I’m doing this post rather late as we’ve got guests in town. I thought it’d be poor form for the Friday Music post to be late on only its 3rd running but perhaps when you see how little effort I’m making you’ll think otherwise.
My choice this week is from a CD given to us by the McCanns. It’s got some wonderful tunes on it but my favorite is the title track, Down at the Sea Hotel. For a long time this was the CD that played Jonah’s night music and so this song reminds me of sleeping, which isn’t something we’ve been doing well this week because of this hot weather. So here’s to lovely lullabies and the wish for good sleep! I’ll have to update the other verses of the lyrics because I can’t find a full spread of them on line right now. Oh and I can’t find a youtube clip so I’ll have to figure out some sort of audio file. Consider this post severely unfinished, thus barely scraping by the deadline.

Update: Lyrics finished!!

Down at the Sea Hotel
Tuna is tired,
the seahorse is sleepy,
the hammerhead’s not feeling well.
The catfish is yawning- it’s lights-out time down at the Sea Hotel.

Good night. Good night. Sleep tight. Sleep tight.
Down at the Sea Hotel.

They’ve eaten their minnows.
They’ve eaten their worms.
They have no more stories to tell.
Octopus stretches all eight of his arms down at the Sea Hotel.

Good night. Good night. Sleep tight. Sleep tight.
Down at the Sea Hotel.

Good night!

By John Gorka, Eliza Gilkyson, Lucy Kaplansky, Guy Davis, Lynn Miles And The Wailin’ Jennys

Update: Here’s Audio!!

Ok, well Friday sure snuck up on me in a big way! But luckily I’ve been thinking a little about this song so it wasn’t hard to choose. I have to admit I’ve been a little ambivalent about the Yeah Yeah Yeahs and I’m not exactly sure why. Slanky picked up their latest album a while back and I’ve been slow to take to it. Part of it is that Karen O sounds so affected in her vocals and that bugs me a bit. The album has some good tunes on it though, some dancy stuff and whatnot.

I don’t have a big philosophical post about Zero. I chose this song because it’s actually a mean song. Sometimes when you encounter people who are idiots or are cruel for no reason you realize that the world is big enough for songs like this. It’s not all about love, people! I think she might be talking about crazed music fans. You know the type, who think they’ll get noticed if they take their undergarments off and throw them on stage or crap like that. Anyway, think of someone who’s annoyed you lately and enjoy.

Zero
Shake it like a ladder to the sun
Makes me feel like a madman on the run
Find me, never, never far gone
So get your leather, leather, leather on on on on

You’re a zero
What’s your name?
No one’s gonna ask you
Better find out where they want you to go

Try and hit the spot
Get to know it in the dark
Get to know it whether you’re
Crying, crying, crying, oh oh
Can you climb, climb, climb higher

Shake it like a ladder to the sun
Makes me feel like a madman on the run
No you’re never, never far gone
So get your leather, leather, leather on on on on

You’re a zero
What’s your name?
No one’s gonna ask you
Better find out where they want you to go

Try and hit the spot
Get to know it in the dark
Get to know it whether you’re
Crying, crying, crying, oh oh
Can you climb, climb, climb higher

Yeah Yeah Yeahs
It’s Blitz! 2009

For years now (yearzzz, people! we have been writing this blog for years! can you believe it?) I’ve been meaning to start up a weekly music lyrics review but I’ve been lazy. What can I say? Lazy. Anyway, my plan has always been to just pick something, old or new, and write a little something about it. Nothing too extraordinarily deep (not really qualified or capable) or long (again, lazy) but since music has always been an important part of my life I thought it’d be a good thing to share. So here goes!

My first pick is from one of my favorite artists of all time though it’s not one of my favorite songs of his. As many of you know, Mike Doughty was the lead singer of the group, Soul Coughing and then continued on as an independent artist. He’s also a published poet. I love his voice and his lyricism, though some of his new stuff has become a little religious for my taste. This song, Your Misfortune, is one of the songs that I’d just put into that category and hadn’t really thought much about it but the other day I was listening to it in the car and realized that the song is really rather comforting when you think that it doesn’t really have to be about God or Jesus, but more about spirituality in general. Or at least that’s how I’m taking it. To me, the “I” of the song is a general sense of spirituality and the message is that sometimes when you really can’t explain the bad things that are happening around you it’d be nice if you had something else to turn to. Maybe that’s your God or maybe that’s something else but we can’t always be on our own with our problems.

Your Misfortune
When your faith in life is gone
Come and speak to me
When you’re down and all messed up
Seek my sympathy

When everybody says no, no, no
Well it’s
Your misfortune and none of my own
Wrong, wrong, wrong
Well it’s your misfortune that sweetens my song

I can be the friend you want
I can be your confidante
I can be the right reminder at the right time
Throwing out the lifeline

When your face is caked with mud
Come and speak to me
When the chill creeps in your blood
Seek my sympathy

I can be the air you drink
Every single thought you think
I can be the right notion in the meantime
Warm you like the sunshine

Stand in the light.
Stand in the light.
Stand in the light.