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!!
Its been a while since I’ve really had anything to say and I’m all inspired by the music posts from Jody so I thought I’d write about some of the things that are going on in my world. I’m cancer free! Well, at least this atypical mole I had looked at. Jeremy and I finally went and got a Primary Care Doctor. I asked him to refer me to a dermatologist. I’ve been putting it off ever since my former one retired. I didn’t want to go b/c I knew they’d want to cut me. My new dermatologist is great. I got my stiches out last Tuesday and I’m healing up quite nicely. I got new glasses even though my Rx didn’t change much. They’re pretty funky. I’m still getting used to them. The frames are much more prominent. They have these thick side arms that limit my side view. My gpa is back at home. He’s been in the hospital recovering from surgery. He seems to be getting back to normal. But its been a real circus. He’s going to have a big birthday this weekend at Game Farm Park. I’m hoping that it isn’t crazy hot and that we all are able to survive/attend this party. Jeremy and I went to the Bite of Seattle and I was a little start struck when I saw Tom Douglas. The food we had from Lola was Fantastic.
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
a friend was visiting last week and as we were chatting she asked me to tell her something funny that the kids had done lately. i was stumped for a minute, but then i remembered something, two somethings, actually, that had happened that week within a few days of each other.
I was in the middle of changing the sheets on rowan’s bed, when he begged me to put niamh’s pink sheets on instead of his normal blue or yellow sheets. when i said yes his little eyes lit up and he cheered as he did a little happy dance around the room. “Pink sheets are my favorite!” too cute.
then, just a couple of days later, as i was getting muriel dressed for the day he said “Mama, did I wear that dress when I was a baby?” When I told him that no, he had not worn that dress as a baby he said “awwww, but i love it!” and then a few minutes later “mama, how come dresses are only for girls?” i had to laugh, especially since this conversation happened so soon after the pink sheets.
as i told these stories to my friend it didn’t seem like she was laughing, even on the inside. and then when i got to the part about the dress her jaw literally dropped open before a look of pure disgust came over her face. i just stared at her, not comprehending her reaction, for what felt like ten minutes, but in reality was probably more like ten seconds. when my brain finally recovered enough to form words for my mouth the best i could come up with was “he’s four! it doesn’t mean anything.” and some other stuff. i don’t really remember what i said. whatever it was i stumbled and stammered and didn’t make much sense. and in the end i just gave up, because clearly no matter what i said she wasn’t going to think it was cute or sweet or funny that rowan had pink sheets on his bed and wished he could wear a flowery blue sundress.
it breaks my heart is that someone, someday, is going to look at my sweet boy with a look of disgust on their face and tell him that something about him is not okay. i love that he doesn’t yet realize that boys aren’t supposed to like dresses or flowers or glitter or pink. i want him to hold on to that innocence for as long as possible.
and SO WHAT?! so what if it does “mean something”? so. what.
i wish that i could shield my children forever from the people who will make them feel bad about themselves for who they are.
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.
this one snuck up on me and i totally would have missed it if rowan wasn’t obsessing over dates right now (in anticipation of playing “daddy trains” on the 19th). not much new going on this month, so i’ll just leave you with some photos i took today.
