The end of the musical advent calendar is upon us. Are you sad? You shouldn't be sad, it's Christmas!

The last couple of songs are both seasonally and geographically appropriate for me. The rest of you can enjoy New York vicariously through people singing about it!

Thea Gilmore - December in New York

Stars - Fairytale of New York

My fortune cookie today said "use your instincts now." my instincts now are all saying go to bed, Dani, and I think that's very sensible of them, especially considering I think I promised to stand a kettle from 10 to 2 tomorrow because I am stupid.

Uh... rapid fire catching up!

Aimee Mann - River

Anais Mitchell - Your Fonder Heart

Dar Williams - Iowa

Sarah McLachlan - Full of Grace

Imogen Heap - Not Now But Soon

Feist - I Feel It All

The Weepies - Not Your Year

I have no excuse for this. It exists and that is awesome.

Lady Gaga - Christmas Tree

The only place you wanna be is underneath my Christmas tree

Light me up with me on top lets falalalalalalala

Ho ho ho under the mistletoe (Ra pa pam pam)
yes everybody knows (Ra pa pam pam)
we will take off our clothes (Ra pa pam pam)
yes if you want us to we will

you oh oh a Christmas
my Christmas tree is delicious

Now that's the spirit of the season right there.

Getting this one in now while I'm thinking about it... I love this song, and it shouldn't be hard to see why.

Sarah McLachlan - Prayer of Saint Francis

Lord, make me an instrument of your peace.
Where there is hatred let me sow love.
Where there is injury, pardon.
Where there is doubt, faith.
Where there is despair, hope.
Where there is darkness, light.
And where there is sadness, joy.

O divine master grant that I may
not so much seek to be consoled as to console,
to be understood as to understand,
to be loved as to love;
for it is in giving that we receive,
it is in pardoning that we are pardoned,
and it's in dying that we are born to eternal life.

Yeah, I've been distracted, we all knew my attention span for this was shaky anyway. This time, Christmas music, since I missed the two-weeks-until mark.

Death Cab For Cutie - Christmas (Baby Please Come Home)
They're singing "Deck The Halls"
But it's not like Christmas at all
Cause I remember when you were here
And all the fun we had last year

Pretty lights on the tree
I'm watching them shine
You should be here witha me
Baby please come home

Glee cast - Last Christmas
"Merry Christmas"
I wrapped it up and sent it
With a note saying "I love you"
I meant it
Now I know what a fool I've been
But if you kissed me now
I know you'd fool me again

Last Christmas I gave you my heart
But the very next day you gave it away
This year to save me from tears
I'll give it to someone special

Sufjan Stevens - Star of Wonder
I call you
From the comet's cradle
I found you
Trembling by yourself
When the night falls
Lightly on your right-wing shoulder
Wonderful know-it-all
Slightly where the night gets colder

Oh, conscience,
Where will you carry me?
I found you
Star of terrifying effigies
When the night falls
I carry myself to the fortress
Of your glorious cost
Oh, I may seek your fortress

When the night falls
We see the star of wonder
Wonderful night falls
We see you

You gotta love Sufjan Stevens, man. I don't care who you are, he's just awesome. I'll fight anyone who says otherwise. Don't test me, I have ninja skills.

I just burned the roof of my mouth on pizza. :(

Anyway, this song is kind of like The Wondersmith And His Sons in that it sounds like sex in my ears. I know I've recced it before, but I am lazy and I'm doing it again, so if you missed it the first time around snag it now, won't you?
Florence and the Machine - Rabbit Heart (Raise It Up)

The looking glass, so shiny and new
How quickly the glamour fades
I start spinning, slipping out of time
Was that the wrong pill to take? (Raise it up)

You made a deal, and now it seems you have to offer up
But will it ever be enough? (Raise it up, raise it up)
It's not enough (Raise it up, raise it up)

Here I am, a rabbit hearted girl
Frozen in the headlights
It seems I've made the final sacrifice

We raise it up, this offering
We raise it up

This is a gift, it comes with a price
Who is the lamb and who is the knife?
Midas is king and he holds me so tight
And turns me to gold in the sunlight

I look around, but I can't find you (raise it up)
If only I could see your face (raise it up)
Instead of rushing towards the skyline (raise it up)
I wish that I could just be brave

I must become a lion hearted girl
Ready for a fight
Before I make the final sacrifice

You ever see a fanvid that might not even be that spectacular but the song gets lodged in your head immediately? Well, the fanvid that started me on this song is pretty fucking phenomenal, but the lyrics got into me deeper than the brilliant editing.

Astronautalis - The Wondersmith And His Sons

I am a soldier baby,
who works just like a slave,
sweating through the pain of digging his foxhole that he know is just a grave.
You trust me don't you baby?
You'd hand your life to me.
Let's walk along the wire and watch the muzzles flash like lightning.

A smile safe-crackers understand is rendering this steady hand obsolete,
you thought you caught my slight of hand, but you could never understand,
no not me.

Father was a charming man with much hidden up his sleeve,
I wonder if this is what he planned when he taught his tricks to me.
The youngest was a clever boy cracking calculus by three,
the eldest was a practical and obsessively clean,
then there was me:

I was born a charming man with silver tongue, pearl teeth.
This's never how it's 'sposed to end, we're promised all we dreamed
The envy of the Everyman our family seemed complete,
our father was a charming man, our mother a serene.

( have the rest of the lyrics. )

oh man I am just sucking it up at remembering to do this! Somebody should poke me about it or something... or I could just make catchup posts, that works too.

Anyway. Short and sweet because I've got a headache and music is not soothing this particular ill:

Ingrid Michaelson - December Baby

The colored lights, they brightly shine.
Unlike your eyes avoiding mine.
The snow is folding sheet upon sheet.
Our hands not holding as we cross the street.

You have had your fill your fill of me.
You have had your fill your fill of me.

I wore the dress I thought you loved.
But my boots are filling with snow you shoved
Off of the car we climb into.
You finished first, I must catch up to you.

You have had your fill your fill of me.
You have had your fill your fill of me.

How can I catch up when I don't don't want to?
How can I catch up when I still want you?


The White Stripes - In the Cold, Cold Night

I can't stand it any longer
I need the fuel to make my fire bright
So don't fight it any longer
Come to me again in the cold, cold night
In the cold, cold night

And I know that you feel it too
When my skin turns into glue
You will know that it's warm inside
And you'll come runnin' to me, in the cold, cold night

I totally spaced on doing this yesterday. Sorry to all of you people left wondering where it was. (All, what, three of you? Is anybody downloading these?)

Anyhow. Let's go thematic, since I've gone all featherbrained:

Counting Crows - Miller's Angels

Miller's angels are hovering in between the earth and the sun
In the shadow of god's unwavering love
I am a fortunate son
They come out of the blue sky
They come out of the blue
They come out of the blue sky
But you never know
Where they gonna go
Hey Romeo

Can't you hear me? Cause I'm screamin'
I did not go outside yesterday
Don't wake me please
Don't wake me, cause I was dreamin'
And I might just stay inside
I don't go out much these days
Sometimes I stay inside all day
Leave me, leave me, leave me, leave me alone


The Decemberists - Of Angels and Angles

There are angels in your angles
There's a low moon caught in your tangles
There's a ticking at the sill
There's a purr of a pigeon to break the still of day

As on we go drowning
Down we go away
And darling, we go a-drowning
Down we go away
Away

There's a tough word on your crossword
There's a bed bug nipping a finger
There's a swallow, there's a calm
Here's a hand to lay on your open palm today

As on we go drowning
Down we go away
And darling, we go a-drowning
Down we go away
Away

There are angels in your angles
There's a low moon caught in your tangles

A little bit late because I got distracted by Don't Talk To Cops. xD Something that isn't actually winter music, but makes me feel all wintery anyway:

Nick Drake - Cello Song

Strange face, with your eyes
So pale and sincere.
Underneath you know well
You have nothing to fear.
For the dreams that came to you when so young
Told of a life
Where spring is sprung.

You would seem so frail
In the cold of the night
When the armies of emotion
Go out to fight.
But while the earth sinks to its grave
You sail to the sky
On the crest of a wave.

So forget this cruel world
Where I belong
I'll just sit and wait
And sing my song.
And if one day you should see me in the crowd
Lend a hand and lift me
To your place in the cloud.

So there's this great radio station out of Rochester that we can pick up all the way out here in Auburn, 100.5 The Drive, and sometimes they play the most random stuff that just catches my ear. This one in particular came on the day Julia and I were driving out to Ithaca to see the Mountain Goats play, right at the beginning of our trip, and I really love it, even though I've never heard it on the radio before or since.

Counting Crows - Rain King

When I think of heaven
Deliver me in a black winged bird
I think of flying down into a sea of pens and feathers
And all other instruments of faith and sex and God in the belly of a black winged bird
Don't try to feed me
I've been here before and I deserve a little more
I belong in the service of the Queen
I belong anywhere but in between
She's been crying, I've been thinking
And I am the Rain King

I almost forgot about this. It's only the second day, this doesn't bode well for the future of the musical advent calendar...

Anyway, here's something a little more cheerful than yesterday. Up with cover songs!

Pomplamoose - Single Ladies

Oh. It's December. I'm going to do this year what I did last year and post a song a day, like a little musical advent calendar. This year let's start off a little bit bittersweet with my favorite band:

Death Cab For Cutie - Title And Registration

the glove compartment is inaccurately named and everybody knows it
so I'm proposing a swift orderly change
cause behind its door there's nothing to keep my fingers warm
all I find are souvenirs from better times
before the gleam of your taillights fading east to find yourself a better life

I was searching for some legal document as the rain beat down on the hood
when I stumbled upon pictures I tried to forget
and that's how this idea was drilled into my head
cause it's too important to stay the way it's been

there's no blame in how our love did slowly fade
and now that it's gone it's like it wasn't there at all
and here I rest where disappointment and regret collide
lying awake at night

I spent, no lie, all day writing Christmasy ficbits. So, I'm going to be super lazy about the music, and give you guys some albums I already have uploaded.

Robyn Hitchcock - Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band (a live cover of the entire album)

Butch Walker - Left of Self-Centered

Butch Walker and the Lets-Go-Out-Tonites - Self-titled

Clambake - Hello Dalai

I still don't know how I'm getting to Auburn. And it's Christmas Eve. OOPSIE.

Cutting it close, but in time, for today's song:

Bob Dylan - Girl from the North Country
Well, if you go when the snowflakes storm,
When the rivers freeze and summer ends,
Please see if she's wearing a coat so warm,
To keep her from the howlin' winds.

Part of my dream last night was that my teeth started falling out and I carried them around in one hand for the rest of my dream. I hate teeth-falling-out dreams.

I'm still so exhausted... but there is pizza, and Flight of the Conchords to watch, and maybe I'll feel more alert after that.

The best kind of food when it won't stop snowing out is the kind of food so spicy it makes your eyes water and your nose run. Oh man, this recipe is the best thing ever.

Minerva has taken up residence on my desk. I'm glad I have a keyboard shelf or I would be screwed. xD She's all lonely without Butcher around... we get him back around 10 tomorrow. I am going to cuddle him like crazy. My poor little boycat.

I did some major renovating of my bookshelves today. Stacking books on top of each other instead of next to each other is so much more space-efficient! And now I can keep clothes on bookshelves which is good because I have no drawer space left.

Very much ready for bed now, though. I only got a little nap today. xD

Song, in brief:

Matthew Luke Sandoval - Samson (Regina Spektor cover)
And we couldn't bring the columns down
no we couldn't destroy a single one
and the history books forgot about us
and the bible never mentioned us
not even once

(I don't know why the song registers as 30 minutes long. It isn't, I promise.)

Good night, world.

Fuck yes, beta stage begins NOW.

As soon as this gets posted up, I am going to sleep. We have to have Butcher to the vet by 8:30 tomorrow morning, and then Kristin and I are going grocery shopping and taking the bus back. (That'll be fun. >>)

So here's the music for today!

Sea Wolf - Black Dirt
it may be true that i lied
i broke a promise that i tried
but my heart no longer beats
my blood makes black dirt under your feet

black dirt will stain your feet and when you walk you'll leave black dirt in the street

I dig Sea Wolf, I've only heard a couple of their songs but they're moody indie folky awesome.



eta 10:30: DONE UPLOADED DONE DONE DONE \o/ and it doesn't suck \o/

Today became productive when we went to the mall.

However, I still feel like crap, so I'm going to bed, even though it's not even 7 yet. I'll probably do crosswords until I pass out.

Julia is going to be psyched when she sees what I got her. :D

In conclusion, fuck this snow, why is it still going?

eta: oh wait, I should give you music before I go to sleep.

Andy Samberg and Justin Timberlake - Dick in a Box

The new Christmas classic.

Sometimes I like to listen to Coheed and Cambria. I just do it quietly, because Kristin hates them. xD It's not a frequent urge, but I used to like that band a lot when I was working at the Quake.

I was thinking about posting one of their songs today, but I decided not to. >> So, today's song:

Death Cab for Cutie - I Was a Kaleidoscope
I put on my overcoat and walked into winter
My teeth chattered rhythms
And they were grouped in twos or threes
Like a morse code message was sent from me to me
Cars on slippery slopes, they're stuck
People pushing through their mittens
As I was beginning to feel it soaking through my shoes
Getting colder with every step I took to your apartment, dear

And I was a kaleidoscope:
The snow on my lenses distorting the image
Of what was only one of you
And I didn't know which one to address
As all your lips moved

Since I don't have moneys this year, I'm making a CD for my parents of nontraditional versions of hymns and spiritual songs. If anyone has a song like that to contribute, could you help me out and drop a link here? I'd be so grateful. :)

I'm making music postings before midnight, how about that. xD I found this on my endless voyage through the internet, and I don't know if it's on an album-- I just know I didn't already have it, and it's really nice, so. Oh, I just looked it up, I guess it's from Deb Talan's solo part of her career, but it's got male backing vocals so I'm keeping it as "the weepies". xD

The gift of music today:

The Weepies - Safe as Houses
Are you somewhere safe as houses?
Close your eyes count one, two three.
Run and hide now are you ready?
Ollie, ollie in-come-free.
Itsy bitsy spider crawls
Up the clear blue glass, down the broken walls.

All the games we played as children
To fight against the dark
Red, Red Rover, four-leafed clover
Ashes, ashes all fall down...


And on the topic of children's games,

26

That's not bad. Julia can take out 33, but she's had karate training. xD

Also ( I am a D&D character )