One of the best things about being a writer who listens to music when they write is you get to spend a lot of time thinking about and then listening to your very favorite songs and musicians. I often use music to set the mental tone of what I’m writing. Sometimes it’s to help recall a point in time.

People might call this procrastination, I call it vital to my creative routine.

Also vital to my creative routine: Nutter Butters, staring at the door daydreaming, and sometimes, on super extra creative days, doing laundry and/or cleaning anything in the heap of squalor I call home.

So anyway, one of the moods I needed to set for part of The Beast. Is one of longing. My main character longs a lot. She is a big ball of longing and desire.

When I set out to create this playlist I wanted women only. I didn’t want Cora’s (thats the name of my main character) longing to sounds like all the dudes that I listen to all the time. While the gender was intentional, the alliteration was a happy accident. Once I finished making the list it made perfect sense.

One of the best descriptions I ever read about the fabulous (and my favorite record of 2014) Lydia Loveless’ album “Somewhere Else” came from RandBallsStu on twitter when he said called it Lucinda’s Exile.

As with all Into the MP3 Deeps posts, I will write stuff about these songs and then quit when I get bored.

Still I Long for Your Kiss, Lucinda Williams

Sometimes I don’t think I give Lucinda enough credit in my musical pantheon, because I do love her. And when I set bout making this list, this song was the very first one I put on it.

I Just Wanted to See You So Bad, Lucinda Williams

I don’t think I’ll ever be able to write about how this song is so eerily close to a relationship I had once upon a time ago. One of those you never quite get over because it was more about what was almost than what really was. How’s that for some vague cryptoblogging garbage?

Passionate Kisses, Lucinda Williams

This song is probably better known by the Mary Chapin Carpenter cover, but I like Lucinda’s version better. Her voice is rougher and I dig that. And the thing I love about this song about wanting romance and love and the rock and roll band and pens that don’t run out of ink.

Those Three Days, Lucinda Williams

This song = ouch.

Lonely Girls, Lucinda Williams

I guess loneliness is kind of cloaked in longing, right? I don’t know. I make the lists around here, not you!

Really Wanna See You, Lydia Loveless

Oh, who amongst us hasn’t experience the desperate longing that usually comes with chemical impairment? Fuck, I just did this nonsense the other night. At least I didn’t call. I guess that’s the good thing about having a phone phobia that outweighs your poor judgement.

Head, Lydia Loveless

Just listen to this one, will ya?

Somewhere Else, Lydia Loveless

Not really longing, but I just really like it.

Crazy, Lydia Loveless

This is a song about using liquid courage to get up the nerve to say what’s on your mind and then hoping to hide behind the drunkenness if the feelings don’t land the way you wanted them to.

Boy Crazy, Lydia Loveless

I wrote about this when I wrote about hips songs.

Fuck & Run, Liz Phair

The first time I ever got hit on as an adult was at a Liz Phair concert in 1994. Because I’m a total insecure nerd I had no idea how to cope with it, but I’m sure glad it happened.

Supernova, Liz Phair

This song isn’t about longing, really. But it makes me long. Also, fuck is censored in the video, which is annoying.

Perfect World, Liz Phair

There was a time at the turn of the century when I used a line from this song as a headline for a personal ad. “Cool, Tall, Vulnerable & Luscious.” I got a lot of responses & it’s how I met the TTHM a billion years ago. Fun Jodi trivia.

Polyester Bride, Liz Phair

This song meant everything to me when I was a frustrated, unsure 26-year-old. It reminded me that I did not, in fact, want to be a polyester bride (or any bride for that matter).

Why Can’t I?, Liz Phair

A lot of people give Liz shit about the album this song is on and some point to it as the ultimate moment she “sold out.” Whatever. I love it. This song about being on the giddy cusp of a crush that’s about to turn into something more is wonderful and gets that emotion across perfectly, which makes it a success in my book.

The post Into the MP3 Deeps: Lucinda + Lydia + Liz = Longing appeared first on I Will Dare.

I am procrastinating right now. Hard. I’m supposed to be writing a fake record review for an imaginary album for a singer I made up. Can you see how this is something to avoid? This imaginary review is extra difficult because it’s supposed to be one of those wonky reviews that provides cultural context for the singer while also discussing the overarching themes of her music.

Also, have I mentioned that I hate writing record reviews? Mostly because I am a horrible record reviewer. However, I do like writing about music. I contradict myself.

Anyway the other morning I had to write fake song lyrics for songs on the imaginary singer’s second album. One of the songs was supposed to be a giddy, joyful rocker about being very happy in the moment on a precipice of something very exciting.

Also, have I mentioned that I don’t know how to write song lyrics so it makes this portion of The Beast extra frustrating, anxiety-inducing, and more procrastination-worthy than ever before.

Before I could begin with the faux-song writing I had to make an inspirational playlist. Of course. I’m a professional this is how we work. So I gathered up some of my favorite songs that sound joyful (though maybe not be actually joyful lyric-wise) and made a playlist.

I’ve been listening to it quite a bit on this grey, cold Monday. Right now the list has sixteen songs on it. I will tell you about them until I get bored and/or distracted by something else.

If I Can’t Change Your Mind, Sugar

This is probably in the my top 20 of all-time favorite songs. It has nothing to do with the lyrics or my affection for Bob Mould, or even any particular memory I have associated with this song. it just sounds happy to me and whenever I hear it I can’t help but smile. Every single time.

American Girl, Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers

Most of the people in my life associate this song with some scene in the movie “Silence of the Lambs.” Since I’ve probably only seen that movie once, I have no such association. I don’t even know the scene, though whenever I say “Oh I love this song!” The people in my life are try to remind me of that scene and I tune them out because I don’t want to know.

Instead, I love the song unabashedly because it is fun. Also, because it sometimes (but not always) reminds me of watching the 2008 Superbowl halftime show with the TTHM at the Town Hall Brewery. As I shoulder danced to the song, he told me that men love this song because it makes 30-something-year-old women shake their shoulders.

Carried Away, Passion Pit

Valerie Loves Me, Material Issue

In my head my imaginary giddy joy song sounds kind of like this one. I hear this song and once again I am a drunk 22-year-old holding the hand of a boy I liked singing this song and dancing in the rain. Me. I danced. Outside for people to witness. I must have been happy.

Mad About You, Belinda Carlisle

Unlike the Sugar or Passion Pit songs, this one makes me happier the more personal context I cram into it. Always a Belinda fan, I love her more now because the minute I hear her I think of Christa and this review she wrote. I think about how if my fairy godmother said she could make me look like anyone on earth with a wave of her wand, I would choose to look like Belinda Carlisle in this video. And I think about how when I read Belinda’s memoir I told Sister #2 that I was super-bummed that she had such body image issues because even as young girls we wanted to be Belinda Carlisle, even when we were dressing up as Madonna.

1901, Phoenix & Float On, Modest Mouse

I am jamming these two songs into one entry because I love them for the same reasons. As an aunt I work really hard to forge a good relationship with the niblings (I recently learned that ‘nibling’ is a gender-neutral term for niece or nephew and I love it). Part of that is sharing things that I love, specifically music. I can’t force them to love what I love, but I can try. The Phoenix song is one that Liam and I sang for an entire summer back when he was like three or four. “Float On” is one that I put on a mix CD for Jaycie and Max back when making mix CDs was a new thing.

Supernova, Liz Phair

A guy I used to sleep with once told me that I fucked like a volcano. He said he chose that description to not only express his appreciation of my sexual prowess but also to impress me a little because he knew I loved Liz Phair. It was a smooth move on his part.

ALSO: last week I was chatting with my friend Ted on Twitter about Liz Phair and she favorited one of my tweets and I almost died.

Little Numbers, Boy

I am bored now and kind of hungry. So I will end with telling you the list also includes:
Rocks Off, The Rolling Stones
F.N.T, Semisonic
Talk Dirty to Me, Poison
Keepaway, Self
Letter to an Occupant, The New Pornographers
Turn Up the Radio, Autograph
Who’s Johnny, El Debarge.

Yes. El Debarge.

The post Into the MP3 Deeps: Joy appeared first on I Will Dare.

As a kid I kept obsessive lists of fun facts & trivia about my “Sweet Valley High” collection. I filled notebooks with brief plot synopses of each book and would often quiz myself on these arcane details. When I couldn’t sleep, which was often, I’d list the titles in order along with publication date.

I’m not sure what that has to do with this, but somehow they feel related. What is this? Well, it’s my playlist collection. I make a lot of playlists in iTunes. There are six folders filled with playlists in that vile piece of software. I hate iTunes but will save that pile of bile for another day.

For instance, I have one folder called R&R Book (aka The Beast). It contains 18 playlists which contain 232 songs or 14 hours and 34 minutes of music.

Because I spend a lot of time creating those playlist and because I like to write about music, I’ve decided to start a series called Into the MP3 Deeps (a play on Ellen Willis’ (AMEN!) Out of the Vinyl Deeps, obviously). I’ll keep this going for as long as it amuses me, which is probably going to be a lot longer than it amuses anyone else.

So, we start with my favorite of playlists the one called Start of a Brand New Hipster Revolution. This has nothing to do with hipsters the people we like to hate, and everything to do with hips the body part with like to love.

We all have our things. Shoulders, breasts, necks, or thighs, asses, ankles. You know what I’m talking about. I’m a hips woman myself. There’s just something super masculine about the narrowness of a man’s hips that gets my blood pumping.

So yeah, I collect songs that mention hips. Right now the playlist contains 50 songs, though I add to it all the time when friends send me songs or I catch the word ‘hips’ in the lyrics. Here’s some of my favorite ones.

The Blonde Valerie, Mike Doughty

Back in the Napster heydays I snagged a handful of Doughty’s spoken word tracks. I love them. This one is great, and a wonderful start to the playlist. It’s just a 31-second track with the line “And a shimmy that sent her hips in a liquid piston motion to the floor like cream shifting in a glass.”

Hips, By Someone I Don’t Know

A friend sent me this song a million billion years ago when I started collecting ‘Hips’ songs. This one has a slow, swingy feel to it, and a chorus refrain that repeats “Shut up, and sway your hips.” It’s way sexier than it sounds.

Why Independent Record Stores Fail, Marah

This one came on a mix-cd from my Westernerd pal, Scooter. I heard it and fell in love. With the song, not Scooter, though I do adore him so. There was a time in the early aughts when I was still working at Hell, Inc. and chasing some emotionally unavailable (to me at least) musicnerd where I’d spend most of my day listening to this song on repeat. It slayed me then. It slays me now.

While the song is written by a man to a woman, you could easily flip flop it to suit your romantic gender of choice. The sentiment of “I ain’t very good at saying things, but I can tape you certain songs” still holds regardless of who is doing to the taping. (also this explains why for about a decade “Singing in My Sleep” by Semisonic appeared on every mix I made for anyone I was even remotely interested in sexually or romantically [yeah, sometimes they’re not the same thing]).

And this line? “My heart is skipping beats as I let the needle fall on Sam Cooke and pray.” Come on! Also at one point he says “hold your gently swaying hips to mine.”

Seriously, this song will make any musicnerd totally gushy with love.

To Destruction, Dolorean

I used this song to get over a particularly painful heartbreak sometime in my early 30s. I can’t remember the year. For a very long time I couldn’t hear it without being super sad, but then I gave it to my friend Ray to get over his heartbreak. Since then song has become quite bittersweet in the great way that things that are painful and lovely at the same time are. It reminds me simultaneously of that long ago heartache, my friend Ray who I’ve know for 20+ years, and that very specific moment of singing with him in Ruby.

Lyric worthy of inclusion: “Your arms are the place I like the best. I cannot lie to your face, your lips, your skin, your hips, or your waist. I have tried to run away, but I am so unhappy when I am alone.”

It’s Only Dancing, Jeremy Messersmith

I’ve written about this song in depth before. I won’t bore you with it again.

Lyric worthy of inclusion: “Let’s tangle up our fingertips and I’ll rest a hand upon your hips. There’s nothing to see it’s all so innocent.”

Jealousy, Liz Phair

I love the line “just putting your body wherever it seemed like a good idea.” This is a pretty decent song about jealousy. But it’s the drum in this one that ties so nicely into the next song that really seals the deal.

Lyric worthy of inclusion: “I saw hips, I saw thighs, I saw secret positions that we never try. I saw jealousy.”

Boy Crazy, Lydia Loveless

I’ve listened to this song fourteen times in the past seven days. Thanks, Last.fm!. This one is off Loveless’ EP “Boy Crazy.” And this song is the kind of song I’d write if I knew how to write songs. It’s sexy and fun and a little wry and the drum kicks all kinds of ass. And there’s the opening line: “Well he lives out in Idaho, and his jeans comes to just below his hip bone and when he lifts up his arms it makes me so wet, well I’d give up anything up for a night with that.” So good.

Commie Drives a Nova, Ike Reilly

My parents drove a cherry red Nova when I as a kid. This has nothing to do with the song, though the song makes me wish I drove a Nova the same way Jason Isbell’s “Cover Me Up” makes me wish I wore cowboy boots. This is one about a guy smitten with an amply-sized communist. As an amply-sized communist myself, how could I not love this?

Lyric worthy of inclusion: “I love the words of my communist. I kiss the lips of my communist. Grab the hips of my communist.”

Party in the U.S.A., Miley Cyrus

I’m not even exaggerating when I say that I watched the ASL video for this song 92,146 times. Longtime readers will recall that I’ve written about this video before. (aside: how can that be four years ago already. How?) Would I love the song without this specific video? I doubt it. I probably would have never heard of this song without this video. And I still get a little swoony when he does the “moving my hips like yeah” part.

When We Swam, Thao & The Get Down Stay Down

Okay, I am getting bored with this list and not all of these songs have significant meaning in my life. Some I just like because the chorus is “oh, oh bring your hips to me.”

The post Into the MP3 Deeps: A Selection of Hips Songs appeared first on I Will Dare.