MissAllie's Last.fm Journal

This ain't no Minute Maid

Tue, 5 Aug 2008 18:07:18 +0000

Feelgood songs. Songs that make me feel good. :)

Lemonade
1. "Lemonade" - Rivers Cuomo: Oh, happy day! This was the song that inspired me to put this list together. Every time I hear it I can't help but sing along with a smile. I mean, the songs about that whole "when life gives you lemon, make lemonade!" saying.

Since I Left You
2. "Since I Left You" - The Avalanches: I dare you to not dance to this song. Check out the music video for a laugh.

I Don't Feel Like Dancing
3. "I Don't Feel Like Dancin'" - Scissor Sisters: It's hard to feel bad when listening to a Scissor Sisters song. Also, try not dancing to this one, too.

Sexx Laws
4. "Sexx Laws" - Beck: Check out those backing vocals. This song is FUN.

Blast Off!
5. "Blast Off!" - Rivers Cuomo/Weezer: Easily one of this guy's best melodies ever written.

Kate
6. "Kate" - Ben Folds Five: You can't have a "Feel Good" playlist without Ben Folds! This one gets me goin right from the piano intro. Also, DANDELIONS! BUTTERFLIES!

Short Skirt/Long Jacket
7. "Short Skirt/Long Jacket" - Cake: Mostly for the "nananananana"s at the end.

Less Talk More Rokk
8. "Less Talk More Rokk" - Freezepop: Yes, the song from Guitar Hero 2. I put this on every party playlist I make because it's the kind of song that makes you want to jump up and down.

Die, All Right!
9. "Die, All Right!" - The Hives: HEY I got the money and tonight I'm gonna spend it!

Train in Vain (Stand by Me)
10. "Train in Vain (Stand By Me)" - The Clash - I freaking love this song. Everything from the guitar riff to the harmonica to the drums to... you get the point. The lyrics aren't particularly happy but that's the beauty of this song. <3

And She Was
11. "And She Was" - Talking Heads: It was hard to narrow it down to just ONE fun Talking Heads song, but this one ultimately takes the cake because it's not one of their well-known hits. Check it out, you won't regret it!

I've got your letter, you've got my song

Sat, 5 Jul 2008 03:51:59 +0000

I missed writing journals about songs. So here I am.

Across the Sea

Just as a heads up (and possibly incentive to keep reading), I consider this one of the best songs to come out of the 1990s. I think it's a beautiful fucking work of art and it doesn't get any of the credit or recognition it deserves. Alright.

I don't know quite where to begin with this song because there is so much to say about it. I guess I'll have to do a stream of consciousness type of deal with this one.

"Across the Sea" is track 5 on Weezer's second album, Pinkerton. It is also a masterpiece comparable to the Mona Lisa, only with the added pleasure of the Rivers Cuomo brand of emotion - pure, raw, and simply stated. He managed to fit so many different emotions, from frustration to depression, curiosity and confusion, all in a single 4 minute and 32 second song.

I want to keep going on the "simply stated" point. The lyrics of the song's verses are very precise, detailing the narrator's encounters with this girl he wishes he could pursue. However, Rivers writes the lyrics in a way that anyone could identify with what he is feeling. Take, for example, the last part of the second verse.

"I wonder what clothes you wear to school
I wonder how you decorate your room
I wonder how you touch yourself
And curse myself for being across the sea"

Even though he presents feelings of curiosity by providing specific examples of what he thinks rather than just saying "I want to know what your life is like", you still know what he's getting at, and it strikes more of a chord by using these concrete examples.

I'm not sure. That makes sense to me.

Anyway, I think the best example of simply-stated emotion is the chorus. You can't get more blatant than

"Why are you so far away from me?"

That line is so, so simple, but it's saying so, so much. Especially the way Rivers sings it, too. I love when he says it after the breakdown and he just sounds sooo strained, desperate.

I dunno, this is what I consider beautiful. This song is overwhelming to me at times, it just has so much to offer. I want to leave you guys with the full lyrics and hopefully you will listen and read along, and maybe even identify with the song a little.

Weezer - "Across the Sea"
You are 18 year old girl
who live in small city of Japan
You heard me on the radio
about one year ago
and you wanted to know
all about me and my hobbies,
my favorite food and my birthday

Why are you so far away from me?
I need help and you're way across the sea
I could never touch you
I think it would be wrong
I've got your letter
You've got my song

They don't make stationery like this where I'm from
so fragile, so refined
So I sniff and I lick your envelope
and fall to little pieces every time
I wonder what clothes you wear to school
I wonder how you decorate your room
I wonder how you touch yourself
and curse myself for being across the sea

Why are you so far away from me?
I need help and you're way across the sea
I could never touch you
I think it would be wrong
I've got your letter
You've got my song

At 10 I shaved my head and tried to be a monk
I thought the older women would like me if I did
You see, ma, I'm a good little boy
It's all your fault, momma, it's all your fault
Goddamn, this business is really lame
I gotta live on an island to find the juice
So you send me your love from all around the world
as if I could live on words and dreams and a million screams
Oh how I need a hand in mine, to feel

Why are you so far away from me?
Why are you so far away from me?
I could never touch you
I think it would be wrong
I've got your letter
You've got my song
I've got your letter
You've got my song

Weezer Red Album

Thu, 19 Jun 2008 04:56:21 +0000

Hey all!

I hope you've gone to pick up your two copies of Weezer's new album,. Also, do me a favor and check this out: new video
It's the brand new video for "Pork 'n Beans", Weez's new single. The Weezers have been on a roll lately! Great video, guys!

Also, I highly recommend picking up the Deluxe edition of this album, solely for the track "Miss Sweeney". It is arguably the best thing Weerez has done in the last 10 years.weezer

I'm pearly like the whi-wh-whites of your eyes

Thu, 24 Jan 2008 01:15:26 +0000

If you don't yet know the Cold War Kids, allow me to introduce you.

Hang Me Up to Dry

Today's song is called "Hang Me Up to Dry" and if you'll notice I've been listening to it a LOT. I don't know what it is about the song but I just can't stop!

I actually found this song using the iTunes Just For You feature. They recommended it to me based on the music that is similar from my library. That little 30-second clip they give you sparked my interest, especially the bass-line.

It's about being led on. I don't really have a lot of songs about that, nor can I necessarily relate to it, but I do enjoy the analogy.

Anyways, I ended up downloading the entire album and I'm REALLY liking what I hear, so expect a phase for the next couple weeks!

Check yo'self before I rec' yo'self

Mon, 3 Dec 2007 17:17:52 +0000

Hey guys I got some more recommendations. Today we got a great list of my recent discoveries, and a couple old favorites. These mellow songs are all featured on my playlist entitled "Chill".

First off, everyone needs to listen to..

"Children of December" by The Slip.
Children of December
This is such a cute, fun song. Honestly, you'll find yourself wanting to listen to it a couple times, and maybe you'll even bounce around your room to it just like me.

"Tell Her This" by Del Amitri.
Tell Her This
What a touching song. From those one-hit-wonders who brought us "Roll To Me" comes a tender, bittersweet song about not knowing just what to say. It's almost as if the narrator in this song is the singer's conscience urging him to tell her all these things. I know I'm a sap, but I strongly urge you to give this one a listen.

"Crazy" by Ray Lamontagne
Crazy
This is a cover of Gnarls Barkley's "Crazy" and quite frankly it's better than the original. I love listening to this guy's voice and sadly, this is the only song I've heard from him.

"Galaxy" by Jason Mraz
Galaxy
God, what a masterpiece of a song. These lyrics are absolutely stunning and tell an adorable story unlike any other song out there. Check out some of the lyrics:

"Well, here I am, I'm sitting alone again I'm staring up at the sky which at this lonely moment is my only friend. Suddenly as I gaze upon the night I notice the stars began to shake and dance and fall into the darkness.

They exploded down. I knew what I had to do, so I ran up to the top of the hill and took ahold for you the sweetest star that fell and yes I held on to it close..."

If you know me, you know why I love this so much. If you don't, it's because of the star theme. This is quite possibly my favorite love song ever. It's at least in the top 5.

Last but not least,
"Aqueous Transmission" by Incubus
Aqueous Transmission
Beautiful. That's all.

As usual, let me know if you want any of these songs. :)

I think we'd make a good team

Sun, 25 Nov 2007 04:08:27 +0000

Another song from my All Time Top 10 would have to be Weezer's uniquely-titled "El Scorcho". I figured this would be as perfect a time as any to write about this song since I can relate to the lyrics a great deal. For some reason, and I'm not afraid to admit to this since nobody reads my journal, I have just been feeling this way about a certain someone. I love when that happens.

Okay back to the important stuff. First off, why the fuck is it called "El Scorcho"? In the past 5-6 years I have been listening to this song, I haven't figured out what the hell the title means.

The song itself, on the other hand, is very easy to understand. It's about that feeling we've all had at some point in our lives. It's about that frustration you feel when you know you would make a great pair with someone but they just WILL NOT notice you, and even though it's frustrating, you still get those butterflies and you feel like you've just won a brand new car on the Price is Right when they so much as look at you. Let's have a look at the lyrics, shall we?

"Goddamn you half-Japanese girls
Do it to me every time
Oh, the redhead said you shred the cello
And I'm jello, baby"

I love that "I'm jello, baby". Our narrator just melts over his schoolboy crush on this chick.

"But you won't talk, won't look, won't think of me
I'm the epitome of Public Enemy
Why you wanna go and do me like that?
Come down on the street and dance with me"

This is where we find out that this girl the narrator is pining after barely even knows who he is.

"I'm a lot like you so please
Hello, I'm here, I'm waiting
I think I'd be good for you
And you'd be good for me"

To me, this chorus is the absolute BEST part of the song. It lays it all on the table, it's perfectly honest and blunt. It's probably what the narrator wishes he could say to this half-Japanese girl, but if he's like me, he can't muster up the courage to open his goddamn mouth.

"How stupid is it? I can't talk about it
I gotta sing about it and make a record of my heart
How stupid is it? won't you gimme a minute
Just come up to me and say "hello" to my heart
How stupid is it? For all I know you want me too
And maybe you just don't know what to do
Or maybe you're scared to say, 'I'm falling for you'"

I love how this part in the song is the narrator lashing out or having some kind of breakdown where everything builds up inside of him and this is how he reacts. UGH it's so cute.

"I wish I could get my head out of the sand
'Cause I think we'd make a good team
And you would keep my fingernails clean
But that's just a stupid dream that I won't realize
'Cause I can't even look in your eyes Without shakin', and I ain't fakin'
I'll bring home the turkey if you bring home the bacon"

The song ends wonderfully because it goes straight from the narrator's breakdown to the realization that even though these two would make a fantastic couple, he's too shy to say anything, so it will never happen and he can just go back to dreaming about her.

Instead of ending on that somewhat depressing note, I would like to add that this song is insanely fun to sing in the car with your friends. Loudly.

My love is a lifetaker

Wed, 14 Nov 2007 01:42:10 +0000

This installment of Allie's Music Journal is brought to you by...

My Physics Homework: Because I just don't feel like doing it.

Today's little ditty is by a band called Weezer. Their song is called "Say It Ain't So". Maybe I chose to talk about this because I'm excited for Rock Band (it's in the game), or maybe because it's in my honest opinion one of the best rock songs of all time. It starts out so chill and turns into something so powerful by the end of the song.

It's pretty easy to figure out what the song is about: alcoholism. This was written by Rivers Cuomo, the band's frontman, about his father's nonexistent alcoholism. This is what wikipedia says on the subject:

"Rivers made a connection to an incident in high school where he came home and saw a bottle of beer in the fridge. He believed his parents split up when he was four because his dad was an alcoholic. All of a sudden there was this beer in the fridge and he knew it wasn't his, his brother's or his mom's... it must be his step-dad's. This made Rivers fear his step-father would leave his family, so he wrote the song about that moment of seeing that beer.

It turns out many years later, to his surprise, that this wasn't true. The only reason he had to believe his real father drank was due to a photograph that he had of him wearing a wifebeater shirt, smoking a cigar with a bottle of beer in his hand. This was his dad to him because he didn't really know him. His mother told him, "What are you talking about? Your dad didn't drink!" It turns out his dad was just goofing off and posing like that in the photo."

Anyways, it's kind of a let down that the whole song is about a misunderstanding... but I do often wonder if this so-called "misunderstanding" is a cover-up. I can't fathom how Rivers could pour his heart into the vocals on this track the way he does if there weren't a deep emotional meaning behind the words.

Regardless, this song is going to be super-fun on Rock Band, especially the breakdown in the middle. I will definitely be doing vocals on this one. :D

Seriously. You guys should hear me when I'm alone in my car and I bust out this song.

Just some recommendations

Wed, 7 Nov 2007 22:43:10 +0000

Okay so I have a list of songs I think you all should listen to. Some of them have been featured already in my song journal, others are some of my all-time favorites, and a few are my new songs of the moment. Let's see what we have here...

-Bloc Party: "Positive Tension"
I've already had an entry about this song so if you want to learn about it, go read the journal.

-The Coral: "Dreaming of You"
I first heard this song on Scrubs and it caught my ear because it's so wacky-sounding.

-Queens of the Stone Age: "3's & 7's"
This song is on the new Guitar Hero and it's incredibly fun to play in the game, but it's also fun to rock out to in the car.

-Feist: "My Moon, My Man"
This was on the CD at work and it was one of the only songs I could bear to listen to. It really is a nice, chill song and I'm intrigued by her voice. Sometime I'd like to take a closer look at the lyrics.

-O.A.R.: "That Was A Crazy Game of Poker"
Awesome.

-Weezer: "El Scorcho"
My second-favorite song of all time deserves to be on this list, AND it deserves to be heard by you!

Behind the boathouse, I'll show you my dark secret

Tue, 23 Oct 2007 02:25:31 +0000

Ah, my third favorite song of all time. :)

Possum Kingdom

I do not understand how one could not be intrigued by this song. I mean, come ON, the song is called "Possum Kingdom". I did a little research and apparently that's the name of some lake in Texas. HOWEVER, the general population of people who have heard this song would not have looked up the title, and would remain thoroughly confused!

Okay enough about the title, let's get into the good stuff. This is a highly-controversial song because it's said to be a rapist's love song, or alternatively a psycho killer's love song. With lines such as "Don't be afraid, I don't mean to scare you", "Give it up to me", and "Do you wanna die?", of course people will get that idea. So remember that "some lake in Texas"? Turns out that lake Possum Kingdom was the site of some brutal murders done to women.

Now that we know the REAL meaning of the song, let's see what I think. I interpret "Possum Kingdom" in a mildly-different way. Maybe it's because I don't like singing about rape and murder in my car, or even thinking about it for that matter. I think the song is about a slightly-crazed man who wants this girl to give him a shot... but the lyrics are the thoughts in his head. You know how we're thinking things but we don[t want to say them because the other person will think you're crazy? It's like that. He's not actually saying these things to the girl, he's keeping this stuff bottled up. As you'll notice, the song gets more and more vehement and even ferocious as it nears the end. Then, after all the "be my angel"s it just explodes with the "DO YOU WANNA DIE?!?!?".

This might be creepy but I even find parts of the song sweet.

Anyway, that's how I interpret the song. I think it's an interesting statement of human behavior.

Actually, he probably wants her to sleep with him ("I'm not gonna lie, I'll not be a gentleman"). Oh well!

Although this is a dark, somewhat disturbing song, I feel like it's pretty underrated and under-appreciated. I've been listening to it for over 10 years and it just doesn't seem to get old.

Especially the whispering in the first verse.

It's you I love

Thu, 18 Oct 2007 04:03:40 +0000

"Song for a Friend" by Jason Mraz

Song For A Friend

I love this song. I have always loved this song, since the first time I heard it. There are so many settings in which I can listen to this song. I listen to it on my way to work, while I'm getting ready for bed, when I'm chillin, when I wanna rock out, it's just so multi-purpose.

Every once in a while I can go for a good uplifting song if it's not too cheesy. It's all about being yourself, being true to yourself, and putting yourself first, which I think is important. It's so easy to let yourself get walked on, pushed around, and manipulated in this world. I can see this most in two places. In the first verse, he says,

"Even if there's no one else,
he said, you've got to love yourself"

That one is pretty self-explanatory, as is the second part in the song where the theme of loving oneself pops up;

"Climb up over the top
Survey the state of the soul
You've got to find out for yourself
whether or not you're truly tryin
Why not give it a shot?
Shake it, take control
and inevitably wind up
findin for yourself all the strengths
that you have inside of you"

I love this idea of knowing yourself and having the balls to be who you want to be, to do what you want, and finding all the good you have inside of you. That's what life is all about.

Since the song is called "Song for a FRIEND", I think it's safe to assume Mraz wrote this for a close friend who taught him these life lessons, who guided him and encouraged him to be who he wants. I always kind of wondered if it was meant for Bushwalla...

Anyways, it's a beautiful song with a fantastic climax that will uplift, so if you're in need of some positivity let me know and I'll send you the song!

:)