Non-Sox talk

Oh my god, these site statistics are so fun! I just discovered that it's not just people concerned about that girl's sexuality stumbling upon this blog (though that is still the number one draw, apparently. I kind of feel retarded about that now). One search was for "is meg cabot a newberry [sic] author?" And I can tell you that no, she is not. The Princess Diaries, while fun, are not winning any awards. But I'm sure you've found that information already, intrepid googler. Another one was for "baseball never ends" which was actually a title of one of my posts, possibly about the game Jess and I got to see in September. That was weird. Also, people searching "george izzie" found this place, too, thanks to my hatred of their pairing. Seriously. Make it stop. And then, the randomest: "from the mixed up files free literary unit"--I don't even remember talking about From the Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler, but I must have. And I should have, because that is a damn fine book. And a Newbery winner as well.

Okay, so now I have to add another chapter to my neverending story "I love country music, and now I have to kill myself," which I might as well subtitle "and it's all Brandi Carlile's fault." Because it is. All her fault. She wrote a new song, like, two weeks ago, and she described it herself as a song filled with every classic country cliche she could think of. And this song? It is awesome. And in my first rant against country music, I bitched about the cliches--that they were the reason I hated it. Or I tried to--that first rant is pretty inarticulate. Like most of my rants! But that's the reason I hated country music--full of cliches. But if you're making fun of the cliches, then I love it. And it also helps if you're Brandi Carlile. But this song is "Same Ol' You"--find it on youtube.

I tried not to talk about her today, you know, but it's just not working, because I'm also having a problem. She has this song "Save All Your Goodbyes" that hasn't been released anywhere, and I had to steal it from the internet, and I would feel guilty about it, but I love it too much. Anyway, it's a great song, but I can't for the life of me figure out what she's saying in one of the lines, and I've been just mumbling through it when she gets to that part. Something about "teach us to believe the truth hmmmfmmmfuaiiis." I don't know. I could google for lyrics or whatever, but I hate those lyrics sites. The only solution is to listen to the song over and over and over again. Have you ever noticed that you'll get, like, official lyrics for a song, even in the actual liner notes, but those words are so not what the singer is singing? I don't really care what lyrics you wrote out; I want to know what you're singing. (I don't think that's ever happened with Brandi, but it's happened before--I think with Kelly Clarkson--so I usually don't trust lyrics sites or even liner notes, sometimes; I go with my ears! But my ears are failing me.) Okay, so I actually just tried to google this song, and I got nothin'. Did I hallucinate it? Is it...called something else? Are my ears so bad that I can't even get one line right? Well, great, now I have to do some real research. No dice. Here's what I have, anyway:

I know it's getting late
but I don't wanna talk about it
If you can't fall asleep
I think you should try
And we're deceived by waiting for the answers
that teach us to believe
the truth is in the [I HAVE NO IDEA]

Save all your goodbyes by leavin' me tomorrow
So you won't have to try
and I won't have to swallow
all my foolish pride until you're gone
(aah-ooooh) [I love that part]

You don't understand
This door's always open
It's not what we had planned
but we're still alive
And we can stand tall and never broken
and I can hold your hand, still by your side

Save all your goodbyes by leavin' me tomorrow
So you won't have to cry
and I won't have to swallow
all my foolish pride until you're gone

This song sounds like it belongs on The Story, but it got cut for some reason. (I heard somewhere they recorded 18 tracks and only used 14--I wish I remember where I heard that, but my mind is a sieve these days. Also, what a terrible English major I've turned out to be, unable to document any of my sources.) Why? It is lovely. Not that I could pick a song off The Story to replace with it, though. Well, I suppose I'm just greedy. And anal, because I hate having songs with no album to attach them to--it really grates on my organizational obsession. You should see my iTunes library. It's crazy.

My crazy obsessive nature has also noticed these days that Ms. Carlile has an obsession of sorts with blue eyes. Off the top of my head, I can think of four of her songs with blue eyes in the lyrics: "Fall"--'come on, blue eyes that tell me that you can't walk away'; "Tired"--'I'm tired with your blue eyes crying'; "That Year"--'you were lonesome and blue-eyed'; "Caroline"--'if I could see behind blue eyes.' And then she does that cover of "Blue Eyes Cryin' in the Rain," which I love (and which must be added to the country music suicide watch list, great). I don't know. I don't really care to try to extract the significance of this (if there even is any significance); it's just something I have noticed.

Just for kicks, "Same Ol' You":
So here you are in your borrowed car
kickin' rocks around
lookin' at your shoes
It's the same ol' you
Tell me where you been
Where you goin' to?
Where were you last night?
Boy, listen up when I'm talkin' to you
It's the same ol' you
Another lonely night with that same ol' whiskey moon [?]
It's the same ol' you when you get to drinkin'
Same ol' you when you're on the town
Same ol' you in church on Sunday
gettin' high when the sun goes down
Well, it's time I got to thinkin'
and I think I'm done with you
cuz until I get to leavin'
it's just the same ol' me, too
Your mama's gonna cry her eyes
There ain't gonna be no wedding day
What's she gonna say
when I tell her how I had no choice
Same ol' you wouldn't even raise your voice and ask me to stay
I wouldn't anyway
Well, you can keep your ring and I'll keep my daddy's name
It's the same ol' you when you get to drinkin'
Same ol' you when you're on the town
Same ol' you in church on Sunday
gettin' high when the sun goes down
Well, it's time I got to thinkin'
and I think I'm done with you
cuz until I get to leavin'
it's just the same ol' me, too

Love it. You know where she debuted this song, too? In St. Louis. I have people in St. Louis! Well, one person. I could have conceivably gone to this show and then shown up at Jen's apartment, demanding a place to sleep. If only I had planned ahead.