Our Ears Feel Hot

30 DAY BAND/ARTIST CHALLENGE

DAY SIX: BOB DYLAN

FAVORITE SONGS: “Positively Fourth Street”, “Just Like Tom Thumb’s Blues”, “It Takes A Lot To Laugh, It Takes A Train To Cry”, “Girl From The North Country”, “Subterranean Homesick Blues,” “She Belongs To Me”, “Love Minus Zero/No Limit”, “Visions of Johanna”, “I Want You”, “Like A Rolling Stone”, “Don’t Think Twice, It’s Alright”, “Shelter From The Storm”, “Blowin In The Wind”, “A Hard Rain’s A-Gonna Fall”, “All I Really Want to Do”

FAVORITE ALBUM: HIGHWAY 61 REVISITED

First Dylan album I really got into so it has a lot of nostalgia for me. I also have to mention The Freewheelin Bob Dylan, Blonde on Blonde, and Blood on the Tracks.

FAVORITE LYRICS: Oh, man… brings me back to the days of scribbling Dylan lyrics all over my school notebooks.

I don’t want to fake you out/Take or shake or forsake you out/I ain’t lookin’ for you to feel like me/See like me or be like me/All I really want to do/Is, baby, be friends with you (“All I Really Want to Do”)

And if my thought-dreams could be seen/They’d probably put my head in a guillotine/But it’s alright, Ma, it’s life, and life only (“It’s Alright, Ma (I’m Only Bleeding)”)

I don’t have the strength/To get up and take another shot/And my best friend, my doctor/Won’t even say what it is I’ve got, and:
I’m going back to New York City/I do believe I’ve had enough (“Just Like Tom Thumb’s Blues”)

When you got nothing, you got nothing to lose (“Like A Rolling Stone”)

Johnny’s in the basement/Mixing up the medicine/I’m on the pavement/Thinking about the government (“Subterranean Homesick Blues”)

I wish that for just one time
You could stand inside my shoes
And just for that one moment
I could be you
Yes, I wish that for just one time
You could stand inside my shoes
You’d know what a drag it is
To see you (“Positively Fourth Street”)

30 DAY BAND/ARTIST CHALLENGE

DAY FIVE: THE BEATLES

FAVORITE MEMBER:

GEORGE HARRISON

FAVORITE SONGS: “I’ve Just Seen a Face,” “Tomorrow Never Knows”, “Two of Us”, “She Said She Said”, “Love You To”, “For No One”, “Norwegian Wood”, “In My Life”, “Flying”, “Baby You’re a Rich Man”, ”Oh! Darling”, “Because”, “Dear Prudence”, “Happiness is a Warm Gun”, “You’ve Got To Hide Your Love Away”, “With A Little Help From My Friends”, “A Day in the Life”, “Rain”, “I’ve Got A Feeling”, “I Want To Hold Your Hand”, “Hold Me Tight” etc!

FAVORITE ALBUM:

REVOLVER

Not a big fan of “Yellow Submarine” but the rest of the album is so amazing that it more than makes up for it. Honorable mentions: Help! Rubber Soul, Abbey Road

FAVORITE LYRICS: Here are just a few…

There are places I remember
All my life though some have changed
Some forever not for better
Some have gone and some remain
All these places have their moments
With lovers and friends I still can recall
Some are dead and some are living
In my life I’ve loved them all (“In My Life”)

You and I have memories/Longer than the road that stretches out ahead (“Two of Us”)

How does it feel to be/One of the beautiful people?/Now that you know who you are/What do you want to be? (“Baby You’re A Rich Man”)

Oh I get by with a little help from my friends/Mm I get high with a little help from my friends/Oh I’m going to try with a little help from my friends

I look at the world and I notice it’s turning/While my guitar gently weeps/With every mistake we must surely be learning/Still my guitar gently weeps

*JUST A NOTE: I’m not listing these bands in a real kind of order of preference or anything. But certainly the 5 I’ve posted thus far in some order constitute my top 5 of all time if I was forced to make such an assertion.

30 DAY BAND/ARTIST CHALLENGE

DAY FOUR: RILO KILEY

FAVORITE MEMBER: JENNY LEWIS

Her words speak to my heart and her voice pierces right through it.

FAVORITE SONGS: “SILVER LINING”, “A MAN/ME/THEN JIM”, “IT’S A HIT”, “DOES HE LOVE YOU”, “THE GOOD THAT WON’T COME OUT”, “A BETTER SON/DAUGHTER”, “WITH ARMS OUTSTRETCHED”, “JENNY YOU’RE BARELY ALIVE”, “WIRES AND WAVES”, “PICTURES OF SUCCESS”, “THE FRUG”

FAVORITE ALBUM: MORE ADVENTUROUS

Beautiful and fun album that came into my life at exactly the right moment.

FAVORITE LYRICS: There are so so many!

“And the grass it was a ticking/And the sun was on the rise/I never felt so wicked/As when I willed our love to die” (“SILVER LINING”)

“And articulate all that pain/And maybe you’ll get paid” (“IT’S A HIT”)

“I’m selling people things they don’t want when i don’t know what you need” (“A MAN/ME/THEN JIM”)

“Diana, Diana. Diana, i would die for you/I’m in love with you completely, I’m afraid that’s all i can do” (“A MAN/ME/THEN JIM”)

“And sometimes when you’re on you’re really fucking on
And your friends they sing along and they love you
But the lows are so extreme that the good seems fucking cheap
And it teases you for weeks in its absense
But you’ll fight and you’ll make it through
You’ll fake it if you have to
And you’ll show up for work with a smile
And you’ll be be better you’ll be smarter
More grown up and a better daughter
Or son and a real good friend
And you’ll be awake and you’ll be alert
You’ll be positive though it hurts
And you’ll laugh and embrace all your friends
And you’ll be a real good listener
You’ll be honest you’ll be brave
You’ll be handsome you’ll be beautiful
You’ll be happy” (“A BETTER SON/DAUGHTER”)

SEEN LIVE? Nope. I hope to see one of Jenny’s other acts at some point.

30 DAY BAND/ARTIST CHALLENGE

DAY THREE: TEGAN AND SARA

FAVORITE MEMBER: How do you choose? Sara is super cute and funny and Tegan writes some of the most relatable pop songs I’ve ever heard.

FAVORITE SONGS: “SOMEDAY”, “ARROW”, “RED BELT”, “NINETEEN”, “THE CON”, “SOIL, SOIL”, “I KNOW I KNOW I KNOW”, “SPEAK SLOW”, “I HEAR NOISES”, “LIVING ROOM”, “FREEDOM”, “THIS IS EVERYTHING” etc.

FAVORITE ALBUM: THE CON

So Jealous was the first album of theirs I discovered so it will always hold a special place for me, but The Con is just perfect.

FAVORITE LYRICS:

“I don’t want to know that you don’t want me/I don’t want to know what you do without me/I don’t want to know what I’ll be without you/I don’t wanna know” (“SOMEDAY”)

“No, we’re not ready for fair distribution, just a terminal solution for/No, we’re not ready for hell, hell no, for hell, hell no.” (“HELL”)

“You take a second take a second/Take a year take a year/You took me out and took me in/And told me all of this/And then you take a moment, take a moment/Take a year, take a year“ (“HOP A PLANE”)

“I feel like I wouldn’t like me if I met me” (“YOU WOULDN’T LIKE ME”)

“Stick your hands inside of my pockets…Stick your heart inside of my chest” (“I KNOW I KNOW I KNOW”)

“Look me in the eye and tell me you don’t find me attractive” (“WHERE DOES THE GOOD GO?”

SEEN LIVE? YES! 24 JUNE 2010 @ THE ROUNDHOUSE in LONDON

It was a great show and very surreal as I’ve loved this band for so many years.

30 DAY BAND/ARTIST CHALLENGE

DAY TWO: THE SMITHS

FAVORITE MEMBER: Morrissey and Marr - equally as important in making The Smiths sound like only The Smiths can.

FAVORITE SONGS: “I Know It’s Over”, “There is a Light That Never Goes Out”, “The Boy With The Thorn in His Side”, “Ask”, “Is It Really So Strange”, “Panic”, “Rusholme Ruffians”, “Death of a Disco Dancer”, “Rush and a Push and the Land is Ours”, “Still Ill” … I could keep going.

FAVORITE ALBUM: The Queen is Dead

It’s a perfect album and it’s been among my top favorite albums of all time for over 5 years now. 

FAVORITE LYRICS: The lyrics are what make The Smiths. I have so many but here are a few standouts:

“Burn down the disco/Hang the blessed DJ/Because the music they constantly play/It says nothing to me about my life” (“Panic”)

“Take me out tonight/Because I want to see people and I want to see life” (“There is a Light”)

“Love, peace and harmony/Oh, very nice very nice very nice/But maybe in the next world” (“Death of a Dsico Dancer”

“I’ve got the 21st century breathing down my neck” (“Frankly Mr. Shankly”)

“Scratch my name on your arm with a fountain pen/This means you really love me” (“Rusholme Ruffians”)

and maybe my favorite of all… “It’s so easy to laugh/It’s so easy to hate/It’s takes guts to be gentle and kind” (“I Know It’s Over”)

SEEN LIVE: If only!

30 DAY BAND/ARTIST CHALLENGE

DAY ONE: RADIOHEAD

FAVORITE MEMBER: Thom Yorke

FAVORITE SONGS: I’ll stick to one from each album…

“House of Cards”, ”There There (The Bony King of Nowhere)”, “I Might Be Wrong”, “High and Dry”, “The National Anthem”, “Airbag”, “Little By Little”, “Lurgee”

FAVORITE ALBUM: In Rainbows

It’s a tough choice because The Bends is the most nostalgic for me and Kid A is probably objectively the best. At the end of the day, though, In Rainbows trumps all because it’s totally perfect from beginning to end.

FAVORITE LYRICS:

“I don’t wanna be your friend/I just wanna be your lover” (“House of Cards”)

“There’s always a siren singing you to shipwreck/Steer away from these rocks, We’d be a walking disaster” (“There There”)

“We are accidents waiting to happen” (“There There”)

“I wish it was the sixties, I wish we could be happy/I wish I wish I wish that something would happen” (“The Bends” - just because I used to have this written on my notebook when I was a sophomore in high school)

SEEN LIVE? I wish!

Reviving “our ears feel hot”

I’m gonna start using this blog again to participate in the “30 Day Band/Artist Challenge” as this is the one I originally started as a music blog.

My personal blog of random things I like is at jeuxdemots and my blog dedicated to Buffy the Vampire Slayer is at scenicroutelongdrive.

Hope that clears things up!