When people hear good
music, it makes them homesick for something they never had, and never will
have.
- Edgar Watson Howe
If I were a dictator
I should make it compulsory for every member of the population between
the ages of four and eighty to listen to Mozart for at least a quarter
of an hour daily for the coming five years.
- Sir Thomas
Beecham
Einstein is attributed
with the statement that even had Newton or Leibniz never lived, the world
would have the calculus, but if Beethoven had not lived, we would never
have had the C-minor Symphony.
- Alan Lightman
The Detroit Quartet
played Brahms last night. Brahms lost.
- Anonymous Critic
This machine kills
fascists.
- Sign on Bob Dylan's guitar case in "I'm Not There"
"I love rock'n'roll
because of its excitement, its freshness, its energy. It reminds me of
when the Charleston came in."
- Jule Styne, looking back at a life in music (1905-94)
We don't see eye to
eye, but we have a common interest: your money.
- Johnny Rotten, announcing the rationale for a reunion tour of the Sex
Pistols, 1996
Musical similarities.
- The Beautiful South come up with a novel reason for their breakup
My favourite word is
'Existenialism', I can't say it and I'm not quite sure what it means.
- 'Ginger Spice' Geri Halliwell
The Spice Girls don't
care if I like them or not because I'm not 12.
- Germaine Greer
The accepted wisdom
in the pop world appears to be that only adenoidal skeletons sell records.
- Richard Morrison, "The Times"
It's now obvious that
pop music has become the sole preserve of 12-year-old girls who spend their
pocket money (or children's allowance, it's so hard to tell these days)
buying ringtones by their favourite band.
- Ian O'Doherty, "The Irish Independent"
Live Earth was probably
the worst indictment of modern music ever seen on our screens... Being
a rock star should by definition be the least green thing you can do in
life. It should involve consumption of the earth's resources on a scale
and at a pace that beggars belief.
- Tom Dunne, in Dublin's "Evening Herald"
Alongside film, the
pop album was the defining art form of the 20th century, the soundtrack
to vast technological and social change. Singles were immediate, ephemeral
things. Albums made pondering pop and rock into a valid intellectual pursuit.
Friendships were founded, love could blossom, bands could be formed, all
from flicking through someone's album collection. Owning certain albums
became like shorthand; a manifesto for everything you stood for, and against:
the Smiths' Meat is Murder , Public Enemy's It Takes a Nation of Millions
to Hold Us Back. But for how much longer? Downloading favours the song,
not the album. MP3 players favour personal playlists or shuffling. Listeners
are already tiring of keeping company with an artist for an hour or more,
as an album meanders beyond mere singles. The album as we know it might
not last another 50 years, maybe not even another 10.
- Kitty Empire, paying tribute to the album, "The Observer"
It was a time when
Uttoxeter, like the rest of the country, was awash with endless different
youth tribes. There were new romantics, heavy rockers, smoothies, punks,
goths, skins and mod revivalists who were into the Specials and 2 Tone.
Then there were those pop culture kids who came into school wearing one
green sock, one pink sock and some deely boppers on their head. People
often looked daft, but were genuinely committed to their chosen denomination
and would wear their identities on their sleeves with immense pride. In
a town as small as Uttoxeter, though, there weren't enough people for each
sub culture to fill their own parties or clubs, so most weekends everyone
would turn up at the same village hall disco and end up fighting.
- Shane Meadows, on the England of 1983
Indie used to be such
a simple term in the Eighties - a byword for an attitude, a subculture
and a territory of music that was quietly, stubbornly, alternative... Indie
is now a byword for something very different: for commercial savvy and
success disguised as contemporary cool. It is no longer independent of
anything: indie has become the mainstream... Razorlight and Snow Patrol
are 'indie bands'. How did this happen? And does there remain such a thing,
in 2007, as a genuine indie kid? ...Gradually, the term 'indie' changed.
It came to mean any shambolic guitar band that wore vintage clothes and
harked back nostalgically to the past. Indie kids now are more likely to
be the boy with artfully messy hair or the cool girl in skinny jeans than
the 'mis-shapes' and 'misfits' that Jarvis Cocker used to treasure.
- Jude Rogers, "The Observer"
The world of mass enthusiasm
is much more like a pure market than like a public relations campaign.
In Britain, a touchingly underqualified creature called Posh Spice has
defied our expectations by remaining married to the footballer David Beckham
for all these months, but she hasn't defied the law of supply and demand:
she will always sell more newspapers than records, because the public,
although it will read anything about a permanently pouting young woman
with delusions of adequacy, refuses to be fooled about the music it listens
to. Completely to manage the public's taste is an ambition open only to
totalitarian societies, not to free ones, and in fact not even classical
communism could manage it: the Beatles still broke through.
- Clive James, "The Meaning of Recognition"
I didn't much like
Madonna's last television appearance in Britain. Billed as the height of
sophisticated sexiness, it featured Madonna wearing high heels, a trench
coat and a beret. She crouched like a pygmy prizefighter while snarling
into the microphone as if anyone listening might be insufficiently intelligent
to understand her message — a hard audience to find, in my view.
- Clive James, "The Meaning of Recognition"
Over the last few days
there has been a worrying myth going around - that Madonna looks sexy.
Let's stop being PC for a second - when you're nearly 50, it's time to
stop pretending you're in Girls Aloud. Madonna looks about as sexy as your
Ma getting drunk at a 21st and trying to cop off with one of your friends
— and that's never a good look.
- Ian O'Doherty, "The Irish Independent"
"I have brought with
me my 11 year-old son and his wife and their newborn daughter, who I am
hoping to sell to the singing transvestite Madonna."
- Borat, attending his UK premiere
Britney Spear’s not
a suitable role model, she’s a borderline certifiable dingbat from the
Appalachian foothills with the IQ of permafrost. She wasn’t a suitable
role model before she became famous and she’s about as much of one now.
You want role models for your daughter, then paper her bedroom with pictures
of Mother Teresa, Joan of Arc, Rosa Luxemburg and Hazel Blears. Or relax
and let her enjoy the fleeting, saccharine, pleasures of Hit Me Baby One
More Time (a fine single) and, in time, come to her own conclusions about
Britney.
- Rod Liddle, "The Times"
Jessica Simpson has
always seemed to be a particularly obnoxious creation. By pretending to
be dumber than she is, she has convinced a generation of young American
girls that it's cool to be 'ditzy', and by loudly proclaiming her Christianity
while dressing like a two-dollar trick, she manages to be both hypocritical
and cynical at the same time. But now we can at least laugh at the fact
that her marriage to Nick Lachey has collapsed. The couple, who were married
for three seasons of The Newlyweds, have issued a joint statement, saying:
"We would really like people to respect our privacy at this time." Dear
Lord, don't they realise that we have all been wishing that they would
respect their own privacy for years now?
- Ian O'Doherty, "The Irish Independent"
You think regular TV
rots your brain and wastes time? Try music TV and you'll find you can easily
do away with hours on end. I think I would have grown a beard and forgotten
to eat or sleep or go to work if the wife hadn't come down and snapped
me out of it.
- Brendan O'Connor, "The Irish Independent"
"To return for a moment
to extremely loud music with a gut-churning thudding bass beat... this
music reflects something every bit as disturbing in our collective psyche
as communism or fascism at their genocidal worst."
- Sir Peter Maxwell Davies, speech to the Incorporated Society of
Musicians
It takes a certain
kind of ego, cosseted and convinced utterly of its own self-righteousness,
to insult the collective intelligence of several generations of pop fans
and the memories of Holocaust victims in the same paragraph. But Maxwell
Davies pulls it off... Pop music thrives on one level because it is a living,
breathing, vital part of contemporary culture. Classical music is not.
Its greatest composers are long dead, its era long gone. It thrives to
an infinitely lesser degree because it is subsidised out of all proportion
to its popularity, easily eating up most of the public subsidy to music
in this country. Though it obviously touches people deeply, and is arguably
more rewarding intellectually than even the greatest pop song, it does
not touch nearly as many people.
- Sean O'Hagan, in response, "The Observer"
Q: What advice would
you give to young musicians of the future?
A: Definitely have
a good lawyer, and always sign your own cheques.
- An interview with Mundy in Dublin's "Metro" newspaper
It is hard to imagine
a sorrier collection of cynically concocted, pretentious, posturing, pubertal
shock-schlock and tacky titillation, covering up mawkishly mediocre music,
than this anthology of pseudo-diabolical, ersatz-outrageous, naked-women-and-dwarf-exploiting
dross. Though no doubt cutting-edge marketing executives are plotting such
projects at this very moment.
- Paul Hoggart, "The Times" reviewing Channel 4's "X-Rated: The Pop Videos
They Tried to Ban"
"Music that sounds
like crows being steamed alive in a pressure cooker."
- Clyde Umney, on modern music in a Stephen King short story
"The music business
is a cruel and shallow money trench, a long plastic hallway where thieves
and pimps run free, and good men die like dogs. There's also a negative
side."
- Hunter S. Thompson
"Pop music today is
so sweet, I feel like my teeth are rotting when I listen to the radio."
- Bono
When Motorhead toured
the Bomber album (in 1980) the stage set featured a mock up of a WW2 Wellington,
or possibly Lancaster, bomber which hung over the stage. So the tour reaches
Dresden in Germany. Lemmy strides out onto the stage, looks at the audience,
looks at the bomber and says: "Good evening Dresden. I bet you haven't
seen one of these for a while."
- seen on PopBitch
"Look, it p****s the
Americans off no end."
- Lemmy of Motorhead, explaining his collection of Nazi memorabilia
Following a cocaine-fuelled
sojourn in Berlin, David Bowie famously arrived at Victoria station for
a press conference in an open-topped, black Mercedes from which he seemed
to give the Nazi salute. This on the back of some mid-Seventies American
interviews in which he claimed that 'Britain is ready for a fascist leader',
and called Hitler 'one of the first rock stars'. In his defence, Bowie
later pointed out that he was wired on cocaine, dismissed the salute as
a wave and pointed out that saying Britain was 'ready' for a Fuhrer was
not the same as saying it 'needed' one. Was that an apology? Not really.
- Sean O'Hagan, "The Observer"
"All of us have lost
friends to alcohol and drugs. We don't glamorise that. I think all of us
know that when you're dealing with something like that, the house always
wins."
- Tad Kubler of The Hold Steady
"Can you sing?"
"Let's say, if they
rectify my voice in the studio, then yes, I can sing."
- Roger Milla, former Cameroon soccer star
"David Grant has worked
as a vocal coach to Take That, Atomic Kitten, Gareth Gates, Will Young,
S Club 7 and the Spice Girls and yet Channel Five is still wasting time
on documentaries about the evils of Hitler."
- Mark Lamarr, host of "Never Mind The Buzzcocks"
"Shania 'Oh I must
remember to buy some mutton' Twain once performed at the Nobel Prize Peace
Concert with Elton John and Phil Collins. You probably remember that year.
They had to wrestle a Stanley knife off Nelson Mandela."
- Mark Lamarr, "Never Mind The Buzzcocks"
"A man who can list
on his CV rapper, comedian, presenter, actor, writer – all after the word
'failed'. Superstar fantasist Richard Blackwood. Or as I think of him,
Won't Smith."
- Mark Lamarr, "Never Mind The Buzzcocks"
"Terri Walker says
she fancies Robbie Williams and The Rock. I fancy Robbie and The Rock,
too. The full list is Robbie, a rock, a dark alley, a saw and a double-sized
coffin just in case Kelly Osbourne is first on the scene."
- Mark Lamarr, "Never Mind The Buzzcocks"
"I nearly died when
I heard his song 'Irish Son'. I absolutely hated it. It's the worst lyric
on a record I have ever heard. I had to take it off in case I committed
suicide."
- Elton John, on Brian McFadden's "Irish Son"
"He thinks no one understands
him but of course we all do. You're just being a w*nker. Go home."
- Charlotte Church, about Pete Doherty
The songs all sound
as if they were written by a committee with a few too many white men on
it.
- Joe Queenan, on the musical Dreamgirls, "The Guardian"
More of that which
does not live, yet will not die: like Tolkein's ring wraiths, The Rolling
Stones once again stalk the land.
- David Bennun, in Britain's "Mail on Sunday"
To Chumbawamba, each
style is no more than a platform for lyrical pamphleteering executed with
the subtlety, strategy and devastating impact of a playground attack with
a faulty, dribbling water-pistol.
- Davin Bennun, in "The Guardian"
Singer Dolores O'Riordan
is endowed with the geopolitical savvy of Tinkerbell the Magic Fairy, and
the lyrical agility of mud... the type of callow, palpitating Oirishism
which fills many Irish citizens with desperate embarrassment.
- David Bennun, reviewing "The Cranberries", in Britain's "Mail on Sunday"
It’s about time we
instigated a prestigious award for the first world leader to tell Bono
to get lost.
- Rod Liddle, "Someone please shut Bono up", The Times"
"Every time I clap
a child dies in Africa."
"Well, stop clapping
then!"
- A heckler has a sharp comeback for Bono
"The problem with U2
is that Bono's lyrics speak in hackneyed rock-Esperanto, which is probably
enough to get people to put lights up in the air in Eastern Europe or South
America but it is frustratingly short on specifics. Also, it's quite adolescent."
- John Harris, commenting on U2 on BBC's "Newsnight Review"
"A street with no name?
He's like a f*****g postman with the blues."
- Billy Connolly, on Bono's lyrics
"You can call me anything
you want except Sir. Lord of Lords... that'll do."
- Bono, accepting an honorary British knighthood
"It was like hearing
a 40 year old black man, while seeing this 19 year old pimply white kid."
- Pete Waterman, on the surprising vocal talents of Rick Astley
Stacey's Mom ebulliently
encapsulated Fountains of Wayne's musical world view: the song was absurdly
catchy while, lyrically, it read like a scene from a John Hughes movie.
- Ed Power, in Dublin's "Evening Herald"
In 1967, Brian Wilson,
the leader of the Beach Boys, faced a musical arms race with the Beatles.
Both were intent on extending the boundaries of pop. The album Smile was
billed as Wilson’s magnum opus, yet by releasing Strawberry Fields Forever,
the Beatles beat him to the punch.
- Richard Clayton, reviewing the documentary "Beautiful Dreamer" for "The
Times"
Born to Run begins
with the revving of what sounds like a hundred Harley-Davidsons — then
off we go on a hormonal joy ride. A young man pleads with a girl called
Wendy to climb onto his motorcycle and leave behind their dead-end town
and dead-end lives. It articulated the kind of love I wanted: love as the
fireworks that never go out... Born to Run is a young man’s song. Springsteen
was in his early twenties when he wrote it, and I don’t play it that much
any more. You can’t be a middle-aged man with a mortgage singing about
being born to run. And I can understand people who dismiss it as overblown,
bombastic, overwrought, melodramatic. But then, so is true love.
- Cosmo Landesman, on Springsteen's "Born to Run", "The Times"
Songs, just like scents,
are highly evocative, and a few bars of a particular song can be enough
to transport you back to happy times in the past. Any time I hear Paul
Simon's "Fifty Ways to Leave Your Lover" I am immediately returned to warn
summer days spent splashing about at the Forty Foot pool. Any time I hear
"Rhythm is a Dancer" by Snap (mercifully infrequently) I'm brought directly
back to the cringe-worthy days of attending school discos. But more often
thatn not, the songs that mean much to you are usually tied up with relationships.
The songs that plunge you back to your past unexpectedly tend to be the
ones that carry the darkest memories, the ones that kept you company in
the small hours while you cried your face out, or the ones that finally
carried you through to the other side of a relationship break-up. Naturally
these memories are unwelcome, and in some cases whole albums have been
tainted due to ill-advised listening during a batch patch.
- Edel Coffey, on the darkside of comforting music, "The Evening Herald"
Close your eyes and
you can hear her even now. It's 1960 and you're parked at the Steak n'
Shake in your red and white Chevy convertible and on the radio, Connie
Francis is singing "Where the Boys Are." It's a love song to a time and
a place. And as you tip the curb girl a dime, you close your eyes, and
dream about pointing that Chevy right down Route 45 to Fort Lauderdale.
- from Roger Ebert's review of "Where the Boys are '84" for "Chicago Sun
Times"
Johnny Cash sang like
he meant business. He didn't get fancy and he didn't send his voice on
missions it could not complete, but there was an urgency in his best songs
that pounded them home. When he sang something, it stayed sung.
- Roger Ebert, from his review of "Walk The Line"
I went off and listened
properly to The Joshua Tree. I came to realise that this was one of those
moments when it all came together. The look, the classic songs, the vast,
layered production, the iconic, mythological imagery of America, Kerouac's
America of the pioneers and the wide open spaces. And really it was all
about America, wasn't it? I think The Joshua Tree was what really taught
me to love America, the America of exuberence, naivete, possibilities,
wide open spaces and a living history. This was the America that invented
gospel, rock n'roll, Stetsons and that old-time religion... It was all
drenched in slide guitars, the desert, redemtpion and classic Americana.
It was U2 going back to someone else's roots... Suddenly, U2 had grown
up and made an album that was out of time, timeless, unique and close to
perfect.
- Brendon O'Connor, looking back after 20 years in "The Irish Independent"
Fans of Nick Drake
were given a boost when the "Irish Times" reported that he would give a
rare concert in Dublin. His appearance is considered doubtful, however,
as he has been dead since 1974.
- seen in "The Irish Independent"
"My dreams are always
the same, people are ringing up, asking me to join 'The Rolling Stones'."
- Lawrence (Bill Nighy), retiring civil servant, "The Girl in the Cafe"
"Man, you gotta update
your cassette tape collection. For one, they're cassette tapes."
- Sam, trying to drag his brother Dean into 2005 on "Supernatural"
I've realised now that
I am so gay. I love everything gay men love, except the whole ya'know,
sex with men thing. I mean all the good stuffs gone, Abba: GAY, Wonderwoman:
GAY, The Village People: GAY! Who woulda thought the Village People were
gay? It's just like 20 years ago the Gay community got divorced from the
Straight community and said "We're leaving and we're having the good CD's.
We're having Kylie, Duran Duran and Frankie Goes To Hollywood. You can
have Bon Jovi.
- Adam Hills
"Generally, the field
of music, other than the obvious example, has been dominated by people
who can hear."
- Max to Frankie, in "It's All Gone Pete Tong"
"Ian McCulloch of Echo
& the Bunnymen would, I think, have come unplaced in an Ian McCulloch
look-alike competition at the NEC Arena last Thursday."
- John Peel, reviewing a Bunnymen gig from 1988 for "The Observer"
"On our last tour the
support band was taking bets on which one of us was going to die first."
- Andy Cairns of Therapy?
"I remember seeing
a castle..."
- Duff McKagan, recalls playing Slane Castle with Guns n'Roses in 1992
We left New York to
drive to a venue in Boulder, Colorado. It was a 36-hour drive but by the
time we got to Boulder the venue had changed hands. What had been The Marquee,
Home of Music, had been renamed Mingers, Home of the Ladyboy. Oh, and the
gig was still on. "We are the next U2," we told the new owner. "We are
a culturally significant act from Ireland." However, the man, a member
of a Chinese Triad, was having none of it. "You play music," he told us,
"while ladyboy strip."
- Tom Dunne, recalling a hair-raising Something Happens tour, "Evening
Herald"
There is a schoolteacher
in my town and he looks like Bugs Bunny,
He's a mass murderer
and I'm not being funny.
- Paul Durcan
"The only nice thing
about the Spice Girls is that I can still enjoy them with the music turned
down."
- Mitch Lee…hmmm, I prefer The Corrs for that
"The only thing The
Corrs taught us was to clean up our image. We weren't gonna meet those
three gorgeous girls looking like knackers."
- Dave Browne of Irish band "Picture House"
"What can I do to make
you love me?"
- Andrea Corr,The Corrs , "What can I do?"
You dont need to do
anything.
- Male population of the world.
Pitched somewhere between
Gary Numan and the Sugababes' song that sampled, er, Gary Numan, Neosupervital's
self-titled debut LP wears its debt to 1980s electro-pop lightly and with
good humour. A geek on the record sleeve (O'Donovan is pictured in an ill-fitting
suit and entirely inappropriate Ray Bans), Neosupervital is, judging by
tracks such as Artscool Girl, a geek in real life also. In fact, one can't
rule out the possibility that his entire musical career is a contrivance
intended to improve his chances of bagging a girlfriend.
- Eamon Miller, reviewing Dublin act Neosupervital in "Metro Life"
A worrying development
set for mass greatness in 2007 is newly minted genre New Rave. When I first
heard the term, it struck terror into my very being. In my mind, rave is
actually more awful than any other musical genre. No wonder people took
drugs to listen to it, nobody in their right mind could stick it... It
makes sense that new young bands like Enter Shakiri and Klaxons might be
influenced by rave, considering it would have formed the mainstream music
of their youth. My childhood listening on the other hand was defined by
bands like Wham!, The Petshop Boys and Bryan Ferry, which did nothing for
my coolness quotient but did create a desire for melody in music. Rave
on the other hand was rarely melodic and often cacophonous to me.
- Edel Coffey, on the cycle of music revivals, "Evening Herald"
Some hints on how to
enjoy this LP. Give your brain the evening off.
- Smash Hits review of AC/DC's "Blow up your Video"
"Playing 'My Achy Breaky
Heart' to an unwilling listener is specifically forbidden under the Geneva
War Crimes rules."
- J. Michael Straczynski
There was condemnation
around the world after it was alleged that interrogators at Guantanamo
Bay had tortured prisoners by playing them the music of Christina Aguilera.
Yet the prisoners still wouldn't spill the beans. Why don't they do the
obvious and play them Westlife?
- from "The Irish Independent"
"Westlife's video for
'Uptown Girl' makes Billy Joel's look like a model of gritty social realism."
- Tom Dunne
I'm not going to be
on it now, am I? That, strangely, was my first thought when I heard the
news that "Top of the Pops" was to end after 42 years. Rational people
might have pointed out other impeduments to my getting onto it: my age,
the fact that the band hasn't written a song in over ten years. But, those
to me were details and details rooted in the real world, a world I cared
little about and which TOTP was supposed to save me from. Reality has no
place amongst smoke machines, girls in tinsel, flashing lights and full
mimes.
- Tom Dunne, of almost-big Irish band Something Happens, "Evening Herald"
"All we had ever heard
about record company people is that they were vampires and criminals and
they killed Elvis Presley."
- Bjork
"Record companies seemed
to have every resource at their disposal except a soul..."
- Mika
"I wake up some nights
and I think, Orchestral maneuvers in the Dark? What a stupid name! Why
did we pick that one?"
- Andy McClusky, of OMD
"If there is a better
singer in Britain than Craig David then I'm Margaret Thatcher."
- Elton John, after David is overlooked at the Brit awards
Baroness, you look
different. Have you lost weight?
- The Irish Independent, unimpressed with Elton's opinion
Pony Club, showing
the Americans where their white trash came from.
- Description of the Irish band from their official site, PonyClub.tv
"I saw Debbie Gibson
here at the hotel, and she had all this toilet paper out in the hallway.
I was all, 'Wait a second, I thought heavy metal bands did stuff like that...'"
- Metallica guitarist Kirk Hammett recalls a 1988 run in with teen sensation
Debbie Gibson
"Britney Spears has
used up her 15 minutes of fame, and now she is using Tiffany’s leftover
10 minutes."
- The Vent
"As she promoted her
new album over recent weeks, a succession of talented journalists nearly
killed themselves in attempting to get Kylie Minogue to say something interesting
- all to no avail."
- Alexis Petridis, "The Guardian"
"I’ve got 15 million
in the bank, 3 stalkers, and I'm about to go the board at Man City! Am
I happy? NO! I want more!"
- Noel Gallagher, Oasis, 1995
The finale was impeded
only by a barrage of icecubes, peanuts, and bannanas being thrown at the
drummer, Tony. These come, not from the crowd, who go home happy anyway,
but from the side of the stage where Liam is unloading the contents of
the buffet from the dressing room...
-The Guardian's Jim Shelly reports an Oasis concert
"Nothing bothers me
more than when groups like Pearl Jam and Nirvana whine and moan and complain
about life and being famous. Let me tell you, being famous is great! The
feeling when someone asks you for an autograph, unbelieveable! I just think
Americans are tired of people telling them how crap their lives are. I
think when people listen to our music, we tell them how good their lives
could be. I guess I just can't understand the thoughts of Eddie Vedder
or that whole bit... I mean, lad, if you hate your job so much, why don't
you fuckin' go work at a car wash or McDonald's or something?"
- Noel Gallagher, on MTV 1994
Dani Behr: "Do you
still have physical fights."
Noel: "No. The last
time was in March or May and we haven't done since because..."
Dani Behr: "Who won?"
Noel: "I did. He claims
that because he was drunk, but I claimed I had won because I had a cricket
bat in my hand."
One thing about us
critics: We tend to value artistic innovators over more conservative crowd-pleasers.
But sometimes the crowd-pleasers end up making the more durable music.
In 1991, I was touting a relatively adventurous British band: Jesus Jones.
In contrast, I didn't hear anything but recycled British Invasion and glam-rock
riffs from Jesus Jones' U.K. countrymen, Oasis. "Wonderwall," "Some Might
Say" and "Champagne Supernova" are great songs that far surpass anything
Jesus Jones ever wrote. But they didn't sound "visionary." They just sounded
like classic-rock songs that would've fit on the radio in 1974. Which is
exactly the point, and the reason "Morning Glory" went on to sell millions,
while Jesus Jones faded into obscurity.
- Greg Kot, reassessing Oasis 10 years on, "The Chicago Tribune"
Being rebellious —
or at least feeling rebellious — has normally been the natural state for
young people. Between the ages of about 13 and 18, youth usually resist
the rules and mores of their rulers and instead identify with mods, punks
or rockers — the more outrageous the better. Today they listen to bland
bands that preach safety, caution, respectability and good manners, and
become good little Blairites even before they reach adulthood. It is testament
to the extraordinary levels of conformism and compliance in New Labour’s
Britain that even rock stars now sing from the same hymn sheet as Blair.
Come back, Oasis — all is (almost) forgiven.
- Brendan O'Neill, on the success of bands like Coldplay, "The Spectator"
Coldplay are the music
equivelent of low fat yoghurt.
- Ed Power, "The Irish Independent"
#
"I'm not alone 'cause
the TV's on yeah. I'm not crazy 'cause I take the right pills everyday."
- Jimmy Eat World, "Bleed American"
"I’m on my feet. I’m
on the floor. I’m good to go, now all I need is just to hear a song I know.
I wanna always feel
like part of this was mine. I wanna fall in love tonight."
- Jimmy Eat World, "Praise Chorus"
"All the best DJs save
the slowest song for last."
- Jimmy Eat World, "Work"
"Home, home is where
I always want to be, home is there for you and is for me, home is where
I never want to leave. And don't you know — nothing gives me pleasure like
you do."
- Josh Rouse, "Nothing Gives Me Pleasure"
"I think I got it all
figured out; I think I got it made; I think my plan is safe from laughter."
- Josh Rouse, "Laughter"
"We're so well dressed
— it's a talent and it's our style."
- Josh Rouse, "Winter in the Hamptons"
Nobody knows it — but
you've got a secret smile, and you use it only for me.
- SemiSonic, "Secret Smile"
Driving along this
highway all these cars.
And upon on the sidewalk
people in every direction.
No words exchanged,
no time to exchange.
When all the little
ants are marching.
Red and blank antennae
waving, they all do it the same.
- Dave Matthews Band, "Ants Marching"
What in the world would
I sing for if I had it all?
What in the world
would I go on for if I had it all?
- Dave Matthews Band, "If I Had It All"
"What about the men
who say 'Do as I do. Believe in what I say, for your own good, or I'll
kill you!' I can't get behind that!"
- William Shatner, "I Can't Get Behind That"
"I have saved the world
in the movies so naturally there's folks who think I must know what to
know.
I'd love to help the
world and all its problems but I'm an entertainer, and that's all,
So the next time there's
an asteroid or a natural disaster,
I'm flattered that
you thought of me but I'm not the one to call."
- William Shatner, "Real"
"We’re only going to
change this place, by killing everybody in the human race."
-The Police, "Invisible Sun"
"Confront your enemies,
avoid them when you can, gentlemen will walk but never run."
- Sting, "An Englishman In New York"
"In the paper today,
tales of war and of waste. But you turn right over to the TV page."
- Crowded House, "Don't Dream It's Over."
"Living is easy with
eyes closed."
- The Beatles, "Strawberry Fields Forever"
"And I felt like a
star, I thought the world could go far, if they listened to what I said."
- U2, "The Ocean"
"I was drowning my
sorrows, but my sorrows, they learned to swim."
- U2, "Until The End Of The World"
"Now no ones knocked
upon my door, for a thousand years or more
All made up and nowhere
to go, welcome to this one man show
Just take a seat they're
always free, no surprise, no mystery
In this theatre that
I call my soul, I always play the starring role."
- The Police, "So Lonely"
"The dreams in which
I’m dying are the best I’ve ever had."
- Tears for Fears, "Mad World"
We drink and we sing
and we drink and we sing, HEY!
We drink and we drive
and we puke and we drink,HEY!
We drink and we fight
and we bleed and we cry, HEY!
We puke and we smoke
and we drink and we die. HEY!
- Denis Leary: Traditional Irish Folk Song
"She was a he, but
what the hell, honey, since you've already got my money..."
- Bob Gibson, "Mendocino"
"Amusing belly dancers
distract me from my wine."
- Squeeze, "Take Me I'm Yours"
"I don't have to sell
my soul / He's already in me / I wanna be adored / You adore me."
- "I Wanna Be Adored", The Stone Roses
"She is the one in
front of me, the siren and the ecstasy.
Crashing beats and
fantasy, setting sun in front of me."
- Simple Minds, "New Gold Dream"
"Catch a boy, they're
falling — falling in love — they're falling."
- Simple Minds, "Colours Fly and Catherine Wheel"
"A glittering prize,
is it the prize of lost loves?
They can remember
quiet sides of midnight...
Shine on, Shine the
light on me, in all of my life so that much more I see."
- Simple Minds, "Glittering Prize"
"Somewhere there is
some place, that one million eyes can't see.
And somewhere there
is someone, who can see what I can see. Someone. Somewhere. In Summertime."
- Simple Minds, "Someone Somewhere In Summertime."
The world it shows
me up and my clothes they show me up — I never knew this before.
~ The Sundays, "Joy"
England my country
the home of the free — such miserable weather,
But England's as happy
as England can be, why cry?
~ The Sundays, "Can't Be Sure"
I wonder if you can
pick up my accent on the phone,
When I call across
the country, when I call across the world.
I see you in my kitchen,
I can picture you now,
As you toast to your
small town and you drink the happy hour.
I’m in London still...
Today I dream of home and not of London anymore.
- The Waifs, "London Still"
You're still the same
/ May you rise as you fall /
You were easy / You
are forgotten / You are the ways of my mistakes.
- The Smashing Pumpkins, "Blank Page"
When deuces are wild
you can follow the queen. I'd go too except I know where she's been.
~ Suzanne Vega
I dont want to wait
for our lives to be over, so will it be yes, or will it be sorry?
- Paula Cole, "Wait"
And when somebody needs
you, well, there's no drug like that.
- Heather Nova, "London Rain"
Security's the whore
in me that never lets me fly,
And you, you look
like freedom, you look like change,
You look like the
avalanche I need.
- Heather Nova, "Avalanche"
Fall for me, my southern
cross, my star,
Shine for me when
love has gone too far.
- Heather Nova, "Heal"
I can bring what you
need, I can make things alright.
Glory fades; It's
what I am to you.
- Heather Nova, "Higher Ground"
I know if I saw you
in a movie doing all the things you do,
I would fall in love
with you.
- Heather Nova, "If I Saw You In A Movie"
Come to stranger, wants
to know my name,
Come tomorrow, I still
feel the same,
And I like this wide
open view,
But I'm not looking
further than you.
- Heather Nova, "Further Than You"
I saw a mountain from
higher above... big sky above me, a river inside me and I'm doubled up
in love.
Feels good, like poetry.
Don't ask me to explain it.
- Heather Nova, "Doubled Up"
Something about you
really moves me, you found the waterfalls, the treasures in me.
I don't feel so lost,
and I don't have to hide. Something has set me free.
And I don't mind it
that I can't explain. I just choose to believe that you have something
to do with it.
And I'll find the
answer, and if the answer is you, my love, I'll have to have you — for
eternity.
- Lizz Wright, "Eternity"
You used to say the
world goes away, when you're with me... I want to be real to you. Let me
in, or let me go.
- Lizz Wright, "Speak Your Heart"
It's our last night,
our last kiss, so turn down the lights and hold me... Lie to me, until
I believe I will be here in your arms for eternity.
- Erica Gimpel, "Goodbye"
You claim you want
my love, well I wouldn't know by the way you behave...
Love is a contact
sport, you gotta move in tight. If you wanna do it right, here I am.
- Whitney Houston, "Love is a Contact Sport"
She's like a cat in
the dark and then she is the darkness.
~ Fleetwood Mac, "Rhiannon"
"You don't change the
city, the city changes you."
- Tina Dico, "The City"
"When my confidence
is up against the wall... When it seems clear that you really don't care,
suddenly you call — suddenly you call... What are my weapons? I can't compete.
When all I get points for is to smile and be sweet. My iron gate closes
but you never notice. There's a war in my mind. Love is cruel to the sensitive
kind."
- Tina Dico, "Cruel to the Sensitive Kind"
"I’m on the edge for
you, losing my head for you. I’m in the red for you tonight.
Until my hopes fall
through there’s nothing else I can do."
- Tina Dico, "In The Red"
My memory is cruel,
I’m queen of attention to details, defending intentions if he fails.
- Sarah Bareilles, "Between the Lines"
Something always brings
me back to you. It never takes too long.
No matter what I say
or do I'll still feel you here 'til the moment I'm gone.
Set me free, leave
me be. I don't want to fall another moment into your gravity.
- Sarah Bareilles, "Gravity"
For your eyes only,
I never need to hide. You can see so much in me, so much in me that's new...
You'll see what no
one else can see, and now I'm breaking free...
The love I know you
need in me, the fantasy you've freed in me...
The passions that
collide in me, the wild abandoned side of me. Only for you, for your eyes
only.
- Sheena Easton, "For Your Eyes Only"
"I don't usually take
chances, most would easily agree,
Something in your
eyes, is saying you can ease my heartache...
I would tell you I
am happy, if I wasn't so damn sad,
And the loneliness
both overwhelms and keeps me empty, that's how it's been for a while,
And life's so hard,
it's the little things that seem to be getting me today."
- Mindy Smith, "Down In Flames"
"All the things I know
I need it just keeps me going,
All the things I've
never had it just keeps me wanting it more... fighting for it all."
- Mindy Smith, "Fighting For It All"
"You may not be what
everybody needs but Tennessee you're good enough for me.
I can see stars shining
in your night, your daytime seems like Cash and Patsy Cline...
You may not be what
I will always need but I call you home."
- Mindy Smith, "Tennessee"
I fear I am broken
and won’t mend, I know.
One thing I ask when
the stars light the skies,
Who now will sing
me lullabies, oh who now will sing me lullabies?
In this big world
I’m lonely, for I am but small,
Oh angels in heaven,
don’t you care for me at all?
~ Kate Rusby, "Who Will Sing Me Lullabies?"
"Oh sir, heart broken
I'll be.
Is she finer than
I? Is she tall and lean?
Is she the rarest
you've ever seen?
Of your own heart
is she the queen?"
"Oh madam, she's twenty
of thee.
She's tall and she's
lean.
How she smiles on
me.
She's the rarest,
she is my queen.
I'll never care for
a girl like thee."
~ Kate Rusby, "All God's Angels"
"It's not easy to hide
when your heart's on full view. Oh tonight cruel world be forgiving, for
once in my life I am living."
~ Kate Rusby, "Little Jack Frost"
Blue mountain river,
comfort me a while... if only for a while...
The world is full
of madness and I find it hard to smile.
~ Cara Dillon, "Blue Mountain River"
Do you wish your nose
was longer — so you'd have an excuse not to see past it?
~ Kathleen Edwards, "Hockey Skates"
I'm looking forward
to looking back on these days.
~ Mandy Moore, "Looking Forward To Looking Back"
Did you ever feel like
you wanna be someone else for just one day?
Did u ever feel like
you wanna see through another pair of eyes?
...
Did u ever feel like
you should have said something smarter at the time?
Did u ever feel like
you should have kept it all to yourself?
Did u ever think it
might be your fault?
...
And I wonder, if I'm
just built this way coz every man that I know makes me feel like I'm to
blame?
- Samantha Ronson, "Built This Way"
Do you like what you're
doing?
Would you do it some
more?
Or will you stop once
and wonder what you're doing it for?
~ Nick Drake, "Hazey Jane"
The summer rain is
falling like its never going to stop, it's been ages. Puddles form on city
corners, businessmen they leap between the edges. Umbrellas take up battle
spots but nature's fury always proves much stronger... The rain's gone,
here come the swallows. Let's start today tomorrow.
~ Youth Group, "Start Today Tomorrow"
Given time and a cheap
dark room and I will show you all the love and wonder you could buy.
- Gene, "Your Love, It Lies"
We're the stars of
CCTV. Making movies, out on the street... can't you see the camera loves
me?
- Hard Fi, "Stars of CCTV"
Night falls and towns
become circuit boards.
We can beat the sun
as long as we keep moving.
From the air, stadium
lights stand out like flares,
And all I know is
that you're sat here right next to me
- Maximo Park, "Books from Boxes"
Lost in the milky way,
smile at the empty sky
And wait for the moment
when a million chances may all collide.
From cradles and sleepless
nights, you breathe in life forever,
and stare at the World
from deep under eiderdown.
Although this World
is a crazy ride, you just take your seat and hold on tight.
So here's your life,
we'll find our way, we're sailing blind, but it's certain nothing's certain.
- The Lightning Seeds, "The Life of Reilly"
Children behave, that's
what they say when we're together
And watch how you
play, they don't understand.
- Tiffany, "I Think We're Alone Now"
"All Harrys, Dick and
Tommys and someday even commies will dance around to the sound..."
- Ethel Merman, "The International Rag" from "Call Me Madam"
There's a place where
a kid without a cent he can grow up to be president.
A magic kingdom filled
with Barbie dolls, if you've got the time we can make it a good time.
Americanos - Blue
Jeans and Chinos. Coke, Pepsi and Oreos - Americanos.
Movies and heroes
in the land of the free, you can be what you wanna be.
- Holly Johnson, "Americanos"
And you got paid on
Friday, and your pockets are jinglin'
And you see the lights
you get all tinglin'
'Cause you're cruisin'
with a 6 and you're looking for the heart of Saturday night
- Tom Waits, "Looking for the Heart of Saturday Night"
"Hold on to 16 as long
as you can, changes come around real soon, make us women and men."
- John Cougar Mellencamp, "Jack and Diane"
"When I look back now
that summer seemed to last forever and if I had the choice,
I'd always want to
be there. Those were the best days of my life."
- Bryan Adams, "Summer of '69"
London calling to the
faraway towns
Now that war is declared
and battle come down
...
The ice age is coming,
the sun is zooming in
Engines stop running
and the wheat is growing thin
A nuclear error, but
I have no fear
London is drowning
- and I live by the river
We got our own manifesto
- Be kind to queers.
And I'm so glad the
revolution's here - It's nice and warm now!
- The Jam, "Strange Town"
In the city there's
a thousand things I want to say to you
- The Jam, "In The City"
I'm so sick, sick,
sick and tired of working just to be retired... Saturday is your only highlight,
when you go out and live the high life.
- The Enemy, "Away From Here"
Half the kids who you
grew up with, were pushin prams by the time that they were just sixteen.
If love is a drug
then where is the cure, for the girl who used to talk to you about her
dream.
...The grown ups said,
listen to your head, but our hearts were crying out for heroes on TV screens.
Half the kids that
aren't pushing prams, are pushing pills to boys and girls who are half
their age.
...And all of this,
our hearts, our nation, a total lack of civilization. Will it ever be the
same?
- The Enemy, "This Song"
Shelly was a good girl.
She never left her daddy's side. She was a Techno-Dancea-Phobic.
- The Enemy, "Techno-Dancea-Phobic"
I could be the catalyst that sparks the revolution, I could be an inmate in a long-term institution.
- Ian Dury, What A Waste
So I start a revolution from my bed, cos you said the brains I had went to my head.
Tonight I go to hell
for what I've done to you.
- Afghan Whigs, "Debonair"
Nothing like a bad
decision says who you are.
- The Gin Blossoms, "Perfectly Still"
Some trust in love
and some trust in hatred. Some trust in fear and some in violence. Some
trust in faith and some trust in fortune...
Some trust in pain
and some trust in pleasure. Some trust in union, some in innocence. Some
trust in everyone and some just get away...
Some trust in God
and some trust in country. Some trust in love and some in violence.
Some trust in diamonds,
some trust in devils. Some trust fear and some just get away.
- The Fray, "Some Trust"
I don't want to live
without reason.
- The Fray, "Without Reason"
It's a poor man's heaven
to be free...
- Seth Lakeman, "Poor Man's Heaven"
Well excuse me if I
break my own heart
Its mine from the
finish I guess; Its mine from the start
The situation just
dont seem so goddamn smart
The situation is tearing
me apart
The situation keeps
me drinking every goddamn day and night
The situation dont
seem so right
So youll have to excuse
me while I break my own heart.
- Whiskeytown, "Excuse Me While I Break My Own Heart"
# FOR THE GREEN & GOLD : IRISH ARTISTS
And if you ask me what
is wrong,
I'll blame the beauty
on the TV,
I'll blame the beauty
that is not me,
I'll blame the beauty
that is not with me.
- Brando, "The Beauty on the TV"
Once there was a time
when my mind lay on higher things
And once there was
a time I could blindfold myself with love,
But not now — now
I'm resigned to the kind of life
I had reserved for
other guys, less smart than I
You know, the kind
who will always end up with the girls.
- The Divine Comedy, "Becoming More Like Alfie"
Pale, pubescent beasts
roam through the streets and coffee shops
Their prey gather
in herds of stiff knee-length skirts and white ankle socks
But while they search
for a mate my type hibernate in bedrooms above
Composing their songs
of love.
- The Divine Comedy, "Songs Of Love"
Laugh at the tears
you're crying
Smile while your head
explodes
- The Divine Comedy, "The Pop Singer's Fear of the Pollen Count"
I fall in love with
someone new practically everyday but thats ok
Its just the price
I pay for being a man (if thats really what I am)
- The Divine Comedy, "In and Out in Paris and London"
If I fall in love it
could be forever, so I'll never fall in love
But the moment I can
feel that you feel the same way too
Is when I might fall
in love with you.
- The Divine Comedy, "Timewatching"
I met a girl, she was
a frog princess and yes I do regret it now
But how was I to know
that just one kiss could turn my frog into a cow?
- The Divine Comedy, "The Frog Princess"
"Beauty is only skin
deep, like they all say, you're skin deep like no other "
...
"If Noah builds an
ark, we won't be getting in - he'll save it for the beautiful, congenitally
thin "
...
"I read everything
that you wrote and it seemed like you were living my life better than I
was "
- Something Happens, "Here Come The Soldiers"
There's a girl in my
class with a face just made for kissing
What kind of God gives
you a rod and says you can't go fishing?
- Something Happens, "Brand New God"
We've got no conscience
or no patience...
We've awkward ways
to say no...
We've got the blueprints
for Playstations...
If you need someone
to say no, let's go...
We're dismissive and
compulsive...
We can get away with
murder, we've got respect for all the lawyers...
We've got a mindless
sense of violence...
We have a way to keep
you silent...
We have respect for
law and order...
If you've lost all
of your heroes, call us...
If you've lost both
of your parents, join us.
- The Fixed Stars, "Blueprints"
There are secrets I
wouldn't even tell me... and there are ones I would only tell to my worst
enemy.
- The Four of Us, "Love, Hate and Hope"
And its good for me
you have no idea, that Im walking through the clouds when you're looking
at me.
- The Corrs, "No Good For Me"
"Will someone spare
a thought for the struggling folk singer? I used to have a song called
'Free Nelson Mandela'. Jaysus, they did."
- Dermot Morgan does Christy Moore
# MORRISSEY
I was happy in the
haze of a drunken hour,
But heaven knows I'm
miserable now.
I was looking for
a job, and then I found a job,
And heaven knows I'm
miserable now.
Two lovers entwined
pass me by
And heaven knows I'm
miserable now.
What she asked of
me, at the end of the day — Caligula would have blushed. "You've been in
the house too long" she says, and I naturally fled.
- The Smiths, "Heaven Knows I'm Miserable Now"
Shyness is nice, but
shyness can stop you from doing all the things in life you'd like to, so
if there's something you'd like to try, ASK ME I WON'T SAY NO, HOW COULD
I?
- The Smiths, "Ask"
There's a club, if
you like to go,
You could meet somebody
who really loves you,
So you go, and you
stand on your own and you leave on your own,
And you go home, and
you cry and you want to die.
- The Smiths, "How Soon Is Now?"
Belligerent ghouls
run Manchester schools.
Spineless swines;
cemented minds;
Sir leads the troops;
Jealous of youth.
- The Smiths, "Headmaster Ritual"
And if you must go
to work tomorrow,
Well if I were you
I wouldn't bother,
For there are brighter
sides to life
And I should know
because I've seen them - but not often.
- The Smith, "Still Ill"
He drove me home in
the van, complaining, women only like me for my mind.
- Morrisey, "Maudlin Street"
# GIRL AFRAID (THE SMITHS)
Girl afraid. Where
do his intentions lay ? Or does he even have any ?
She says : "He never
really looks at me — I give him every opportunity,
In the room downstairs
he sat and stared,
In the room downstairs
He sat and stared,
I'll never make that
mistake again!"
Boy afraid. Prudence
never pays and everything she wants costs money!
"But she doesn't even
LIKE me ! And I know because she said so,
In the room downstairs
she sat and stared,
In the room downstairs
she sat and stared,
I'll never make that
mistake again!"
# OUTDOOR TYPE (LEMONHEADS)
Always had a roof above
me, always paid the rent,
And I never set foot
inside a tent,
Couldn't build a fire
to save my life ,
I lied about being
the outdoor type.
I never slept out underneath
the stars,
The closest that I
came to that,
Was one time my car
broke down for an hour in the suburbs at night,
I lied about being
the outdoor type.
Too scared to let you
know,
You knew what you
were looking for,
I lied until I fit
the bill, God bless the great indoors,
I lied about being
the outdoor type
I never owned a sleeping
bag, let alone a mountain bike
I can't go away with
you on a rock-climbing weekend,
What if somethings
on TV and its never shown again?
Its just aswell I'm
not invited, I'm afraid of heights,
I lied about being
the outdoor type.
Never learned to swim,
Can't grow a beard
or even fight,
I lied about being
the outdoor type.
# FAKE PLASTIC TREES (RADIOHEAD)
Her green plastic wateringcan for her fake chineserubberplant in the fake plastic earth, that she bought from a rubber man in a town full of rubber, plans to get rid of itself,- it wears her out.
She lives with a broken man, a cracked polystyreneman who just crumbles and burns. He used to do surgery for girls in the eighties but GRAVITY always wins and it wears him out. She looks like the real thing. She tastes like the real thing, my fake plastic love.
But I can't help the feeling. I could blow through the ceiling. If I just turn and RUN. and it wears me out. If I could be who you wanted all the time
# BOTH SIDES NOW (JONI MITCHELL)
Rows and flows of angel
hair and ice cream castles in the air and feather canyons ev'rywhere -
I've looked at clouds that way.
But now they only
block the sun, they rain and snow on ev'ryone, So many things I would have
done but clouds got in my way.
I've looked at clouds
from both sides now from up and down, and still somehow, it's cloud illusions
I recall - I really don't know clouds at all.
Moons and Junes and
Ferris wheels, the dizzy dancing way you feel as ev'ry fairy tale comes
real - I've looked at love that way.
But now it's just
another show, you leave 'em laughing when you go and if you care, don't
let them know, don't give yourself away.
I've looked at love
from both sides now, from give and take, and still somehow it's love's
illusions I recall - I really don't know love at all.
Tears and fears and
feeling proud, to say "I love you" right out loud, dreams and schemes and
circus crowds - I've looked at life that way.
But now old friends
are acting strange, they shake their heads, they say I've changed, well
something's lost, but something's gained in living ev'ry day.
I've looked at life
from both sides now from win and lose and still somehow It's life's illusions
I recall, I really don't know life at all.
# STONE ROSES
Chimes sing Sunday
morn, today's the day she's sworn
To steal what she
never could own and race from this hole she calls home
As the miles they
disappear, see land begin to clear
Free from the filth
and the scum this American satellite's won
Soon to be put to
the test, to be whipped by the winds of the West
I am a child of fire...
And I was born inside the sun this morning.
- Counting Crows, "Hanging Tree"
I'm almost perfect
some of the time.
- Counting Crows, "Anyone But You"
I wanted so badly
Someone other then
me
Staring back at me
Everyone here, knows
everyone here is thinking about somebody else,
It's best if we all
keep it under our heads.
...
And everyone here,
hates everyone here for doing just like they do.
- Matchbox 20, "Back 2 Good"
# THE HOLD STEADY
Boys and girls in america
have such a sad time together... crushing one another with collossal expectations.
- The Hold Steady, "Stuck Between Stations"
She was a really cool
kisser and she wasn't all that strict of a christian.
She was a damn good
dancer but she wasn't all that great of a girlfriend...
He was drunk and exhausted
but he was critically acclaimed and respected.
He likes the warm
feeling but he's tired of all the dehydration.
Most nights were crystal
clear but tonite its like it's stuck between stations on the radio.
- The Hold Steady, "Stuck Between Stations"
Holly's insatiable.
She still looks incredible.
But she don't look
like the same girl we met on that first night.
She was golden with
barlight and beer...
Holly's inconsolable...
because we can't get as high as we got on that first night.
- The Hold Steady, "First Night"
In barlight, she looked
alright; In daylight, she looked desperate.
- The Hold Steady, "Sequestered in Memphis"
I've had kisses that
make Judas seem sincere.
- The Hold Steady, "Citrus"
So this is it, this
is the end of the session.
I ain't gonna be taking
any more questions. I think my attorney's gonna second that notion.
- The Hold Steady, "Hot Soft Light"
# NADA SURF
I'm head of the class
- I'm popular,
I'm a quarter back
- I'm popular,
My mom says I'm a
catch - I'm popular,
I'm never last picked,
I got a cheerleader
chick.
Being attractive is
the most important thing there is.
If you wanna catch
the biggest fish in your pond,
You have to be as
attractive as possible,
Make sure to keep
your hair spotless and clean.
I'm the party star
- I'm popular,
I've got my own car
- I'm popular,
I'll never get caught
- I'm popular,
I make football bets,
I'm a teachers pet.
- Popular
#
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