Misheard Lyrics: Part 1

I can just about guarantee that everyone out there has misheard a song lyric sometime in their life. Perhaps it was because you were simply singing along without paying much attention to the words; perhaps it was because you were too young to understand what the song was about; perhaps you were just being an idiot. There are the standard "'Scuse me while I kiss this guy", "Hit me with your pet shark" and "Go, go, Jason Waterfalls", but for me, the more obscure, the more entertaining. Anyway, I personally have some classics - share yours with me in the comments!

The Gaslight Anthem - Ain't That A Shame

The most recent of my gaffes - one of my favourites on the band's new album, I had been confidently singing along to this song for the past two weeks or so ... "Oh my love, my love is a plane, ain't that a shame, ain't that a shame." Eventually I googled the lyrics so that I could read them and interpret the song as a whole, and discovered that it was 'plague'. 'My love is a plague'. Oh.

Bon Jovi - Bed of Roses

I grew up on Bon Jovi, and it took many, many years to realise that Jon was singing about being "just as close as the holy ghost is", rather than "holy ghost ears", which apparently are not a thing.

Brandon Flowers - Magdalena

On Brandon's debut solo album, he sings about a pilgrimage to Mexico, and how he is "fixing to carve this out of wood". In my tiny, science-infused brain, I interpreted the words as "I'm fixing the carapace out of wood." Please note, a carapace is the exoskeleton of a crab. Jury still out on what the crab was doing along a road in Mexico.

Take That - Back For Good
"Whenever I'm wrong, just tell me the song and I'll sing it - you'll be right up on the sun." Doesn't sound very comfortable, does it? It's "right and understood".

Coolest Covers: Part One

A friend *cough* Tara Lancaster *cough* recently suggested that I do a blog post on 'awesome covers'. I thought it was a great idea, but immediately embarked upon an internal debate about what makes an 'awesome cover'. I came up with a few ideas:

Is it when the cover gets more attention than the original? (e.g: Leona Lewis's cover of 'Run' by Snow Patrol) 

Is it when the cover is entirely more memorable than the original? (Johnny Cash's cover of Nine Inch Nails' 'Hurt') 

Is it when your favourite band covers absolutely anything? (The Gaslight Anthem's take on 'God's Gonna Cut You Down') 

Is it something completely unexpected and different to the original? (That Hawaiian guy who covered 'Somewhere Over The Rainbow' on his ukulele. Edit: his name was Israel Kamakawiwo'ole. I found it on Google, because the only other human being who would have known what I was talking about is my grandmother, and she'd probably think I'd lost my mind if I phoned to ask her) 

The answer is, in fact, that it's a little bit of all of the above. 

Below is a list of some of my favourite covers, a few being recent additions, and the rest oldies. I quite like this idea, so I'll see this as Part One of a covers series.

- Watershed: 'Southern Cross' by Crosby, Stills & Nash. Whilst it doesn't beat the original, the local boys do a fantastic version of the song, and luckily they always play it live, so I've gotten to see it more than once.

- Chvrches: 'Do I Wanna Know' by Arctic Monkeys. I love Alex Turner and co's version of their song, but I love Lauren Mayberry's voice more. Also, no matter how many times I'm told that the correct pronunciation of this band's name is 'churches', it will always be 'cha-ver-ches' to me.

- Johnny Cash: 'Hurt' by Nine Inch Nails. I dare you to watch the video without feeling a stab of painful human emotion. Plus, it's Johnny. He can do no wrong.

- Bruce Springsteen: 'Royals' by Lorde. Something bugs me about Lorde, and I think it's the fact that she's a kid singing about adult struggles. I don't believe her when she sings about being from a torn-up town and driving a cadillac in her dreams, but somehow when The Boss sings it, I believe every word. It's all suddenly real.

- Nirvana: 'Where Did You Sleep Last Night' originally American folk song 'In The Pines'. Because Kurt Cobain brings this song to life and adds a little bit of gravel and grain without losing the gist of the original song.

- Glee Cast: 'Don't Stop Believing' by Journey. For a lot of people, this was the first time they'd ever heard this classic song, and I can't hate on Glee if it made great music more accessible for the younger generation.

- Pendulum: 'Violet Hill' by Coldplay. I wanted to stay away from the Radio 1 Live Lounge songs, because I could do a million posts on those amazing covers, but this one sticks out for me simply because usually I'd block my ears if someone tried to cover Coldplay around me, but this one is just really great.

- Lily Allen: 'Everybody's Changing' by Keane. Lily seems to have a thing for covering Keane songs (she also did a cover of 'Somewhere Only We Know' for the John Lewis Christmas advert last year), and somehow her thick London accent and sweet, high voice do justice to the alternative band's songs. 

Top 5 Songs: The Shins

I was halfway through a list of my favourite song lyrics in the history of songs, when I was suddenly struck by the fact that I had to keep restraining myself from adding another song by The Shins. And another. And another. So I decided to save that one in my drafts and instead begin a list of my Top 5 by The Shins.

Way back in early March 2012, I booked tickets for Reading Festival, simply because the thought of Paramore was enough to elicit and actually squeal, and when The Gaslight Anthem were added about a minute later, I literally screamed. Add Foster The People, The Vaccines, Florence, and some weirdos called the Foo Fighters, and I was sold. Cue buying tickets on my poor mother's credit card, and hoping she'd forgive me the next morning when I had to make the "I-just-spent-R5000-on-your-credit-card" phone call. The next few months flew by in a whir of Pumped Up Kicks, you-and-what-army, instrumental intros for Flo's numbers, a cursory listen to The Black Keys... and an interesting new find called The Shins. Something about their melodies haunted me, even though I battled to catch a lot of the lyrics. By the time I got better at figuring out James Mercer's vocals, I just had enough time to place myself firmly in awe of his lyrical genius, before I embarked upon a crusade to learn every word of their setlist before August. It was the beginning of April, and I was hooked.

Fast-forward to this band being the one I was most looking forward to, besides the Gaslight Anthem, but then add 5000 bored-looking audience members, and it was enough to put a massive downer on my excitement. The band's performance was great, but the audience acted like they were at a funeral, and I was the only one singing along to 'Bait & Switch' at the top of my voice. Now, two years later, they are still one of my favourite bands, and I think back on that day with nothing but regret. I wish that I could have blocked the audience out and enjoyed the performance more, but it hurt me personally that such an amazing band weren't getting the treatment they deserved.

Anyway. To make me feel better, let's do a Top 5, so that if you ever happen to see The Shins, you'll be able to sing enough for all those losers who just don't.

'Australia' - At first listen it's upbeat, happy-sounding and catchy. Even if you do work out the words James is singing, chances are you never string them together well enough to realise that it's about being stuck in a dead-end job. It's a classic formula: being with poppy tune, add miserable theme, and it's that perfect shocker for when your listeners finally figure out what you're on about. Don't believe me? Take a look at the lyrics - it's all selfish fools (bosses) and buying of your life's time (that pitiful salary you receive at the end of the month). 

'Port of Morrow' - If this was the first/only song by The Shins that you ever heard, you've be forgiven for thinking that they're super-emo. It's a lament on the sad truths of life, and is horrifyingly descriptive and frank. I love it, and in my head there is a perfect sepia-toned music video to go along with it. 

'Phantom Limb' - Apparently about a lesbian couple in high school, but there's no doubt that everyone can relate to the line "follow the lines and wonder why there's no connection" every now and then. It's a song about being out of place, and all of us rejects know what that feels like.

'New Slang' - Pure and absolute poetry! This isn't a song, it's just a purely genius way of stringing words together into absolute perfection, and elicit emotions I didn't even know I had. I mean, what does "If you took to me like a gull takes to the wind, well I'da jumped from my trees and I'da danced like the king of the eyesores..." even me?! I'll tell you what it means - it means that this band is flawless.

'Simple Song' - Oh, the way I squealed when this was played in How I Met Your Mother! Perhaps they'd finally get some attention in the mainstream media. One of my favourite songs ever, it contains an endless amount of lines appropriate enough to caption an Instagram picture with, or quote on Twitter when you're feeling alone. Plus, the video is full of people tearing each other's hair out and avoiding a wrecking ball, what more could you ask for?

"On An Emotional Note..." Why Do Songs Bring Memories Back?

“Funny how a melody sounds like a memory

Like a soundtrack to a July Saturday night

Springsteen, Springsteen”

Or so says American country singer Eric Church is his song named after the greatest legend of our time. But I’m not here to tell you how amazing Bruce is – you can figure that out for yourself.

No, in fact a few days ago, a friend picked me up to go to another friend’s birthday party, and the CD in first friend’s car was none other than the soundtrack to me childhood. It brought back a flood of memories of my early years, when the sun was high in the sky, and Boyzone flooded the airwaves. Where a Saturday morning out meant a trip to the local flea market, where I could be treated to one pancake, which I was to savour as I wandered around behind assorted family members. Where you packed your lunch every morning before heading out the door to work, and when Cup-A-Soup was the only guard against those dreaded days when the temperature fell below 20 degrees. When a trip to Durban was a pipe-dream, for it was just so far away. 16 years is a long time when one is only 23, but when that CD plays, it feels like it was just a heartbeat ago. Not even as though I am remembering a time past, but as though I am experiencing everything right in the moment, right now.

A 1999 study by Schulkind, Hennis and Rubin found a strong positive correlation between emotion and the strength of the memory. Now, as I’m not at a university, I am battling to find a full-text version of their article, but it does support some of my own experiences. I find that either the more fondly, or conversely, the less fondly I look back upon my experiences, the stronger the connection is to the song associated with the memory. Lost yet? Let’s examine things further.

I look back upon certain parts of my childhood with a love so fierce that when thinking back, the nostalgia can be so strong that it’s almost painful. Those are the days associated with the Boyzone CD in question here. And why should I have developed such a strong connection? Well, because I killed the damned album, that’s why! In those days, it was on a tape, and because music was less freely available (read: before the internet) back then, when once acquired a tape, one played the thing to death before moving on to another. Same thing happened with a certain Westlife album about four years later (but this time it actually was a CD).

Perhaps, you think that memories of childhood are most easily and strongly invoked by music, but you’d be wrong. Gwen Stefani’s ‘The Sweet Escape’ makes me feel physically ill because it reminds me of the time way back in my first year of university (6 years ago) when I was forced to wake up at 5am every day for a week, and sing the song to an assembled group of boys. They called it bonding – I called it hell.

Moving on, we still haven’t figured out why this happens…

So, a guy called Janata conducted a study to try to figure out exactly that! After playing a random assortment of songs from his subjects’ childhoods, and then asking certain questions, he found that – ta dah! – the most vivid recollections came with the strongest and most important memories*. Combined with a study of brain activity, he was able to confirm his hypothesis that a certain region of the brain links music and memory!

Another fascinating study by Richard Harris of Kansas State University revealed that there was little difference in the strength of the memory brought back by listening to a song vs just thinking about it.⁺

So what does this mean in terms of rating your favourite song? Would I place Rob Thomas and Santana’s 1999 hit ‘Smooth’ in my top 5 songs ever if I had to hear it today? No, probably not. How much do our memories affect the way we perceive music? I hate ‘The Sweet Escape’ simply for the memories associated with it! If I heard it for the first time today, I’d probably quite like it. It begs the question, do I actually even like 50s music, or do I just love that it reminds me of my grandparents, whom I adore?

I’ll leave you with this thought – what do you do if you begin to associate a favourite song with a situation or a person (say, a boy/girlfriend) that has potential to go pear-shaped? How can I ensure that I don’t think about the guy I was dating in 2014 every time I hear Arctic Monkeys’ ‘Do I Wanna Know’, just because it played on the radio a lot during that month that we dated? I say, simply don’t let it. Make sure you don’t stop listening to the song/album after that era ends, and your brain won’t be able to connect any certain memory with it. If you listen to anything as many times as I’ve listened to Coldplay’s ‘Paradise’ in the past three years, when you listen to it again in 10 years time, your brain will be so bombarded with thoughts and feelings and memories, that it won’t be able to pick one, and you’ll feel … nothing.

And one last thing: remember not to overplay any specific album when you’re particularly depressed. No one likes a girl who cries into her travel mug because for some reason Mark Stoermer’s debut single ‘Everybody Loves the Girl’ just came on shuffle on her iPod.

* http://www.caringnews.com/pub.59/issue.1403/article.5848/

+ http://www.impactlab.net/2009/01/22/why-do-songs-trigger-memories-specific-memories/

Five Songs That Had A Worse Day Than You

Having a bad case of the Monday Blues? Oh go on then, tell me what happened! Did you collide with some heathen on your way out of Starbucks/Vida and watch your very expensive latte tumble towards the ground and seep through your brand new shoes? Did you oversleep and have to endure five full minutes of the boss shouting at you in front of 20 co-workers who were trying their hardest to conceal their sadistic giggles? Or did you, perhaps, experience a flat tyre in peak time traffic, and almost get taken out by a wayward taxi whilst standing on the side of the road, wailing for a knight in shining armour to rescue you? Oh, I know what it was, your cat brought up a massive, technicolour hairball on the freshly-laundered rug in your living room. I get it - your life sucks. But believe me, the lives of the characters in these five songs suck even more. Happy wallowing.

5) Boomtown Rats - "I Don't Like Mondays": Let's start with the obvious, shall we. As long as you didn't shoot up anything this morning, your Monday is still going way better that this kid's. Just as soon as that silicon chip inside your head sets itself to overload, please just take a walk around the block so that you don't feel the need to teach anyone that the lesson today is how to die. [No offence intended by any of these comments, school shootings should not be taken lightly]

4) Foster the People - "Waste": Depression. The subject here clearly has some problems: 'devil on your back', 'speak or scream' and 'monsters' all evoke fear, sadness and anger. Luckily they have a supportive friend/significant other/family member (the speaker) who is willing to stick with them through all of it, and 'help [them] see it through'. Let's hope that if you're ever in a similar situation, someone does the same for you.

3) Coldplay - "The Scientist": Christ Martin at his melancholy best. I've heard a few interpretations for this song, but in my mind it is quite universal in meaning. There are many things that nobody said would be easy, but no one ever said would be this hard. The one that immediately springs to mind is leaving home for the first time, a situation in which you would often prefer to "go back to the start". But then again, any goodbye, a death, the end of a relationship, or a major life change can invoke these kinds of emotions. There's just something about this song that hits me right in the heart, and causes me to experience these awful things known to most as ... feelings 

2) The Smiths - "Heaven Knows I'm Miserable Now": You can always count of Morrissey to bring a little tragic comedy into your life. The lyrics of this song are so pathetically sad that it almost makes one want to laugh. Whether your loneliness makes you miserable whenever you happen across a pair of lovers, or the job which you so desperately sought leaves you in constant mental anguish, The Smiths get you, yo. I'm sure Moz and I aren't the only people in the world who have wondered why we smile at people whom we'd much rather kick in the eye...

1) The Shins - "Australia": I sense your confusion, what the hell am I on about? Whilst it is debatable as to whether or not we really are just born to multiply and gaze into night skies, I'm pretty sure we've all dreamed of just one more Saturday. When you really look deeper into this song, you'll be able to tell that it's about hating your job. Wait, back up. Yep, hating your job. Don't believe me? Let's take that deeper look then:

We're born to produce offspring and look at the pretty stars, but we're so tied into our work that all we want is one more weekend! But until that happens, some company is going to pay for the use of the hours of your life. And everytime you feel like you could really achieve something... you realise you're stuck in that same dead-end job and that you're going nowhere. The 'selfish fool' is then, of course, your boss, and you'd be damned to be just another of his employees. You've been alone since the day you started working (at 21), because you have no time for relationships. And sometimes, you feel like you'd be better off just jumping out the window. Now, if that doesn't make you feel better about your own Monday, I don't know what will. 

Top Ten Songs: The Killers

Yesterday, an intern and friend at the office (yes, Andrew, we’re friends again… if you promise to give up RiRi) told me that he had looked up The Killers on iTunes to listen to ‘A Dustland Fairytale’ (cue me falling on the floor in spasms of joy) and had seen that their most downloaded song was none other than ‘Mr Brightside’. While I’m not at all surprised at this, it got me wondering what my top ten songs by my favourite band would be. Now, my first instinct is so sob and say that I could never choose (with the exception of ‘Dustland’, which is a head and shoulders above all the rest), because everything my little darlings do is perfect, I’m the first to admit that this is a lie. ‘Deadlines & Commitments’ for example, is about as far from perfect as the blister on my smallest toe, as is their decision to cover ‘Shadowplay’ at every freaking live show. I mean no offence to Ian Curtis, nor am in any way thanking the kitchen table (10 points if you get that reference) but if I’ve paid 70 Pounds to see my favouite band, I’d rather see their own songs. But as always, I digress.

And so I shall attempt to create this list. My top three are pretty much locked down, but the other seven are sure to cause some tears as I try to decide. Here goes nothing:

10) ‘The Cowboy’s Christmas Ball’: Just for the hell of it. The 2011 charity single is by far my favourite so far. Ever since then the Christmas singles have gone downhill (in my humble opinion), and I only listened to last year’s one a grand total of twice. But what more could anyone want out of life than Brandon Flowers brandishing a gun and a few alien spaceships taking up residence in the Nevada desert? In fact, I even managed to theme my friend’s 2013 Christmas dinner after this song … without her even knowing.

9) ‘Battle Born’: Mainly for the fact that Brandon Flowers decided to hope the hell off his stage at Wembley and grab hands with his adoring fans – and I touched his sweaty arm during this very song. Oh, it’s also one of the album of the same name’s strongest tracks, but Brandon’s sweat – priorities please.

8) ‘Everything Will Be Alright’: Because whenever I go through a depressive patch, I stick this on repeat until I eventually begin to believe it. Through months of lectures and projects and homesickness, I’d return to my flat every night, make my dinner and do my dishes with this in the background to remind myself that everything really would be alright.

7) ‘This is Your Life’: Besides the super catchy tune, the thing that really gets me about this song is the crowd interaction when it is performed live. I take great pride in getting my “no one gives a damn about her haaaaaiiiir” action in perfect synch with Brandon’s, and even when I listen to the song whilst driving, I feel my arms itching to reach towards the sky and wave back and forth at just the right moment. It’s been ingrained into my head, see.

6) ‘Jenny Was A Friend of Mine’: How can you not love this song? From the opening search helicopter sounds to the synth, to the I-didn’t-murder-my-girlfriend pleas, it’s perfect for late night driving on dark highways, with no idea what might be in store. It’s also perfect in general. Now every time I write one of my never-finished short stories, I name my main character’s best friend Jenny, simply so that I can include the line “Jenny was a friend of mine”.

5) ‘Smile Like You Mean It’: Oh, the Hot Fuss days of a chubby-cheeked Brandon Flowers, and a Mark Stoermer who looked just slightly less like Jesus. A synth section so addictive that it makes you sing along to wordless parts of the song (yes, it’s possible), and lyrics so perfect that they make me want to brand them onto my skin forever more (no kidding, I’d get a ‘smile like you mean it’ tattoo) make for a phenomenal song.

4) ‘Sweet Talk’: Because B-sides deserve some love too. Included only on the B-sides compilation album Sawdust, this song is one of the band’s best, and was 15 times better than most of the songs on Sam’s Town or Day & Age. If released on an actual album, I have no doubt that it would have racked up far more fans, besides those obsessives such as myself who scoff at anyone who only listens to singles.

3) ‘Miss Atomic Bomb’: Battle Born was the first album released after I became a superfan. I saw one live version of the song on Youtube long before it was released, and at the Leeds warm-up show, I was lucky enough to see it live. Cue instant love. Seriously, it was the best thing I’d ever heard. The 30 second clip of the final recorded version that was released a few weeks later disappointed me slightly (they picked a boring part of the song to preview), but when I finally got my hands on the full album, there it was in all its glory. Definitely the best song on the album by far.

2) ‘This River is Wild’: Oddly enough, I never really bonded very well with this song when I first heard it. It was only after I really listened to the words and analysed them, that it started to resound with me. The anthem of any lonely social outcast (read: anyone like me), the line “should I just get along with myself? I never did get along with everybody else” made me stop and think. Perhaps it’s best to me my own best friend. A rarity live, they pulled this one out of the archives for Wembley, and nearly landed me on the floor in fits of tears. Luckily I don’t have a heart.

1) ‘A Dustland Fairytale’: What can a person say about the song that changed their life? I don’t mean in a cheesy-Oprah-this-book-changed-my-life way, I mean in a literal sense: it changed the course of my life. Confused yet? I’d liked this band for a while, but they day I heard this song, I was really hooked. It stayed on repeat for about a month. When I found out they were coming to SA, I travelled two days across the country to see them. And so sparked the idea in my head that travelling further than South Coast to Durban for a concert was not completely nuts. At the same time, I fell in love with Cape Town, so two years later I moved here. After the concert, my obsession grew and I joined fan communities. I learned to use Twitter properly and taught myself all about social media and media in general, as well as the music industry. I wanted a career in the field. And so I moved to the town where this song had led me, and applied for a job in the field I’d taught myself, and now here I am. Plus I made friends in the UK, next I travelled there, and now I plan to move to London eventually. It’s all because of that one song: the lyrics, the images, the emotion, the sadness, the happiness and the sheer beauty. 

ABC Of Songs

So I just saw this trending topic on Twitter, and it's really something I can run with. What follows is not particularly a list of my favourite songs beginning with each letter of the alphabet, but rather an ABC of cool songs to check out - either forgotten favourites, new obsessions, or just songs I'm listening to at the moment. [Edit: I've just written about half my list, and all bar one have festival references. Sigh. I'm addicted.]

A) All This And Heaven Too - Florence + The Machine: I listened to this on the way to work today, and it's been stuck in my head ever since.

B) Back To Black - Amy Winehouse: Sometimes I hear 'Rehab' too often, and I forget that I actually liked Amy Winehouse. This is one of my favourites by her.

C) Caring Is Creepy - The Shins: Definitely my 5th favourite band in the world, this is the song they opened with at Reading last year.

D) (A) Dustland Fairytale - The Killers. Do I have to elaborate? This is the song that changed my life, I'm sure that says enough.

E) Everlong - Foo Fighters: When Dave Grohl and co. ended off Reading's set with this, I really did wonder if anything could ever feel this good again...

F) Film Noir - The Gaslight Anthem: I just love this entire album so much, I feel like it would make a great black & white movie, who's with me?

G) Grace Kelly - Mika: Oh so what if I have a few pop guilty pleasures here and there? I still love trying to reach these high notes!

H) Hometown Glory - Adele: I've not listened to this song for years, because it opens old wounds from my homesick first year university student days, but it's an undeniable masterpiece.

I) I Dreamed A Dream - Les Mis: Whether Anne Hathaway, Susan Boyle, or the cast of Glee sings it, I can't help but singing along to the overly dramatic "I had a dream my life would be so different from this hell I'm living."

J) Jilted Lovers & Broken Hearts - Brandon Flowers: The best song from his solo album, in my opinion. I also think that if he'd saved it for The Killers' next album, it would have been a #1 hit.

K) Keepsake - The Gaslight Anthem: This is in my top 5 songs of all time, the riff makes me want to melt into a puddle at Brian Fallon's feet.

L) Lover Of The Light - Mumford & Sons: I think Mumford & Sons have a great sound, even if it took me longer than usual to get into them. One question though: if they're so good, how did they get so popular?!

M) Monarchy Of Roses - Red Hot Chili Peppers: Opening song at Cape Town stadium, and forever forcibly reminding me of Downton Abbey due to my two obsessions beginning in the same week.

N) Nuclear Family - Green Day: Fresh from the surprise Reading set last year, this was the first song on !Dos that I really bonded with, and it's still my favourite on the album.

O) Oh My God - Kaiser Chiefs: A fitting ender to the Reading set... I truly had never been that far away from home.

P) Panic Station - Muse: I'm still holding out some hope that the band will let me direct a music video for this, set in a haunted London Underground station called 'Panic'.

Q) (The) Queen Of Lower Chelsea - The Gaslight Anthem: Promise this is my last Gaslight song! I'm not obsessed, it's just that not many songs start with a 'Q'! Alright, I'm obsessed.

R) (The) Rising - Bruce Springsteen: Emotive and uplifting yet still dark, this is without a doubt one of my favourite songs by The Boss.

S) Stop Crying Your Heart Out - Oasis: Sure, the Gallagher brothers are both a little nuts, but it's a great song, plus it reminds me of T in the Park and the mass sing along between sets.

T) There Is A Light That Never Goes Out - The Smiths: A bit depressing to say the least, but hey, at least Morrissey thinks that dying by my side would be heavenly...

U) Use Somebody - Kings Of Leon: Despite Caleb not liking it very much once upon a time, I'm sure my little Southern boys are more than happy that they decided to release this song after all.

V) Violet Hill - Coldplay: The first 30 seconds of this song were enough to make me sit up and take notice of Coldplay, and after the first minute, they were already my favourite band.

W) Walk The Line - Johnny Cash: It's about time my oldies country obsession was exposed. Johnny's probably the artist that I'm most sad I'll never get to see live.

X) X & Y - Coldplay: I don't even like this song that much, but according to my my only other option for this one was 'X-Kid' by Green Day, and I've never even listened to it.

Y) Yellow - Coldplay: The way this song kicks in just transports me to another planet. Beautiful, Chris, beautiful.

Z) Zombie - The Pretty Reckless. How sad that they dropped out of Reading this year. Oh wait, I'm not going to Reading this year anyway.

Coolest Music Pins

With 12 days left until I board my plane to London, I’m in that annoying phase where I literally. Cannot. Sit. Still. Or I may explode. From excitement. Ohmygosh!

I don’t really know what I want to write about… argh… OK, fine, I’ll write about… no, I really can’t think of anything. This sucks.

Let’s just do top five coolest music music-related things I’ve seen on Pinterest recently.

5) Na - Na- Na- Na- Na- Na- Na: Forgotten the words to ‘Hey Jude’? No worries, this flow-chart ensures you’ll be able to memorise them in about four easy steps. And remember, it always comes down to getting the amount of ‘na’s right…

4) Literal lyrics: I’m pretty sure no one really kissed the left side of Pat Monaghan’s brain, but this cool design is one interesting way to illustrate the lyrics.

3) Lyrics around your neck: Sometimes a song just speaks to you on such a level that you wish you could tattoo it upon your brain – or at least wear it. Well, Etsy has this pretty necklace emblazoned with lyrics by one of my very favourite bands: The Shins.

2) I don’t always dance…: Making fun of the popular meme, who cares if it even makes any sense or not… he’s The Boss!

1) Because you’re mine: Yeah, Johnny Cash is the man, don’t even argue! I love country music and everything associated with it, so I wouldn’t hesitate to have this pink lyric-boot printed and mounted on my wall.

What I'm Listening To This Week

So, a new week has begun, and with it, tonnes of academic-type stuff to get through, so of course I need something to help me procrastinate. Last.fm has this really cool feature which helps you find artists who are similar to those in your library, and I was creeping around yesterday, when I stumbled upon a band called Hey Monday. They were supposed to be similar to Paramore, so I decided to listen to the first song of their's that I could find, which was called "Candles". A few seconds into said song, my amazing mental Glee-radar started going crazy, and I realized that this was a song which had been performed by Kurt, Blaine and The Warblers. Anyway, it's a really good song, and Hey Monday's album "Hold On Tight" contains some really catchy tunes, such as "Arizona" and 'Homecoming". It has been on repeat since last night, and I've quite a good time jamming around my house to the upbeat vibes of this album. 

My unhealthy obsession with The Gaslight Anthem is still in full force, and seems to be getting worse every single day. After listening to "The '59 Sound" album solidly for a week, I can now say that my favourite tracks are "The '59 Sound", "Even Cowgirls Get The Blues" and "High Lonesome". I haven't been so addicted to a newly discovered band since I first heard "Wonderful Life" by Hurts, almost a year ago. 

Random Song Recommendation Monday

OK, so my original plan was to recommend a song with great lyrics every Monday, but I have a really, really short attention span, and I never stick to plans. Thus today I offer a random song that I love.

I stumbled upon Death Cab For Cutie's 'You Are A Tourist' several months ago whilst creeping on the internet for new songs, and I must say, it's a fantastic song. It's extremely catchy, and I've been known to sit with it on repeat for ages and ages. The beat is great, the vocals are awesome, and the lyrics- once you listen to them and analyse them a bit- are really quite relatable. "When you feel just like a tourist/ in the city you were born in/it's time to go", surely all of us have felt like this at some point in our lives.

A few years ago, when I first heard "Meet Me On The Equinox" (alright go ahead and judge me, it was on the New Moon soundtrack...) I was weary of this band for the same reason I've been weary of many bands: their name. I usually tried to avoid bands who referred to death or killing in their name. But once I got over that little obstacle, I found myself quite enthralled by Death Cab. I find them to be extremely calming, as well as being good background music for studying (coz I do sooooo much of that, not).

Other favourite tracks: I Will Follow You Into The Dark, Tiny Vessels, The Sound Of Settling

Cries of A Broken-Hearted Fangirl

So, there's this band that I've absolutely adored since 2004. I was only 13, and a lot of their lyrics were probably a tiny bit inappropriate for a 13 year old, but whatever, I loved them. I played their first album so many times that I'm surprised the CD didn't wear out after a couple of months. In 2007 they released their second album, and I loved it just as much as the first. The sound was slightly different, it was more upbeat and borderline -electro than their first offereing, but I still loved every single track on the album.
In 2008, my dream came true, when I got to see them live, they were flawless performers, and sang every one of my favourite songs.

My obsession strengthened, and I was extremely excited when their third album was released last year. I listened to it eagerly, excited to find a new song that I obsess over..and I found it. I liked a few other songs on the album, but the entire thing didn't grip me as the first two had. The sound was definitely different, and I was forced to pretend that about half of the album didn't even exist. This saddened me slightly, but I just continued to hope that maybe the album would grow on me one day, in the meantime, I was entirely focused on a certain other band, and these old favourites of mine had slipped down to #3 on my most loved bands list.

Fast-forward to about 6 days ago, when I have the misfortune of turning on the radio, and hearing this band's latest song. Oh no. At first I find it unrecognizable as a song of their's: gone are the heartfelt vocals and jazz-infused rock beats, and in their place is a commercial dance beat, overlayed by poppy, repetitive lyrics. Put simply, it's just not a very good song. For commercial music, it's alright, much like every other song out there right now, and I guess that's why they did it. I'm highly disappointed in my third favourites, and have in fact relegated them all the way down to number 10 on my list. I guess all I can do now is wait patiently, and hope that they pick up their old sound again next time they record an album...in the meantime, I'll be sitting back listening to their first, and that, friends, may be all I need.

Signs You Might Be A Fangirl (part i)

This post is not intended to cause any form of offence to fangirls, I am proud to be one myself.

• You're friends with other fans. No, I don't mean that your bestie also digs your fave band, I mean that you've met people through a shared interest in a band. Whether you've met them over Facebook, Twitter, or at a concert, you've been united by the fact that you both adore certain music, and you actually consider some of them real friends. My status: I just went through Hard Rock Calling's photo's from The Killers' show on Friday night...I know half of the people at the barrier and I don't even live in England. Enough said.

• You join an official fan club. People declare their love for their favourite band in many different ways, but one of the best ways is to join a fanclub. You may have access to special benefits such as pre-sales or merchandise, and it's a great way to meet other fans. My Status: I paid actual money to become an official Victim, and it's totally worth it.

• You know every single song they've ever released. Many people may be able to recite the tracklist of their favourite band's album, but a true fangirl knows every word of every B-side, bonus track demo, EP track, cover or live version ever performed by the band of interest. Okay, hold on a second, if you're under the age of 50, give yourself a pat on the back for even knowing what a B-side or an EP is. My status: 'Who Let You Go', 'A Crippling Blow' and 'Shadowplay' are all very familiar to me. Done.

• You've had direct contact with someone related to the band. While I'm not saying you should be BFF's with the frontman, fangirls often have some kind of contact with a crew member, backing band member, or anyone else associated with their favourite band. Bonus points if your friend suggestions on Facebook have ever recommended your favourite rockstar's brother-in-law...My status: i'm friends with everyone from Rob Whited to Lindi Ortega on Facebook, and have been known to speak to them. As for the brother-in-law thing, been there, done that.

• You've discovered new bands through your favourite band. Be it side-projects, opening acts, or recommendations from band members, all fangirls are likely to discover new music that you wouldn't have otherwise known, because of the band you love. My status: Neon Trees, Most Thieves and many others are great bands, that I would never have discovered if they hadn't been associated with The Killers in some way or another.