Nerding Out: Quotables

Let me first just tell you about the day I had, which seems to be culminating into a night/tomorrow of insomnia.

I've actually never really had insomnia before, but after tossing and turning for a half an hour and with the foster pups up and about as well, I figured I might as well get up and document the wondrous day I've had.

And I'm not even being sarcastic.

First of all work was fine. I decided to listen to my sad bastard mix entitled "Quoatables" because I have quotes from all the songs posted in my cubicle at work. I like quotes and I like music.
What.
I do what I want.

But here is a fun fact. If you're not all that depressed, the songs can kind of be uplifting and awesome and full of nostalgia. Or at least fake nostalgia. Or maybe displaced nostalgia.
Ihavenoideawhatiamtalkingabout.

And yes. That is what the majority of this blog will be about.
BUT FIRST.

On my way to class local radio was killing me with commercials or weird hip-hop so I decided to go old school and put on 'KLH. And boy. I couldn't believe how much I was freaking out.

ALL IN A ROW:
Hey, Hey, My, My/Neil Young: IS IT NOT BETTER TO BURN OUT THAN TO FADE AWAY.

Plus Neil Young was one of the first artists I could consistently play songs by on the ol' guit-fiddle.

Hey Joe/Jimi Hendrix

I freaking love this song. Jimi Hendrix was one of the first records I remember thinking "OH MY GOD THIS IS VINYL THIS IS SO RAD" and Hey Joe was on there. And then Hey Joe was featured in another 90s classic, Empire Records. Which I probably can quote too well as witnessed on Monday evening in Third Cinema class. Sometimes I forget my pop culture acumen has a very limited audience.

Hey Jude/The Beatles

Seriously. Do you even know how much I love this song? ITS MY NAMESAKE.
JUDE AND PRUDE RULED HIGH SCHOOL AND ALL THE THINGS IN 1996-98.
Okay. So we didn't necessarily rule anything. But Prude is my oldest/newest bestie and favorite wannabe Jew and favorite shiksa and favorite allthethings.

A little background on why this song is so awesome for me:
Listening to the oldies station whilst growing up. I was maybe 9 or 10. And believe it or not, I always wasn't this awesome. So the crazed shout-screaming was on and to me I just though it sounded like the grittiest, purest rock EVER.
And I couldn't believe my dad was listening to it.
And then when he told me it was the BEATLES. The cutesy fab four that all my aunts liked, well I just couldn't believe it. He then informed me that the Beatles were pretty awesome especially after their cutesy fab four stage (and to be honest, I think they're pretty awesome in their cutesy fab four stage, but that is a whole other nerd issue).

I also wonder how many times I can use the phrase "cutesy fab four."

And. I kind of think it's the greatest song to play air piano to.

So upon finishing this triptych of awesome I called Dear Prudence up and told her of the shenanigans that had just ensued inside of Azure Ray (my car). I was probably talking at my elevated, high pitch squeak that I presume people find totally endearing and not annoying at all (totes jk people. I hate the way my voice sounds and I'm truly sorry it's so whiny and high most of the time), as I'm traipsing across campus. Yes I was one of those.

And then class ensues.
Modern Lit Theory where I feel it's Plan H-ers (my track) against the world.
Rather than talking about the actual THEORIES and how they can be applied to any one of our interests, let's instead talk about how Marx makes us FEEL.

Or that your feelings were hurt by Adorno & Horkheimer.
ARE YOU FREAKING KIDDING ME.
AND THEN PRETEND THAT YOU ARE NOT ALL PRETENTIOUS ASSHOLES.
I admit it.
I am a pretentious asshole.
IT'S WHY WE ARE ALL IN GRAD SHOOL.
WE THINK WE ARE SMARTER THAN THE AVERAGE BEAR.
WE THINK OUR TASTES ARE BETTER AND WE ARE TRYING TO PROVE IT
or
WE THINK OUR TASTES ARE RIDICK AND WE ARE TRYING TO VALIDATE IT.

To quote Mugatu.
I feel like I'm taking crazy pills:


Luckily I drove a friend home and I got to decompress a little bit.
Egads.

But.
Back to my original ideas for this post.
1. I realize these blogs get super long and rambly. And I'm sorry. I love run-on sentences as witnessed by my professors incessant comments on my response paper "Reads like a run-on." I clearly don't have an editing function in my brain.
2. It's literally 4am. I am, most likely not going to bed. I got five hours of sleep last night and 4.5 tonight. So give a spinnie a break.
3. I've made up a new word: spinnie. It's like a spinster but full of fun and ridick and awesome, but maybe a little bit of cliche too. At least I don't have cats.

So. I've made this mix entitles "Quoatables" as mentioned earlier.
Sometimes I play it when I wanna suffocate within the Bell Jar, and let's be real. February has been a real doozy.
Is it the leap day? Is it late onset of Seasonal Affective Disorder? Is it the severe lack of snow? I don't know. But in can end at any time.
Just sayin'.

But.
For whatever reason, I am total sucker for Sad Bastard music. I love it.
I can't get enough.
And since I'm more than slightly neurotic and tend to listen to these songs on repeat for hours on end, I thought (THOUGHT being the word) I would try to quantify me obsession, especially since I was in a good mood yesterday and they made me all oddly warm and fuzzy inside.
And we all know how much I love feelings.
Shit might get a little real here.

Stop telling me the right way to go...

Okay. So. Full disclosure. This was kind of my break-up jam of the summer. I listened to this incessantly and I knew I would be okay. And awesome.

Plus, it opens with a van door shutting, which I think is kind of amazing. I don't know. I just like it.

And this live version is delighful and subdued. And I think Mates of State are absolutely adorbs and I think the drummer is cute and nerdy.

So this song reminds me of picking up friends in the cavalier (OH HOW I MISS THAT CAR) and them not judging me or complaining that this song was on repeat on the way too and from our destination.

It's complicated when you gravitate towards yourself...

I have to say, I wasn't a huge fan of SBTRKT. A friend would incessantly post their songs on FB and I was always quite meh about them.

BUT.
During the summer of Hot Messery (as the summer of 2011 shall hitherto be referred to), this was a featured song of the day on NPR.
And.
I loved it.
The narrator just consistently makes bad choices. And knows he will continue to do so.
SIGH.
And the rest of the album has grown on me. Just an FYI. Not a favorite but something I can dig whilst at work.

In secret we believe, we're nothing nothing nothing that we need...

Yes. More Mates of State. Part of me wants to be cynical and wonder when they will get divorced. The other part of me wonders what that must be like, to have a partner that you want/enjoy working with/being around incessantly. AND YET. They write these great songs about suburban disillusionment and consumerism. I don't know. I love it. Although my friend Ables doesn't think this song is that depressing, but I think it's about people giving up and being like, Meh. I guess. And although I am sure we all give up someday, I guess I'm just not ready yet? (it probably doesn't help that my head is filled with Marxist theory right now and it's culminating into this "do what you love/damn the man/save the empire philosophy--wow. Second Empire Records reference...)
To quote Velvet Goldmine:

(side note: I need to buy this movie on DVD. I have it on VHS. I also own casette tapes.)
(side note 2: PRUDE DO YOU REMEMBER TWO RAD MOVIES?)

Do you still feel younger than you thought you would by now...

Yes. I do still feel younger.
But I probably act about 10 years younger than my age too.
Bascially this is your sterotypical love-lost ballad. I just want to be the one he's singing about...Do you look into the mirror to remind yourself you're there. How perfect is that? So many good lines in this gem. LeSigh. And although it's fairly depressing, I can't help but smile when I listen to it.

But I won't ever pass up a moment to tell you replacement's a myth...

This is the LAST Mates of State song, I swear! More disillusionment. More meh-relationships. I cannot, for the life of me figure out this song but it doesn't make me love it any less. Part of me thinks it could actually be about platonic friendship that is lost due to her new relationship? But I don't know. We're just a little bit lost inside our houses. We're just a little unkempt out in the streets.
UGH.
I wanna be smart and write all the things.
Or maybe just less run-on sentences with more coherent thoughts.

We'll run like we're awesome. Totally genius...

Full disclosure: This song wins the prize for most plays on my iTunes.

Here's some of that fake nostalgia I was talking about. Love the imagery of this song. Love thinking it's fall and you're outside playing.

AND I think it recalls "Spirit of the Night" by Bruce Springsteen with it's cake line: Our hands are covered in cake but I swear we didn't have any. Is that a valid connection? Am I the only one who picked up on that? But Spirit in the Night is a very similar in tone and affect (no so much musically) about a group of friends getting together/getting drunk/high/laid. It's just a thought. Maybe that is too broad of a leap. I don't know. I'm not any type of music critic.


Stand in the puddle of the disco ball's glow...

I'm 90% sure there is some literary/mythological reference I'm not getting cos these guys aren't dummies. But that is the genius of it. I don't get the reference but the song is still awesome. Don't get stuck in your head. Come on be the one. AND it uses fun glam-y imagery, which I love. You're a goldmine. Who doesn't want to be told this?

Things I want:
1. slow dance with a boy of interest (i.e. not my brother or dad or cousin or bestie--somehow I missed out on this ritual)
2. be told I am a goldmine
3. be the lady michael ian black as aforementioned

Tell me it's nothing, try to convince me that I'm not drowning...

Ha. If I would have heard this song about two years ago...Well. This quoatables list would have been made then. This version is stripped down and awesome and The Civil Wars are what I listen to every morning when I first get to work. Again. It's not exactly my type of music, but I can't stop. Much like this never-ending blog post.

You were right about the end. It didn't make a difference...

First of all. I wanna wrap myself around the red, beardy goodness that is the lead singer.

Second. I listened to this song on repeat for 2.5 hours after visiting my parents. It was extremely cold out. Super was in the back seat. It was gray. And it was kind of perfect.
How can anybody know how they got to be this way...
I love it when my life foreshadows itself.
It's a recurring theme.

I am nothing without pretend, I know my faults can't live with them...

I just got into Wye Oak. It grows on you. Dreamy noise pop I think I've heard them described as? This version isn't as lush and full as the album version, but it's still rock and roll to me (yeah, that's right. I just threw down some Billy Joel lyrics whilst discussing a hipster band).

And since my life is like a movie/show/allthethings, my alarm just went off. Which I thought was kind of fitting since that was my last song!

Seriously. I can't believe I just literally told you why I love a selection of songs.
If you made it this far.
Well. I would offer you some sort of prize or something, but.
Well. That just isn't going to happen.