be honest.

40. London 1888 by Momus (20 Vodka Jellies)
I went through an intense Momus phase in the mid-90s.... Before he became unlistenably inscrutable—and vice versa—he married literate lyrics with pop better than anyone, even the Smiths. "London 1888" is about a time-traveling gay Japanese man who goes back to Victorian England. When was the last time you heard Aubrey Beardsley mentioned in a lyric? Or, for that matter, "stable boys of easy provenance"?

41. Carmen by Paula Cole (Greatest Hits: Postcards from East Oceanside)
I seem to be working a theme here, if inadvertently. "Carmen" is a very sexy love song about a woman who, having loved a woman named Carmen, doesn't know if she can "go back." (So much for wondering where all the cowboys have gone.) Thanks again, Kristen, for introducing me to it. Given that Paula Cole's greatest-hits CD is $7 on Amazon, I'll be owning it outright soon.

42. True Love Travels on a Gravel Road by Percy Sledge (It Tears Me Up: The Best of Percy Sledge)
When I was an editorial assistant at HarperCollins in 1992, I grabbed a copy of the Sweet Soul Music compilation CD from the giveaway table. (It was a companion to Peter Guralnick's book of the same name.) I don't know if I ever really listened to it until a few months ago, when I was driving home from Connecticut.

43. B.P.D. by Over the Rhine (Ohio)
Have you ever loved every song on a double album that wasn't a greatest-hits package? (Even Sign o' the Times had "The Cross" on it.) I chose "B.P.D." fairly randomly—almost any song from Ohio would sound great in this spot.

44. Legend of a Cowgirl by Imani Coppola (Chupacabra)
"Legend of a Cowgirl" was maybe too quirky to be the megahit it should've been back in 1997. Ten bucks says it's on Lady Gaga's iPod.

45. Your Silent Face by New Order (Power Corruption & Lies)
I like to end mixtapes on slower or sadder songs, but it's hard to downshift from "Legend of a Cowgirl." Introspective lyrics and upbeat music? Sounds like a job for New Order.

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