Michel Gondry is my hero... aka... Some awesome videos and my charmed life...

It’s been a while since I did a music night, so let’s do that. I love making lists, and making lists while listening to music is even better. This week I’ve been jonesing on some Michel Gondry, so that’s the theme for these tunes. These are not necessarily my favorite or my top 5 or whatever but they are the ones I want to listen to/watch tonight. Gondry was always a favorite director of mine but since I own a hand-drawn sketch of me done by the man himself (for real! See picture below), I’ll ride for Gondry til I die.

If you don’t know who Michel Gondry is, he is the director of one of my favorite movies ever (“The Science of Sleep”) but is probably most known as the director for “Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind.” He has directed a myriad of amazing music videos so I’m choosing from those tonight. I know, I know, this list could just be all his collaborations with Bjork, but don’t worry, it isn’t. There’s so much to choose from, so let’s get going!

“Ride” - The Vines

Now this isn’t a crazy music video by any means, but I do miss/love the Vines. Their time atop the music world wasn’t long for this world but as a fellow Asperger’s, I can’t help but feel for Craig Nicholls (lead singer/songwriter). He is a brilliant musician but clearly struggled a lot. I hope he’s doing better now.

“The Hardest Button to Button” - The White Stripes

For sure, “Fell in Love with a Girl” is the more popular Stripes choice but this is such a cool/simple/brilliant idea. It’s so much fun to watch and was clearly a labor of love for the band/director. Gondry has such wonderful music taste. Man, I remember a time when the Stripes were my favorite band on the planet. They are still up there and they certainly put on some of my favorite live shows I’ve ever seen. It is strange to think of the first time I saw them (with about 200 other people) to the last time I saw them (fucking Madison Square Garden!). What a band. Jack White is truly a singular talent.

“A Change Would Do You Good” - Sheryl Crow

Still weirds me out that Sheryl Crow was a backup singer for Michael Jackson… Anyways, why does the OTHER VERSION of this video exist? This one is so much better and has so many famous people in it (Ellen, Jeff Garlin, Molly Shannon, Gail the Snail, or whatever her real name is, Andy Dick, etc.). It’s so silly and extraordinary and clever that I can’t help but forget about the song that’s playing. I miss when people used to invest in music videos like this.

“Hyperballad” - Bjork

What an incredible song. What an incredible video. Such a sad song though. It’s sometimes hard to listen to. But that’s not the case tonight.

“Everlong” - Foo Fighters

Man, that second Foo album was a killer. And this may be my favorite Gondry video. It’s so fucking imaginative and wonderful. And, it features his obsession with large hands (see the sketch of me below for more large-handedness). I’ve literally watched this video on repeat for hours. Maybe I’m the weirdo but damn is this fun.

“Fire on Babylon” - Sinead O’Connor

A very haunting tune indeed, but I actually watch equally for the video. The childish settings and themes placed against some truly terrifying imagery. There’s some dark shit in here. Takes the song to places I don’t know if Sinead even knew existed. The whole thing is fucking awesome. I know Sinead has taken a lot of shit from a lot of people but I stand by her originality and brilliance and bravery in songwriting and life. Also, never gets enough credit for her outstanding voice.

“Like a Rolling Stone” - The Rolling Stones

Ummm, Bob Dylan and The Rolling Stones? Yes, please. And throw my man Gondry into it? Hell fucking yes please! I don’t think I’ve ever seen this effect employed in another video and definitely don’t even have a fucking clue as to what it is. All I know is that it’s fucking awesome.

Anyways, I’m tired and you should enjoy those videos and the sketch of me below done by the man himself. Weird, right? But one of my favorite directors and writers on the planet drew me. ME. What the fuck? Sometimes I think my life is pretty fucking awesome…

(dictated but not read)

Insomnia and what cures it, for me, at least... aka music. Top 5 albums I fall asleep to...

Figured I'd give you the music right off the fucking bat in case you're one of those people that can listen to music AND do anything else, like read, at the same time. For me, music is a solitary focus only but I hear I'm a little weird on shit like that...

Well, it's Monday night (or whenever the hell it is when you are reading this), so it's time for your weekly dose of ol' Bradley Wik. I found out recently that, apparently, I was the last person on the planet still using two spaces after a sentence while typing, so I'm trying to get used to using only one. Forgive me if I add extra ones here and there. Fucking old habits die hard. I've had to delete three in these short-ass first paragraphs already...

But, last week was a fucking weird one for me. I had an enormous fucking blister on my thumb which made it damn near impossible to pick a guitar/record (bourbon helps with the pain), I tried to start going through and mixing some of the recordings I made last week only to find they were, for all intents and purposes, unusable, which pissed me off to no fucking end, so I just wanted to relax and watch some TV but football is gone, baseball hasn't yet started, so I binged seasons 5 and 6 of "VEEP" and fell in love with Jonah and Richard Splett all over again. Which was nice, for a while. Then, I had an Asperger's attack/breakdown over getting a new tattoo because I really wanted to get it this weekend but I am going to Disney World in less than a week and was paranoid about it getting infected on the water rides. But, I had already made up my mind to go get it which means I spoiled almost two entire days pouting/freaking out that I didn't get to do what I had already planned on doing even though it was entirely my fault as I had completely forgotten I was going to Disney World so soon after. It likely would've been fine anyways, but I already don't heal particularly quickly (bourbon doesn't help in this case) and generally have shit luck with vacations in the first place. It literally only delayed the new tattoo by a couple weeks but Asperger's is a bitch sometimes and loves to fuck up my days with nonsense...

But, what I really wanted to talk about today was insomnia and my top five albums to fall asleep to. So, no reason to keep blathering on about nonsensical things when I could be blathering on about semi-nonsensical things...

Insomnia and me

I think it started shortly after I turned 18. I had spent the past 9 years sharing a room with my little brother who was (and still is!) 8 1/2 years younger than me. You'd think it would be a bummer for a high schooler to share a room with an 8 year old but it was actually the opposite. My brother and I got along swimmingly (and still do). Of course, it's much easier for me to get along with someone who has excellent (and very similar) taste in music, movies, television and video games. We hung out a lot of the time and I had control of the stereo and TV, so he didn't really have many other options, but, he definitely could've hated listening to Outkast's "Stankonia" on repeat while playing NFL 2K1 (Dreamcast for life muthafuckers!) for hours on end. But, he didn't. He even choreographed one of his first karate test routines to the fucking White Stripes. I think he was 7 at the time. What can I say, kid's a badass and he knows good shit when he hears it.

Leaving home was semi-traumatic as I crave structure and routine. Leaving was the opposite (though, ironically, leaving/moving would become my new routine so staying in one place became the difficult thing) as it forced me to sleep in some place new, eat new food (food I had to cook), go to new stores, a new job, and move into a shitty, college rental house. It turned out to be amazing and I could've lived there forever with Jake and Quinn, but life had other plans for us all.  But, just uprooting everything was jarring for a kid with Asperger's. It didn't sit right and sleeping became difficult. I moved from Horicon, WI, population 3000 to a busy street in Madison, WI, population a billion as far as I was concerned. The street noise, which would eventually become my friend, was such a shock that I couldn't tune it out enough to sleep. For the first month or so in Madison, I think I slept maybe 3 or 4 hours a night. 9 years was a long normal that suddenly disappeared for me. After the initial Asperger's shock wore off, I needed to normalize it. Jake and Quinn listened to music (quite loudly, I might add) as they dozed off. It dawned on me that I could use music, my one true love, to help me adjust to new surroundings. My routine could be the wonderful music that made me feel human, comforted me and gave my life meaning. You see, with Asperger's and its lack of empathy, "human-ness" was hard to come by. I always felt an outsider, a stranger to even myself and someone who didn't understand how other humans interacted and felt so comfortable amongst each other. I didn't  get it. They clearly understood or had something I did not. But music bridged that gap. Suddenly, I could surround myself with people who had the same obsession I did. It made me feel connected to the rest of the world in a way I didn't before. It helped me understand how humans made contact amongst one another in a friendly way. I needed it to survive. Now, it could help me achieve one of the most basic human needs for survival: sleep. For years, I couldn't sleep without music playing. I may not use it every night anymore (as most nights I pass out on the couch watching TV after a handful of bourbons), but when I do, it puts me out like a baby. I can hit the sack and within 20 minutes be sleeping like a baby with the right record. Which brings me to...

My top 5 albums to fall asleep to

 

Honorable mentions: Jeff Buckley - Grace, Portishead - Eponymous, The Gaslight Anthem - The '59 Sound

 

Jeff Buckley's music has helped me in innumerable ways throughout my life, including saving it on more than one occasion, so it can occasionally be difficult to listen to passively enough to fall asleep. I've used it to soothe my soul on so many nights, but it's also kept me awake with its beauty on more than one occasion (whether by its pure musical magic or the memories it stirs in me) so I have to relegate it to honorable mention in this case.

Portishead is wonderful late night music. Unfortunately, it's also wonderful late night music for certain, R-rated things as well. So, it can't be counted on 100% to send me to slumberland as it sometimes sends me to excited land, which is not conducive to falling asleep.

The Gaslight Anthem's '59 Sound is like comfort food. It's not the most original, complex, inventive or brilliant album but it knows what it is and it does it fucking well. It's punk, Springsteen, storytelling and about as on the nose as a fucking handjob, but sometimes that's all you need.

Now, to the good stuff:

 

5. Palace Brothers - Days in the Wake

A record recommended to me by the kind (and musically-genius) folks at B-Sides records in Madison, WI. I came in for the Bonnie Prince Billy "I See a Darkness" record and they brought up his past projects and said I'd probably love this. They were right as fuck. I spent 6 months writing songs that could fit on the sequel to this album because it inspired me so much. The rawness, the honesty, the sometimes ridiculousness of it all were so beautiful. When I drink, I always play "I am a Cinematographer" and "I Send My Love to You" without fail. Just gorgeously raw music.

4. Neil Young - After the Gold Rush

This album isn't my favorite Neil Young album, it's not even in my top 3 (well, can be #3 depending on my mood and the day), but it has an effect on me that I cannot fully describe. It's calming and numbing (in a good way) and gets me out of my head in a way that is wonderful. I'll also never forget the night I drank, well, more than my fair share of wine and watched Arrested Development reruns until 3:30 am. I finally went to bed but needed to wind down from all the laughter. I popped this record on but being drunk, wasn't aware of the apparent volume. Turns out, my downstairs neighbor didn't appreciate the late night/early morning Neil Young; except maybe she did as she wrote me a letter saying to keep it down late at night unless I give her a call and invite her up for my late night "parties." If I wasn't with someone at the time, I probably would have. Other than that, I never had any interaction with my neighbors at that Portland apartment, though it was one of the last apartments that allowed smoking since it "had let people do it for so long, they couldn't ask them to stop now. Besides, they had extensive renovations to do (read: the apartments were shitty) so they'll deal with it then."

3. Joanna Newsom - Y's

This is such a strange album for me. My Asperger's brain struggles to figure this out. I don't have any clue how to make music like this and I keep trying to figure out how this came into existence. To me, it's like a crazy math riddle that I don't know the formula to. But, I love it. I love it so much. This vinyl is one of my most well-worn/loved. The CD didn't leave my Sony boombox for months and months on end when it first entered. I listened to this album incessantly on my iPod on the train to work when I live in NYC. Joanna has played some of my favorite live shows that I've ever seen. She truly is an artist in every sense of the word, and if you don't own the vinyl version of this, by God, sell your fucking children (or $20 or $30 worth of something else) to get it. You won't regret it. But, make sure you also get the CD so you can listen as you doze off to "Monkey and Bear." I rarely make it past "Monkey and Bear" when I play this late at night.

2. Bjork - Vespertine

"Homogenic" is far too upbeat and wonderous to fall asleep to. No, this is the album you need to whisk you away into a magical night of slumber and dreams. The majestic tone of this album set against those jagged but hypnotic soundscapes are just too much to fathom. Unlike "Y's" where my brain is trying to figure out the math, this just breaks my brain and it shuts off, in the best possible way when you're trying to turn off the day. If I make it to "Undo," I can't help but let a tear slip despite my eyes being tightly closed. If I could ever make a song like that (or anything on this album) I would immediately retire knowing I'd never achieve such heights again. Luckily for us, Bjork wasn't done reaching heights.

1. Stars - Set Yourself on Fire

This album puts me to sleep in the sadness, most nostalgic way possible. Back in Madison, WI when I was just figuring out the nocturnal magic of music, this was one of the first albums that lulled me to sleep. The reminiscing of high school times, which I was fresh out of, was too much, set against the pop-electronic rock concept while handing off singing duties/doing duets with an equally talented female was something I always wanted to dabble in. This album has all the teenage emotions a young person can handle: fleeting love, anger, lust, sadness, the feeling that somehow this is the best it will ever get, ambition, hope, youthful regret, the false permanence, underage drunkenness, etc. This album is likely not as good as I think it is (one of the 10-15 greatest albums ever made) but it means that much to me. I don't know why. It's just one of those time and place albums that is now so embedded and such a sense memory for all the emotions and experiences that time represents that it is indelibly a part of me. There's a sadness and a joy and a comfort in that. I like that this album keeps all that for me. I don't have to forget. I don't have to carry it with me. This album takes care of all that for me. I just have to place it, close the lid and let the lasers do the rest. That little piece of plastic keeps all that shit at a distance but within reach. God bless it. Thank you Stars for the countless nights that I've enjoyed sleep when I otherwise couldn't. It's a blessing and I cannot repay you enough for what you've given me. I once collapsed at work from lack of sleep, but then I found this album and it literally changed my life. Only a small number of records have done that and these sad, reminiscing kids from Canada did it. Congratulations. I'll probably die with this record on. Or "Born to Run" or "Bold as Love" or "Blood on the Tracks" or "Tonight's the Night" or "Grace" but it's crazy "Set Yourself on Fire" is even in that conversation...

(dictated but not read)

More drinking, more playlist and more stories!!

Started with two martinis tonight, so I'm gonna be honest up front:  I'm going to talk a lot more about each song.  Previously, I've given snippets but, fuck, it's been a hell of a week and I'm ready to explore my feelings...  Ha!  Well, explore some music and bask in the overarching glow that it gives me in my time of need.  And, amen, I'm in need of some fucking music-lovin' tonight.  Might be a strange journey we traverse together, but trust me, it'll be worth it.  I know I'm not the only one that struggles from time to time, so hopefully someone else can also get a little enjoyment out of the randomness that consumes my music listening whilst drinking.  Or when not drinking.  There's too much music and too little time.  Life always gets in the fucking way of enjoying things, so let's fully enjoy this hour of our night with a cocktail, beer or wine of choice and relish in the comfort of some well-crafted musical pieces.  Without further ado, lest I ramble like I always seem to, let's sally forth to the music!!  Just a quick note, though.  Fuck Sam Bradford for playing the game of his life on Sunday night.  Seriously, Fuck off Mr. Deer-in-the-Headlights look who has done nothing but disappoint his whole career.  I don't think he's suddenly great, but man, hell of a good time to play like he's never played before.  I feel like this will be the old "High Fidelity" thing of looking back on this game with reverence like someone looks back on the night their band opened for Nirvana.  He'll look back fondly but never relive a greater glory in his life.  Or maybe he was playing possum because he secretly wanted to get to the same city that housed Mary Richards, the fictional, but still actually coked-out, TV news anchor.  We'll probably never know the real truth, will we, Mr. Bradford?  Oh yeah, no rambling; Music!

1. Dixie Chicks - "There's Your Trouble"

Gotta start the night off easy.  This one is fun and the video is so deliciously 90's.  I loved all those women country artists who crossed over into the pop world in the mid-to-late 90's.  Shania, Faith, LeAnn, Deana and of course, those dang ol' Dixie Chicks.  Sidenote:  I wish Faith Hill was still doing the Sunday Night Football theme...  Carrie Underwood is also pretty to look at, but the new song... Meh...

2. Elliott Smith - "Angeles"

I know...  It's a little early in the night for a tune like this.  But I don't plan these out.  You're living this shit with me.  Welcome to my brain, the theme park ride...  I can't tell you how many times I've played this album and, indeed, listened to "2:45 A.M" at that exact time...  Sometimes depression and insomnia mix ever so sweetly.

3. Rilo Kiley - "Does He Love You?"

This fucking record, "More Adventurous," is some fucking record.  So many great songs.  "Portions for Foxes" is on my all-time-songs-I-love-to-cover-with-a-Rock-N'-Roll-band list.  That's pretty specific, but goddamn, I could listen to this record everyday.  Even the songs the dude sings aren't half bad.  The linked video doesn't sound the best, but man, this fucking song rocks so hard at the end; after Jenny Lewis' character realizes her misguided love.  I often think back on playing this shit (way louder than I should have been) in my shitty apartment in Madison, WI, also at 2:45 A.M., pretending to fall asleep as I tried to hide from my insomnia...  I'm much smarter now, as I know bourbon (or gin) is the answer.

4. Shakira - "Whenever, Wherever"

I immediately bought "Laundry Service" upon hearing this tune.  And, after seeing the video (on MTV, no less.  Yes, children, they used to play music on the Music TeleVision channel), I was hooked "thereover, hereunder."  I could literally (yes, you fucking Hipsters, actually literally) watch her dance in those leather pants and bikini top on loop til I die.  If I wasn't fucking writing this list, I probably would...

5. Nelly Furtado - "Turn off the Light"

One of the guys that I lived with in Madison, WI was a massive fan of Nelly Furtado.  I had originally heard that song about her being like a bird and thought it was OK.  It was kinda different from the other shit I was hearing on the radio at that time but didn't blow me away.  I was intrigued but didn't really follow through and get into it.  He eventually convinced me to give this record a chance.  This is the song that got me.  Her voice wasn't your typical bullshit pop star voice.  She wasn't just another random blonde, white chick.  She was foreign and sexy and shit.  And this song definitely wasn't another boring, trope-y pop song.  There is something happening here that is the combination of a bunch of cool shit and I can't help but love it, immensely.

6. My Bloody Valentine - "No More Sorry"

I fucking love this band.  I can't get enough of them.  Did they kill Creation Records?  Maybe, but if "Loveless" is the cause of that, then fuck it, it was worth it.  This song and their first full album "Isn't Anything" isn't quite the masterpiece that "Loveless" is but I quite often find myself often returning to it.  Songs like this one plus "Sueisfine," "Lose My Breath," "I Can See It (But I Can't Feel It)," etc. are brilliant and would be celebrated much more had they not somehow found another gear (the way in movies there is always another "magic" gear that somehow only the protagonist uses as they drive past the lesser characters and the villain of the piece) and blown everyone's mindgrapes with "Loveless."

7. The Mountain Goats - "Sept 16 Triple X Love! Love!"

One of the biggest disappointments in my life was narrowly missing out on opening for a solo John Darnielle/The Mountain Goats show back in 2005.  I was living in Madison, WI (God, Wisconsin must be on the brain tonight) and Jake and I were performing acoustically as Tyger that Sleeps.  We were trying to get a show at this place just off the UW-Madison campus called, well, I don't remember what the fuck it was called, but it was on State St.  (EDITOR'S NOTE:  It was the Catacombs Coffeehouse)  They liked our demo but wouldn't let us play the John Darnielle show since it was a 21 and up show (Jake and I were 20 and 18 respectively).  Such a let down.  We even went so far as to contact the Mountain Goats booking manager to see if they could get us on the bill.  No dice.  And, to top it all off, they wouldn't even let us in to watch the show...  I hope that place burned to the ground.  Or, I think it might've become a Subway; a fate much worse than death.  Either way, it wasn't even the most disappointing time I couldn't get into a show that year.

8. Great Lake Swimmers - "I Saw You in the Wild"

Cafe Montmartre, Summer 2005.  It was late summer, maybe September.  It had been hot most of that day but the clouds weren't looking particularly pleasant as the day transformed into night.  The show was first come, first serve and, as it turns out, Andrew Bird was much more popular than we thought.  It was Jake, my girlfriend at the time and me.  We excitedly headed over to see a Tony Dekker solo show.  Jake and I were hopelessly in love with the Great Lake Swimmers eponymous first album and were beyond excited to see this man at such an intimate venue.  Only we miscounted the men, Liz.  We got in line around 8pm, with the show at 9pm.  Shortly thereafter, it started to rain.  Slowly, the rain got heavier and heavier.  As we stood there getting soaked, amongst the other 50-75 people in line, the venue kept telling us they would let more of us in, in just a bit.  Turns out they also miscounted the men, and after standing in the pouring rain for the better part of an hour, we were told there was no more room.  The show was officially "sold out."  Dejected, drenched and thoroughly denied the aural pleasure we so desired, we headed home.  Jake headed back to the apartment.  My girlfriend at the time and I, already wet, walked to the JMP (James Madison Park) and swang on the swings in the rain, watched the fish and ducks in the rain, and generally acted like little children, splashing in puddles and running amok (we so rarely get to "run amok" as an adult).  When we got back to my apartment we were wet, muddy, tired and I had almost forgotten about my disappointment in missing the show.  And, at the end of the night, I still got laid.  So I have that going for me, which is nice...

9. Jens Lekman - "Friday Night at the Drive-In Bingo"

Remember when Pitchforkmedia.com was a reliable source for introducing and critiquing new music?  I recall buying everything they gave an 8.5 or higher rating and just fucking loving it.  They never missed.  They brought so many new artists and albums into my life, like Jens Lekman and his collection of brilliant pop tunes called "Oh You're So Silent Jens."  I played that shit like it was the cure for cancer.  I loved it.  I cherished it.  I gave away the only physical copy I've found just so another human could enjoy Jens' songs the way I did.  So, needless to say, I was pumped as fuck when I found out Jens was releasing a new record.  I had built up "Oh You're So Silent Jens" so much in my head, I didn't think anything new would hold up.  But it did.  I love this album and this song is by far my favorite; probably my favorite Jens song altogether.  Definitely my most played.  And trust me, that's saying a lot.  It's just so goddamn fun...

10. The Prodigy - "Firestarter"

I can't believe this wasn't the first song I put on a drinking playlist.  Two things:  First, I remember hearing/seeing The Prodigy on MTV2 late one night shortly after it was released.  "Breathe" was the first song I heard from them.  I don't know if I missed "Firestarter," or they actually released "Breathe" first in the States, but either way I fucking hated it.  My 11 year old brain couldn't figure out what the hell this was or why anyone would like it.  It was so fucking weird.  The two singers were all sorts of not-from-rural-Southeastern-Wisconsin and didn't quite compute in my tiny, still-evolving brain.  BUT, I couldn't stop thinking about it.  Shortly after, I saw/heard "Firestarter," once again on MTV2.  I still didn't like it, but once again, I couldn't shake the images and sounds from my head.  Then I saw the video for "Smack My Bitch Up" and I was in love.  It was such a dramatic music video and such a statement at around the same time shit like THIS was happening.  I bought the cassette, never told my mom about it, for fear she would take it away, and listened to it religiously on my Walkman while vacuuming the house or mowing the lawn.  At the time, I alternated only two tapes, "Fat of the Land" and Boyz II Men's "II," in my Walkman.  That was until "The Slim Shady LP" entered my world and I found the second tape I wouldn't tell my mom about...

Second, any Prodigy song always reminds me of one of the best nights of my life and how The Prodigy were the undisputed high point of that night.  My girlfriend and I were visiting my family back in Wisconsin and stayed for a couple of nights in Milwaukee.  We were close to Old World/3rd Street area.  We found a piano bar on 3rd that was a hoot and half.  After meeting another couple, one of whom was a former Canadian Metal Singer (the husband), we set off on the nights journey.  We tried a couple more bars before running into some random guy whose buddy was a bartender at another bar that had a DJ and dance floor, or some shit like that.  By that point of the night, dancing sounded like the best fucking thing ever in the history of the world, so we hopped in a cab with "random guy" and he made good on his promise.  He not only got us some free drinks, but brought us to a dance floor.  The DJ was awesome and dancing filled the rest of the night.  The floor was packed and people were in good spirits.  After a while, I mentioned to my girlfriend that it would probably be the best thing ever if he would play some Prodigy.  She urged me to ask Mr. DJ.  I was going to when I realized it was probably advantageous to our position should a pretty girl make the request, as he would, therefore, be more inclined to acquiesce.  So she ran up and chatted him up a bit.  I'll never forget the look on his face the moment she must have said the words "The Prodigy."  They were having a good little conversation, she had obviously complimented him, when suddenly, he was taken aback, in a good way.  He smiled and I knew then that we were in business.  He then did play some Prodigy ("Smack My Bitch Up") and it indeed was the best thing ever.  What more in life could you want besides a pretty girl, the Prodigy and a dance floor?  Fucking seriously...

11. Iron and Wine - "The Trapeze Swinger"

I've made it this far without mentioning the sentimentality bug.  Well, fuck...  I could regale you with interesting (or sort-of-interesting, depending on your own personal level of narcissism) tales about this song, but I could write 10,000 words on what this songs means, and has meant, to me.  This song defined a time, a place, a relationship, a bout of depression, A New Hope (ha!) and the way that I think about music and the notion that certain songs can actually soundtrack our lives.  There are quite a few records and songs I think of this way, but few are more integral and embedded than this one.  I won't go into it now, but suffice it to say, it was sad.  And happy, in remembrance.  And hopeful.  And truthful.  And long.  Somehow the experience, feeling, emotion and scars lasted longer than this song...  And that's a feat as there's nineteen thousand verses in this song.  And each one is better and sadder than the last; just like life...

Well, goodnight y'all.  I've barely the competence to speak, let alone write, so I'm out.  Til we meet again...