This Is Just A Meta Mix On A Blog

Inspired by the return of one of my favorite TV shows, the hyper self-aware Community (whose Abed could be considered the patron saint of meta-humor) and the self-referring “Simple Song” on the new Shins album out this week, I’ve made a mix of my favorite meta-referencing songs. By this I mean songs that specifically reference themselves in the lyrics (stuff like “it goes like this, the fourth, the fifth”, “take it to the chorus” and “Second verse, same as the first verse” are out). I chose 20 of my favorite self-referencing songs for this mix, of which you can download / read each meta lyric below or listen to the mix on Spotify. If you can think of any good ones I missed, let me know in the comments. Cool. Cool cool cool.

MP3 The Shins – Simple Song

Well this is just a simple song / To say what you’ve done

MP3 Belle & Sebastian –  This Is Just A Modern Rock Song

This is just a modern rock song / This is just a tender affair / I count “three, four” and then we start to slow / Because a song has got to stop somewhere

MP3 David Bowie – Five Years

I think I saw you in an ice-cream parlour / Drinking milk shakes cold and long / Smiling and waving and looking so fine / Don’t think you knew you were in this song

MP3 Pulp – Something Changed

I wrote this song two hours before we met / I didn’t know your name or what you looked like yet

MP3 Carly Simon – You’re So Vain

You’re so vain / You probably think this song is about you

MP3 Wilco – Someone Else’s Song

I know it sounds like someone else’s song / From a long time ago

MP3 The Beatles – Only A Northern Song

If you’re listening to this song / You may think the chords are wrong / But they’re not / We just wrote them like that

MP3 Coldplay – Yellow

I came along / I wrote a song for you / And all the things you do / And it was called Yellow

MP3 Neil Young – Borrowed Tune

I’m singin’ this borrowed tune / I took from the Rolling Stones / Alone in this empty room / Too wasted to write my own

MP3 The Magic Numbers – This Is A Song

This is a song / and these are the words

MP3 Steely Dan – Deacon Blues

I cried when I wrote this song / Sue me if I play too long

MP3 Billy Bragg – A New England

I was twenty-one years when I wrote this song / I’m twenty two now but I won’t be long

MP3 The Postal Service – Such Great Heights

And when you scan the radio / I hope this song will guide you home

MP3 Leonard Cohen – Bird on a Wire

But I swear by this song / By all I have done wrong / I’ll make it up to you

MP3 Islands – This Is Not A Song

If this is just a song / then why do I find it so hard to move on

MP3 Okkervil River – Get Big

And once we get to the end of this song / then another will begin

MP3 The Magnetic Fields – I Think I Need A New Heart

‘Cause it all comes out wrong / Unless I put it in a song / So the radio plays / “I Think I Need a New Heart” / Just for you

MP3 Ted Leo & The Pharmacists – Hearts of Oak

I was whistling a new song to myself  / And it went, it went something like this one

MP3 Elton John – Your Song

My gift is my song / And this one’s for you

MP3 Weezer – Across The Sea

I’ve got your letter / You’ve got my song

Spotify Playlist: This Is Just A Meta Mix On Spotify

For The Actor Mix

“I mean, look at me— I’m an actor. An actor, for crying out loud. You know how much rejection I face every day? But in this business of show, you have to have the heart of an angel and the hide… of an elephant.”

Words of wisdom from the perennial actor / never-nude, Tobias Funke. Yes, not everyone’s cut out to be a a DeNiro, or a Regis, or a Pinkett-Smith, but there are a select few actors & actresses that have reached the pantheon of greatness, which is, of course, being memorialized in song. Such is the case in “Steve McQueen”, the beyond-epic track from M83‘s breathtaking album, Hurry Up, We’re Dreaming released today, which got me thinking of other songs that were named after famous actors. Turns out there’s quite a few, so I collected some of my favorites (with help from facebook / twitter) and put them together for this mix. You can download all 21 songs of the “For The Actor” Mix below or listen to the playlist on Spotify. Enjoy!

MP3 M83 – Steve McQueen
MP3 k-os – I Wish I Knew Natalie Portman
MP3 Postal Service – Clark Gable
MP3 Jens Lekman – Waiting for Kirsten
MP3 Eels – Grace Kelly Blues
MP3 Gorillaz – Clint Eastwood
MP3 Bree Sharp – David Duchovny, Why Don’t You Love Me
MP3 Dogs Die in Hot Cars – Paul Newman’s Eyes
MP3 The Rolling Stones – Pass The Wine (Sophia Loren)
MP3 Madness – Michael Caine
MP3 R.E.M. – Me, Marlon Brando, Marlon Brando And I
MP3 Allo Darlin’ – Woody Allen
MP3 Totally Michael – Winona
MP3 of Montreal – Dustin Hoffman Thinks About Eating the Soap
MP3 Braid – Harrison Ford
MP3 The Mountain Goats – For Charles Bronson
MP3 Bauhaus – Bela Lugosi’s Dead
MP3 Electrelane – John Wayne
MP3 Kim Carnes – Bette Davis Eyes
MP3 Sonic Youth – Madonna, Sean & Me (The Crucifixion of Sean Penn)
MP3 Billy Bragg & Wilco – Ingrid Bergman

***

Spotify Playlist: For The Actor Mix

50 Songs Of The Decade (2000 – 2009)

(photo by dcdead)

I released my 50 albums of the decade list two years ago with all intentions to follow it up with a matching songs list. Days turned into weeks and weeks into months. No such list ever materialized and I kindof gave up on the idea. That is until earlier this summer when I took a weekend trip to visit some friends in Chicago and decided to soundtrack the drive with a playlist of my favorite songs from 2000-2009. I thought the mix turned out pretty good so I chiseled it down to my absolute favorite 50 songs, gave them a mostly-arbitrary ranking and now I’m sharing it with you. Of course, belating this list for two years has given me the necessary perspective to narrow this list down to only the essentials. These are the tracks that I play over and over and never get tired of, the songs that always make me turn the volume up when they shuffle on my iPod, basically the songs that are “really, really ridiculously good looking” and not just “so hot right now”.

A few words of about this list, I’m not claiming to have made an end-all be-all “greatest songs of the naughts” list, just my personal favorites. A few folks took offense to the lack of  some genres (ahem, hip hop) on the albums list but hopefully this one will counterbalance that woeful underrepresentation somewhat. Furthermore, I didn’t do full reviews of each track, because seriously, who has that kind of time, but I’ve created a Spotify Playlist where you can listen to all of the tracks (there’s also vimeo/youtube videos linked to each one). In keeping with my yearly songs lists I’ve limited myself to one track per artist.  If you scroll all the way down you’ll see some songs that “just missed” and some per-year stats (‘05 reins supreme again in my book). So here it is, the long overdue top 50 songs of the decade according to me. Feel free to dispute or agree with my choices in the comments. Enjoy!

music for kids who can’t read good presents: 50 Songs Of The Decade (2000 – 2009)

Most easily found on: The Earth Is Not A Cold Dead Place

Most easily found on: The Execution Of All Things

Most easily found on: Bows + Arrows

Most easily found on: Veckatimest

Most easily found on: Sticking Fingers Into Sockets

Most easily found on: Black Sheep Boy

Most easily found on: White Blood Cells

Most easily found on: Let It Die

Most easily found on: Shut Up I Am Dreaming

Most easily found on: Give Up

Follow the jump to see the rest!

50 Albums of the Decade

(photo by dcdead)

I told myself I wasn’t going to do a decades album list. I mean how can you really rank all your favorite albums over a period of ten years that isn’t even completed yet? Over the last couple of months though, I found myself slowly beginning to compile a list of my albums from the 00’s that I loved and I then I began chiseling the list down to around 50 albums. I guess my love for making lists got in the way of the logic and reasoning I had for not making a list. Also since, I started this blog around the middle of the decade I thought only fair that I share this list to acknowledge those great albums that I wasn’t around to write about or put into a fancy EOY list.

A few words of about this list, firstly, these are my personal favorites of the decade and not the end-all be-all of decade-end lists. I realize that some genres (ahem, hip hop) are being woefully underrepresented because of this. Secondably, I would have liked to do full-scale reviews for each album but life kept getting in the way so instead for each album I’ve linked reviews that I feel capture the spirit of the album (click the album cover to go to there). Scroll all the way down to see some albums that “just missed” and some per-year stats (if you want to know which year is best, it’s between ’02 and ’05). So without any further ado, here’s the top 50 albums of the decade according to me. Feel free to dispute or agree with my choices in the comments. Enjoy!

music for kids who can’t read good presents: 50 Albums Of The Decade

Key track: “Beautiful Dreamer”

Key track: “Two Weeks”

Key track: “Postcards in Italy”

Key track: “Hotel Yorba”

Key track: “Consolation Prizes”

Follow the jump to see the rest!