I Copy And Paste

Folder-Plastic Operator

Simple beautiful electro-pop. The whole record is gorgeous....very hazy, very autumn, lovelorn. It's definitely has an 80's vibe....it also has a Postal Service vibe, although I think that record was a bit overrated (I think it had two amazing songs and the rest were good). It was hard to pick a favorite on this record. I was torn between 3 songs....Peppermint and Why Don't You? being the other two.

But the lyrics on this one made it the winner. Like most of the songs on this record, the theme of the music is definitely a crush, but you are not always sure if the love is requited. You listen to the song and maybe....but maybe not.

The music on this song is beautiful airy Human League/OMD-esque pop....the best part may be the "oooooohhhhsss" that float along throughout the song.

I just read in a Harpers that teenage love exhibits many of the same symptoms as a mental illness (I am not sure how regular "adult" love differs). In any event, this song gets a crush down...it distills it down and highlights the kind of ridiculous things that happen in a crush. While the anthemic musical chorus flows by, the singer sings "that's why I copy and paste, into your folder, into your folder, with your name....it'd be more than i can take, if i just told you, told you what I feel." Honestly, I can think of few lyrics that so sum up a crush...that so sums up how the dividing line between losing your mind and sense of reason and devotion is negligible.

Its a truly beautiful song. Very hopeful and idealistic, just like a crush. Though just like a crush, where every single move is analyzed, analyzed again and THEN the analysis is analyzed, you are not sure if the hope is justified. The music is upbeat, but yet there is no indication of

I just saw a cartoon in the New Yorker where a woman is looking at her phone and she says "I get the text, but what is the subtext"....this song gets how an obsession intersects with the digital age...where we can communicate in a myriad of ways not possible in the past...but yet still are so far apart, still missing each other.

Don't Blame Your Daughter (Diamonds)-The Cardigans

It can be very very bad to get labeled early on in your career. Ask Cyndi Lauper. "Girls Just Wanna Have Fun" and "She Bop" and the red hair and Betty Boop voice masked one of the best rock voices going.

Happened to the Cardigans as well....remember "Lovefool"...sure you do, "love me, love me, say that you love me". Sure you do? And the ensuing video, featuring an ultra-blonde and beautiful Nina Persson cooing along to the sunny lyrics. That song and video forever casts the Cardigans as this sunny light-as-air pop band. Which was a huge huge mistake.

This is one of those songs that sounds like a hit the moment you hear it. If Sheryl Crow sang this, it would be. Its has a vaguely country rock sound with pointed "you fucked me over" lyrics that are very very sly and yet still devastating. This isn't a 'please come back song'. This is a song about trying to figure out what went wrong with a relationship with somebody that you know is an asshole. Yet there is still some residual feeling...love, anger, both?

Nina Persson's voice has aged wonderful...its still very pretty but has a slight Marlboro light edge to it. All the better to deliver lines like "Leave me your tombstone, tell me your sorry, fax me your will, you owe something still."

She delivers "you owe me something still" with the slyest, sexiest and most derisive tone possible.

I just listened to the song again. Actually, this guy isn't just an asshole. He's a spineless wimp. It adds another layer to the song...how the woman that sings and writes these lyrics would ever love somebody like this. Good thing she did, cause we got this.

no, not sorbet, sherbert

I Love Your Smile-Shanice

i decided to write a little about the 80's...that's the decade where i discovered music (this song might be 90's, but its on the edge). This song is pure sugar. Its like those pixie sticks. Or when i went to swim meets and people were eating raw flavored jello with their fingers out of the box for "energy." Or maybe even better, like orange sherbet. Its a sweet little confection...a little toothache waiting to happen. I think Shanice's career lasted the entire 4:19 of the song, but no matter. Its a great 4:19.

I mean, i love your smile, is there a sweeter sentiment than that? The songs has some great moments (um, its best to not speak of the rap, i just act like that part doesn't exist). First off, everytime she sings "smile" you smile (although at the end she says "psyche" which always makes me think she's fucking with some poor dorky kid but i think thats reading way way WAY too much into it).

And of course, the songs opening "da da da" is adorable.

Hands down best moment...i call it the Nobel Prize in Literature moment features this lyrical couplet:

The clock at work says three
and i wanna be free
free to scream, free to bathe, free to paint
my toes all day

[right here i have to jump in and just say "Um, what the fuck. You can't BATHE?". Someone call OSHA]

My boss is lame you know, and so is the pay

and then, the moment

I'm gonna put that new black mini on my charge anyways.

So in other words, so i can't bathe and i am oppressed at work and not allowed to scream (??), it all comes down to a skirt

Whoever wrote that should go to heaven. its brilliant in an insane way they never need to write anything again. And quite honestly, they never never should.

i heard a spark, something that glowed...

Ok, i am kinda dedicating this to a friend of mine. One of the few friends who actually gave me a mix CD back (and is a big advocate of my mixtapes to others, which is way important to my closeted DJ aspirations). These are two songs i heard first via his influence.

Spark...The Bird & The Bee
I am not in total love with this band. Their big song, their hit, is "My Fucking Boyfriend", which, though cute, kinda grates. The Peaches mix was cool, but I found it a bit disposable (i know, that sounds bitchy). However, I don't think that's the song I'd play to get people into them. Its this song. Its sung beautifully, very clear and straightforward. The singer is basically talking about feeling better about herself, about slowing down her life and enjoying the beauty around it. Its a very simple song and all the better for it. And for some reason it reminds me of "The Way Old Friends Do" by ABBA. Yeah, i don't know why...all i know is that i love it when she sings "I open my eyes, when there is light, to see if i am closer, what if i stopped, just for awhile, to make it go slower. Still like the night, just for awhile, to see if i am finer...live like i'm finer." Gets me.

Sometimes....James
This song was actually on the mix CD that my friend made. Although I had was familiar with James (the most recognizable songs being "Sit Down" and "Laid", which everyone has heard. Two interesting facts about "Laid": it was their only chart hit in the United States [they had like 20 in the UK] AND i always confuse it with Robyn Hitchcock "So You Think You're In Love". Its a great song with great lyrics, very sexy).

But "Sometimes" was only a minor hit in the UK (i think it hit like #18). To me, its the ultimate mixtape song--it just jumps out, stands out--you stop whatever you are doing to listen and bask in the moment. From the get go, its immediate..its all about a torrential rainstorm and being in love and being in a moment. "There's a storm outside and the gap between crack and thunder...is closing in, is closing in." And at the chorus, the song just takes off...he sings "cmon thunder, cmon thunder" and the guitars lift and he sings "sometimes, when i look deep into your eyes, i can see your soul."

but the part that gets me (and i mean GETS ME, i can listen to this song over and over and over) comes later. He sings "there's four new colors in the rainbow, and an old man's taking polaroids, and all captures is endless rain, endless rain" And then the imagery gets Dali "He says, takes my head and puts my ear to his and i swear i can hear the sea."

And then the song literally bursts open with the chorus featuring (are you ready for this) a key change and oh my god is that a fucking choir. Yup, it is. And he just keeps singing ...i can see your soul...i can touch your soul...i can reach your soul."

Its like one of the hottest most beautiful songs in the world. i fucking love it. i've made my friend like 50 mix cd's, he's made me 1. for this song, its the fairest trade in the world. Whats it really about...to me, its about kissing somebody you love in the rain and wanting it to never never end.