Bon Jovi :: You Give Love A Bad Name

You're a loaded gun
There's nowhere to run
No one can save me
The damage is done



















Bon Jovi, "You Give Love A Bad Name"

Tee hee. I can't say anything really, this song must rest on the laurels of it's brilliant lyrical content and Jon's equally brilliant hair don't. Have a great weekend...

Let's Go Sailing :: Icicles

But I know one day the sun will come
And the icicles will have no choice but to melt
And I'll forget how this felt















Let's Go Sailing, "Icicles"

Doesn't sound like such a sad song, does it? I mean the purty strumming and there is a hopefulness to the music. I believe this band has members in common with Silverspun Pickups, and I like that band well enough but they don't sound like this. This is Pop Music, capital P. And one of the Haden triplets is a part of this outfit too-- is it Tanya? Man, I should have gotten my facts on them straight before writing about them. Let's see, they're going to be on KCRW live in studio on Morning Becomes Eclectic this week. Maybe even today?!

More About Let's Go Sailing ::

Libbie Schrader :: Wish You Were The Woman

Where do we go from here
I don't think I can sleep this off
You've already made yourself clear
You think I would have had enough
But I wish you were the woman
I wish I was the man
When a man loves a woman the way I love you
He'll get her in the end













Libbie Schrader, "Wish You Were The Woman"

Schrader was in a band Think of England, that won all sort of Pantene-sponsored and Jewel (the singer) sponsored contests. Now she's a solo artist and she's still winning crap. She was a finalist in some International Songwriting Contest. You know I don't care about that stuff, I just like this song. It's pretty simple. And more importantly, it's fairly clever and I like clever.

I found this at the super-duper blog The Late Greats.

More about Libbie Schrader :: And even more

Pink Nasty :: "Burn"

Really wanna work this out
But I don't think you're gonna change
I do but you don't
Think it's best we go our separate ways
Tell me why I should stay in this relationship



















Pink Nasty, "Burn"

You betcha, it's an Usher cover! Pink Nasty is an odd moniker for a solo artist. She is actually Sara Beck, a folksinger who lives in Austin. I don't know a ton about her (or Usher for that matter) but she sings this one earnestly enough, doesn't she? Hey, it's all about a relationship gone gummy bear sour and that makes it quite fitting for this here blog. FYI, she has another song floating around the internet that is a duet with Will Oldham and it's quite nice. But man, I just can't get over what a bad name Pink Nasty is. Yowsa. And remember, if you got any suggestions for break-up, dumping or otherwise down 'n' out tunes, let me know.

More about Pink Nasty :: Full lyrics to this song

Afghan Whigs :: Band of Gold

I wait in the darkness of my lonely room
Filled with sadness, filled with gloom
Hoping soon that you'll walk
Back through that door
And love me like you tried before



















Afghan Whigs, "Band of Gold"

The 1970 Freda Payne soul classic was covered by the Whigs on their Uptown Avondale EP on Subpop circa 1992. That was an EP of covers that also included the classic soul tune, "Come See About Me." I love the fuzzy take on this song and Greg Dulli, singer of the Afghan Whigs, knows pain. He brings it. The guy was reportedly way screwed up, seriously manic and a bastard. It pretty much showed in all his old recordings. This one, despite not being penned by him, let's it all flow too, which in Dulli terms also means he's gonna sing heart-achingly off-key. Dulli's current gig heading up the Twilight Singers, still has the soul swagger, less fuzz, more in tune. I like it, not love it. As a side note, I once had a profound and really life-like dream about Greg Dulli that involved brine shrimp.

Full lyrics to this song :: More about Afghan Whigs

Whiskeytown :: Excuse Me While I Break My Own Heart Tonight

Well excuse me if I break my own heart tonight
Some things are born too strong
Have to learn how to fight
The situation keeps me drinking every goddamn day and night
The situation don't seem so right


















Whiskeytown, "Excuse Me While I Break My Own Heart Tonight"

Around February 14th many publications put out lists of break-up songs in an attempt to be a little ironic around the love-y holiday. I don't mind a little irony. Pop Candy, the USA Candy blog helmed by Whitney Mathieson suggested this Whiskeytown song and I was bummed I hadn't already though of it and put it into my little DORK playlist in my iTunes. But now here it is. It's a pretty self-explanatory number, but I love how it has not just the lyrical content, but the feeling of self-destruction that I knew oh so well in my single days when I was hitting the bar five out of seven. I'd also play their song "Empty Baseball Park" if I were feeling this down and out and wanted to keep the bad mood flowing.

More about Whiskeytown :: Full lyrics

Baboon :: Why'd You Say Die

You said "I'm gone. I made up my mind."
But I still want you back.
I said HEY! Why'd you go away?!











Baboon, "Why'd You Say Die"

This is one of those tunes that my husband had in his collection when we were dating and it caught my ear and stuck around. Make sure you wait around for the chorus where the emotion, the angst, the maniacal misery comes shooting out of singer Andrew Huffstetler with grisly intensity. And man, when he's not screaming, his voice is just drop-dead sexy. Oh and I love the swirling feedback-y guitars toward the end that speed up into the proclamation: "Oh God I swear I hate you..." This is one compact nugget of break-up pain, from 1996's Face Down in Turpentine.

Oh and Wikipedia says the band once appeared on Walker, Texas Ranger!

More about Baboon

Journey : Lovin', Touchin', Squeezin'

It won't be long, yes till you're alone
When your lover, oh, he hasn't come home
Cause he's lovin' oohh, he's touchin',
He's squeezin' another



















Journey, "Lovin', Touchin', Squeezin'"

I needed to finish out this week with some stinky cheese. I hope I don't reveal that I am way old if I tell you that I actually ached for a boy with the help of this song when it came out. But I was a wee tot then, barely old enough to ache for a boy. The drama of the 80s is so damn enviable. I mean there was no pretense of intellect or art, it was just about the vengeful whine, the painful, vengeful whine. If you're really getting over someone right here, right now, I really and truly suggest this song because it will cut to the chase, it will squeeze every bit of lingering pain from your bones till you're standing in a puddle of it. Or a puddle of water on your bathroom floor, because seriously, this is a total sing-in-the-shower-tune. C'mon everybody Nanananana nana nana nana nanananana.

Oh and can you name another song with three -in' words?