::Spring Week:: Of Montreal - Sing You a Love You Song

Suddenly, it's Spring! Here in lovely West Michigan 80 degree temperatures have replaced our normal March blizzards, giving us an early change of the seasons. For some, love is in the air. For others, allergies. But for all? Music. This week (yes I know its already Thursday, shut up I have things to do) we will take a look at some Spring related rhythms and melodies.



The early days of Of Montreal consisted of very ladeeda, indie, acoustic love songs which is quite a change from their current erotic, disco, funk, experimental style. Both have their strong points and strongly depend on your mood at the time. Hence "Sing You a Love You Song" from The Bedside Drama: A Petite Tragedy being used for Spring Week.

It has all the right ingredients for spring and you can almost feel the warm breeze upon your face, the birds chirping and the flowers blooming. Wow, that sounds sappy. This could have fit in my sappy love songs week too. Consisting of just Kevin Barnes and an acoustic guitar it tells the tale of a couple discussing their relationship on a blanket in a park. Barnes has always had comical lyrics and this song is no exception with a line like "You say you don't love me but yet, perhaps you just forget, that you do." Give it a listen and enjoy the weather!

Before the laughter and the cheer dissolves into his memory, taste of vodka on
his lips, and thoughts of murder and doom, her eyes appeared to bloom, he wanted
to touch them but was afraid she taken aback then what would he say?

They walked to the garden in the park when it was empty after dark then spread
out a blanket and laid down and a voice said, "No one else could hear." He
whispered in here ear, "Although I can't sing it now, be still..some day baby I
will.. sing you a love you song."

She rolled over and a kiss laid softly on his chin and said, "You know maybe
there's a chance that your feelings you've mistook or have presently
overlooked... You say you don't love me, but yet perhaps you just forget that
you do."

He said that, "I love you please believe the only matter of concern is that your
love will one day fade. If that should happen I would die, and that's the reason
why I know I can't sing it now but be still cos some day baby I will sing you a
love you song...."

She said, "How could you question when the root of my affection is so plain and
obvious? It grew from the overwhelming pleasure of just being near you and now
bring in doubts and they are smothering our love! 

::Sappy Love Songs Week:: The Beach Boys - Darlin'

Whilst searching for songs this week, I typed in the word "love" into my itunes search to see what would come up. The majority of the results were The Beach Boys so I had to pick one. (Looking back on this it may  be because of Mike Love's name, but regardless, they know how to write some sappy music).

I chose this one because its a little bit lesser known and showcases Carl Wilson's talent. Brian is brilliant and all, but I think Carl deserves some credit now and again too. If not for his song writing than for his impressive beard. It's a pretty simple ditty about a girl brightening a dude's life and its got everything you'd expect to hear in one of the BB's love songs, i.e. backup harmony blasts, horns, the works.

Ohh darlin'
My darlin' you're so fine
Ohhhh-hhh-hhh

Don't know if words can say
But darlin' I'll find a way
To let you know what you meant to me
Guess it was meant to be
I hold you in my heart
As life's most precious part

Oh darlin'
I dream about you often my pretty darlin'
(Darlin' you're so fine)
I love the way you soften my life with your love
Your precious love uh huh oh

I was living like half a man
Then I couldn't love but now I can
You pick me up when I'm feeling sad
More soul than I ever had
Gonna love you every single night
Cause I think you're too outta sight

Oh-ho darlin'
I dream about you often my pretty darlin'
(Darlin' you're so fine)
I love the way soften my life with your love
Your precious love uh huh huh

Woah oh oh oh oh

Every night oh darlin'
Gonna love you every single night, yes I will
Cause I think you're too doggone outta sight

Oh darlin'
I dream about you often my pretty darlin'
(Darlin' you're so fine)
I love the way soften my life with your love
Your precious love uh huh
Oh

::Sappy Love Songs Week:: Buddy Holly - Dearest

This is my favorite Buddy Holly song hands down and fits quite well in this week's theme what with his lovey dovey lyrics and his heartthrobbiness amongst the womenfolk of the 50s. Its pretty cheesy and so simple but still fantastic. There's a better version of this out there where it's just him and an acoustic guitar that adds a more personal, desperate feeling to it, but I couldn't find it in the two seconds I took to look for it so I gave up. Sue me.

Any way its got all the sappy, gushy stuff in the lyrics. But it also has the Uhhhhmmmyeah's going for it. I cant explain why, but that is probably one of my favorite thing about lead vocals. I love a singer's ability to throw in some noise (Ooo's, uhh's, wah's, what have you's) that add that extra kick to a song. There is such a thing as over the top however, David Lee Roth.

Dearest - though you're the nearest to my heart 
please don't ever - umm ya 
ever say we'll part 

You scold and you were so bold 
yes together - umm ya 
our love will grow old - umm ya 
our love will grow old 

You may be a million miles away 
please believe me - umm ya 
when you hear me say 
I love you - I love you 

Come home - keep me from these sleepless nights 
try my love again - umm ya 
I'm gonna treat you right - umm ya 
I'm gonna treat you right

::Sappy Love Songs Week:: Death Cab For Cutie - Earth Angel

So I guess it's Valentine's Day. The one day of the year to remind all the single-folk such as myself how much it sucks to be single. Although this year I'm going to ignore all that and make the best of it and you should too even if you're a single chump or chumpette.

So maybe the object of your affection hates your guts. Maybe they live in some far off distant land. Maybe they're only interested in big burly guys who wear flannels year round and say it would look too awkward holding hands with a guy that's only slightly bigger than her. Maybe you just can't find anyone that's willing to talk about your theories on time travel for 3 hours. Whatever the case, affection exists. And it does weird things to people. Let's all just be fascinated and happy about that because one of the weird things it does to us is inspires us to make and listen to sappy love songs.

However! There's good sap and bad sap. Some sap is just sap for the sake of sappiness (too much sap in one sentence). That's bad sap. That's the sap that gets all stuck to your hands and wont come off for three days. Then there's good sap. The kind of sap that makes you think "Yeah its sappy, but who cares. I like it and it means something." That's the kind of sap that goes through a rigorous process and gets turned into maple syrup. So this week, listen to these maple syrupy songs that celebrate love, affection or lack thereof. Also have some pancakes. That sounds really good right now for some reason.



Death Cab for Cutie has a tendency to sap it up now and again. I mean who can forget the gooeyness of "I Will Follow You Into the Dark." I didn't want to choose the obvious choice here but I wanted to use Death Cab this week. So here's a cover they did for the Stubbs The Zombie Soundtrack.

"Earth Angel" is a classic song from the 50s originally released by The Penguins. Its doo wop style and chromatic bass arpeggios make it a relaxing, bleary-eyed dream-scape. And without it, Marty McFly's parents may not have met at the "Enchantment Under the Sea" dance.

 Earth angel, earth angel: will you be mine?
My darling dear, love you all the time.
I'm just a fool, a fool in love with you.

Earth angel, earth angel; the one I adore.
Love you forever, and ever more.
I'm just a fool, a fool in love with you.

I fell for you and I knew the vision of your love, loveliness.
I hoped and I prayed that some day I'd be the vision on your happiness.

Earth angel, earth angel: please be mine?
My darling dear, love you all the time.
I'm just a fool, a fool in love with you.

I fell for you and I knew the vision of your loveliness,
I hope and I pray that some day I'd be the vision on your happiness.

Earth angel, earth angel: please be mine?
My darling dear, love you all the time.
I'm just a fool, a fool in love with you.

::Lasties Week:: Of Montreal - Authentic Pyrrhic Remission

Of Montreal are one of the weirdest bands out there. If you have not heard of them and like trippy, soul, pop, dance, art-rock, erotic disco music then I would check them out. Kevin Barnes is the creative force behind them writing and recording most of the instruments himself. He enlists the help of about 8 friends for support and live performances, which by the way are just as weird and trippy as the music.

This song is from their upcoming album Paralytic Stalks out on February 7. It is a 13 minute closer starting off with a funky, upbeat carnival of sounds. Then five minutes into it or so, it starts to morph into something else. There is a bridge of feedback and ambient noise and it finally dies out to a vocal and piano part that is just beautiful. It ends the album with a sigh, either of relief, relaxation or depression, I'm not quite sure. Nevertheless, an awesome closer.

I can't find any lyrics yet, since this isn't out yet so you'll have to get out a pen and paper and write them all down. Then send them to me. Do my work for me.

::Lasties Week:: Incubus - Aqueous Transmission

This one goes waaayyyy back for me. This is like a Brandon Musical Time Capsule, so if it seems out of place that's why. Gotta represent my roots I suppose. Incubus used to be one of my favorite bands and I have to admit that every now and then I listen to a few of their songs.

This one is from Morning View. This album signified a change for them into a more mellowed out sound and this song is a perfect example of mellowing out. Relaxing, Japanese-themed music sends you adrift down a river made of pillows, blankets and sleeping pills.

I'm floating down a river
Oars freed from their holds long ago
Lying face up on the floor of my vessel
I marvel at the stars
And feel my heart overflow
Further down the river
Further down the river
Further down the river
Further down the river
Two weeks without my lover
I'm in this boat alone
Floating down a river named emotion
Will I make it back to shore
Or drift into the unknown

Further down the river
Further down the river
Further down the river
Further down the river

I'm building an antenna
Transmissions will be sent when I am through
Maybe we could meet again further down the river
And share what we both discovered...
Then revel in the view

Further down the river
Further down the river
Further down the river
Further down the river

I'm floating down a river
I'm floating down a river
I'm floating down a river
I'm floating down a river

::Lasties Week:: Portugal. The Man - 1989/Our Way

Well since last week was Firsties, this week'll be Lasties. Seems logical, yeah? Anyway, these songs wrap up albums like a big fat punctuation mark. Be it a period, a comma, an exclamation point or some made up form of punctuation, they leave you with a satisfied sense of culmination and completion. It makes you feel like you accomplished something (but in actuality you just spent 30 minutes to an hour eating Cheezits and listening to music).





I'm going to start this week off with one of my favorite bands and the band that I just realized is the best band when it comes to closing albums. I had a hard time with picking a PTM song for this list because almost every album ends on the most perfect song. I ended up picking this one because I think its from their most artistic album, their magnum opus so to speak.

"1989/Our Way" is from Censored Colors and every time I listen to it I get the sense that I've just returned from some journey and am reliving it with a group of friends and family. Sort of retelling the tale and breathing a sigh of relief around a campfire. And for some reason there are a bunch of circus animals shooting off fireworks and giraffes blowing on those little party whistle things. Also there are bikini-clad women doing backflips. Hey its my fantasy, leave me alone.

I was born in nineteen eighty-nine
All we could do
No shakes or coughs or burst relief
Or lists of all our things
Just minutes making minds
I was born in nineteen eighty-nine
All we could do
But the making never made
The comers never came
But I still felt the awful news

It was patience that we had
And the miles we had left
That held us there
Until we could let go

I was born in nineteen eighty-nine
And it'll be over soon
No moon children or peoples sun
Or ringing in my ears
When I felt that awful news

But we found that we were always lost... in space
And we will never find our way
We felt that we would always find our way
If our minds ever come around

I was born in nineteen eighty-nine
All we could do
Not in birth or body
But only in our minds
I was shaking to through my eyes
And living through each breath
I still felt that awful news

::Firsties Week:: The Decemberists - The Infanta

The Decemberists are a band that refuse to exist in one time. They're songs touch on themes of rastabouts, wayward ship captains and Victorian love affairs and each one seems to be pulled right out of a dusty old classic novel. Needless to say they're unique.

"The Infanta" is from the album Picaresque and starts it off with a grand parade, celebrating the birth of a royal child. The song begins with a low rumbling and a horn signifying the approaching "folderol." And then the parade enters and excitement, confetti and cannon-fire fill the air. The music is middle-eastern, grand and adventurous sounding. You gotta hand it to Colin Meloy's vocabulary. I'm almost certain this is the only song ever that uses the lyric "among five-score pachyderm each canopied and passengered, sits the duke and his duchesses luscious young girls."

Here she comes in her palanquin
on the back of an elephant
on a bed made of linen and sequins and silk
all astride on her father's line
with the king and his concubines
and her nurse with her pitchers of liquors and milk
and we'll all come praise the infanta
and we'll all come praise the infanta

Among five score pachyderm
each canopied and passengered
sit the duke and the duchess' luscious young girls
within sight of the baroness
seething spite for this lithe largesse
by her side sits the baron
her barrenness barbs her
and we'll all come praise the infanta
and we'll all come praise the infanta

A phalanx on camelback
thirty ranks on a forward tack
followed close, their shiny bright standards a-waving
while behind in their coach-and-fours
ride the wives of the king of Moors
And the veiled young virgin, the prince's betrothed
and we'll all come praise the infanta
and we'll all come praise the infanta

And as she sits upon her place
her innocence laid on her face
from all atop the parapets blow a multitude of coronets
melodies rhapsodical and fair
and all our hearts afire
the sky ablaze with cannon fire
we all raise our voices to the air
to the air...

And above all this folderol
on a bed made of chaparral
she is laid, a coronal placed on her brow
and the babe, all in slumber dreams
of a place filled with quiet streams
and the lake where her cradle was pulled from the water
and we'll all come praise the infanta
and we'll all come praise the infanta

::Firsties Week:: Radiohead - Everything in its Right Place

It was hard to pick a Radiohead track because almost every one of their opening tracks are solid. My brother actually recently pointed out that OK Computer opening track "Airbag" serves as a bridge between the final track "The Tourist" making the whole album a continuing loop!

However I chose "Everything In Its Right Place" because I've recently discovered something about the album that its from. Radiohead has always been a band shrouded in mysteries and conspiracies, and I highly doubt any of them are true most of the time, especially this one, but there's a theory that says that Kid A foretold 9/11 and that its a perfect musical interpretation of that fateful day and the months following it. Once again, I don't believe it was intended to be that way and in fact, neither does the author of this theory Chuck Klosterman. Just a crazy coincidence. Intentions aside, it gave new meaning to this album for me.

Anyway. The song. It paints a perfect picture of the album's feeling. The feeling I get from this album is a feeling of numbness and complacency that has a twinge of creepiness and a sense dread that slowly wells up in the pit of your stomach. This song is supposed to (according to the completely made up, yet interesting theory) symbolize the morning commute on 9/11 in New York. You get the image of people going about their business but deep down there is a feeling that something isn't right. Yesterday I woke up sucking a lemon.

Kid A, Kid A, Kid A, Kid A
Everything, everything, everything, everything..
In its right place
In its right place
In its right place
Right place

Yesterday I woke up sucking a lemon
Yesterday I woke up sucking a lemon
Yesterday I woke up sucking a lemon
Yesterday I woke up sucking a lemon

Everything, everything, everything..
In its right place
In its right place
Right place

There are two colours in my head
There are two colours in my head
What is that you tried to say?
What was that you tried to say?
Tried to say.. tried to say..
Tried to say.. tried to say..

Everything in its right place

::Firsties Week:: The Shins - Sleeping Lessons

"Sleeping Lessons" is the opener to the Shins third album Wincing the Night Away. This one made the cut mainly because I love James Mercer's lyrics and have a man-crush on him. The album seems to have an insomnia-fueled, nocturnal, dreamlike feel to it, and what better way to start it off with this song.

It doesn't explode like the Lips' song... at first anyway. It kind of lulls you into the album with fuzzy arpeggios and odd noises. As your eyelids begin to droop slowly down, the song slowly begins to build up subtly and then unleashes a barrage of banging electric guitars, feedback and drums. It reminds me of falling asleep and entering the land of dreams where anything is possible and you can ride on unicorns made of Toblerones that shoot fireworks out of their nostrils. What? No one else has that dream?

Go without,
Till the need seeps in
You low animal,
Collect your novel petals for the stem.

And glow.
Glow.
Melt and flow.
Eviscerate your fragile frame.
And spill it out on ragged floor.
A thousand different versions of yourself.

And if the old guards still offend,
They got nothing left on which you depend.
So enlist every ounce
Of your bright blood.
And off with their heads.

Jump from the hook.
You're not obliged to swallow anything you despise.
See, those unrepenting buzzards want your life,
And they got no right.
As sure as you have eyes,
They got no right.

Just put yourself in my new shoes.
And see that I do all I do.
Because the old guard still offends.
(Their pudgy hearts and slimy hands)
They got nothing left on which we depend.
So enlist every ounce
Of your bright blood.
And off with their heads.

Jump from the hook.
You're not obliged to swallow anything you despise,
That you despise.

::Firsties Week:: The Flaming Lips - Race for the Prize

Well folks. It's a new year. 2012. And its been a while. I'm starting a new semester and it kind of feels like I'm on the brink of something in many aspects of my life right now. I feel as though good things are about to happen. Or maybe I'm just hungry. Either way, to celebrate this feeling of starting something new, or hunger, take your pick, this week is going to be devoted to the best opening tracks on albums. Songs that just start off with a punch and drag you in. Songs that ease you in to an album like dipping toes in a hot bath. Songs that sum up the entire album like a capital letter. Or just plain cool opening tracks. So enjoy, and start something new this week, for god's sake. You know that thing you've always wanted? Well get up and go get it.



This song man. What a good get up and go song. This is a song that aurally explodes. The moment those sticks hit the drums it just instantly fills you up with a sense of excitement and joy and continues on full force party mode. Funny that it's a song about two scientists racing for a cure.

"Race" is from the Flaming Lips shining gold work of art Soft Bulletin an album that has been declared their version of Pet Sounds. It gained this comparison due to its grandiose orchestration and overall "big" feeling it evokes. This song is a great representation of that feeling and is also a great way to start this year. Let's make it explosive and awesome. Explawesome!


Two scientists were racing
For the good of all mankind
Both of them side by side
So Determined

Locked in heated battle
For the cure that is their prize
But it's so dangerous
But they're determined

Theirs is to win
If it kills them
They're just humans
With wives and children

Upwards to the vanguard
Where the pressure is too high
Under the microscope
Hope against hope

Forging for the future
But to sacrifice their lives
Both of them side by side
So determined

Theirs is to win
If it kills them
They're just humans
With wives and children

Theirs is to win
It will kill them
They're just humansWith wives and children