POW: 122612

Right now, I seem to be stuck indefinitely on the first part. Then again, it does aptly say, "The circle of life is a wheel that gets stuck in a rut."

 Harder Before It Gets Easier - David Wax Museum



Knock, knock, fate was at the door
Knock, knock, too loud to ignore
Knock, knock, we were unprepared
Knock, knock, fate it does not care

POW:011812

The truth is, I'm pulling a Mrs. Dubose.

Just with people.

POW:010411 - No longer a legal alien

But still an English[wo]man...

Englishman In New York - Sting

POW:112711

The worst part isn't the desperate anger that comes with the realization every day when I wake up in the morning. It's that first somewhat incoherent awareness that brings blissful forgetfulness. The immediate knowing thought breaking through is a moment of pure hell.

And you don't want to know how I feel.

I Need Some Sleep - Eels

POW:112611

The best part isn't the complete relief that comes once the manufactured release courses through my body. It's the first sensation of it moving through me that feels like freedom breaking wide open inside. The immediate exhalation after is a single moment of pure joy.

And I know how I feel.

Feeling Good (cover) - Muse

POW:111111

Je t'aime (live) - Staff Benda Bilili

POW:061311

Dog Days Are Over (live) - Florence + The Machine



The Killing Moon (live) - Echo & The Bunnymen



Killing Days (mashup) - LeeDM101 (Florence + The Machine vs. Echo & The Bunnymen)

(Merci, MB)

POW: 052711 - Lend me your ears

Conscience, how I truly hate it sometimes.

Two Against One - Danger Mouse and Daniele Luppi (featuring Jack White)

POW:052111 - Last laugh

I'd previously linked to one of my favorite songs off the Merge Records 20th Anniversary covers compilation. This one isn't exactly a favorite cover, but there is a subtle appreciation here that is so much of an in-joke that no one, not even the one person who might think he does, actually gets it but me. Which makes this particular version all the more endearing.

Neighborhood #1 (Tunnels)(cover) - Times New Viking



***

I've made a mix and find myself reluctant to release it. Maybe because I broke my own rule of not listening to it all the way through and did so--a necessity borne out of a lack of practice with how the mix was put together--and felt a strong sense of sudden exposure. Oh, not by what might or might not be obviously (and, for what it's worth, quite wrongly, at least by the general audience) deduced from the choices in the mix or the arrangement of the songs, but by my own reaction to what ended up in there. You could say this was one long in-joke that even I didn't want to be privy to.

POW:041111

I don't care about being desirable. I want to be memorable. I don't care about being needed. I want to be remembered.
Always when least expected.

Why Try To Change Me Now (cover) - Fiona Apple

POW 031611: Build me up

Sometimes I get so fucking tired of being everyone's Buttercup and just want to sit it all out.
(And then the next thing comes along and I pick up and go right back...)

Buttercup - Lucinda Williams

POW:021211

Surely (live) - Black Dub

POW:122210

I should just go ahead and add an Oistrakh tag.

This is what I tell people on the rare occasion when I am actually in the mood to to give a short answer on why Oistrakh above any one else: he doesn't play to you, he plays for you. He doesn't forcefully present his interpretation and expect you to accept, he gratefully invites you to take in his interpretation and hopes you make something of it. If you can't see that, I can't make you and, unlike him, I'm not leaving myself open for discussion on this.

Bach Violin Concerto in A minor, BWV 1041; 2nd movement: Andante (David Oistrakh)

POW:121910

Runaway - Oingo Boingo

"I'll think of you, if I don't forget..."

POW:120410

I Don't Know (live) - Lisa Hannigan

Make no mistake, though. I won't cook.

POW: It's all right

Here Comes The Sun (cover/live) - Richie Havens

POW 111810: Here I Am

I Want To Hold Your Hand (cover) - Al Green

POW 111010: Repurposed

Sure, you can take the more prevalent riffs and arrangements from 60s and 70s songs, string them along, and come out with a song of your own to call new and exciting. It's not necessarily bad. It's just that it's only good enough for what it is.

And folk apparently tend to like good enough.

I Want The World To Stop - Belle And Sebastian



Update: Elgar! God that part of the arrangement was killing me, not quite knowing what it reminded me of. I'll give them kudos for that, even though I'm pretty sure someone else did it, too, now that I've got it nailed down.

POW:110310

I know Frank's version is considered the definitive one, but we'd already established whose woman I am:

I've Got You Under My Skin - Al Bowlly

POW:091710

She's A Star - James