Just About a Moonlight Mile Down the Road

When the wind blows and the rain feels cold
With a head full of snow
With a head full of snow
In the window there's a face you know
Don't the night pass slow
Don't the nights pass slow

The sound of strangers sending nothing to my mind
Just another mad mad day on the road
I am just living to be lying by your side
But I'm just about a moonlight mile on down the road

Made a rag pile of my shiny clothes
Gonna warm my bones
Gonna warm my bones
I got silence on my radio
Let the air waves flow
Let the air waves flow

Oh I'm sleeping under strange strange skies
Just another mad mad day on the road
My dreams is fading down the railway line
I'm just about a moonlight mile on down the road
Yeah, Yeah, Yeah, Yeah

I'm hiding sister and I'm dreaming
I'm riding down your moonlight mile
I'm hiding baby and I'm dreaming
I'm riding down your moonlight mile
I'm riding down you moonlight mile

Let it go now, come on up babe
Yeah, let it go now
Yeah, flow now baby
Yeah move on now yeah

Yeah, I'm coming home
'Cause, I'm just about a moonlight mile on down the road
Down the road, down the road
Yeah, yeah, hey hey hey baby, now

Moonlight Mile - The Rolling Stones

MP3 File

While My Guitar Gently Weeps

Last week was Freddy's anniversary; today we remember and celebrate the illuminating and wonderful George Harrison. Although "Here Comes the Sun" is my favorite song of his, this one seems to sum up the mood of this anniversary a little more succinctly.

While My Guitar Gently Weeps - The Beatles

MP3 File

Songs to Be Thankful For, Day 7: You Know You Make Me Dizzy

Really, I'm thankful for Kate and Scott, who make up half of this band, and between them, half of my life. But for the basis of this post, I'm thankful for this song. It really is one of my favorites of theirs, and I love hearing them play it.

Dizzy - The Full-Time Dreamers

MP3 File

Songs to Be Thankful For, Day 6: Don't You Notice How the Wheel Goes Round?

By the play count on my iTunes, which was reset, by the way, when I transferred my library to this laptop in October of 2008, I have listened to this song 218 times.

There is NOTHING like that instrumental bridge, though. NOTHING.

"Yes I told you that your life goes up and down, don't you notice how the wheel goes round? And you better pick yourself up from the ground before they bring the curtain down..."

Badge - Cream

MP3 File

Songs To Be Thankful For, Day Five: Mistletoe

Today is the first acceptable day to listen to Christmas music; anything earlier is jumping the gun. Long time readers of mine know how I mark the Christmas music season, and this year will be no different. I already plan on making this year "Courtney's Greatest Christmas Hits" complete with WHY they are my best (expect to need to listen and read with tissues in some places). So, to mark the beginning of the Christmas music listening season, which is what I'm thankful for today, I give you a brand new offering from the Indigo Girls, who released an entire album of holiday songs this year. Solid effort, very bluegrass for that duo, but well worth the listen.

Read my review of the album here.

You'll see them again next month, most likely. Until then, wind down your Black Friday madness (and, I ventured out today, albeit later, and bought some gifts) with this quiet little number.

Mistletoe - The Indigo Girls

MP3 File

Songs to Be Thankful For, Day 4: You Can Get Anything You Want

One does not screw with tradition... ;)

Wishing you all a healthy and happy Thanksgiving holiday. I know that I have many, many gifts in my life to be thankful for: my family, my health, my friends who sustain me and challenge me, yoga, my job, stressful as it may be. It's a good life.

With love, from the Group W Bench...

Alice's Restaurant Massacree - Arlo Guthrie

MP3 File

Songs to Be Thankful For, Day 3: You Make the Rockin' World Go Round...

Today is the anniversary of Freddie Mercury's death. To mark this sad occasion, here is one of my all time favorite Queen song.

Bicycle Race - Queen

MP3 File

Songs to Be Thankful For, Day 2: We're Doing Pretty Good If We Can Just Get Out Alive

This has nothing to do with the song I'm about to post, but I had to share. I've been regularly practicing yoga since the end of August. A great small studio, with wonderful instructors, and I'm starting to see improvements in my practice. Plus, I'm better able to calm myself when stressed, which is so important to me this year. Today, in class, I NAILED a pose that has been a problem for me to fully realize. Me, in Tree, both sides, for the whole minute. I was pumped.

I was also pumped the first time I heard this song. Lucero opened for The Drive-by Truckers back in April. I'd heard OF them, but never HEARD them. Well, two songs in and I was blown away. I went to Newbury Comics and picked up "1372 Overton Park", and later "That Much Further West". Great, gritty, bluesy rock and roll, with a gravel-toned, inked up hottie at the helm. What's not to like about that?

So, without further ado, Lucero, with "Smoke". This song is a fantastic story.

Smoke - Lucero

Songs to Be Thankful For, Day 1: I Ain't Got No Good Intentions...

For this week, I'm going to highlight songs that I'm thankful exist in this world. I'm plenty thankful for the people in my life, my family, my good fortune. And that good fortune extends to music.

I discovered the Drive-By Truckers when they opened for The Hold Steady in November of 2008, and it was a fast and furious love affair from that first moment. I couldn't believe I had lived this long without this band in my life. They were a HUGE rock sound, HUGE. They went straight down my spine to my gut, then back up to my heart, and this song was one of the primary reasons. I remember it live, not knowing much about them at all, but this song stood out in a major way. The next album I bought, purely by chance, contained this track. I listened to it obsessively, bought more albums, but kept coming back to this song. Cooley may be one of the greatest American songwriters of this, or any, generation. His turn of phrase, his characters, the way he makes these people and lyrics real; it's stunning. The last verse of this song hearkens back, faintly, to "Racing in the Street" from the Boss himself, but the situation is Cooley's own.

It's melacholy, and a little more than cynical, but this song fills me with joy, simply because it exists.

Zip City - The Drive-by Truckers

MP3 File

There I Go, Playing Star Again

Growing up, there was a period where my mother worked at night, selling home decorations at house parties. My father would get us dinner and get us to bed, and then stay up finishing paperwork at the dining room table. My parents were young parents, so they still bought records and had favorite artists (now, do you see how I got this way?). My father particularly loved Bob Seger, and the Live Silver Bullet album was one of his favorites. This is a song I used to drift off to sleep to as it floated up the stairs in the dark.

Turn The Page (live) - Bob Seger and the Silver Bullet Band (click for video)

Boom Swagger Swagger

It's Saturday night, and this weekend, I do have plans. So, a little mood setting out on the town music for you all.

Slainte...

Boom Swagger Boom - Murder City Devils

MP3 File

I Didn't Know That We Could Break A Silver Lining

This song sums up perfectly the arc of one of the most significant relationships of my life, one that continues today, in an altered, but no less important form. Too bad it was released probably 10 years after the "relationship" (if it ever was that) ended.

What remains these days is a deep, abiding intense friendship, which comes and goes in waves. Six months, a year sometimes, would pass without a word, then a flurry of communication. The last year has been pretty consistent via email. This is one of many songs, including yesterday, that I use to sort out who we are to each other in my head. His contribution to the soundtrack is its own complete album, I think.

The impossibility of it all kept us near to each other in the beginning, most likely. When years, a decade had passed, and we were still in each other's lives, still connected, still important, that's when it solidified in my head that it was more than just a fling. So many details, so many stories. So much help given when I never expected it. The voice on the phone telling me, "forget about Christmas, you just need to GET OUT. Stop kidding yourself." It's a book, for certain, but for now, it's this song.

And i knew then it would be a life long thing, but i didn't know that we could break a silver lining...

A Sorta Fairytale - Tori Amos


MP3 File

Sometimes I See Your Face, Stars Seem To Lose Their Place

A long standing favorite. It's assigned person shifts, but it always comes back to one person. This song was current when we were, and sometimes, those moments come back in a flood.

What would it mean to say, I loved you in my fashion?

Why Should I Cry For You? - Sting

MP3 File

Breathe...

Easier said than done these days. I feel like the universe is askew. But, I'm doing what I need to be doing to maintain balance, both personal and professional and mental.

Wish me luck. Life's a little nuts right now.

Breathe (2 a.m.) - Anna Nalick

MP3 File

The Vicious Cycle Burns

Immersing myself in the Darkness reissue.

Because The Night - Bruce Springsteen

MP3 File

Shattered Into A Shower Of Sparks On The Curb

I'm wearing a t-shirt a friend left me as a memento, a long time ago, as pajamas. It hung on a hook on my bathroom door for months. For a time, it was my favorite shirt to sleep in, as I felt connected to this friend across the miles whenever I wore it. It's soft, and worn, and loose, and I felt safe with it draped on my shoulders.

I guess I'm just needing to feel close to someone right now. Nothing's happened; I'm just looking for a little bit of Linus's blanket here in my own world.

Goodnight, all...

Marrow - Ani DiFranco

MP3 File

Of Hogwarts and Other Magical Places

I've been geeking out on Harry Potter for the last 24 hours. Part one of the finale opens this Friday, and I've already bought tickets for my mother, sister, and me to be there opening night. Truth be told, I'm going to have a really hard time letting go of these films, seeing them finally complete. When I read the last book, I cried for hours; those of you who have read it know why, and it's actually affected how I view the previous films now. Twinged with extra sadness and melancholy ("...you have your mother's eyes, Potter...").

So, today's song would have to be the Harry Potter theme.

Harry Potter Theme - John Williams, conductor/composer (clicking)

You Stole My Heart, But I Love You Anyway

This song was #1 on the US charts the day I was born. If Elton is the actual first song on the soundtrack to my life, then this would have to be number 2.

Find out your song here.



Maggie May - Rod Stewart and the Faces

Molehill

This is a song from a mix, which I should post song by song until a certain something comes to pass. Instead, I'll just continue on with my own plans, and leave this message...

"So many sheep, I quit counting.
Sleepless and embarrassed
about the way that I feel.
Trying to make molehills out of mountains,
building base camp at the bottom
of a really big deal.
Did I ever tell you I stopped eating
when you stopped calling me?
I was cramped up and shitting rivers for weeks,
and pretending that I was finally free,
And you can't leave me here,
'Cuz now that you're back you better stay this time.
And you say, the coast is clear",
but you say that all the time..."

Independence Day - Ani DiFranco

MP3 File

They Call You a Hero, So Many Still Fighting

Thank our veterans today...

Soldiers Get Strange - Jason Isbell and the 400 Unit

MP3 File

The Big Lake They Call Gitche Gumee

Today is the 35th anniversary of the wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald. You can read the story here. This song is a family "favorite" of sorts; my parents were both big Gordon Lightfoot fans, and my father, a fisherman and hunter, always enjoyed this particular tune. I couldn't tell you why; maybe the historical context, the drama, who knows? But, we grew up hearing this song, and he used a lyric in an article he wrote about nearly being shipwrecked himself: "Does anyone know where the love of God goes when the waves turn the minutes to hours?"

So, for my weird little family :) here's our weird little song.



The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald - Gordon Lightfoot

We Don't Have The Power, We Just Don't Run This Place

About how I'm feeling right now. I can't fix the insanity, I can't make it better, and I cannot allow crazy people to make me feel less of a person, less of a professional over this, either.

Really wretched time in my professional world right now. All I really want to say about it, though.

I'm No Heroine - Ani DiFranco

MP3 File

I Can't Seem To Get You Off My Mind

Hear Me Calling (live) - Bob Mould

I took this video with my little point and shoot camera almost exactly three years ago tonight, 11/5/07. This evening's performance at The Met will be my 20th(?) time attending a Bob Mould show. At LEAST 20. It's probably more; I lost official count sometime in 2006 ;)

In all seriousness, Bob may be one of my favorite musicians of all time. So many songs of his feature into so many moments of my life. He's made me laugh, cry, sing and scream at the top of my lungs, and, I'm even privileged to call him "friend". In fact, I emailed him via Facebook to tell him I'd be at this show tonight, as it was a new venue and I'd just been there for the Hold Steady, and he emailed me back, "great, I'll look out for you." Our traditional hug and kiss, and short conversation will ensue. A great show, with lots of favorites, and a real recharge for my spirit. Every time.

My Sister Cat's iPod: A Two-Fer...

Because I simply just forgot yesterday. Take a red wine hangover, combine it with a baby shower an hour away, some baking, and then trivia night at the Elks, which was a fundraiser for my nephews' elementary school, and yesterday just flew by. So, I took advantage of the extra hour of sleep this morning, and I finally feel refreshed after weeks of running around like a lunatic. Which is not to say this week won't be exactly like the rest of them, but at least by the end of today, I'll feel physically ready to take it on (mentally, well, there's a different story).

Today, then, you all get two songs as my pennance. My sister Cat's iPod is a treasure trove of soft rock goodness. For years we have maintained that her iPod has actually been hijacked by a 45 year old human resources manager named Carol, who likes cat sweatshirts and doilies. She has a boyfriend, Mitch, who won't marry her because he's divorced and his first wife is a little crazy. They take foliage trips "up New Hampshire", and she goes to the outlet mall for everything. We've created an entire life for the mythical woman who programs Cat's iPod; it's a little odd. However, it gives both my sisters and I the perfect outlet in which to channel those guilty little soft rock pleasures from the 70s that we can't get out of our heads. Ever.

So today's selections are two from "Carol's " iPod. It's Sunday morning; they're appropriate.

I Love You - Climax Blues Band (oh, the cheese in this video...oh, it's glorious)



So Far Away - Carole King (who doesn't love Tapestry, though??)

Dim All The Lights

It was almost a dance party at my house this evening, but the ladies were too busy having their cards read, or buying "accessories" to really get into the groove. But when this song came up, there was dancing.

I'm The Rank Outsider. You Can Be My Partner In Crime

When I think of MaryAnne, I think of the Rolling Stones. She was the first person I knew well that really adored them. She had posters all over her room, the lips logo on her notebooks, everything. And it always made her seem edgier than the other girls. And there were some things about MaryAnne, or MeMe, as we called her, that were a little outside the pale. I found her adventurous, and one of the friendliest people I ever met, and I was privileged to be her friend.

We had a mini reunion tonight, MeMe, Scott, and myself. She's home from Arizona, visiting her family with her kids, and we had dinner together. She's still one of the best people I know, and it was so, so good to see her again.

Tumbling Dice - The Rolling Stones

MP3 File

I Thank The Lord There's People Out There Like You

There's so many people in my life that I adore and cherish, outside of my family, that I thank the Lord there's people like them out there, and rooting for me. I need to remember who they are when I'm feeling like I feel lately. When work is grinding me down so badly, I've never felt more professionally incompetent. When I'm wondering what's so frightening about me that men can't seem to commit. When I'm pining, and lonely, and struggling, I have people who tell me I'm full of shit, chin up, and be the awesome woman that you are, and that we love.

So, thank you, to each of you. I could name you, but if you blushed when you read this, you're one of them.



Mona Lisas and Mad Hatters - Elton John

I'm Wishing You All Of My Best On This Election Day

Did you vote? You don't get to complain if you didn't. The process works because you participate.

Off to watch the returns, and congratulate my candidates/friends for great races. Hoping they will be victory parties.

Hello Birmingham - Ani DiFranco

MP3 File

Sweet Days of Summer, The Jasmine's In Bloom

This song popped up on my friend's iTunes tonight, while we were chatting in his studio, post-ice-cream run. Granted, it's 42 degrees outside and we're getting ice cream, but sometimes, you just give in to the urge.

I always loved this song, even as a kid. It's a little cheesy, but it brings me such calm. It was good to hear it tonight.

Summer Breeze - Seals and Croft (click to go to tinysong)

Life IS A Highway

And I felt like I drove all of them yesterday...

Great weekend, but I am wiped out. Today and tomorrow I'm at a conference off-site, so at least I can regroup, sort of.

Life Is a Highway - Tom Cochrane