Ease my Trumpets for $1000, Alex

Even though I love most all types of music, I tend to get immersed in the rhythm of the song and forget there are lyrics to accompany. Besides, I find that most lyrics, especially in what is considered today's pop music, are inane and don't have much deep meaning. I can listen to Britney Spears and 50 Cent from time to time but I don't walk away filling edified or enlightened. Most of the time, though, I just don't understand what the hell the singer is trying to say.

Somewhere, there is a website devoted to oft-misunderstood lyrics. The all-time award goes to John Elton's classic Hold Me Closer, Tony Danza. Second place goes to Rod Stewart's lyrics "Ease my troubles, that's what you do" which my sister-in-law Hilary understood to be "Ease my trumpets, that's what you do". I've done a lot of things in my time, but I've never eased somebody's trumpets.

My favorite bands tend to share some common traits - lyrics that reveal the soul of the singer, are poetic in nature, and speak of lost loves. There should be something depressing about good music. I recall something Jim Morrison once said - he would sometimes forget a song's tune in mid-concert, but he could always see the lyrics in his head. Maybe that's not poetry, just bad LSD. But most of The Doors songs are, in fact, Jim's poetry put to music. To me, that's the basis of good music.

Well, I found a band not too long ago that has all three aforementioned traits - Rilo Kiley (http://www.rilokiley.com/). They aren't easy to classify but they bill there own music as "simultaneously bold and understated, bombastic and intimate, and tragic and triumphant - a... tribute to instability as a virtue. It's an album full of uplifting songs of heartbreak, traditional pop from the future, country music from the city, and all other manner of oxymoronic perfection."

They have their own playlist reserved on my iPod, which gets played regularly.

They have three cd's out (really four- but I've never seen the earliest self-titled and released cd.) Anyway, here is a smidgen of their work, the words that remain in my head:

Sometimes in the morning I am petrified and can't move Awake but cannot open my eyes And the weight is crushing down on my lungs I know I can't breathe And I hope someone will save me this time
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you say I choose sadness, that it never once has chosen me; maybe you're right
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And sometimes, planes, they crash up in the sky And sometimes, lonely hearts, they just get lonelier And lonelier, and lonelier, and lonelier
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And it's only doubts that we're counting on fingers broken long ago. I read with every broken heart, we should become more adventurous.
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I had one friend in high school, recently he hung himself with string.His note said, 'If living is the problem, well, that's just baffling. And at the wake I waited around to see my ex first love.And I barely recognized her, but I knew exactly what she was thinking of. We sat quietly in the corner, whispering close about loss. And I remembered why I loved her, and I asked her why I drove her off.
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Any chimp can play human for a day and use his opposable thumbs to iron his uniform;and run for office on election day;and fancy himself a real decision maker,then deploy more troops than salt in a shaker.
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Their first album, Take-offs and Landings, is a tribute to traveling, finding yourself, and forgetting your past. The lyrics consistently speak of plane crashes and collisions, growing resentment in relationships, and delusions of immortality. The lyrics are often biting and show a deep pain that is trying to surface but can't quite make it.

The Execution of All Things was released from a different label, and the music reflects that. It is more up-beat than Take-offs but the lyrics carry the same message. Untapped potential, unresolved issues with the parentals, and letting go of that special someone. No strong cohesion like Take-offs but full of good music nonetheless.

More Adventerous, their latest offering from yet another label, is the most soul-revealing of the three. Jenny Lewis, the lead singer, sings of an illicit affair, a hurtful breakup that is used to jettison new adventures in life, and an emotional reunion with an old lover. The first track is an anti-war, anti death-penalty anthem that just may get some mainstream radio time some day. It's a clever track but shouldn't be used to define the album.

Well, this is getting a little too Patrick Bateman-like so I'm gonna wrap it up. Good day. I said, Good Day.