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.