Pirate Paloma's Song of the Day

no song.

2010-07-17T19:57:00.000-07:00

today, for the first time i can remember, i have no song in my head. it is driving me crazy. sure i can think of songs that i would like to have in my head. however, the whole song in my head bit is spontaneous and random, as far as i am concerned. i realize there must be some subconscious reason songs pop into my head, but that does not really matter, does it. i usually sing while i cook and today i noticed a strange silence, which made me think of my long forgotten blog. hopefully tomorrow will bring a new song.

Dear Blog, I Have Not Forgotten About You

2010-01-14T13:04:00.000-08:00

Eight months? Nine months? Not one post, Paloma?

We thought your head was full of songs? Was that all a lie?

No, no, I mean yes, I mean no. Not a lie. The head continues to be full of song. It is just that I got sucked into singing karaoke. There, I said it. Don't hate. It is a little embarassing to admit, but I sing in places other than the shower, also known as karaoke bars. It is terribly addicting. The more I sing songs, the less likely I am to write about them.

I've got a couple swimming around today. First, "Ray of Light" by Madonna might just be my favorite song. Wait, I think I have said this before about another song. Let me qualify this by saying that today, January 14, 2009,it is my favorite song. I am generally not interested in light, happy, fluffy sounding stuff like this. However, when I hear this song, I really do want to getup and dance around really fast. I want to put on a strobe light and jump up and down; I want to run around in circles and flap my arms. Now, those are things that I don't do very often.

When I woke up this morning, I had a song from they came from the stars, i saw them going in one ear and right out of my mouth. "Wa-wa-wa walking down the street. Eating an ice cream..." If you scroll down to an earlier, way earlier blog entry, you'll find the video.

OK. Lunch break is officially over.
Bye.

Living Life like a Midnight Coward

2009-04-16T09:53:00.000-07:00

As I said yesterday, I've been listening to Amy Millan quite a bit lately.

I hum "Come Home Loaded Roadie" as one of my daily song rotations. "Come home and the birds will bring you honey..." I just like the feel of the words in my mouth and the sound of my voice when I sing along.

Today, when walking from the parking lot to my office at 5:00 am, I was singing out loud The construction workers think I am crazy. I like it that way. They leave me alone.

I'm also on a Daniel Johnston "Living Life" kick. I saw Daniel Johnston about two years ago and it was amazing. The show brought me to tears, especially this song. This was the first time I had seen him live and it was very emotional for me. I had the pleasure of meeting him after the show. So sweet and in the photo (I'll have to find it) I have a gigantic smile on my face.

"Midnight Coward" by Stars is also on my mind. I love the opening. It is a great shower song for me. "Sweetness, sweetness never suites me.." "What can't be decided, in the morning, it will bring itself to you..." Love, love, love it...

Obituaries in the Morning

2009-04-15T08:12:00.000-07:00

I read the local obituaries every single morning. Well, just about every single morning. I feel like they need to be read, that I somehow owe it to the people who died. Every day, I wonder about all the people in my city who died and who did not get listed in the obituaries and send thoughts to them too.

Today, I am listening to "For the Actor" by Mates of State and and walking around the office singing Daniel Johnston's "Living Life." I have received some strange looks from my coworkers. I especially like to sing in the bathroom because the acoustics are so great. It is better than singing in the shower. Oh and I am also digging on Amy Millan (she's in one of my favorite bands, Stars) this morning.

Yesterday, I listened to Leonard Cohen all day. And then, wouldn't you know, when I got to Too Cool for Karaoke, Adam played Leonard Cohen for an hour straight. Mr. Cohen has had a strong presence in my life this week and has been the topic of many conversations. Well, he did just play here, but I always like to think that there is a reason for these things.

Yesterday, I also walked clockwise around the baseball field in the park. Usually I walk counter-clockwise. I wanted to see what the difference was. I noticed more birds. I like birds.

I have been back for two days straight, and will try to keep this up!
Have a lovely muffintastic day.

xoxo
Paloma

What's in my ear today? It is the Evening of the Day...

2009-04-14T08:02:00.000-07:00

I have been on a Donovan kick lately. This past weekend, on the Saturday before Easter, I went looking for Donovan LPs at the San Diego Record Show. No luck finding anything I could afford, but I did score a sweet Marianne Faithful LP in mono. I am digging on girl versions of Rolling Stones' songs, too. I am a bit obsessed with Mazzy Star's cover of "Wild Horses" and of course there is nothing like Ms. Faithful's rendition of "As Tears Go By."

I just love her voice and her face. I k now others will disagree, however, she moves me. There is something about the plain simplicity of it all.

Gosh, it's been more than a year

2009-01-29T06:03:00.000-08:00

I was on a roll and then I just stopped. However, I'm back! Today, the Jesus and Mary Chain's "Something I Can't Have" is stuck in my head and I'm listening to the Beatles Rubber Soul at work. I've been practicing mindfulness lately, so expect some different (hopefully) takes on things. I'll write more this afternoon...

Oh, and I know that Christmas is done and over with. But, I must, I absolutely must write about the novocain, dentist's drill, root canal and christmas music. I meant to do this in December, I really did.

What's New Pussycat

2007-09-29T15:11:00.000-07:00

I am just about to get in the shower. Those of you with dirty minds, me being one of them, are probably thinking that a video of me singing these songs in the shower would draw in more readers. I am beginning to think that maybe if I had a sex tape to get my name on the map, then maybe I'd get some serious and loyal readers.

Today, I was wasting time on myspace, and my four year old daughter bursts into the room (glad I was not watching the alleged Meg White sex tape that I had been looking at a few minutes earlier...I am not sure that it is her, I've seen her in person) singing, "Pussycat, pussycat, I love you, yes I do!"

What the hell? Where do these kids hear this shit? Tom Jones? My children are running about the apartment sining Tom Jones. And, now, it is what the little radio in my brain will broadcast for the rest of the day.

"What's new pussycat? Woah, Woah
What's new pussycat? Woah, Woah
Pussycat, Pussycat
I've got flowers
And lots of hours
To spend with you..."

Well, I don't have lots of hours to do anything let alone spend them with anyone. But, for the record: I like flowers. I like it when people give me flowers.

I really need to get in the shower and get this singing out of my system.

they came from the stars, i saw them

2007-09-29T07:52:00.000-07:00

Well, I didn't really see them, but YOU need to see this video and then you'll understand why they are the best thing since MUFFINS:

Online Videos by Veoh.com

Muffin Love,
Paloma

June 18, 2007: "I Just Wasn't Made for these Times" by the Beach Boys

2007-06-18T08:06:00.000-07:00

"They say I got brains
But they ain't doing me no good
I wish they could

Each time things start to happen again
I think I got something good goin' for myself
But what goes wrong"

"Sometimes I feel very sad
Sometimes I feel very sad
(Can't find nothin' I can put my heart and soul into)
Sometimes I feel very sad
(Can't find nothin' I can put my heart and soul into)

I guess I just wasn't made for these times…"

"Every time I get the inspiration
To go change things around
No one wants to help me look for places
Where new things might be found

Where can I turn when my fair weather friends cop out
What's it all about"

It has been about a year since I have listened to Pet Sounds in its entirety. It just seems to fit today. In which era would I have ever felt comfortable? Maybe sometime in the far off future when there is a way to rewire the human brain. There is a point of self acceptance and self understanding, and I think I am there. And come to think of it, I would not want my brain rewired anyway. That would not be any fun, now would it? Yeah, I think I'll stick with the crazy.

June 14, 2007: iPod Shuffle Time

2007-06-14T16:36:00.000-07:00

and
the
winner
is:

"War Pigs" by Alice Donut

Ah yes. "War Pigs" heavy on the brass. It is really nicely done. Alice Donut or here: Alice Donut. I had been toying with the idea of writing about Bright Eyes' "Road to Joy," which also touches on the topic of war.

What? Is Paloma writing about an instrumental? She's a poet. Where are the lyrics to carry her through the song. The song is the poem as read by the instruments. I love when I hit shuffle play on the iPod and get some quirky tune like this. Overall, I think Alice Donut are a bunch of noise and they really don't do much for me. But this is a cool little thing they did and it is worth adding to music collections everywhere.

Next week, in between music making, I will write some poems.

June 13, 2007 Song: "Just My Imagination" by the Temptations

2007-06-13T12:54:00.000-07:00

This morning, while on my 7 mile round trip commute that takes 45-60 minutes, I, for some inexplicable reason, was listening to one of the crappy San Diego "alternative/cutting edge/bullshit" radio stations. The DJ announced that it was Incubus week. What? A week dedicated to Incubus? A young lady called in and won tickets to see Incubus. "Oh My God. This is the best day ever!!!" she squealed obnoxiously into the phone. Incubus Wednesday. Then the station played Pearl Jam. That was the last straw.

I am so switching to the oldies R&B station. I just want to hear some good pop music. Is that too much to ask? Apparently, yes, Paloma, it is. "Just My Imagination" was what was on when I switched over. Now it is stuck in my head. What can I write about it that I have not already said here about some other song before?

"Dear Lord, hear my plea.
Don't ever let another take her love from me.
Or I will surely die. Hmm

(Her love is) heavenly.
When her arms enfold me.
I hear a tender rhapsody.
But in reality, she doesn't even know me.

Just my 'imagination, once again.
Running away with me.
Oh, tell you it was just my 'magination"

I must say that I find it creepy that this is about some guy having an imaginary relationship with a woman and that he is worried about having someone take her away. I will kick the ass of anyone who ever tries to steal my imaginary friends.

June12, 2007 Song: “Postcards from Paradise” by Flesh for Lulu

2007-06-12T09:26:00.000-07:00

“Delivered by mortal hands…”
Back in the mid 90’s, Davey and I were at a family gathering and this teenage boy walks up to us and says, “Are you guys from the 80’s? You look like you are from the 80’s.”
By now, you should know how much I like romantic 80’s songs. I totally dig the raspy voice too. And the accent makes my hair stand on end. Write me a song and get a raspy voiced Englishman to sing it and you’ll have me wrapped around your finger. It gives me butterflies in my stomach when I hear a song like this. There is nothing spectacular about the music or lyrics. Flesh for Lulu = Flash in the Pan.
The song is simple and straightforward enough. There is no musical or creative genius here. Simple. Simple. Simple. But how can you not love a song that goes:

“Postcards from paradise
Delivered by mortal hands
X marks the spot where you lay
Now the sun burns down on the sand

There goes love again
7 day wondering
Out on the ledge again
You’re threatening to jump again
Here comes temptation
Dragging it out again
Riding a bullet train
To your central nervous station
And I fell under your spell
And I lay where I fell
So wind down your window
I think I'm gonna kiss you
I don’t know what else to do
You send me…”

Perfect pop songs are like this. There is a mathematical formula. The problem with pop music as a whole is that the formula gets messed up. They make one careless misstep and the equation is out of whack. There is nothing spectacular about a balanced equation except that it makes perfect sense. I appreciate my share of complex and pretentious stuff. But, I adore a perfect little song like this because I can just sit back and feel it. I can be so damn complicated and suffer from so many internal existential dramas that a perfect little song that is plain and ordinary is all I can handle. Some days. Days like today, anyway. Today I am not in the mood for complicated. Really, at the heart of it all, I am just a simple girl who, honestly, would prefer to be free of all existential dilemmas. I am just as happy reading Sartre as I am reading the Sunday funnies…maybe happier reading the Sunday funnies.

Red Shoe Love

June 4, 2007 Song: "Race for the Prize" by the Flaming Lips

2007-06-04T17:35:00.000-07:00

“Race for the Prize” explodes in the gentlest of explosions. If I had a favorite song, which I don’t, it would be this one. One of the best nights of my life was spent dancing my ass off in a Santa suit on stage with the Flaming Lips at the Hollywood Bowl. It was almost one year ago. Fuck. I still can’t get over it. When I hear this song I just want to cry. I do cry. It says to me: “Possibility. Believe in possibility.” It is my song about wishes granted and dreams coming true. It is confetti and rechargeable flashlight and the magic of being on that stage. I understand that it was not one of the Lips “best” shows, but I don’t really care, because it was magical. This song is orange balloons and Christmas in July.

It was the hottest day EVER. Davey and I arrived in Burbank the night before at 7:00 pm and it was 112 degrees Fahrenheit outside. We signed up for a timeshare presentation so we could get a cheap place to sleep while we were in LA to see the Lips at the Hollywood Bowl. I was not in the best mood that evening because of the way things had worked out at the San Diego show. I was feeling tired and hopeless.

The day before we drove to LA, Madi and I had gone to see the Lips at the Del Mar Racetrack. We got there at 2:00 and found Wayne Coyne! And, he said he would let us dance. Wayne took us backstage into the green room. Steven Drozd was there and complimented me on the T-shirt I had made just for the show (I ended up making him one). It was all a little surreal. Well, the Animal Wrangler, who has all the power, said no. The spots had already been given away to some asshole jocks and frat girls by the radio station. We waited ALL Day outside the green room and even got dancer passes. But, we never did get into those costumes. I was so disappointed. The one beautiful and redeeming thing about the night was that Wayne Coyne in the middle of the show announced that there were some fans that had been there since 2:00 and he bowed down to US. We also got to hang out with their sound and light guys during the show, it was cool to see them do their magic with all the switches and knobs.

Anyway, the next day, we made the short trip to LA. Though, I was not feeling it. I was my DREAM to dance on stage with the Flaming Lips and I had pretty much given up on that possibility. But, in true die-hard fan fashion, we decided to go to the venue early. After not buying a timeshare, we parked at Hollywood and Vine (I had been warned against parking at the Hollywood Bowl due to “stacked” parking) and walked up the hill to the bowl in the SCORCHING HEAT with our cooler of beer and candy bars. At one point, I did not think I was going to make it up the hill. It was so HOT. When we did get there, we found a nice spot in the shade had some beers, and hammed it up for the cameras (they were filming for a live DVD, since been replaced with the OKC footage). I had given up hope, but maybe I hadn’t. Because when I saw the Animal Wrangler, I went right over to him and guess what? He said yes. I guess I had to first endure the time-share sales pitch and the LA heat before the Universe would grant my wish. I understand the real meaning of Christmas in July.

I Daydream That My Life is a Musical

2007-06-02T22:06:00.001-07:00

I daydream that my life is a musical. Every story and event has a song associated with it (as you can and will read in this blog). Those who are close to me know how often I break out into song. I live my life through music and music lives through me.

On Friday night Davey and I went to see once. I read some reviews on this film and had waited all week to see it. It left me emotionally exhausted. It was not overdone. It was perfect and tasty. I believe in musicals with all my heart. Glen Hansard (from the band, the Frames) was sweet and stunning in his tenderness. Marketa Irglova, who I found out is ONLY 19, was simple and beautiful as a young mother, a Czech immigrant, who meets the love of her life, a street musician, played by Hansard. They end up recording the most painful, longing and tender music together.

A love story can best be told through songs. I want so bad to give away the ending. I’ll just say that I have been thinking about it and replaying over and over in my mind it because it was so charming and it hurt me so bad. That is the power of the musical. I cried from start to finish.

I have not been moved by a musical since Dancer in the Dark. Is anyone surprised at my love for painful musicals about young mothers who sing?

I bought the soundtrack on iTunes as soon as I got home on Friday night. I fall in love at the drop of a hat. It is the love of my week.

Now, off to daydream about MY musical.

Painful Red Shoe Love,
Paloma

May 29, 2007 Song: "Oh Playmate, Come Out and Play With Me (Playmates)" by by Saxie Dowell

2007-05-29T17:01:00.000-07:00

I used to have a music box that played this old tune called "Oh Playmate, Come Out and Play With Me (Playmates)." It was a ceramic fishbowl that had a cat climbing up the side. The cat was peeking over the edge, into the bowl at the fish. The fish looked like it was about to jump right out of the bowl and it would spin around as the music played. My grandmother gave it to me because she thought it was funny and because it played this song. She used to sing this to me...

"Oh PLAYMATE, come out and play with me
And bring your dollies three.
Climb up my apple tree,
Look down my rain barrel
Slide down my cellar door
And we'll be jolly friends forever more."

This is the song that is stuck in my head today. I miss her so much.

When I was a child my friends and I would sing this and play hand clap games. We would add a " One Two Three Four" right after "forever more."

May 27, 2007: Time for a Record! Journey to the Center of the Earth by Rick Wakeman

2007-05-27T09:27:00.000-07:00

I own this album on vinyl. It used to belong to my stepfather, who was murdered when I was 11 years old. He would play it late at night, after the kids had gone to bed, but I could always hear it and it would keep my up. It terrified the fuck out of me and gave me nightmares. This is exactly why it is so wonderful. It took me to another place and helped me develop my vivid imagination. It is a gorgeous dramatic piece. I am going to try buy it on CD because I would really like to hear it. Though, I am seeing it is going to be pricey. It is prog rock at its best. I am not a big prog rocker, but I really appreciate why this is good. It is good because it terrified me.

The album was recorded live at the Royal Festival Hall in London on January 18, 1974. I would have loved to have been there. But, alas, I was only 8 months old at the time and would not have enjoyed it very much.

I don't even have a turntable anymore. Fuck.

May 26, 2007: One of the worst songs ever..."Computer Love" by Zapp and Roger

2007-05-26T10:17:00.000-07:00

"Need a special girl (Ooh, yeah)
To share in my computer world
I no longer need a strategy
Thanks to modern technology"

One of the worst songs EVER is Zapp and Roger's "Computer Love." Sorry, Roger, Rest in Peace, but you know it's true. Who found love on the internet in 1985? Who actually had a personal computer? How many people knew how to use one? Nobody I knew!! Well, the people I knew were kind of poor, so maybe that has something to do with it.

Did anyone participate in internet dating and chats? When I hear this song now, it makes me think of the film Pretty in Pink where Molly Ringwald and Andrew McCarthy chat with each other in their high school computer lab. My high school was too ghetto for this crap. We learned some basic programming language (that is now useless) and word processing. I did not participate in an internet chat until I was in my early twenties. I rarely participate in chats or IMs. I kind of think they are a waste of time.

This song has cheesy robot voices and music that was meant to sound high tech. It just sounds obsolete and stupid. It always cracks me up when I think about how humans imagine what robots sound like and what computer generated voices and what "high tech" things sound like. I mean, couldn't they really sound like anything that we program them to be? Who came up with this notion?

"Shooby doo bop shoo doo bop I wanna love you
Shooby doo bop [I wanna love you, baby] computer love
Shooby doo bop shoo doo bop I wanna love you
Shooby doo bop my computer love"

Stupic lyrics. It is a stupid song. When I was in Jr. High, everyone loved this song. It would often be played over the school PA system during lunch. I can still hear all the girls cry out in unison, "Oh my God! I love this song!" I used to go hang out in the school library and help the librarian put books back on the shelves, just to avoid the bad music.

A song from 1985 that thanks technology that is now obsolete. Well, back then, we all thought that cars would fly in the year 2000...

peace out,
paloma

May 25, 2007 Song: "Toyshop" by Rebelski

2007-05-25T07:43:00.001-07:00

OK, the teenage nostalgia has ended.

Today is my 16th wedding anniversary. I got married exactly 6 days after I turned 18 way back in 1991. No!? I was not pregnant! I always feel like I have to qualify that part, because so many people ask. Do the math and mind your own business motherfuckers!!! I got married May 25, 1991. My daughter, Madi was born in August of 1992.

That was crazy, wasn't it. What is also crazy? We are still married today.

Anyway, on to the song of the day. Martin Roman Rebelski should be a soundtrack composer. His music is not overstimulating. Overstimulation is a big problem for me. So much of the crap pop music that is out today is just too busy. Rebelski is not. He is a minimalist and beautiful. His music sounds like it came from a magical music box from another galaxy. Its fingers stroke me lightly. It is a soft breeze. Toyshop is sweet and simple, just like anything pure and good should be. It does not work too hard to get its point across. There is no belaboring any points here. It is a little underdone and it is perfect. Gourmet sounds cooked medium rare.

Martin is also a very sweet person. I had the chance to meet him on two different occasions when he was touring the states with doves.

Here, listen for yourself and give this sweet young man some LOVE:
http://www.myspace.com/rebelski

(side note: I will try to include a link for the artists I really love, so you can check them out without having to look so hard)

May 24, 2007 Song: "Teach Your Children Well" by Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young

2007-05-23T10:10:00.001-07:00

There are, I understand, Woolworths stores in the U.K.

We used to have Woolworths here in the USA. I understand that they are no longer part of the parent company F.W. Woolworth. In case you don’t know what I am talking about, think five and dime. And if you still don’t know what I am talking about, think dollar store. I was interested to find out that Woolworths in the US evolved into a sporting goods store and eventually into Foot Locker. Strange. Anyway, the Woolworths of the past had a lunch counter! My grandmother would take me to shop there when I was a child and I would always indulge in a hot fudge sundae that consisted of a big hunk of chocolate cake, vanilla ice cream and hot fudge. (side note: Newberry’s was also a five and dime with a lunch counter, unless my memory is false. I think we had a Newberry's in SD, too.). One time, my grandma took me to Woolworths and proceeded to shoplift some lipstick and got CAUGHT. I wonder how many other times she shoplifted that I never knew about?

She used to sing this song to me…
“You who are on the road
Must have a code that you can live by
And so become yourself
Because the past is just a good bye.

Teach your children well,
Their father's hell did slowly go by,
And feed them on your dreams
The one they picked, the one you'll know by.

Don't you ever ask them why, if they told you, you would cry,
So just look at them and sigh and know they love you.

And you, of tender years,
Can't know the fears that your elders grew by,
And so please help them with your youth,
They seek the truth before they can die.”

She had a code alright! She was crazy and I loved it. She scared me and made me laugh so hard. She was exciting. She would laugh when it got to the part that went “Teach your parents well…” Then, she’d start that pacing again. I never understood the pacing. Now I do and it breaks my heart for her.

Love,
Paloma

May 23, 2007 Song: "You Trip Me up" by the Jesus and Mary Chain

2007-05-22T08:17:00.000-07:00

Ok. Ok. Next week I will write about more interesting stuff. But, god I love the Jesus and Mary Chain, big hair and all.

When I was 15 I daydreamed about the perfect boyfriend. He was one who sang dark songs like this, wore dark sunglasses, had big hair and wore a black leather jacket. Oh yeah, and one who would not make eye contact with people. When will this nostalgia end?

Enjoy!

Love,
Paloma

May 22, 2007 Song: "Platinum Blonde" by Blondie

2007-05-21T16:53:00.000-07:00

God, I love Deborah Harry. I have been infatuated with her since I was 7 years old. I think I heard Rapture that year or it was sometime around then. There is a period of time between age 5 and 7 that I really started to know what I liked musically. There used to be an AM radio station in San Diego, called the Mighty 690. They played all the BEST pop songs on the Mighty 690. The Romantics, Devo,the Waitresses, Joan Jet, Duran Duran, Madonna...those were the days. My taste has developed and improved significantly since then. I still love Deborah Harry.

I have been feeling really superficial lately. Today's song is all about my new very lovely hair. I spent an hour flat ironing it this morning. Smooth. Shiny. Straight. Almost Platimum Blonde. I have gone to the dark side and have a "double process" hair color. My hairdresser and I are on a mission to get me Platinum by summer. I have always been smart and edgy and brunette or smart and edgy and red. I am on a mission to reinvent myself. Like I said in one of my other blogs, there is no reason why I can't be smart and hot at the same time. This is not to say that blonde hair is a prerequisite for hotness. But, damn, I look good as a blonde.

I want to be a bitch with style. I almost took a seminar on how to do so, but it was cancelled.

Today I am humming as I turn heads:
"I wanna be a platinum blonde
Just like all the sexy stars
Marilyn and Jeane, Jayne, Mae and Marlene
Yeah they, they really had fun
In a luminous day-glo shade
Walk into a bar and I'll have it made
'Cause if that's all it takes; a double processed blonde
I wanna be a platinum blonde
I wanna be a platinum blonde
Be a platinum blonde

Yeah I even tried wearing a wig for a while
It was the right colour, but not the right style
Gonna get some peroxide at the beauty supply
See ya later

I wanna be a platinum blonde
Just like all the sexy stars
Marilyn and Jeane, Jayne, Mae and Marlene
Yeah they, they really had fun

Now if you need me on Sunday and you look twice and see
That platinum blonde is gonna be me
In a double processed luminous day-glo shade
When I get this colour I'll have it made in the shade
Oh, I hope I'm OK
I wanna be a platinum blonde
I wanna be a platinum blonde

Honey, I gotta, I gotta, I gotta, I gotta
I gotta be a platinum blonde
I gotta be a platinum blonde
I gotta be a platinum blonde
I'll hit the bottle baby"

Still feeling like a Sappy Romantic today, May 21, 2007: "Tonight" by Stars

2007-05-21T09:01:00.000-07:00

I really wish Stars would tour again and play a location somewhere in the vicinity of Southern California. I missed them last time they were here. I had to work and could not get out of it. So bummed.

Being that I am a poet in addition to being a fiction writer, I get hung up on lyrics. (As if you have not noticed that). Not that I can't be moved by a good instrumental, but add some lyrics and the whole package makes me dizzy with bliss.

I am a sucker for a good tender love song. A little piano and Torq's beautiful breathy, soft voice. I love being in love.

So here is the whole freaking song. If you want to hear it, click the link on the right and visit Paloma the Podcaster and you'll find it on my very long playlist.

"Come around and say you love me
Hang your heart in lights above me
Is that too much to ask for?
When the night descends upon us
Take a shower, dry your hair by the furnace
I'll watch you from the corner

Telephones and old typewriters
Words of love along the wires
Let's make it work tonight

Telegraphs and birds that fly
Through air so still you hear me sigh
Let's make it work tonight

Tonight, tonight

Then furious, you threw the picture
I, cap in hand, an awful mixture
That kind of hard love is the worst

I try to speak, but you don't hear me
When you're gone you still feel near me
For a while, for a little while

I've tried telephones and old typewriters
Words of love along the wires
But nothing is working tonight

I've tried telegraphs, and birds that fly
Through air so still you hear me sigh
But nothing is working tonight

Tonight
Please, let's make it work tonight"

Love and in love,
Paloma

May 20, 2007 RECORD: Madonna by Madonna

2007-05-20T10:33:00.000-07:00

You must be thinking that I have lost my mind. But, when would that be something new? I am going to fess up and admit to all the crap I secetly like, but was, previous to this week, embarrassed to admit that I like. I know, I know, some of you might be saying this very moment, "well, you already write about some rubbish. What else is new?"

As of this week, I am completely infatuated with this record. I own it on cassette and, empowered with an iTunes gift card, bought it this weekend!!!

I have been jumping around and rolling around on the floor this weekend. The neighbors have not complained yet. Maybe they like it. Sometimes I just need some catchy, brainless music that makes me feel hot and sexy when I dance to it. I swear I am going to learn the dance moves to "Lucky Star!"

I really don't care for Madonna as a person, nor do I care for anything she did after this album, EXCEPT the song "Ray of Light."

May 19, 2007 Song: "Something to Me" by the Subatomic Pieces

2007-05-19T00:00:00.000-07:00

The past year has really caused me to evaluate my life and come to conclusions about what is important to me. I mean, really important. So today, for my birthday, I feel it is important to talk about them.

Before I do...
Happy Birthday Joey Ramone, Malcolm X and Ho Chi Minh. I am honored to share a birthday with all of you!!

I got this record, Hold Out for Science, by the Subatomic Pieces, not too long ago. I am enjoying it very much. There are a lot of good bands in Oklahoma that are not the Flaming Lips and are nothing like the Flaming Lips. My favorite song on this album is "Something to Me." It is just so classic. It's got TWANG baby, and I love it. It is nostalgic and, here I go to this place again, romantic as hell.

What "things" are important to me. The thing is, "things" are not important to me at all. Some people are important. Some activities are important. Some feelings are important. And, that's it. The way to win my heart is not through shiny and expensive gifts. I can be won with a song. Write me a song, that is the most noble thing someone could ever do for me.

So for my birthday, I reflect on what's important to me today:
-my family
-the sound of s and c giggling
-madi's hazel eyes
-davey's curlies
-all my wonderful friends. I reconnected with my best friend from high school and oldest friend, Lorelie, this year. I am so thankful.
-my copirates
-singing
-listening
-writing
-dreaming big
-making art
-eating strawberries
-the smell of jasmine
-the smell of cornsilkpowder and the sound of loretta lynn
-dancing in my red shoes

Happy Birthday. Merry Christmas. Happy New Year.

love,
paloma

May 18, 2007 Song: "About You" by the Jesus and Mary Chain

2007-05-18T00:00:00.000-07:00

Darklands is a great album and it has really helped me through some personal challenges. This is going to sound really cheesy, but one of the reasons I am excited about seeing Scotland this fall is that Jim and William Reid are from Scotland. And, being told that my distant relatives hailed from Scotland, I romanticize that they are my long lost cousins. I saw the second to last show they played together before the big breakup in 1999 (was it 1999? Shit. I can't remember). OK late 90's. It was a good show. I understand that the "last" show was pretty bad. I have purposely avoided reading any reviews of their performance at Coachella this year.

Could this be a truly happy and tender Jesus and Mary Chain song?
"I can see
That you and me
Live our lives in the pouring rain
And the raindrops beat out of time to our refrain
And you and me
Will win you'll see
People die in their living rooms
But they do not need this God almighty gloom
There's something warm about the rain
There's something warm
There's something warm
There's something warm in everything
I know there's something good
About you about you
I know there's something warm
There's something warm
Good about you"

It ends on a positive note. It always makes me cry. It is another one of those songs that I daydream about being sung to me. I will be stuck on this topic for a while: Songs that Paloma thinks are romantic. This song contains one of the best lines ever:
"People die in their living rooms." It is just so dreaming romantic. Don't we all just want someone to "get" us.
Love,
Paloma

May 17, 2007: iPod Shuffle Time!

2007-05-17T00:00:00.000-07:00

For Thursday's story, I think I will hit shuffle on my iPod.

And, now for an impromptu session. Where will I end up today? Here we go.

And...the...winner...is...drumroll...

"Just like Heaven" by the Cure.

Should I be embarrassed to have this one on my iPod? Heck no! I am a very romantic girl. This is the perfect song for a teenage girl AND a woman like me who refuses to grow up. It makes me feel dreamy. This song and "A Night Like This." I might have picked that one too.

digging into the memory bank, c. 1987ish...
classmate: So, you're a punk?
me: no.
classmate: don't you like, listen to the Cure and bands like that? You know, Depeche Mode and stuff?
me: yes. I like the Cure.
classmate: so what are you then?
me: (sarcastically). neo-romantic.

Now that I think about it, it is true. I am romantic in both the artistic way and the tender/dreamy sense. I do want everything to mean something. I can't live a life that has no meaning.

And, I would LOVE to have someone tell me they think I'm "strange as angels" and sing to me:
"spinning on that dizzy edge
i kissed her face and kissed her head
and dreamed of all the different ways i had
to make her glow
why are you so far away?
she said
why won't you ever know that i'm in love with you?
that i'm in love with you?"

The way to my heart is with song.

And if someone sang (from "A Night Like This") this to me:
"I'm coming to find you if it takes me all night
Can't stand here like this anymore
For always and ever is always for you
I want it to be perfect
Like before
I want to change it all"

I could easily melt, just like a silly teenage girl. Sometimes I listen to crap like this just to get a little taste of that dreamy-butterflies-in-the-stomach-there's-a-whole-world-out-there feeling because god, it is wonderful, isn't it?

So, yeah. I like the Cure and I have the Cure on my iPod and I'm a sappy Romantic.

Love,
Paloma

May 16, 2007 Song: "Bullet" by Frank Black and the Catholics

2007-05-16T05:10:00.000-07:00

OK. I am trying to keep my word and finish my thoughts on Dog in the Sand. So, here is one more. See, I can be consistent.

I heard somewhere that this one is based on a true story. Frank Black's father passed away and he and his brother found some guns in his father's house. Guns they did not know he had. Each one was loaded with a single bullet. Is this true? Does anyone know? I am too lazy to research this one. Whether it is true or not, it is a great story. Why would a man keep a bunch of guns, each with only one bullet? I love how this song responds to the question.

Again, some sweet and classic Frank Black:

"You are my son you’ll take my place
Be still my friends from outer space
I’ll take this call from Valhalla
Excuse me now I got a call

I’ve got some good friends there
Revolution comes
A single bullet loaded in each one
Please take my rifles and take my guns
And by the way
If the revolution comes
Take my rifles
Take my guns
You take my place because you are my son

Excuse me now I’ll take the sun
I’ll take my place in Valhalla
And if the revolution comes
Please take my gun"

Now, off to the office to do some work that pays.

Love,
Paloma

May 15, 2007 Song: "Llano del Rio" by Frank Black and the Catholics

2007-05-15T18:55:00.000-07:00

"O wonder!
How many goodly creatures are there here!
How beautious mankind is!
O brave new world
That has such people in't"
- from The Tempest by mr shakespeare

The entire Dog in the Sand record is superb. Remember, no edits folks! Here is another that I like, "Llano del Rio" I believe a llano is a dry and treeless field, kind of desertish, I think. Someone please correct me if I'm wrong. Anyway, this song conjures up tumbleweeds and dry throats. It makes me feel like I am getting a sunburn.

"Going out to Llano
Going out to look for Aldous Huxley
There between the power lines
And the purple flowers of mescaline"

Simple. Simple. Simple. Rythmic. Great song about going out to the desert to take drugs. I've never done that.
I like best that it diaglogues with Brave New World. I love it when songs do that, dialogue with other things, that is. It is a good classic Black Francis, Charles Thompson, Frank Black, whatever you want to call him song.

"If you really want to
You can practice esperanto
But in the land of pronto
The wind it tastes like gasoline

Llano-Llano

Going out to Llano
Llano del Rio"

Makes me want to find utopia or at least go to the desert and smell the wind.

May 14, 2007 Song: "St Francis Dam Disaster" by Frank Black and the Catholics

2007-05-14T20:07:00.000-07:00

"she pushed the wall 'till it broke"

Oh yes, I want THIS song to be the story of MY life.

I want to tell stories like this song tells. Stories that have a beginning and an end and that go on forever. Frank Black and the Catholics' Dog in the Sand is a great record for this reason. I love all the references to REAL stories in this album. I love how the stories become so...human. I think I will talk about this album for the rest of the week.

Right around the time it was released, I saw FB play an acoustic show and the songs from this record were lovliest of all. I unerstand that this record was recorded live to 2-track without edits. In 9 days. In nine days. Nine. Genius. Frank Black has been super prolific and I am glad I have followed him post Pixies. Though, lately, I'll admit that I have been unable to keep up. I kind of got stuck on Dog in the Sand. I tend to get stuck on things, don't I?

"St. Francis Dam Disaster" is MY song. So, I'll talk about it first.

I discoverd this song just as I entered the stage in my life where my creative angst peaked. And, like most songs I will write about. I listened to it over and over and over. Still do. The thing is, I CAN listen to the same song, the same record, over and over. I have this idea that if I do, it will become a part of me. Maybe it will and alter my DNA a bit. Maybe it has already transformed my DNA...

Yes, I said when I first heard this song. I know just what you mean. I know what water feels like when it is caged into a dam. A dam is a prison for water. Water, you delicate resource, you. Water, you powerful bitch.

"there was a well known water master man
he was the king
he could do anything
the st. francis dam disaster man
thought she was all right
until around midnight
because that water seeks her own
she had a desire to flow
she was looking for somewhere to go
she was a slave to the great metropolis
she was feeling choked
she pushed the wall 'till it broke
when they heard the great apocalypse
at power house number two
well, there was nothing they could do
because that water seeks her own
five and one half hours she would flow
she had fifty-three miles to go
a cascade down the santa clara way
near sixty feet high
now she's a mile wide
it was clear she was going far away
and whole towns were, too"

How will my story end? I don't want to end. Ever.

"she went her final mile
because that water seeks her own
into the sea the water flowed
and now for forever she would go"

Forever I want to go.

May 12, 2007 Song: "You've Got a Friend" by Carole King, as performed by James Taylor

2007-05-12T08:40:00.000-07:00

I have been waiting to write about this one. Specifically, I have been waiting to let everyone know my thoughts on the version performed by James Taylor. It makes me laugh when I hear it and I also happen to hate it.

When I was in the 6th grade we moved and I had to go to a new school. The kids at the new school were all mean and made my life a living hell. Anyway, my teacher decided she would help me make friends. Once, she asked one of the girls in the class to walk to school with me. Well, this nice young lady told me up front that the teacher had asked her to do so and told me I'd better not let anyone see me talking to her. Another idea the teacher had was that I participate in the school chorus. Maybe if I was engaged in an activity with other kids, I'd make a friend, she said. Wrong. The ironic part was that on the first day of chorus practice, the hippie-turned-going-to-change-the-world-teaching-music teacher played James Taylor's version of "You've got a Friend" and informed us that was the song we were going to learn and perform late that year. We spent weeks singing:

"Hey, ain't it good to know that you've got a friend?
People can be so cold.
They'll hurt you and desert you.
Well they'll take your soul if you let them.
Oh yeah, but don't you let them..."

I would sing very loud and try not to cry. It felt like shit to stand on the stage with these kids and sing this song. It made me hate that song. I was too young to understand that maybe it was a message and a lesson for me. It made me hate the music teacher for making us sing it over and over and over. I get awful flashbacks whenever I hear it.

Now, I am a few days shy of turning 34, I laugh at the fact that the music teacher and all the mean 11 year olds had no idea how fabulous that I was. They may have made me feel like shit, but they could not touch my soul.

That's right motherfuckers...I grew up to be fabulous. My novel will be published and the Queen of the Pirates will be the Queen of the media world and they will all say that they knew me when. I'll just deny it, of course.

Looking back, it makes me laugh and, while I still hate to hear James Taylor sing it, I can appreciate when Carole King sings it.

May 11, 2007: Too tired to write

2007-05-11T18:59:00.000-07:00

That's right. I am way too tired to write about a song today. Nighty night.

May 10, 2007 Song: "Work It" by Missy Elliot

2007-05-10T18:03:00.000-07:00

"And think you can handle this ga-dunk ga-dunk dunk "

This afternoon, my 14 year old daughter called me during her school lunch period. I was in the car and had this song cranked up. "Are you listening to Missy Elliot? Turn it down!" she asks/commands; her friends laugh in the background. "Gawd!" she tells me. I want to turn it up louder, but maybe she has something important to tell me.

I like to compare this song to the work of my favorite women writers of yesteryear. I like this song for the same reason I love to read Virginia Woolf, Kate Chopin and Fanny Fern. (Where is she going with this? You may be asking. Or not)

I love the way Missy Elliot "owns" in this song. She owns her sexuality in the same sense that my favorite women writers "owned" their identities, societal roles and sexuality; it is empowering in the same way. Compared side by side and in their own contexts the theme is one and the same.

A woman from way-back-when who refused to have her identity determined by her domesticity is, to me, parallel to a woman today who says to us:
"Girls, girls, get that cash
If its not a foul shakin that ass
Ain't no shame ladies, do your thang
Just make sure you ahead of tha game"

Yeah, makes me want to "shave my chocha..."

love,
paloma

May 9, 2007 Song: "I Feel Like the Mother of the World" by Smog

2007-05-09T17:53:00.000-07:00

"only tears and sides"

I love this song because it is beautiful to hear a man sing about how he feels like a mother. After all, there is no greater power and no greater sorrow than to be a mother. That's why men are not mothers.

"Whether or not there is any type of god
I'm not supposed to say
And today
I don't really care

God is a word
And the argument ends there...

Oh do I feel like the mother of the world
With two children
Oh do I feel like the mother of the world
With two children fighting...

And my mother my poor mother
Would say it does not matter
It does not matter
Just stop fighting..."

Pray to the mother, that's what I say. There may or may not be a god, but there is always undoubtedly a mother. The song makes me want to skip god altogether and pray to god's mother. That, I believe is the real way to get anything done. And I'm NOT talking about the Catholic Hail Mary kind of thing. I mean the mother of the idea of god, you know, WAY before Mary came into the picture.

If you want something done, ask a mother.

May 8, 2007 Song: "Everything's Alright When You're Down" by the Jesus and Mary Chain

2007-05-08T00:01:00.000-07:00

OK. So I lied. I think I might end up writing about the Jesus and Mary Chain more than the Flaming Lips. At least for now. Jim and William are so boring compared to the Lips, I know. But, I've been sucked in and can't find a way out. The Flaming Lips make me happy. The Jesus and Mary Chain make me feel like telling the entire world to go fuck itself.

"Some kind a strange kind of feelings coming over me
I bled from the back to the front for the world to see.."

When I am alone in the car I can play this part of the song over and over. I am obsessive like that. This song empowers me. It makes me feel dark and fuzzy. It makes me want to be in a band. It makes me want to avoid eye contact with people.

My hearing has been permanently damaged by my driving around in the car with Barbed Wire Kisses cranked up very very loud. My "me" time is filled with feedback. With Jim and William not giving a shit being and full of themselves. Me being full of myself, too. A match made in heaven. They are such a bad influence on me. Such a sick and guilty pleasure.

"I now have hit the ground
And just look at what I found
Everything is alright when you're down, hey hey

Strange as it can seem
Like livin' in a scream
Everything is alright when you're down, hey hey

Everything I say is going wrong"

Sometimes I feel like I have the "Midas Touch," that everything I touch turns to shit. Sometimes I feel like I am the shit. People who don't get my melancholy have been known to tell me to "snap out of it." The truth is, I don't want to snap out of it. Down is the new up.

May 7, 2007 Song: "Story of an Artist" by Daniel Johnston

2007-05-07T00:01:00.000-07:00

"Why do you do that only?"

How many times have people in my life asked me that? Just about every time I get consumed with some project of mine. I have to stop everything and write or draw or think or dream. I know it can be hard for my family when I become consumed like I do. Things like dishes and laundry are left half done. Things are left strewn about the house. I talk to myself. I stare off into space. I don't answer them when they talk to me. God, I'm so sorry. I can't help it.

"They sit in front of their TV
Saying, 'Hey! This is fun!"
And they laugh at the artist
Saying, "He doesn't know how to have fun.'
The best things in life are truly free
Singing birds and laughing bees
'You've got me wrong', says he.
'The sun don't shine in your TV'

Listen up and I'll tell a story
About an artist growing old
Some would try for fame and glory
Others aren't so bold

Everyone, and friends and family
Saying, 'Hey! Get a job!'
'Why do you only do that only?
Why are you so odd?
We don't really like what you do.
We don't think anyone ever will.
It's a problem that you have.' "

As I am typing this, David is asking me to help him with the laundry. "Love," he is saying, "Can you help me with this. I could use the help." He walks in the room and looks over my shoulder to see what I am doing. "I could use some help."

I just want to spend my days and nights writing. But that is impossible. Three kids. Two and a half jobs. Lots of laundry to be done.

The children are making a big mess in the living room. David needs hangers for the laundry and the living room is a wreck tonight.

Daniel Johnston is one of my heroes. God, please do not let me end up like Daniel Johnston.

May 6, 2007 Song: "snow in africa/smiling lantern" by they came from the stars, i saw them

2007-05-06T07:34:00.000-07:00

so yeah. i missed a day yesterday. i am inconsistent. i am high for a few days on creative passion and then i kind of sputter out and want to hide under a rock.

but i have a song in my head that is worth two days. 17 minutes and 52 seconds of bliss.

it has been in my head since i first heard it, which was not too long ago. it inspired some crazy dreams and i can't let it go. i listen to it like i read a novel. i backtrack and reread the parts that i think are especially clever and lovely.

look inside my head: stop go back, what was that? oh, i see. yes. lovely.

this song is like a journey. i want to make the video. i see it now. i can't just listen to a song, i have to see it, smell it, feel it. giant snowflakes and drummers. santa and zebras and giraffes. peppermint. cold and wet. sunny.

if i was a musician or sound engineer, i would tell you in music's terms why i like this song. but, i don't have that vocabulary. my best is that i love it. i'm enchanted, infatuated, sickly, prickly, sweet. and i hate it at the same time because it has consumed me.

May 4, 2007 Song: "On My Way" by Ben Kweller

2007-05-04T06:25:00.000-07:00

I wore my Ben Kweller t-shirt yesterday and bought my ticket to London and walked out of the travel agency humming this little ditty. It is hard not to love BK. I had the chance to chat with him a couple months ago and it just made me like him more than I already did. He is so young and so full of talent. He is so sincere and kind and will never be a rock star, which is a wonderful thing. He's got this calm and sweet aura about him, it is very magical. He's tapped into something that we all need.

I wish I had some of what that young man has got.

"aw mom, i always dreamt of being a good listener
so tonight i'm on my way
tonight i'm on my way

there's this kid you gotta meet
he lives across the street
he's got spirit and heart
we're ten years apart
he is up for anything
he can hang with anyone
he still likes the things we used to think were fun..."

Yesterday, I was feeling up to anything. Including a selfish, self-indulgent purchase. I'm going to be on my way to London and Paris and Edinburgh and...? this fall. It is my grown up girl trip and it also feels like an attempt to recapture some of my youthful spirit. I have been reading Fanny Fern quite a bit lately and was inspired. I'm not taking the hubby or the kids on this trip. They are OK with it and I am trying to be. And, in the fall I will be on MY way...

May 3, 2007 Song: "Ray of Light" by Madonna

2007-05-03T05:31:00.000-07:00

I only have one Madonna song on my iPod. It is this one. It makes me feel happy and energetic. Last night I decided I would write about it. Only today, I feel like crap and it just doesn't seem right.

"Do my tears of mourning sink beneath the sun
Shes got herself a universe gone quickly
For the call of thunder threatens everyone..."

Mourning what? Not sure. But feel too crappy today to enjoy this song...maybe another day.

May 2, 2007 Song: "Upside Down" by the Jesus and Mary Chain

2007-05-02T00:00:00.000-07:00

So the Jesus and Mary Chain recently had a reunion. I wanted to see them real bad…but not bad enough to drop a couple hundred bucks and take a trip to the desert. And, I had to work the night they played so. Cal. Bummer. But, maybe I would have been disappointed. They are so about the disappointment.

“You live with so much carelessness
cause no one takes you serious That makes you feel so dangerous You wish you never was But you can’t see…”

Ahhh…the rich and beautiful tragedy of being misunderstood. I write. I paint. I sing. I want to be taken seriously. I don’t want people to make a big deal out of me. If people took me seriously then I would be just as miserable as I am now. Maybe more so. Miserable makes for good material. It’s true. You know it's true. That's why you're laughing.

“Your life is like a broken shell…”

Inside I’m upside down, too.

May 1, 2007 Song: "Snowbird" by Loretta Lynn

2007-05-01T05:40:00.000-07:00

May should begin with a little melancholy.

It was my grandmother who introduced me to this song and to county in general. I’m not talking the cheesy kind of country that we all hate, but the good pure painful stuff.

She would pace around her spare bedroom (the one with the turntable) and listen to sad songs. She’d tell me about the artists. She’d point out the humor in them. And then pace and cry and pace and cry. Same songs. Over and over.

This week, it walked right up and smacked me in the face: holy crap, I do that too.

“Snowbird” was one of them. I love this song because it takes me back to the sound of her feet on the ground. The sound of the needle being placed on the turntable. The smell of my grandmother.

“So little snowbird take it with you when you go
To that land of gentle breezes where the peaceful waters flow
Spread your tiny wings...
And if I could you know that I would fly away with you”

What lost love was she missing? Where did she want to fly away to? What was she thinking about as she paced. I was too young to think of those things back then. Today, I might have just asked. Too late for that though…

So now, at the end, I’ll go back to the start:
“Beneath this snowy mantle cold and clean
The unborn grass lies waiting for its coat to turn to green
The snowbird sings the song he always sings
And speaks to me of flowers that will bloom again in spring
When I was young my heart was young then too
Anything that it would tell me that's the thing that I would do…”

Did she want to be young again? I sure would love to be young again. And now, I feel that strong pull to pace and pace and pace…When did I stop following MY heart? I am to listen to it from now on.

April 30, 2007 Song: "Evil Will Prevail" by the Flaming Lips

2007-04-30T06:11:00.000-07:00

Why DO bugs fly into bug zappers? Bugs fly into bug zappers for the same reason that humans struggle to achieve their dreams. If you have never heard this song before, you'll see where I'm going with this one in a few seconds.

Some of us want to believe and many of us strongly believe that there is something beautiful waiting in the "light." We tell our dying to "go to the light..." light=positive. dark=negative. So, what happens when a bug flies into a bug zapper? That's right. You got it. Zapped dead. Does this mean that the "light" is really evil? No. Maybe. Who knows? I can't say for sure one way or the other.

I will be writing a lot about the Flaming Lips, so you had better just get used to it now. I'll try to spread them out. But, I could not let three days go by without talking about this song.

Bugs see a mighty glowing bug zapper, and they think to themselves, "Great God in Heaven, the Mothership has come for us! We're going home!!" Yeah, going home all right. Zap. Burn. Disintigrate. Painless death, though.

"...and the magic bullet is the
glowing mother ship, and the mother zaps you dead..."

I know that evil will prevail and all my efforts to beautify the world with words and paint brushes are futile. But, are they?

All in all, it is pretty damn inspriring to think that even though we know deep down in our hearts that evil will prevail, we keep fighting the good fight. So it ends, "Knowing that evil will always win..."

But wait, can anything come close to the joy that a bug feels when it "discovers" the mothership. Does that compare to the joy a human being feels when he or she "discovers" his or her true calling in life. And you know what I think? I think it is a beautiful thing and we should all fly into that giant bug zapper with reckless abandon. Oh yeah, magic bullet here I come.

And that, my friends, makes me happy.

April 29, 2007 Song: "Velouria" by the Pixies

2007-04-29T05:13:00.000-07:00

"Say to me, where have you been?" Now, isn't that what we all want to hear? Short and to the point and glued to the back of my brain.

Theremin. In my face. It is cryptic and I get it. Great example of the perfect pop song.

It is probably a bunch of gibberish. But, it gives me goosebumps every time I hear it. I want it to be about being in love, though that might not be it at all.

I read somewhere that it is about the lost continent of Lemuria, the sister continent to Atlantis. I also read that someone once proposed that Lemuria might be the missing link in fossil records. Whatever the case, like everything, it sank to the bottom of the ocean.

Another interesting tidbit from Wikipedia: "In 1894, Frederick Spencer Oliver published A Dweller on Two Planets, which claimed that survivors from a sunken continent called Lemuria were living in or on Mount Shasta in northern California. The Lemurians lived in a complex of tunnels beneath the mountain and occasionally were seen walking the surface dressed in white robes."
Hmmmmmmmm?

Plenty of songs make reference to California, but this one stands on its own to me. And, will somebody please tell me, how DOES "Lemur skin reflect the sea?"

This song punches me in the gut and then tenderly reaches out its hand to help me back on my feet, just like any good song should.

April 28, 2007 Song: "Soft Revolution" by Stars

2007-04-28T10:22:00.000-07:00

The first one. Stars - "Soft Revolution"

"Why this one?" you may or may not be asking. No reason, really. I was just enjoying it very much lately, so much that I had to listen to the closing lyrics 5 or 6 times last night in the car. It is on my brain. My list of songs is so long that I may write in this blog every day for the rest of my life and I may never finish.

I spend a lot of time in my car. My only excuse for that is that I live in Southern California. All this time in the car makes for some passionate music listening. I watch other drivers laugh at me and look at me in horror as I sing and dance with one hand on the wheel.

It ends like this:
"After changing everything
They couldn't tell we couldn't sing
They couldn't tell we couldn't sing
And that changes everything."

And isn't that how all good things should end? Shouldn't everything change?
And, how should all good things begin? "We are here to save your life..."

I love the horns and violin, Torq's breathy and smooth voice and all the little sweet and dramatic sounds integrated into this very simple song. It makes me happy. It makes me look up to the sky and open my arms wide and say to the song, "Yes, do come and save my life. Do come and save my life. Please save my life."

Mostly, as you will quickly learn, I like sad songs. It takes a very special happy song to make me feel happy and hopeful AND to make me enjoy feeling happy and hopeful. Because, after all, I mainly think that happy and hopeful is a crock of shit. But, not in this song. Not in this one. "..backwards through a megaphone...," it makes me so happy that it hurts.

"sing it to the ones you love, and the ones you'd like to be rid of..."

Welcome to Paloma's Song of the Day

2007-04-28T09:04:00.000-07:00

I am not a professional music critic. I am an untrained musician. As my art school sister reminds me, I am also an untrained artist and that is a trend that will pass. Technique? I don't know about technique. I do know about following my heart and I do know about what moves me. And, really, I believe that there is very little that is new anyway. While music critics will rant and rave about the latest and greatest and worst, I'll just tell you about what I like, old or new. Mostly old. Sometimes new.

So begins La Paloma's Song of the Day. If you want to know what song is in my head today, and why...I will try to explain, in my best untrained and unprofessional way.