Answers behind the cut to last week's post, with links and suchlike.
- I know I look tired, but everything's fried here in Memphis.
"Sequestered in Memphis" by the Hold Steady (YouTube). Fun and fast-paced rock song about a guy having to tell the feds about his one-night stand.
Now they want to know exactly which bathroom--
Dude, does it make any difference? It can't be important.(I almost used "How a Resurrection Really Feels" (YouTube) but that's even more obscure. And mumbly.)
- What five letters spell "apocalypse"?
"The Temptation of Adam" by Josh Ritter (link at top of NPR story). Beautiful, sad, just a little creepy; love in a missile silo.
We passed the time with crosswords that she thought to bring inside
"What five letters spell 'apocalypse'?" she asked me
I won her over singing "W.W.I.I.I."
And we smiled and we both knew that she'd misjudged meThis song is my ridiculous teenage crush of the moment.
- I have dreamed of a black car that shimmers and drives down the length of the evening to the carnival side.
"St. Robinson In His Cadillac Dream" by the Counting Crows (YouTube). Album track off This Desert Life.
Staring out of his window as the world rushes by
Arthur Robinson closes the glass and replies,
"I dream of ballerinas and I don't know why
but I've seen Cadillacs sailing"Medium-upbeat for the Counting Crows.
- Well don't you remember, they put a patch on your eye; like Dread Pirate Roberts, you looked so unplanned.
"Only the Song Survives," John Hiatt (sample at last.fm). Stripped-down acoustic storytelling from Crossing Muddy Waters, one of his better albums.
I woke her up twice in the middle of the night
To ask what her name is and where she might live
To ask how many fingers she saw in this light
To ask if she might know what gives(I know that the Dread Pirate Roberts didn't have an eyepatch. Maybe it's the first hint that the speaker is not reliable.)
- Forget about your ego, forget about your pride, and you will never have to compromise.
"Joking," Indigo Girls (video at last.fm). One of their classics (and oh wow how young they look in that video).
You kissed me like a soldier headed for war
I'm a dying man but I don't know what forI'm not much into their new stuff, but Rites of Passage was one of the albums I bought in MP3 when I switched away from tapes.
- You missed a spot over there.
"Stacy's Mom," Fountains of Wayne (YouTube). Not my favorite off of Welcome Interstate Managers (and I really hate the video), but it is catchy.
And I know that you think it's just a fantasy
But since your dad walked out your mom could use a guy like meAnyway, I wanted one more for the theme, which was . . .
. . . lyrics reporting someone else's dialogue. The first one is what his one-night stand says to him when they leave the bar; the second is in the bit I quoted; the third is more of Arthur Robinson's dialogue; the fourth is part of her explanation to the narrator; the fifth is one of the things the "you" in the song is only joking about; and the sixth is what Stacy's Mom tells the narrator the day he mowed their lawn.
Hey, I said my brain was weird.