Wicked Playlist - Music Blog

Ok, the latest marketing exec to hit a musical homerun is the one that paired the new Max Payne trailer with Marilyn Manson’s “If I was your Vampire”.  The song fits perfectly with the dark world of Max Payne.  The scene in the trailer where the Valkrie pulls the guy out of the window is cool enough to make me want to see this movie.

The trailers on Youtube have had the vocals removed (they are still in some of the TV commercials) and that is a shame because it takes away some of the effectiveness of the song.  Here are the lyrics for Manson’s “If I Was Your Vampire”.

6 a.m. Christmas morning.
No shadows,
No reflections here.
Lying cheek to cheek
In your cold embrace.

So soft and so tragic
As a slaughterhouse.
You press the knife
Against your heart.
And say,
“I love you, so much you must kill me now.”

I love you
So much
You must kill me now.

If I was your vampire,
Certain as the moon,
Instead of killing time,
We’ll have each other
Until the sun.
If I was your vampire,
Death waits for no one.
Hold my hands
Across your face,
Because I think
Our time has come.

Digging your smile apart
With my spade tongue.
The hole is where the heart is.
We built this tomb together,
And I won’t fill it alone.
Beyond the pale
Everything is black
No turning back.

If I was your vampire,
Certain as the moon,
Instead of killing time,
We’ll have each other
Until the sun.
If I was your vampire,
Death waits for no one.
Hold my hands
Across your face,
Because I think
Our time has come.

Blood-stained sheets
In the shape of your heart,
This is where it starts…
Blood-stained sheets
In the shape of your heart,
This is where it starts.
This is where it will end.
Here comes the moon again.

6:19 and I know I’m ready
Drive me off the mountain.
You’ll burn,
I’ll eat your ashes.
The impossible wheels seducing
Our corpse.

If I was your vampire,
Certain as the moon,
Instead of killing time,
We’ll have each other
Until the sun.
If I was your vampire,
Death waits for no one.
Hold my hands
Across your face,
Because I think
Our time has come.

Beyond the pale
Everything is black
No turning back.
Beyond the pale
Everything is black
No turning back.

This is where it starts.
This is where it will end.
Here comes the moon again.

This is where it starts.
This is where it will end.
Here comes the moon again.

Here comes the moon again

Here comes the moon again

Guy Clark is the type of musician that doesn’t having many casual fans. He has people that don’t miss him when he comes to town because the music is great and best appreciated amongst friends with a frosty beverage in hand.

One of my favorite songs of all time to sing along to is his “L.A. Freeway”….but it has to be the live version. If you don’t have a bootleg of your favorite show handy, the “live from Austin, TX” album version does just fine.

I imagine that some people who are raised in the country leave for the city and never want to go back but a lot of us leave for opportunity but never for good. If you fit into the later group, then this is a song for you.

So without wasting anymore of your time with my praise, here is live performance from youtube so you can check it out for yourself.

Wolf Parade – “At Mount Zoomer”

Since “Shine A Light” was one of my favorite tracks of 2005, I was really stoked about the new album by Wolf Parade. These guys have three qualities that make them great; unique sound, excellent vocals, & great lyrics. This album is the kind that I will listen to a hundred times over the next few months and every few weeks a different track will be my favorite.

The music is truly amazing. No disrespect to the lyrics which I’ll praise in a minute but I sometimes kind of image just driving down the road listening to the album without lyrics at all.

The vocals mix well with the instrumentals and separate the band from a lot of similar groups. With all the great music out there, it is hard to be unique without coming across as trying to hard to be unique even though it’s just imitating what already exists. Wolf Parade has great balance that is on full display throughout “At Mount Zoomer.”

The lyrics are interesting and well crafted; not bizarre for the sake of pretentiousness or dummied down for sake of marketability. The accompaniment with the rhythm and instruments is unbelievable.

Well at the moment, I’ll take “Soldier’s Grin” as my pick of the week. I hate to pick the first track but hey it does have an unfair advantage from placement at top of the order. I could definitely see “the Grey Estates” or maybe “Language City” being my next pick. Then maybe “Fine Young Cannibals or “Kissing the Beehive”….too much good shit to pick from

I made a post last week about music from The Cleaner and watched the series premiere tonight on A&E. I enjoyed the show more than I thought I would and will catch it next week with high hopes for it. The interesting thing will be how they deal with such sad issues every week and still keep us tuning in. Benjamin Bratt also did a great job.

More importantly, they didn’t dissappoint me and had a great song at the end of the show. The song was “Waiting For My Real Life To Begin”, by Colin Hay. Wonderful song and it fit perfectly with the show.

The lyrics for “Waiting For My Real Life To Begin” by Colin Hay

Any minute now, my ship is coming in
I will keep checking the horizon
I will stand on the bow, feel the waves come crashing
Come crashing down, down, down, on me

And you say, be still my love
Open up your heart
Let the light shine in
But don´t you understand
I already have a plan
I am waiting for my real life to begin

When I awoke today, suddenly nothing happened
But in my dreams, I slew the dragon
And down this beaten path, & up this cobbled lane
I am walking in my old footsteps, once again
And you say, just be here now
Forget about the past, your mask is wearing thin
Let me throw one more dice
I know that I can win
I am waiting for my real life to begin

Any minute now, my ship is coming in
I will keep checking the horizon
And I will check my machine, theres sure to be that call
It is going to happen soon, soon, soon
It is just that times are lean

And you say, be still my love
Open up your heart, let the light shine in
Don´t you understand
I already have a plan
I am waiting for my real life to begin

I don’t remember how, but I came across Peter Case’s new CD Let Us Now Praise Sleepy John a couple of weeks ago and he has been steady in my rotation since then.   This is another American folk treasure that is filled with masterful acoustic guitar playing, lyrics and vocals.

he fourteen dressed in his fathers hat
even grew a little mustache just like that
told the crazy lady at the corner shop
I’ll take a pack of camels and a bottle of schnapps

Interestingly enough, I really enjoy Let Us Now Praise Sleepy John more when I can turn up the sound on some really good speakers and really get lost in the the vocals and guitar playing.  The guitar playing has that raw passionate sound too it.  You actually feel like you are sitting around in a circle with a group musicians as they jam.  It is hard to find your foot taping along.  This is really evident on “Every 24 Hours” and “Underneath The Stars”. Those are also two of my favorite tracks from the CD.

Th album hits several social topics such as the plight of the homeless in “Underneath The Stars” and the legal system in “Million Dollars Bail”.  Peter Case hits those topics in the same style Johnny Cash did, not in the often preachy hypocritical way associated with many musicians.  He paints a picture and lets your soul take over.

It’s cold outside
lord help those
lost tonight with the freezin toes

Excellent CD that you really can just let it play. If you haven’t heard of Peter Case before, you should check him out. He really is what American folk music is all about.