This was surprisingly easy to do. I had expected to struggle … but I soon found myself imposing arbitrary rules just to make it interesting. The most important was that I wasn’t going to pick more than one song per artist. Note that they’re alphabetical by artist … that’s the order that I skimmed my collection on iTunes.
1) Somebody do something, anything soon.
I know I can’t be the only, whatever I am in the room.
Face up and Sing, Ani Difranco. This song is something of a creed for me … and just about any line from it works pretty well. Anything from the beginning: Some chick said ‘thank you for saying all the things I never do’; I said ‘the thanks I get is to take all the shit for you. It’s nice that you listen, it’d be nicer if you joined in. All the way to the end: Why am I so lonely? Why am I so tired? I need backup. I need company. I need to be inspired.
2) I’ve crossed over the line between stupid and fun
The First Drink of the Day, Seven Seconds of Love. Just a funny song, about a serious problem.
3) I was there when you were young and strong and perverted, and everything that makes a young man a star.
Surrounded. Chantal Kreviazuk. Amanda Satchell sang this song the last year I was in Amazin’ Blue, and we actually crossed paths with the original artist while on tour. I thought that was pretty cool. Looking back, it’s gotten more poignant with time. Don’t you passionate and powerful people go fading on me, hear?
4) I have one flag and she is a flying
She is all that I have left, and music is her name.
Southern Cross. Crosby Stills & Nash. Another Amazin’ Blue rendition that sticks with me.
5) The little plastic castle is a surprise, every time.
Little Plastic Castle, Ani Difranco. I broke my own rule about “one song per artist,” because I use this one in conversation so frequently. Maybe there’s some sorta local competition here to see who can be the rudest…
6) I push, I pull, the days go slow.
Earthquake Weather, Beck. I love the slow grind of this entire album. This song in particular is hot and sweaty … dirty and dusty. It speaks, not just to getting ground down by a day of work … but by a life of work.
7) You must die, I alone am best!
I hope you die. The Bloodhound Gang. They got their 15 minutes of fame for “The Bad Touch.”
8) Sheep go to heaven, goats go to hell.
Sheep go to heaven. Cake. It’s all in the way they pro-nounce the words.
9) if I had the strength to, I would leave you all to your own devices.
I don’t ask much, but won’t you speak, please?
The Dreaming Tree. Dave Matthew’s Band. It’s in some freaky time signature, it’s about 9 minutes long, and it’s low and depressing as hell.
10) I never would have dreamed in a million years I’d see
so many mother f-ing people who feel the same as me.
White America. Eminem. Eminem is remarkable … at least his early stuff was. You don’t have to think too hard … just listen to exactly what the man is saying. It’s like Steven Colbert.
11) Just what we all need:
More lies about a world that never was and never will be.
Everybody’s Fool. Evanescence. It was hard to pick a line for Evanescence. I like this one, actually, because I’ve seen the video they made for it, and it’s exactly what I thought it should be.
12) Sweat it all out.
Push It Garbage. This is barely even part of the song, really. It’s what she’s whispering over a bridge between lyrics.
13) I want a valentine, a concubine, a world without crime, peace in our time, a chance to get funky and fine.
I want it all.
I want it all. The House Jacks.
14) Get out the map, and lay your finger anywhere down.
Get out the Map. The Indigo Girls. earthshine and I used to sing this, substituting “Get off the rock, get off the rock and lay your crack pipe down.”
15) This may not be the end of the world, but you can see it from here.
This may not be the end of the world. John Mellencamp. Gee, I tend to pick the title line from songs, don’t I?
16) Start an escort service, for all the right reasons.
Cowboy. Kid Rock. Best played loud. The story goes that an interviewer once asked KR “what are ‘all the right reasons’ for starting an escort service. The response? A withering “what the hell do you think?”
17) It’s just one of those days when you don’t wanna wake up
Everything is fucked, everybody sucks.
Break Stuff. Limp Bizkit.
18) You are the taxidermist’s daughter.
Representing the Mambo. Little Feat. I love this as the best reason ever for breaking off a relationship. I’ve got to slip away, it just won’t work between us, your daddy runs a house of pain! Hey! You are the taxidermist’s daughter.
19) Do what you wanna do.
Do what you wanna do. Lords of Acid. Best played loud.
20) Kinda I want to, just for tonight. We could pretend it’s all right.
Kinda I want to. Nine Inch Nails
21) They use small words, but not me! I’m bigger than that!
Big Time. Peter Gabriel
22) I sing, you sing, we all sing the new song.
I sing, you sing. The Real Group
23) Who is this beautiful creature with an insatiable lust for the dead?
Living Dead Girl. Rob Zombie
24) You cannot save me, you can’t even save yourself.
Save Yourself. Stabbing Westward. I associate this song with a period in my life when I was (a) listening to really loud music (b) replacing my previous religious faith with something else entirely.
25) If it happens again, I shall worry.
The Soul Cages. Sting.
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