February 2012
3 posts
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December 2011
12 posts
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November 2011
2 posts
July 2011
3 posts
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Poems and Songs from The Lord of the Rings
I love The Lord of the Rings, both the books and the films. The filmmakers adapted several of the poems and lyrics Tolkien wrote, putting them to music for the film. This post reviews my favorites from both sources.
The Road Goes Ever On
The first version actually comes from The Hobbit, in the form of a poem that Bilbo speaks at the end of the book.
Roads go ever ever on,
Over rock and...
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“Like those soft little secrets that you tell, that you tell to yourself when you...”
– The Airborne Toxic Event - “Wishing Well”
March 2010
1 post
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Magnolia Sons - Holiday Review
Holiday Review - Magnolia Sons
I love the jangling guitars and the energy of this song. Some neat lyrics and William Ferguson’s voice make this a pretty incredible listen.
Wrote me a letter
with a blue note stationary pen
About the longing and the love
you finally had to give
Problem is that all the bad news seeped under my pores
Out my mouth and into yours
Money talks,
my...
February 2010
16 posts
3 tags
Frightened Rabbit - Swim Until You Can't See Land
Swim Until You Can’t See Land …
First single off their upcoming album, The Winter of Mixed Drinks. Great energy and melody. I’m really looking forward to this release.
We salute at the threshold of the North Sea
in my mind
And a nod to the boredom that drove me here
to face the tide and swim
I swim … oh swim
Dip the toe in the ocean. Oh how it hardens and it...
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“Caelum videre iussit, et erectos ad sidera tollere vultus”
– Ovid — Metamorphoses
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The Velvet Teen - Caspian Can Wait
He waits for the greater silence
As every day goes faster
A cipher he knows too well
Of killing himself by looking closer
You got so much love locked up inside you
Just waiting to come out
You’ll heal the world in spite of itself
And make a better one
You say you’re a veteran
He waits for the reign of his tyrants
To tire of their games, god save him
He’ll be the...
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Dreamboat Money - Pay it Forward
Pay It Forward - Dreamboat Money
Great harmonies and a sweet melody make this a fun listen.
Keep in your mind
Things that are kind
And your heart will show through
Smile on your face
Brightens the day of the ones
Who pass you
There are too many hearts that cry
There are too many hearts that die
I, I, I will show my love to you
If you show love in everything you do
We’re all...
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Old Crow Medicine Show - Wagon Wheel
Wagon Wheel - Old Crow Medicin…
One of the best bluegrass songs of the past decade.
Headed down south to the land of the pines
And I’m thumbin’ my way into North Caroline
Starin’ up the road
Pray to God I see headlights
I made it down the coast in seventeen hours
Pickin’ me a bouquet of dogwood flowers
And I’m a-hopin’ for Raleigh
I can...
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The Shins - Gone for Good
Gone For Good - The Shins
Untie me, I’ve said no vows
The train is getting way too loud
I’ve got to leave here, my girl
And get on with my lonely life
Just lay the ring on the rail
For the wheels to nullify
Until this turn in my head
I let you stay and you paid no rent
I spent twelve long months on the lam
That’s enough sitting on the fence
For the fear of breaking...
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Deer Tick - Little White Lies
Well everybody, everybody who has reached out so far to me,
Well never did we ever think that these were desperate times or misery,
And they softly spoke of how it’s supposed to be,
Never did I think that I was so naive.
So please let me be lonely tonight,
For how many times I thought this was the life,
But I’m not so sure I even am alive.
Well I’ve torn apart and warded...
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Radiohead - Fake Plastic Trees
Fake Plastic Trees - Radiohead
An old classic, but one of the prettiest songs ever written.
Her green plastic watering can
For her fake Chinese rubber plant
In the fake plastic earth.
That she bought from a rubber man
In a town full of rubber plans
To get rid of itself.
It wears her out, it wears her out
It wears her out, it wears her out.
She lives with a broken man
A cracked...
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Dreamboat Money - I Can't Wait to Come Home
The harmonies in this song, and especially the chorus are fantastic. The lyrics leave a little to be desired, but this song is addicting.
Free yourself
You’ve been waiting for a long time
Be yourself
Hiding in the dark and let it shine
Your fear that hides your soul from the true
Story your heart has told
And no one will know
See yourself
You have to trust what’s on the...
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The Velvet Teen - The Prize Fighter
The Prize Fighter - The Velvet Teen
Crossed off, but never forgotten
Misplaced, but never losing hold
These are the moments that bind us
Repressed, but never erased
Knocked down, but never giving up
Locked up where no one can find us
We’ll survive in here til the end
There are no more fights to fight
My trophies are the scars that will never heal
But I get carried away...
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Deer Tick - Smith Hill
Smith Hill - Deer Tick
Elbows on the window sill
My head against the pane
You’ve seen so many grow and die
But you forgot most of their names
So I fire that arrow into the great big sky
And I hope that it never comes down
Unless you’re coming with it
It’s better with you around
I could drink myself to death tonight
Or I could stand and give a toast
To those who...
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Roman Candle - Early Aubade
Early Aubade - Roman Candle
I’d like to thank all of the stars just for shining out tonight
like a hundred scattered eyes in the aether.
I know that it ain’t normal thanking stars but it ain’t normal seeing stars
outshine the London streetlights either.
So make up your old bed and check the drawers for clothes
cause everything outside the world is telling us it’s...
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“Thanks to the human heart by which we live,
Thanks to its tenderness, its joys,...”
– William Wordsworth, “Ode: Intimations of Immortality from Recollections of Early Childhood”
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The Tiny Tin Hearts - The Aviator
On OurStage
In the closing moments of the sky-bound life
When all the years and days have wound into a final streak of light
That arches through the storm
A spot of life that explodes
From the moment it was born
Pathways carved in a heart
That only wings could sing
And only love could tear apart
We live fragile lives worn smooth by worry and love
Simplify the ranges round and down till...
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The National - Fake Empire
On iLike
Stay out super late tonight
picking apples, making pies
put a little something in our lemonade and take it with us
we’re half-awake in a fake empire
…
Tiptoe through our shiny city
with our diamond slippers on
…
Turn the light out say goodnight
no thinking for a little while
lets not try to figure out everything at once
It’s hard to keep track of you falling through the...
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“Guns make you stupid. Better to fight your wars with duct tape. Duct tape makes...”
– Michael Westen — from Burn Notice
January 2010
4 posts
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“They sicken of the calm, who knew the storm.”
– Dorothy Parker — “Fair Weather”
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Steve Earle - Me and the Eagle
The eagle looked down on the river below
And he wrapped his wings round him and he fell like a stone
And the big salmon fought but the talons held true
And he shuddered as the world turned from silver to blue
I stood there in awe though I’d seen it before
I was born in these mountains and I’ll die here for sure
I’ve traveled around I’ve seen city lights
But...
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“How do you pick up the threads of an old life? How do you go on, when in your...”
– The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King
December 2009
13 posts
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“There—west—were the Tetons. Snow-peaks would soon be
In dark profile to break...”
– Robert Penn Warren — “Mortal Limit”
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“Come, my friends.
‘T is not too late to seek a newer world.
Push off,...”
– Alfred Tennyson — “Ulysses”
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Eddie Vedder - Guaranteed
On iLike
Don’t come closer or I’ll have to go
Holding me like gravity are places that pull
If ever there was someone to keep me at home
It would be you…
My favorite song from the excellent soundtrack for Into the Wild (which is a great film). The guitar is great and the lyrics are truly incredible.
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“All I have is a sword, and a war I cannot win, but can never stop fighting.”
– Robert Jordan, The Eye of the World
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Electric President - Insomnia
On iLike
There’s a light bulb dangling from string
It’s slowly swaying up over my head now
As I jot down the words that’ll never be sung
And wait for my headache to numb
And the wind sounds as if the world’s sighing
And the moon’s just a torn fingernail
As the TV flickers and hums by the wall
And I wait for my eyesight to fade
…
I hope you’re learning to listen
And I hope you’re...
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“If a war can be holy, then God cannot. At best, a war can only be necessary.”
– Louis de Bernières, Birds without Wings