Listen, dammit, and I'll send you a song

I note that nextian has suggested here another alternative to the word "meme": the French word for "same," which is même. Pronounced like "creme," she says. I like this. Unfortunately, I can never remember how to type out the circumflex, and I spilled congealed mayonnaise and ketchup on the little square number pad you use for typing symbols anyway, so I'm not sure it'll work.

I can use it for the moment because it's on my clipboard. même même même Ha it's French.

So the même she used to introduce it is "five songs," in which you simply discuss five songs you like and set them up for download by others. Taking a break from "David Copperfield," here's my five.

1. "Vultures," by Oingo Boingo
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I love this song. This is quickly replacing "Insanity" as my favorite Boingo song. I've been listening to it all day, while I was walking to the post office, while I was strolling Frat Row, everything. I found myself walking slowly and solemnly, as though I was in a procession.
It's so slow and weird, like a surreal death hymn. I want this song played at my funeral, if I can ever figure out what the lyrics mean. I think it's a surreal, post-apocalyptic animal fable. No, wait, it's about someone who's so sick of their life and being disappointed in love that they are just waiting to die and be reincarnated as an animal. Oh my god, no, it's a suicide song. Amazing.
( Come fly with me right into the sun )

2. "Personal Jesus," covered by Marilyn Manson
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Marilyn Manson's covers are excellent. The originals tend to be songs with emotional, even angsty lyrics, the styles of which are oddly restrained for their content. He takes these songs and infuses them with an incredible amount of passion and menace.
His original songs tend to really suck, though. They just try way too hard to be shocking or decadent, shoot their load in the lyrics and sound cynical and tired in the actual music, like a graying raver who's been up for 48 hours straight and just wants a nap.
I downloaded the Depeche Mode original and the Johnny Cash version after I heard this one, but I don't like either quite as much. The original is...all right, it depresses me. And Johnny Cash sounds way too sincere for this song, makes him sound like a televangelist.
( Reach out and touch faith )

3. "Cemetry Gates" by the Smiths
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lily_lemony sent me a bunch of Smiths songs about a week ago, and I am really enjoying listening to them. The lyrics are so fantastically Gothy and emo and sad and lovely, and the music is so smooth and inobtrusive and almost sunny. I love it.
I'm particularly liking "Cemetry Gates" because...well, it's kind of funny. Two Goths (or perhaps a couple of starry-eyed yet pretentious English majors) go into a cemetary, one starts quoting poetry, and the other calls them out on it. It's a weird, pretty smackdown. I can't stop listening to it.
( You lose, 'cause weird lover Wilde is on my side! )

4. "Baby, Let's Play House," by Elvis Aaron "THE KING" Presley
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My absolute favorite song off the "Sun Sessions" CD josephwaldman gave to me. Most of the other songs are quite simple, little snippets of emotion, mostly of love for one's girl, regret that one's girl has left one, or excitement at being able to rock, whether with one's girl or simply alone under the blue moon of Kentucky. Good down-home rock to boogie to.
This one's a little more...oh, shoot me...complex. There's a story behind this song. And it's particularly interesting to think about the difference between how you'd see it in 1956 versus in 2006.
In 1956, this is just a love song. The boy misses his girl, who's gone off to college, and he can't wait for her to come back home so that they can set up house and live happily ever after. He's probably worried that she's found a slick college fella who'll steal her heart away, and he doesn't want her to be that frat boy's fool.
In 2006, this is not a song that yer average independent woman would want to be serenaded with. The guy wants to drag her back from college so that she can start keeping house for him right away, and be his adoring girl like she was before. He's envious of her success, and scared that she might have found a man she likes better than him.
Isn't it great how perceptions change?
( You may drive a pink Cadillac but don't you be nobody's fool )

5. "Let George Do It," by Becker & Fagen
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Last Poetry Workshop, I expressed frustration with my inability to create a concrete narrative from poems, either my own or the ones of the other poets. "I don't get it! What do these lines have to do with each other? It's like a collection of inside jokes!"
Chris Williams had to explain it to me. "That's all poetry is, a collection of inside jokes. The trick is making other people think that they understand them."
Chris would love this song. Like most Steely Dan songs, it takes some effort to create a narrative out of the lyrics, and even then, it's definitely not what Don & Walt were thinking of when they wrote it. I won't even say what I think it means, because I don't want to color other peoples' perceptions of it. In any case, it's worth listening to; it's jazzy and swings and is totally cool, and Keith Thomas's voice is pretty good.
( Try to design a postcard from your mind )

Oh, and here's a bonus, because I love you all so much and I'm psyched about having found this song.
6. "Summerfly," by Maura O'Connell
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Maura O'Connell is just about the only female artist I really enjoy. She plays mostly rather straightforward, emotional Irish-tinged folk music. I'm trying to figure out what that instrument is in the background...dobro? It seems to me it's a dobro, although I can't tell instruments apart very well. Anyway, it's a very unusual sound, and the music itself is wonderful, very clear and well-put-together.
"Summerfly" is my favorite song by her. The emotion in her voice would move me to tears when I was a kid, although it took me years to really understand exactly what she was singing about.
Had to transcribe the lyrics myself here, since I can't find any online. so they may not be totally accurate.
( I don't know why you even try to win )

This isn't what happened when I made it.

I think I'm probably the only person in the world who is upset that CastleZZT has suddenly completely changed. It used to be this enormous thing with weird cut-outs and mathematical diagrams that I had no chance of ever understanding and had to scroll down forever to read.
Temporalectopia is still there. And this story about a rectangle, which depresses me in a really interesting way. The other House of Stairs comics (I am wondering whether the title has anything to do with the William Sleator book) are here. There's a Metafilter thing with more links than are listed on the page here. I'm trying to find a web archive of the old page or something, but it seems to be gone forever.
I deeply admire Jack Masters. I have no idea why. I rather want to IM or E-mail him, but I am slightly scared to. I occasionally leave comments on his weblog. He even did a comic based on some meta-constraints I put up for him once.

Hmph. Anyway, Poetry Collective switched to 8 PM Thursday nights, which doesn't really change my schedule that much. I do little during the week.
BJ Williams explained why I shouldn't feel bad about not understanding my own poem; even he does not understand his own poems, sometimes. The important thing, apparently, is that someone does. Probably. Theoretically. You know, it'll eventually make sense to at least one person on the planet. AND THAT'S THE IMPORTANT PART.
I still feel like I should understand my own, though. I've got this one I'm working on that won't gel, no matter what I do with it, and I think I'm almost on the verge of knowing what it's about. Which means it'll turn right into a story. It's something about...mmm, I'm not sure. I do have two versions; one is the original, with straight lines, and the other one is pretty much clipped up and put together in some odd patterns. Debating whether to just post the first version here and see if anyone else can make something of it, because I've just about given up.

Interesting, the A key has worn off. It's completely blank. The E, O, S, D, F, G, H, L, B, N, and M keys aren't looking so good either. The other ones look fine.

I think I'll do a poll. I haven't done one in a while.

[Poll #660911]