Post #661: Wham! - "Last Christmas" - Single

GEORGE MICHAEL

1963-2016

Good bye, my dearest George Michael... and thank you for being so many of my firsts... my first musical crush... and my first cassette tape that I purchased with my own money... and my first poster that hung above my bed... and of course, my first concert... you will always hold a very special place in my heart... RIP, my love... such a tremendous loss to a lifelong fan like me... I'll also include his duet with Aretha called "I Knew You Were Waiting (For Me)"...

Until next time...

XOXOXO

Anastasia

[Chorus (2x):]
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.

Once bitten and twice shy
I keep my distance
But you still catch my eye.
Tell me, baby,
Do you recognize me?
Well,
It's been a year,
It doesn't surprise me
(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.

[Chorus 2x]

Oh, oh, baby.

A crowded room,
Friends with tired eyes.
I'm hiding from you
And your soul of ice.
My god I thought you were someone to rely on.
Me? I guess I was a shoulder to cry on.

A face on a lover with a fire in his heart.
A man under cover but you tore me apart, ooh-hoo.
Now I've found a real love, you'll never fool me again.

[Chorus 2x]

A face on a lover with a fire in his heart (I gave you my heart)
A man under cover but you tore him apart
Maybe next year I'll give it to someone
I'll give it to someone special.

Special...
Someone...

Post #660 - Trashcan Sinatras - "Obscurity Knocks" - Cake

So, I recently read a story about a woman who has lived to be 117-years-old.  She attributes her long life to remaining single and eating two (2) to three (3) eggs per day.  I intend to remain single, and I typically eat two (2) eggs per day. (I love having breakfast foods for dinner --- one of my faves!!)  However, as I was enjoying my eggs this morning, I could not help but think: "I really don't want to live to be 117... maybe I should cut back to one (1) egg per day..."  Just sayin'!!!

On another note, I hope you enjoy this little treasure called "Obscurity Knocks".

Until next time...

XOXOXO
Anastasia

Always at the foot of the photograph, that's me there

Snug as a thug in a mugshot pose, a foul-mouthed rogue

Owner of this corner and not much more

Still these days I'm better placed to get my just rewards

I'll pound out a tune and very soon

I'll have too much to say and a dead stupid name

Though I ought to be learning I feel like a veteran

Of "oh I like your poetry but I hate your poems"

Calendars crumble I'm knee deep in numbers

I've turned twenty-one, I've twist, I'm bust and wrong again

Rubbing shoulders with the sheets 'til two

Looking at my watch and I'm half-past caring

In the lap of luxury it comes to mind

Is this headboard hard? Am I a lap behind?

But to face doom in a sock-stenched room all by myself

Is the kind of fate I never contemplate

Lots of people would cry though none spring to mind

Though I ought to be learning I feel like a veteran

Of "oh I like your poetry but I hate your poems"

Calendars crumble I'm knee deep in numbers

I've turned twenty-one, I've twist, I'm bust and wrong again

Know what it's like

To sigh at the sight of the first quarter of life?

Ever stopped to think and found out nothing was there?

They laugh to see such fun

I'm playing blind man's bluff all by myself

And they're chanting a line from a nursery rhyme

"Ba ba bleary eyes - have you any idea?"

Years of learning I must be a veteran

Of "oh I like your poetry but I hate your poems"

And the calendar's cluttered with days that are numbered

I've turned twenty-one, I've twist, I'm bust and wrong again

Ought to be learning

Twist, I'm bust and wrong again

Feel like a veteran

Twist, I'm bust and wrong again

Calendar's cluttered

With days that are numbered

And I know what it's like

To sigh at the sight

Of the first quarter of life

Post #659: The Magnetic Fields - "All My Little Words" - 69 Love Songs

This song has one of my favorite lyrics ever: "You tell me that you're unboyfriendable..." It describes me perfectly... and it does not make me the least bit sad... in fact, I am told time and time again how lucky I am to have such a fierce level of independence.  I believe it more and more as I continue to see relationships unravel before my very eyes and couples who once felt like they couldn't live without one another become increasingly distant and cruel to the other.  I am VERY lucky, and I count my blessings each and every day that I never needed and/or wanted my life to look like everyone else's.

Until next time...

XOXOXO
Anastasia

You are a splendid butterfly

It is your wings that make you beautiful

And I could make you fly away

But I could never make you stay

You said you were in love with me

Both of us know that that's impossible

And I could make you rue the day

But I could never make you stay

Not for all the tea in China

Not if I could sing like a bird

Not for all North Carolina

Not for all my little words

Not if I could write for you

The sweetest song you ever heard

It doesn't matter what I'll do

Not for all my little words

Now that you've made me want to die

You tell me that you're unboyfriendable

And I could make you pay and pay

But I could never make you stay

Not for all the tea in China

Not if I could sing like a bird

Not for all North Carolina

Not for all my little words

Not if I could write for you

The sweetest song you ever heard

It doesn't matter what I'll do

Not for all my little words

It doesn't matter what I'll do

Not for all my little words

Post #658: Savage Garden - "I Want You" - Savage Garden

So, as I was aimlessly browsing the aisles of World Market the other day, I was stopped dead in my tracks when I saw it... my beloved Original New York Seltzer.  I had heard that it was making a comeback, but I had yet to find it anywhere - not that I was particularly out searching for it... so maybe it found me.  Regardless, I am now fully stocked on all available flavors, but my favorites are Blueberry and Root Beer!

It appears that a new flavor was added this time around - Cola & Berry.  I have yet to locate that one anywhere, but for some reason the name made me think of that lyric from today's song that goes "chica cherry cola"...  So, I decided to make a post about it.  I've also added another one called "Truly Madly Deeply".

I'm not sure if I'll post again prior to the Thanksgiving holiday, but this year, I have a lot to be thankful for... I hope you do too... Therefore, I want to wish you a Happy Thanksgiving!!!

Until next time...

XOXOXO

Anastasia

Anytime I need to see your face I just close my eyes

And I am taken to a place

Where your crystal minds and magenta feelings

Take up shelter in the base of my spine

Sweet like a chica cherry cola

I don't need to try to explain

I just hold on tight and If it happens again

I may move so slightly to the arms

And the lips and the face

Of The Human Cannonball that

I need to I want to

Come stand a little bit closer

Breathe in and get a bit higher

You'll never know what hit you when

I get to you

Ooh I want you, I don't know if I need you but

Ooh I'd die to find out

Ooh I want you, I don't know if I need you but

Ooh I'd die to find out

I'm the kind of person who endorses a deep commitment

Getting comfy getting perfect is what I live for

But a look and then a smell of perfume

It's like I'm down on the floor

And I don't know what I'm in for

Conversation has a time and place in the interaction

Of a lover and a mate but the time of talking

Using symbols, using words can be likened

To a deep sea diver who is swimming with a raincoat

Come stand a little bit closer

Breathe in and get a bit higher

You'll never know what hit you when

I get to you

Ooh I want you, I don't know if I need you but

Ooh I'd die to find out

Ooh I want you, I don't know if I need you but

Ooh I'd die to find out

Ooh, ah

Ooh, ah

Anytime I need to see your face I just close my eyes

And I am taken to a place

Where your crystal minds and magenta feelings

Take up shelter in the base of my spine

Sweet like a chica cherry cola

I don't need to try to explain

I just hold on tight and If it happens again

I may move so slightly to the arms

And the lips and the face

Of The Human Cannonball that

I need to I want to

Post #657: Patsy Cline - "Your Cheatin' Heart" - A Closer Walk With Patsy Cline

So if you find yourself in the lovely little town of Garland, Texas, with an extra $25 to spare, then I strongly suggest that you make your way on over to the Plaza Theater in downtown and catch one of the remaining performances of A Closer Walk With Patsy Cline.  Holy smokes... It was amazing!

I snapped some pictures of the set and scanned the cover of my program, as well as my ticket for you:

And since I've already shared at least eight (8) Patsy Cline songs with you in a previous post, I am going to chose three (3) more from the show, "Your Cheatin' Heart" (Hank Williams, Sr.), "Leavin' On Your Mind" (Wayne Walker & Webb Pierce), and "She's Got You" (Hank Cochran), for your listening pleasure.  Seriously though, definitely try to catch the show if you can... The performer who played Patsy (Julie Johnson) even brought me to tears a few times...

Until next time...

XOXOXO

Anastasia

Your cheatin' heart,

Will make you weep,

You'll cry and cry,

And try to sleep,

But sleep won't come,

The whole night through,

Your cheatin' heart,

Will tell on you.

When tears come down,

Like falling rain,

You'll toss around,

And call my name,

You'll walk the floor,

The way I do,

Your cheatin' heart,

Will tell on you.

When tears come down,

Like falling rain,

You'll toss around,

And call my name,

You're gonna walk the floor,

The very way I do,

Your cheatin' heart,

Is gonna tell on you.

Post #656: Belle & Sebastian - "Enter Sylvia Plath" - Girls in Peacetime Want to Dance

Happy Birthday to Sylvia Plath... and to me!!  

Today, I will share with you my favorite Sylvia Plath poem:

Elm

BY SYLVIA PLATH

(For Ruth Fainlight)

I know the bottom, she says. I know it with my great tap root:   

It is what you fear. 

I do not fear it: I have been there. 

Is it the sea you hear in me,   

Its dissatisfactions? 

Or the voice of nothing, that was your madness? 

Love is a shadow. 

How you lie and cry after it 

Listen: these are its hooves: it has gone off, like a horse. 

All night I shall gallop thus, impetuously, 

Till your head is a stone, your pillow a little turf,   

Echoing, echoing. 

Or shall I bring you the sound of poisons?   

This is rain now, this big hush. 

And this is the fruit of it: tin-white, like arsenic. 

I have suffered the atrocity of sunsets.   

Scorched to the root 

My red filaments burn and stand, a hand of wires. 

Now I break up in pieces that fly about like clubs.   

A wind of such violence 

Will tolerate no bystanding: I must shriek. 

The moon, also, is merciless: she would drag me   

Cruelly, being barren. 

Her radiance scathes me. Or perhaps I have caught her. 

I let her go. I let her go 

Diminished and flat, as after radical surgery.   

How your bad dreams possess and endow me. 

I am inhabited by a cry.   

Nightly it flaps out 

Looking, with its hooks, for something to love. 

I am terrified by this dark thing   

That sleeps in me; 

All day I feel its soft, feathery turnings, its malignity. 

Clouds pass and disperse. 

Are those the faces of love, those pale irretrievables?   

Is it for such I agitate my heart? 

I am incapable of more knowledge.   

What is this, this face 

So murderous in its strangle of branches?—— 

Its snaky acids hiss. 

It petrifies the will. These are the isolate, slow faults   

That kill, that kill, that kill.

I will also share with you this totally bad arse song by Belle & Sebastian.  I will be gone for awhile... No need to worry about me... I will be back...

Until next time...

XOXOXO

Anastasia

Come, and steal my thoughts away

Thief of my identity

I was holding on to decency, reality

Come, and take me for a while

Up to your abundant pace

I’ll be your sidecar if you want to race

Want to race

Put your hand on mine

And take me from this tired ride

Take me from this early night

From the sea and rain and countryside

If you talk to me then soon

I’ll be your accomplice in words

And we will talk only in verse

Talk only in verse

I will leave the ones I love

Leave them for the years to come

Even though I may be doing wrong, doing wrong

I will follow in your steps

Walk out to the station cold

Buy a ticket and and then slowly go, slowly go

In this place and time

Easy is the first escape

I got money I need no disguise

I’m a citizen and city wise

In this time and place

There is no one who will shoot you down

No one who will take a girl

And tell her she can’t have the world

You constantly struggle for self improvement

You have the ability to analyse and solve any problem

You are heading in the right direction

Your mind is creative, original and alert

Boy, you don’t know what you want

It isn't what you think it is

All the dreams, and guilt and loneliness, loneliness

Boy, if we were to be friends

Subtle is the art required

To draw the evil from this lonely pyre, lonely pyre

Take this hand from me

And guide me round your tools of work

Fashion me into your junior clerk

Let me live in shadows of your words

And when things get tough for you

As they did when you came up through the ranks

You can borrow from my faith

From my faith

Take this hand from me

And guide me round your tools of work

Fashion me into your junior clerk

Let me live in shadows of your words

And when things get tough for you

As they did when you came up through the ranks

You can borrow from my faith

From my faith [x36]

Post #655: Regina Spektor - "You've Got Time" - Orange Is the New Black

I think I've figured out this year's Halloween costume:

Alex Vause??? I think I can make it work, aside from the fact that the tattoo on her right forearm is on my upper left arm for real - but I got that way, way, way before the show ever came about!!!

In the meantime, enjoy the theme song from Orange Is the New Black... 

Until next time...

XOXOXO

Anastasia

The animals, the animals

Trapped, trapped, trapped 'till the cage is full

The cage is full

Stay awake

In the dark, count mistakes

The light was off but now it's on

Searching the ground for a bitter song

The sun is out, the day is new

And everyone is waiting, waiting on you

And you've got time

And you've got time

Think of all the roads

Think of all their crossings

Taking steps is easy

Standing still is hard

Remember all their faces

Remember all their voices

Everything is different

The second time around

Animals, the animals

Trapped, trapped, trapped 'till the cage is full

The cage is full

Stay awake

In the dark, count mistakes

The light was off but now it's on

Searching the ground for a bitter song

The sun is out, the day is new

And everyone is waiting, waiting on you

And you've got time

And you've got time

And you've got time

Post #654: Joy Division - "Love Will Tear Us Apart" - Single

So, as I was clothing myself in the Joy Division/"Love Will Tear Us Apart" tank top that I recently acquired from Bulgaria via eBay (image pictured below), I realized that I still haven't posted about Joy Division.  Sure, I've mentioned the band, as well as Ian Curtis, in numerous posts up to this point, but I have yet to dedicate an individual post to them. Therefore, I am undertaking that task today.

After feeling ridiculously lost over the course of these past three years, primarily as a result of embarking upon my most recent career, I have come to the realization that I am most happy when I stick close to my Post Punk/Goth/New Wave roots.  I tried really hard to play the part of a conservative professional for the past few years, only to make myself utterly miserable in the process.  Don't get me wrong... I don't plan on walking in to work on Monday and telling them "to take this job and shove it"; however, I no longer give a rat's arse what they think about my dark hair, pale skin, tattoos, penchant for black clothing, etc.  I am who I am, and the best thing about getting older is the ability to feel more and more comfortable in one's own skin regardless of outer circumstances.  

So, back to Joy Division... if you ever get a chance to read Touching From a Distance (pictured below), which was penned by Ian's wife, Deborah, I strongly suggest that you do so.  I own a copy, and I sobbed throughout that entire book.  It was such a tragic story.  In case you don't know the background, Ian Curtis took his own life.

In addition to "Love Will Tear Us Apart", I will also include another favorite called "Atmosphere"... Enjoy!

Until next time....

XOXOXO

Anastasia

When routine bites hard

And ambitions are low

And resentment rides high

But emotions won't grow

And we're changing our ways, taking different roads

Then love, love will tear us apart again

Love, love will tear us apart again

Why is the bedroom so cold?

You've turned away on your side

Is my timing that flawed?

Our respect runs so dry

Yet there's still this appeal

That we've kept through our lives

But love, love will tear us apart again

Love, love will tear us apart again

You cry out in your sleep

All my failings exposed

And there's a taste in my mouth

As desperation takes hold

Just that something so good just can't function no more

But love, love will tear us apart again

Love, love will tear us apart again

Love, love will tear us apart again

Love, love will tear us apart again

Post #653: Echo & the Bunnymen - "Do It Clean" - Songs to Learn & Sing

Oh, my loves, if you were not at Echo & the Bunnymen last night, you soooooo missed out!!!  It was an amazing show!  I have been waiting for decades to see this band play live, and last night, it finally happened.  Ian McCulloch is such a bad arse, and his vocals sent chills down my spine at times.  Yes, I did shell out $180.00 for my ticket, but it was so worth it to not have a soul in front of me blocking my view, as well as the endless sea of cell phones that you will have to endure in the videos that I have selected for your viewing pleasure.  

I haven't yet posted about today's tune, which is the reason I chose it; however, I will add the live versions of some of the other tunes about which I have already posted especially the ones from Songs to Learn & Sing since it was the very first Echo & the Bunnymen album on which I ever laid my hot, little hands... And what the hell, I'll also throw in "Bedbugs and Ballyhoo" and "Lips Like Sugar" just so you can see exactly what you missed... Enjoy!

***I switched out the video for "The Killing Moon" from the one that I originally posted because it is more similar to the view that I had --- except, I was even closer and had no one walking in front of me --- EVER!!!***

Until next time...

XOXOXO

Anastasia

I've got a handful of this

What do I do with it?

I've got a barrel of this

What do I do with it?

I do it clean, I do it clean

Do it clean, do it clean

Know what I mean

Do it clean, do it clean

I know what I mean, I mean

Where am I going

Where have I been

Where are you going

Where have you been

I've been here, I've been there

I've been here, there, everywhere

Here there nowhere

Iszy bitzy witzy itzy everywhere

I've been here and I've been there

I'm clean

I had a handful of this

What did I do with it?

I had a barrel of this

What did I do with it?

I did it clean, I did it clean

Do it clean, do it clean

Know what I mean?

Do it clean, do it clean

I know what I mean

Post #652: Old 97's - "Question" - Satellite Rides

So my dearest Blogland readers, I have a question for you... Why is it that when the typical person inquires if you are a wee bit on the nerdy side and you respond something along the lines of "why, yes, as a matter of fact, I am", he or she then becomes incredibly disappointed when you don't pick up on his or her subsequent obscure Star Wars/Star Trek reference and immediately labels you as an impostor?  Ummmmm, hello, you Sci-Fi geek, there are such things as bookish, literary nerds, and that is the category into which I fall.  So, as far as I'm concerned, you can take your Han Solo/Captain Kirk-loving superior attitude and shove it up your lillywhite arse... that is all!!!

However, the Old 97's have a much, much sweeter question for you, and with that, I'll turn the spotlight over to them...

Until next time...

XOXOXO
Anastasia

She woke from a dream

Her head was on fire

Why was he so nervous?

He took her to the park

She crossed her arms 

And lowered her eyelids

Some day somebody's gonna ask you

A question that you should say yes to

Once in your life

Maybe tonight I've got a question for you

She'd had no idea

Started to cry

She said in a good way

He took her by the hand

Walked her back home

They took the long way

Some day somebody's gonna ask you

A question that you should say yes to

Once in your life

Maybe tonight I've got a question for you

I've got a question for you