slacktivist

Easy Living to Edit

I don't remember last night but they took my picture

"Easy Living," Billie Holiday
"Easy to Ignore," Sixpence None the Richer
"Easy to Remember," Billie Holiday
"Eat for Two," 10,000 Maniacs
"Echo Wars," Peter Case
"Eclipse," Steve Hindalong
"Ed Again," Swirling Eddies
"Ed Takes a Vacation," Swirling Eddies
"Eddie's Ragga," Spoon
"Edge of the World," Josh Ritter
"Edge of the World," Sam Phillips
"The Edge of the World," Sonia Dada
"Edit," Regina Spektor

All Dance and Dancing

They're rating it a 10 before they drop and die

"Dance Across the Centuries," Johnny Clegg & Savuka
"Dance and Boogie," The Pipettes   
"Dance Dance Dance," Lykke Li
"Dance, Dance, Dance," Steve Miller Band
"Dance Stop," Daniel Amos
"Dancing at the Policeman's Ball," Mark Heard
"Dancing in the Dark," Bruce Springsteen
"Dancing in the Dark," Tegan & Sara
"Dancing in the Shadows," After the Fire
"Dancing Lessons," Sinead O'Connor
"Dancing on Light," Terry Taylor
"Dancing Queen," Abba
"Dancing With Joey Ramone," Amy Rigby
"Dancing With Myself," Billy Idol

"'Dance Stop' instructions: You may dance any dance that you desire, but in the course of the song when the word STOP! is shouted and the music stops you must FREEZE in whatever position you are in at that moment. In the song you will then hear the crowd voices escalating. Resume dancing again when you hear the word DANCE shouted and the music resumes."

Cash to Cathedrals

Someone is watching all of the outsiders

"Cash Cow (A Rock Opera in Three Small Acts)," Steve Taylor
"Cashflow," Leisure Process
"Casino Boogie," The Rolling Stones
"Castaway," Mark Heard
"Casualty," Vigilantes of Love
"Cat People (Putting Out Fire)," David Bowie
"Catapult," R.E.M.
"Catch a Falling Star," Perry Como
"Catch My Disease," Ben Lee
"Catch That Angel," The Swirling Eddies
"Catchcloth," Twitchen Vibes
"Cathedrals," Jump Little Children

Bad - Bad Things

The same thing happens to me every day

"Bad," Luka Bloom
"Bad," U2
"Bad Diary Days," Pedro the Lion
"Bad Fruit," Randy Stonehill
"Bad Is Bad," Huey Lewis & The News
"Bad Karma," Warren Zevon
"Bad Liver and a Broken Heart," Tom Waits
"Bad Luck and Blue Eyes Goodbye," The Black Crowes
"Bad Moon Rising," Creedence Clearwater Revivial
"Bad Moon Rising," Thea Gilmore
"Bad Moon Rising," Rasputina
"Bad Rap (Who You Tryin' to Kid Kid?)," Steve Taylor
"Bad Reputation," Freedy Johnston
"Bad Reputation," Joan Jett
"The Bad Thing," Arctic Monkeys
"Bad Things to Such Good People," David Bazan

"If there is a quintessential Cornerstone artist," Daniel Radosh writes in his book, Rapture Ready, "it is probably David Bazan, who played the festival for the better part of the decade with the band Pedro the Lion. (Or, more accurately, as Pedro the Lion, since Bazan was the group's creative force and only permanent member.)"

Which serves as a perfect intro to this, by Jessica Hopper in The Chicago Reader, "The Passion of David Bazan: At the Cornerstone Christian rock festival, a fallen evangelical returns to sing about why he broke up with God."

About-Actions

For what are we without hope in our hearts
That someday we'll drink from God's blessed waters

"About a Girl," Cibo Matto
"About a Girl," Nirvana
"About Love," The Choir
"About to Walk," Throw Me the Statue
"Ac-Cent-Tchu-Ate the Positive," Johnny Mercer
"Accidentally Kelly Street," Frente
"Accidents Will Happen," Elvis Costello & The Attractions
"Achin' to Be," The Replacements
"Acknowledgement," John Coltrane
"Acrobat," U2
"Across 110th Street," Bobby Womack
"Across the Border," Bruce Springsteen
"Across the Great Divide," Nanci Griffith & Emmylou Harris
"Across the Sea," Weezer
"Across the Universe," Fiona Apple
"Across the Universe," The Beatles
"Across the Universe," David Bowie
"Actions Speak Louder," Bruce Cockburn

This is a longer-than-usual list, partly to make up for last week's shorter-than-usual list and partly to include that Cockburn track and thus meet the Can-con requirements. The video linked above for Bobby Womack's "Across 110th Street" is actually the opening sequence to Jackie Brown, which is probably my favorite Tarantino movie because, after all, it's the story of an innocent woman in over her head, my favorite movie plot. I can't really defend my fondness for Frente, particularly in light of their atrocious videos like the one linked above, but I was impressed when I saw them open for They Might Be Giants at the Tower  -- and their sets at The Bronze were pretty good too.

Zzzzzzzz

I'm Noah, and you're the rain

"Zero," Smashing Pumpkins
"Zero from Outer Space," Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers
"Zero Zero," Texas
"Ziggy Stardust," David Bowie
"Zombie," The Cranberries
"Zoo Station," U2
"The Zookeeper's Boy," Mew
"Zoom Daddy," Swirling Eddies

Some repeats here, but a few more songs since the last time we did the letter Z a few years back. I believe U2 video linked above, from the Detroit stop on the Zoo TV tour, was from the night they ordered pizza for the audience. We didn't get free pizza in Philly, but still that show was fairly amazing.

You Can and You Can't

You can cover yourself like a bruise

"You Can Call Me Al," Paul Simon
"You Can Get It if You Really Want," Jimmy Cliff
"You Can Leave Your Hat On," Randy Newman
"You Can Make Him Like You," The Hold Steady
"You Can Never Hold Back Spring," Tom Waits
"You Can Take It With You," The Lemonheads
"You Can't Always Get What You Want," The Rolling Stones
"You Can't Do That," The Beatles
"You Can't Lose a Broken Heart," Billie Holiday
"You Can't Make Love," Don Henley

That's a dismayingly canonical list there. The Beatles, the Stones, Billie Holiday -- really breaking new musical ground here, huh?

Happily, though, someone in comments below will recommend some lost B-side from some world-altering band that I've never heard of and one day I'll track it down and give it a listen and it will make the hair on the back of my neck stand up just like I was hearing the Beatles or the Stones or Billie for the first time. (This doesn't happen every Friday, I'll admit, but it does happen, which is why this particular game is worth playing.)

Wanderlust-Warning Sign

Tell me what you want, what you really, really want ...

"Wanderlust," Bjork
"Wanderlust," Delays
"Wanderlust," R.E.M.
"Wannabe," Spice Girls
"War," Bruce Springsteen & The E Street Band
"War Pigs," Cake
"Warakurna," Midnight Oil
"The Warbler," The Choir
"Warning," Green Day
"Warning Sign," Talking Heads

Yes, the quote above is from the Spice Girls. But for a moment try to forget that's where that line is from and try not to think about that silly song. Is there a more important or more intimate question than this?

It's not even a question, actually, but a command: "Tell me." Connect. Tell me. Tell me what you want, what you really, really want.

In the context of the silly song, "really" seemed like one of those all-purpose empty intensifiers that tend to pepper our speech. "I really want," in that sense, meaning roughly the same thing as "I very much want" or "I bleeping want" -- conveying intensity and urgency, but nothing more. But the word offers more than that. "Really" can also mean truly, genuinely, sincerely. Strip away pretension, propriety, insecurity, fear and the bills you have to pay. Strip away concern for what others might say or think or expect. Strip away every mask, veil, closet, beard, disguise or cultivated persona. Disregard all of that and tell me what you want, what you really, really want. Describe for me your pearl of great price, your treasure hidden in a field.

Back in 1996, the Spice Girls' "Wannabe" was unavoidable. It seemed like there was nowhere one could go without hearing those lyrics. In our daily lives, though, the occasion to say such a thing -- the opportunity to invite such a vulnerable confession, to really, really connect -- is a rare and precious thing, a kind of miracle. If anything is sacred, it is a moment such as this: "Tell me what you want, what you really, really want." "I'll tell you what I want, what I really, really want, I want ..."

For all that, though, "Wannabe" is still a screechingly awful, if catchy, bit of disposable pop. The difficulty or seeming impossibility, of ever telling what we want, what we really, really want, or even of fully knowing what that is ourselves, is reflected in those three songs above  that share the title "Wanderlust." Each of those songs, one way or another, aspires to get at the unsettling refusal to settle for anything less. Some people sleep, some people yearn.

Talk to Tall Trees

Let's go to the movies or something
before time gets the best of us both ...

"Talk About the Passion," R.E.M.
"Talk Memphis," Pierce Pettis
"Talk of the Town," Jack Johnson
"Talk of the Town," The Pretenders
"Talk to Me (I Can Hear You Now)," Iam Siam
"Talk to the People," Johnny Clegg & Savuka
"Talkin' at the Texaco," James McMurtry
"Talking in Circles," Mark Heard
"Talking Myself Down," The Go-Go's
"Talking Old Soldiers," Bettye Lavette
"Tall Trees," Crowded House

My favorites out of the above are the REM and Mark Heard tracks, which I recommend -- unless you don't care for music that evokes a nameless, ineffable longing for something just out of reach, in which case neither REM nor Mark Heard is probably your cup of tea.

If you happen to be in a bar band and you're looking to fill out your set list with some covers, then I highly recommend James McMurtry's "Talkin' at the Texaco," which deserves to become some kind of "Live Music & $5 pitchers" Saturday night standard. (Plus, you already know the chords, and it's almost certain that someone in your band sings as well as McMurtry.)

Sally to Samson

Jesus Christ died for nothin' I suppose ...

"Sally," Gogol Bordello
"Salty Man (Sir Psycho Salty)," WNOC
"Sam Stone," Laura Cantrell
"Same Direction," INXS
"The Same Fire," Bishop Allen
"Same Girl," Randy Newman
"Same in Any Language," I-Nine
"Same Kooks," The Hold Steady
"Same Story," After Eleven
"Samson," Regina Spektor

Let me recommend Regina Spektor's wistful reimagining of the story of Samson, as told from Delilah's perspective -- or from the perspective of Delilah had she truly loved the guy. Maybe she did. The story says he loved her and we believe it, since she's just about the only living thing he touches without killing.

Many people retain a hazy, half-remembered Sunday-school impression of this story. It's so strange that Samson -- a whoremongering, indiscriminate terrorist and, ultimately, suicide bomber -- has become the stuff of children's stories. Children shouldn't be allowed to read anything from the book of Judges. It's a horrifying, R-rated, sordid collection of deeply flawed heroes and anti-heroes. Judges "flits between comedy and violence, revenge and tragedy, sometimes easily, sometimes less comfortably." That quote actually comes from a review of Quentin Tarantino's Inglourious Basterds -- which title itself is an apt description of Samson, Ehud, Abimelech, Jepthah and the rest.