The Sun Never Shines But That's Alright: Songs for Getting Older

I don't know why the tides have shifted in the past few days but something happenend and I can't get my groove back. I have at least two new wrinkles on my face and in honor of my rapid aging process in my early/mid-twenties, I'd like to share a little list of some songs. Sometimes I feel like the apocalypse isn't too far and sometimes this music helps.

I'm almost on the cusp of wanting to meet real people again and get out of my headphones for a few hours a day. I wonder what that will be like, actually wanting to answer the phone for people other than the few I do now. Imagine if I met someone like Cory Booker that was actually real and incredibly intelligent and perceptive. Someone genuine who wasn't afraid. Maybe that will happen at some point but all that is certain for now is the aging process.

"All of this around us will fall."

Here are 16 songs, along with some choice lyrics, about growing old.

Aerosmith - Dream On
The definitive song I think of when I see my reflection, unfortunately:

Every time that I look in the mirror
All these lines on my face getting clearer
The past is gone
It went by, like dusk to dawn
Isn't that the way
Everybody's got their dues in life to pay
Yeah, I know nobody knows
Where it comes and where it goes
I know it's everybody's sin
You got to lose to know how to win

Mary J. Blige - Work in Progress
Sometimes I get down, sometimes I want to cry,
Sometimes I get depressed,
No one promised there would be sunshine all the time.

John Mayer - Stop This Train
No I'm not color blind
I know the world is black and white
Try to keep an open mind but...
I just can't sleep on this tonight
Stop this train I want to get off and go home again
I can't take the speed it's moving in
I know I can't
But honestly won't someone stop this train

Billy Joel - Vienna
You got your passion you got your pride
But don't you know that only fools are satisfied?
Dream on but don't imagine they'll all come true

Third Eye Blind - Wake For Young Souls
Well the wind that blows its blowing colder and the child that grows she's growing older
And the friends we know they'll turn a shoulder
The friends we know they are growing colder

Rod Stewart - You Wear it Well
Anyway my coffee's cold and I'm getting told
That I gotta get back to work
So when the sun goes low and you're home all alone
Think of me and try not to laugh and I wear it well.
 
Badly Drawn Boy - The Time of Times
Oh, sweet morning
And your head's not right
Did you hear my warning
This is the time of times
And your head feels like your body
Your mind is close behind
There's a teardrop on your shoulder
Says this is the time of times
It's the time of times again

Jackson Browne - These Days
And I had a lover
It's so hard to risk another these days
Now if I seem to be afraid
To live the life I have made in song
Well it's just that I've been losing so long
I'll keep on moving
Things are bound to be improving these days
These days I sit on corner stones
And count the time in quarter tones to ten, my friend
Don't confront me with my failures
I had not forgotten them


The Killers - When You Were Young
And sometimes you close your eyes and see the place where you used to live
When you were young
They say the devil's water, it ain't so sweet
You don't have to drink right now
But you can dip your feet
Every once in a little while

The Strokes - Someday
In many ways they'll miss the good old days
Someday, someday
Yeah it hurts to say but I want you to stay
Sometimes, sometimes
When we was young oh man did we have fun
Always, always
Promises they break before they're made
Sometimes, sometimes

Death Cab For Cutie - No Sunlight
With every year
That came to pass
More clouds appeared
'Til the sky went black, and there was
No sunlight
And it disappeared at the same speed
As the idealistic things I believed
The optimist died inside of me
 
Silversun Pickups - Growing Old is Getting Old
Suddenly
We decompose
But we're not alone
So we all
Are growing old

and my favorite line: I memorized your smile lines from left to right.

Tracy Chapman - I Did it All
When they come to interview me
For my made for TV movie
Say I'm the bitch who was a bastard
Who did it all for the love and laughter
I did it all
 
Jay Z - 30 Something
I'm from the era where ni**as don't snitch
you from the era where snitchin' is the shit
I'm afraid of the future, why?
Y'all respect the one who got shot
I respect the shooter
Y'all go to parties to ice grill
I go to parties to party with nice girls

George Harrison - All Things Must Pass
Now the darkness only stays the night-time
In the morning it will fade away
Daylight is good at arriving at the right time
It's not always going to be this grey
All things must pass

LCD Soundsystem - Losing My Edge
I used to work in the record store.
I had everything before anyone.
I was there in the Paradise Garage DJ booth with Larry Levan.
I was there in Jamaica during the great sound clashes.
I woke up naked on the beach in Ibiza in 1988.
But I'm losing my edge to better-looking people with better ideas and more talent.
And they're actually really, really nice.

Indecent Infatuations: Set to Music

It's pretty extraordinary how much music plays a part in my everyday life without me consciously provoking it. It seems like any element of my life worthy of discussion has something to do with music - either directly or indirectly.

As usual, while being the epitome of a creepy, young girl I googled something that lead me to the lyrics of "Don't Stand So Close to Me" and "What I Go to School For" (I'm sure the more clever of you can use the context clues to figure it out). I'm probably one of the only people strange enough to look for songs pertaining to even my weirdest of obsessions. I heard "Don't Stand So Close to Me" at a bar a few months ago and whilst drunk found it incredibly endearing. That Sting definitely knows what he's talking about from the female perspective at least. I'd post the lyrics but they're slightly incriminating to my character. I have a lovely boyfriend and my indecent infatuation is on his last nerve. With the growing anticipation of classes next week, I will admit I'm out of hand. But I invite any one of you to come with me and see for yourself. It's practically a rite of passage within pop culture to be in love with at least one gorgeous prof. Funny note, my iTunes is telling me that I haven't listened to that Police song since Christmas of 2007 until now. Oh my.

Now I'm embarrassed so on to the next topic:

There are too many good songs I've been listening to lately. I was at another bar (I'm not the alcoholic I make myself out to be, I promise) the other night where the jukebox was ten times better than the usual one I frequent and it inspired me so much that I ran to the library the following day and actually PAID to download at least three of the songs I heard. On a side note, I have fully given up on free music networks like LimeWire that absolutely do not work anymore. If you're looking for a real gem, they are always impossible to find for free these days. I am so satisfied with the music I've been blasting from my headphones. I'll admit when I'm out in public, I get nervous about my music being heard by people sitting next to me on buses, at coffeehouses etc. through my headphones but when I'm listening to Edwin Starr and classic Bruce Springsteen I have nothing to fear. It's just those off days of Britney Spears' "Radar" that I have to worry about.

ANYWAY, it's these soul songs mixed with some other tunes I downloaded after people watching at an Urban Outfitters several months ago that have been reverberating off my eardrums in the past two weeks. I might have written about it at the time but the sound system was so good at UO that songs I've been hearing for the past decade finally started to take shape in my brain as really good material and I immediately dug into exploring them further. I'm talking about songs like "Sunday Bloody Sunday" and "One Headlight" here. I don't know where some of this stuff comes from out of nowhere. One day I'm barely listening to something on the radio and the next I'm obsessed with it. It's absolutely all about timing and speakers. Listening to my same old music on my incredible speaker system at home always makes me get up from whatever I'm doing, go to the iTunes playlist, and check out what the amazing song playing is - I'll find it's something I've heard 5 times before that I didn't recognize as great until that very minute - then suddenly I can't get enough of it. While folding clothes the other day, a whole mess of Rhett Miller came on the speakers and I was dying. How did I forget about this guy?


I was also watching part one of The Beatles Anthology tonight on VH1 and felt happier than ever that I didn't go out of the house. This documentary captured my attention for the entire two hours to the point that I was waiting to even get up to go to the bathroom even though I have DVR and could've just paused it. As mentioned previously, I've been a huge fan of George Harrison for nearly a decade now but my immense love of the band collectively didn't reach its peak until maybe five years ago. I had many of their albums before then but didn't appreciate them the way I should have. Hearing their music on this show tonight really opened my mind. I seriously couldn't tear myself away and was really bummed when it was over. If you're any level of a Beatles fan, I highly suggest the cumulative cover story on this week's Rolling Stone that truly encompasses at least a paragraph for every phase of the band. Both the story and documentary got me in the mood to listen to all of my favorite Beatles song on a loop for the rest of the night.

And now for the best part of this post, the playlist. Let's add a dash of this post, a sprinkling of recent 'Songs to Love', and a large dollop of what I've been listening to lately:

01.Edwin Starr - 25 Miles
02.Bruce Springsteen - It's Hard to Be a Saint in the City
03.The Police - Don't Stand So Close to Me
04.Stevie Nicks - Stand Back
05.Sebastien Tellier - Divine
06.The Avett Brothers - Will You Return?
07.The Wallflowers - One Headlight
08.The Clash - Spanish Bombs
09.Bill Withers - Ain't No Sunshine
10.Sam Cooke - You Send Me
11.Beyonce - Ego (yes, I love it, actually - oh well)
12.Cornelius Brothers and Sister Rose - Too Late to Turn Back Now
13.Paolo Nutini - These Streets
14.Phoenix - 1901 (probably on another list too but I still love it - MUST LISTEN)
15.Paul McCartney - My Love
16.The Beatles - You Can't Do That
17.Desi Arnaz - Babalu
18.Eddie Floyd - But It's Alright
19.Gene Vincent - Be-Bop-A-Lula
20.INXS - By My Side

I promise this would make an awesome - if not diverse and maybe even semi-impressive - cd mix for the car or office.

100th Post!

I started this blog almost exactly one year ago and have finally made it to 100 posts. Pretty exciting. Over the past year my interest in keeping a music blog has escalated beyond belief. I started it out of the longing I had to write about my favorite topic and as the months progressed it morphed into a forum for me to dissect my thoughts, divulge some personal secrets, and share my overwhelming excitment of finding a sensational new artist (which has to be my favorite thing of all).



I've managed to meet a few new people, find dozens of other fascinating blogs, and bother all my friends about the website constantly. On the eve of my 100th post I am making a pact with myself to write everyday when possible and spread the word a little further about this silly little blog because the thing is: it's not silly. I put a lot of work and thought into my posts and I'm proud of them. This is not the typical music blog by any means. I'm not in the business of reviewing albums or commenting on all the same music news that you can find in greater detail on the larger sites. I just want to bring my own spin to things you may have heard before but passed by. Whether a song is a day old or a decade old, I want to give it the proper due. I would never be able to post on something I wasn't completely enthralled with and that passion is hopefully being conveyed in every topic I cover.



I promise I will only continue to get better. I strive to make people interested in the music I love so very much. Even if this kind of music is not your thing, I hope you can laugh at my over the top enthusiasm. And I'll be honest, I really want more readers! I want to start debates about who the greatest singer/songwriter is or have contests where people can win crazy things like a poster of Earth, Wind, and Fire. Ha.

I just love this tiny blog so much. Why? Because I love music so much.



In upcoming posts, I will be covering the Paul McCartney concert at Citi Bank (Shea Stadium), All Points West music festival, and the craziness that I hope will ensue as I work the David Cook show here at my own venue. I'll also be working at Warped Tour tomorrow so there could be a few good stories there (I'm hoping not to see any of the bands though - I've been to Bamboozle before and wanted to kill myself). Bottom line: A lot of music is happening.

Here are some favorite photographs to commemorate this day:








(The cat picture courtesy of me: the owner of the most musical cat in the world, Charlie Margarita Chaplin)