Song of the Week, v. 24

“Stuck Between Stations” by the Hold Steady

Thursday night I’ll be at the Hold Steady concert in Grand Rapids, MI, as part of Calvin College’s Festival of Faith and Music!!!!

There are nights when I think that Sal Paradise was right.
Boys and Girls in America have such a sad time together.
Sucking off each other at the demonstrations
Making sure their makeup’s straight
Crushing one another with colossal expectations.
Dependent, undisciplined, and sleeping late.

She was a really cool kisser and she wasn’t all that strict of a Christian.
She was a damn good dancer but she wasn’t all that great of a girlfriend.
And he likes the warm feeling but he’s tired of all the dehydration.
Most nights are crystal clear
But tonight it’s like he’s stuck between stations
On the radio.

The devil and John Berryman
They took a walk together.
And they ended up on Washington
Talking to the river.
He said ‘I’ve surrounded myself with doctors
And deep thinkers.
But big heads with soft bodies
Make for lousy lovers.’
There was that night that we thought John Berryman could fly.
But he didn’t
So he died.
She said ‘You’re pretty good with words
But words won’t save your life.’
And they didn’t
So he died.

He was drunk and exhausted but he was critically acclaimed and respected.
He loved the Golden Gophers but he hated all the drawn-out winters.
He liked the warm feeling but he’s tired of all the dehydration
Most nights were kind of fuzzy
But that last night he had total retention.

These Twin Cities kisses
They sound like clicks and hisses.
We all come down and
Drown in the Mississippi River.

We drink
We dry up
Then we crumble to dust.

we get wet
we corrode
and now were covered up in rust.

Song of the Week, v. 23

“Bodysnatchers” by Radiohead

REMINDER: Theology on Tap – THIS Wednesday: “Everything in its right place: Re-reading Reality with Radiohead.”

I do not
Understand
What it is
I’ve done wrong
Full of holes
Check for pulse
Blink your eyes
One for yes
Two for no

I have no idea what I am talking about
I’m trapped in this body and can’t get out
Ooooohhhh

Make a sound
Move back home
Pale imitation
With the edges
Sawn off

I have no idea what you are talking about
I’m trapped in this body and can’t get out
Ooooohhhh

Has the light gone out for you?
Because the light’s gone for me
It is the 21st century
It is the 21st century
You can fight it like a dog
And they brought me to my knees
They got scared and they put me in
They got scared and they put me in
All the lies run around my face
All the lies run around my face
And for anybody else to see
And for anybody else to see

I’m alive…

oh no no no no no no no no no no no no ma ma. (X3)

I’ve seen it coming. (X4)

Song of the Week, v. 22

“The Worm in the Apple” by Ezra Furman and the Harpoons

I’m gonna sit on a big fluffy cloud
Looking down at the tops of the heads of the crowds
Moving ‘round and around the dark center of town
With their eyes all searching for something that can’t be found
I’m gonna laugh at the top of my lungs ‘till
I can’t quite remember just what the joke was
But the laughter will fill up my body with love
Which is always what I’ve been told I’m supposed to want

And I’m gonna fly on a plane to the sky
Which my mind will devise using science that’s being forgotten
Cause I’m getting bored of the town of New York
How the world’s been transformed into a big apple and it’s gotten so rotten

While all the world makes money so stoically
I will be building a home out of poetry
Scraps of old volumes, wire and glue,
Will be something, though feeble, it’s all I can do
In the back of the room my fingers will shake
With the fury of someone with something to make
That will take him so far, far away from this place
That he’ll never look back at all the worms and the snakes

And they’ll lick at my heals, but they aren’t even real
I will twirl and I’ll wheel through the skyway, high over the steeple
And I’ll take you with me and we’ll grow old and lovely
We’ll eat fine apples from the tree of knowledge of good and evil
You won’t know about that

Burning with all of the things I must do
To get free of the wasteland of wire and glue
I am wandering from cage to cage at the Bronx zoo
And I’m renaming all of the animals
I can’t just wait on my knees in the chapel
To be bitten into like a worm in the apple
I’m digging for freedom, guitar for a shovel
I’m dirty; my fingertips hurt me

The kids of Atlantis, magazines ‘neath the mattress
With their names in the atlas of heartbreak are calling my name
And I’m feeling baffled, the worm in the apple,
But the cold water tap will rain down upon me
And nothing will be the same
It’s all gonna be different now
I know.

Song of the Week, v. 21

“Turpentine” by Brandi Carlile

I watch you grow away from me in photographs
And memories like spies
The salt betrays my eyes again
I started losing sleep and gaining weight
And wishing I was ten again
So I could be your friend again

These days we go to waste like wine
That’s turned to turpentine
It’s 6 AM and I’m all messed up
I didn’t mean to waste your time
So I’ll fall back in line
But I’m warning you, we’re growing up

I heard you found some pretty words to say
You found your little game to play
And there’s no one allowed in here
And just when we believe we could be great
Reality it permeates
And conquers from within again

These days we go to waste like wine
That’s turned to turpentine
It’s 6 AM and I’m all messed up
I didn’t mean to waste your time
So I’ll fall back in line
But I’m warning you, we’re growing up
Yeah…

Ok… were ok… okay
Ok… were ok… okay
These days we go to waste like wine
That’s turned to turpentine
It’s 6 AM and I’m all messed up
I didn’t mean to waste your time
So I’ll fall back in line
But I’m warning you we’re growing up