five songs for friday

Some of the songs that have been keeping me company this week:

Fell In Love With A Girl -- The White Stripes: I did hear this today, but I'm listing it mostly to have an excuse to watch the lego video again! (see above.) "I said I must be fine because my heart's still beating." I love this song, and it's been long enough that it doesn't feel overplayed to me anymore. "I said it once before but it bears repeating."

Let's Take a Walk Around The Block -- Ella Fitzgerald: "I'll sit on your lap/ all over the map" Ha! From the Harold Arlen Song Book, with delightfully clever lyrics by E.Y. Harburg and Ira Gershwin. It's basically big vacation plans for more financially flush times: "the future looks pleasant/ but at present, let's take a walk around the block." It's charming, cheeky and full of Let's Make the Most of Right Now fun. (although did people really used to throw old plates into the Grand Canyon??? I am horrified!)

You Know I'm No Good -- Amy Winehouse: Due to VH1/MTV scheduling, I saw this video about 4 times in the space of an hour, and I watched it every time. When I got back to my computer I saw that I had already downloaded it as a free single from iTunes. Woo! My god, her voice! (I know it sounds crazy, but I swear I hear a little Shirley Bassey around the "I"'s.) She sounds like a world-weary, slightly detached train conductor who knows that all her tracks run right off the cliff, but she goes full steam ahead anyway. (her train is powered by gin.) Passengers have been warned: "I cheated myself, like I knew I would/ I told you I was trouble, you know that I'm no good." I don't know if this counts as schadenfreude or what, but I find comfort here because my own problems suddenly feel less problematic; I am conducting a marzipan train off the side of a cupcake in comparison. (p.s. I love, love, love the horns!)

Chrissie Kiss The Corpse -- Of Montreal: So jaunty, so disturbed. I love the alliteration in the title, the general air of jolly mayhem and the narrative thread-- it's a little short story in less than three minutes. "Nobody in her family knows/ the vile hobby that she chose" ... except "chose" is actually "cho-hose" which makes me love it more, more, more! "Chrissie's such a pretty thing/ gentle as a scorpion's sting/ no one ever would suspect/ that her mind's gone really wrecked." Oh, Chrissie.

My Moon, My Man -- Feist: I got this from Fluxblog a few (six!) weeks ago, and I have listened to it aprox. one million times. I like it a lot. It has actually brokered the end of my grudge match with the full moon. (Shut up. Let those without irrational grudges against inanimate objects throw the first stone.) "Take it slow, take it easy on me/ shed some light, shed some light on me please" Pitchfork has a little video dealie (there are sparklers!) and a streaming version of the song.