Dancing In The Dark

Dancing in the Dark :: Bruce Springsteen

“I’m dying for some action,
I’m sick of sitting round here,
trying to write this book.

I need a love reaction,
c’mon now baby,
give me just one look.”

***

It took me some time to grow to love Bruce Springsteen. I was never a huge fan when this song came out, though it was this song that I always loved from the first listen, until the personal replays it gets from me today. But, at the time, the rest of his music, and all of the hype that surrounded him, in general, just did not win me over.

It took time, and it took some digging, and it took really listening to a stack of albums to realize that I’d missed something. I love his music now, and recognize the influence he’s had on not only music in general, but on many artists I love.

My top ten list of favorite Springsteen songs varies era and sound, but this song will always be up at the top. Lyrically (especially the lyrics quoted above), and musically, I have always held a musical crush on this song, and i’m pretty sure I always will.

I Wanna Be Adored

I Wanna Be Adored :: The Raveonettes

"I don't have to sell my soul,
he's already in me."

***

I'd love to someday understand my need for attention and my fear of it going away. I could hop into the analists chair and surmise that this need comes from "daddy issues", and my lack of a positive male role model in my life. Or one could say that certain events in my life have taken things from me that I crave, and that often attention and adoration and/or love seem to sate, if only temporarily.

Maybe we all have this need, and perhaps I just call it out more in myself...I don't know.

I know it can feel damn good to be adored, at least every once in a lifetime.

P.S. This is a keen cover song!

Your Body Is A Machine

Your Body is a Machine :: The Good Natured

"It’s only a matter of time,
before all the springs in the mind,
will start to break,
like you have broken me."

***

My daughter, Julia, recommended this song to me and I've had it on repeat ever since. I love that her music taste has similarities to mine, but veers off into its own direction, as well - and that sometimes we overlap, and sometimes we introduce things to each other.

This is an introduction that I love, and that I'd most likely throw on my "Wolf" mix I was earlier contemplating.

The singer visually reminds me of a softer La Roux, and her sound calls to mind Metric, The Raveonettes, and Crystal Castles.

Music, and one's love/obsession with it, brings such bliss to my life.

Ashes To Ashes

Ashes to Ashes :: David Bowie

“I'm happy,
hope you’re happy too.”

***

I’m a sucker for pop culture references in just about anything, and I also tend to get giddy when a show/book/film, or in this case, song, references something earlier within the canon, or the artist’s own discography. It is probably the music geek in me, or perhaps it is that feeling that one is an insider, or in on the joke, or something - a big enough fan to recognize the references.

It reminds me of the way a relationship, whether with a friend or partner, develops its own histories and references. They may seem simple, the inside jokes and references we share with people in our lives, but they are something quite special and unique to me. They are part and parcel of one’s relationship history, and when hard times come in life, I think they are part of the glue that holds us together.

Ashes to Ashes references Major Tom, from Bowie’s song Space Oddity (my personal favorite Bowie song) - a song that was referenced in other songs of Bowie’s, as well as other artists’ songs (for example, in Peter Schilling’s song, Major Tom (Coming Home), or Five Star's song, Rain or Shine.

Bowie himself says that Ashes to Ashes is an epitath to his Seventies self, a way of saying goodbye and closing the door to an era of self, one could say. It makes me wonder what ends of era songs I would choose to reflect parts of my life…hmmm…

Green Eyes

Green Eyes :: Coldplay

“I came here with a load
and it feels so much lighter,
now I’ve met you.”

***

Sometimes I wish there was a manual, or guidebook, for good relationships. Think about it, there are plenty of books and blogs and rants about bad relationships - how to deal with them, how to get out of them, how to recognize them, how to survive them, how to heal from the aftermath and heartache - but honestly, how many books or blogs or raves do you know about good relationships?

In my “adult” years (I use the term here very loosely) of love and relationships I have to admit to having very little experience with good relationships. I’ve been lied to, used, cheated on, abused, mistrusted, stalked, and quite a few not so bright and shiny things in-between and sadly I know i’m not alone in this. Thing is, it does have an impact on expectation, as well as reaction, when in any relationship.

I don’t like to let the past influence the present, but when dealing with the vulnerability of love, well, it is damn hard not to.

But, I’m learning, and I’m trying, and perhaps along the way I’m writing my own guidebook to a good relationship, because for the first time in my life I am in one.

and, this song reminds me of it.

Jackie's Strength

Jackie’s Strength :: Tori Amos

“You said we were the real thing.”

***

Tori Amos’ first three albums hold enormous significance to my life, and are instant recall memory triggers anytime i listen to any songs from those albums. Those were the years of so much change and emotional chaos in my life.

Jackie’s Strength reminds me of my failed marriage, the second one, and how much damage it did to my heart. I wanted so much to be brave, to soldier through no matter what the cost to my self, because I had those childhood fantasy/dreams of family, of love, and of what I wanted marriage to mean to me.

I wanted the ‘til death do you part. I wanted the happily ever after. I wanted the real thing, and I wanted to be strong enough to make it work.

It doesn’t always work, and sometimes the real strength comes in knowing when to walk away. It just, well, there are emotional costs whenever something ends, and this is one of the songs from one of my personal times of emotional cost, and loss.

Angel Bossanova

Angel Bossanova :: Anneli Drecker

“Where has my angel gone,
far across the sea?”

***

I first discovered Anneli Drecker through a lryics website i’ve visited regularly for years, not so much for the lyrical content, but for the music selection and musical discoveries i’ve made through said site, Always On the Run. I’ve yet to discover an artist/band on this site that I didn’t end up enjoying, or musically falling for.

There is something about this song that reminds me of the song Calling All Angels, by Jane Siberry and KD Lang, that I fell in musical love with back when I first heard the Until the End Of the World soundtrack (a favorite film and soundtrack of mine).

Ethereal and dreamy with a touch of sadness, the song, and Anneli’s voice, are beautiful. Anneli was part of the band Bel Canto, whose songs such as Shimmering, Warm and Bright were favorites of mine back in the early 90’s, when I was still dancing at goth clubs. She has also worked with Royksopp, on songs like Sparks.