Sunday… Music To Write Your Heart Out To (Round 2)

Yes, this is a Monday. Huge apologies for the delay, but I had a few problems yesterday to try and get past. So here it is anyways…

1. Kasabian – Narcotic Farm

 

This band has a really tripped out style, particularly on this song.

Come down lady flying eight miles high, You got the soul and you don’t even, don’t even try. Jet black tulip like a smoking gun. You got no rhythm but you know how to, know how to run. At the Narcotic Farm they will do you no harm. Hey, follow me down, to where the executioner will bring me back round…

2. Jeff Buckley – Hallelujah

 

I don’t really listen to him all that much, but Jeff Buckley’s cover of Hallelujah is beautiful. Like, really really beautiful. And the lyrics, while not his, are pretty perfect too.

Well maybe there’s a God above, but all I ever learned from love is how to shoot somebody who out-drew you. And it’s not a cry that you hear at night, it’s not somebody who’s seen the light. It’s a cold and it’s a broken Hallelujah…

3. Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds – Red Right Hand

 

Okay, so Nick Cave and his Bad Seeds are really pretty dark, but I still love writing to them. I could have easily chosen O Children instead (the HP Harry-Hermione dance song from Deathly Hallows Part 1, if that helps you think) but I really like this one too. Probably because there was a book I read as a kid (it was Derek Landy’s brilliant Skullduggery Pleasant book) , where the author gave the villain a red right hand which could kill people, and listening to this song makes me smile about the book.

Take a little walk to the edge of town, go across the tracks, where the viaduct looms like a bird of doom as it shifts and cracks. Where secrets lie in the border fires, in the humming wires. Hey man, you know you’re never coming back. Past the square, past the bridge, past the mills, past the stacks. On a gathering storm comes a tall handsome man in a dusty black coat with a Red Right Hand…

4. Lana Del Rey – Young and Beautiful

 

Ignore the controversy surrounding the did-she/did-she-not have her lips surgically modified. Besides all that rubbish, doesn’t it always come back to the music? And here is one of my favorite songs by Ms Del Rey…

I’ve seen the world, lit it up, as my stage now. Channeling angels in the new age now. Hot summer days, rock ‘n’ roll, the way you’d play for me at your show. And all the ways, I got to know, your pretty face and electric soul… 

5. Benjamin Francis Leftwich – Stole You Away

 

I do like Benjamin Francis Leftwich’s lyrics to write to. They’re quite poetic and heart-felt. Again, I could have picked a different song, but I went with my favorite as there’s one particular line that I love the most.

There was a change in the way you breathe, couldn’t believe you would change for me. And if you hear the sound of shooting stars, protect your heart ’cause it burns back and turns back around…

Sunday: Music to Write Your Heart Out To.

Okay, so I see most of the people who follow me are writers, so you’ll probably understand the particular urge that most writers get when they hear some damn good lyrics 🙂 Anyhow, since I’m a lovely sharing person (insert snort of laughter here), I thought I might post a couple of videos, with little snippets of the lyrics, so you can see how uber-brilliant my taste in music is. And, it does actually help me.

1. Ben Howard – Black Flies:

Actually, I could post absolutely anything by this guy, because he’s fantastic and you should go obsess over him now! I mean it, go and download absolutely everything by him, and sit in floods of tears thinking about how damn poetic and haunting his lyrics are.

See the sky as no-man’s land, a darkened plume to stay. Hope here needs a steady hand. Not a fox found in your place. And no man is an island, this I know. But can’t you see oh? Maybe you were the ocean, when I was just a stone…

2. Willy Mason – We Can Be Strong

Okay, this is a KT Tunstall cover, but still. The guy is a genius.

Signed myself out today, sent a letter far away, said Baby I’ll be good someday. Gonna try again tomorrow. I couldn’t take that sterile place, in those rooms I lost my face. In the end they couldn’t sell me grace. And they can’t sell me tomorrow… 

3. Daughter – Youth

I couldn’t decide for a long time between this and their song ‘Still’, but I figured both were amazing. Seriously, check them out, before I come over and tell you myself 🙂

And if you’re still breathing, you’re the lucky ones. Cause most of us are heaving through corrupted lungs. Setting fire to our insides for fun. Collecting names of the lovers that went wrong.

4. Arctic Monkeys – Do I Wanna Know?

Speaks for itself really. Arctic Monkeys are brilliant. This picture proves it:

And of course, they’re awesome because of Alex Turner, but let’s not get me started on that subject, because this is supposed to be a G Rated blog (oh god, I didn’t get that wrong and accidentally suggest it was full of porn or something, did I?)

5. Muse – Hoodoo

Unconventional, I know. And I could have gone with almost anything they’ve written, of course, but I just like the lyrics in this one.

I’ve had recurring nightmares, that I was loved for who I am, and missed the opportunity to be a better man.

And that’s it really. Have a nice day, and peace out fellow writing nerds.