But Call Me Betsy

Slew of sad songs playing in this coffee shop. "Goodbye Yellow Brick Road," by Elton John, which reminds me of being five years old and listening to it playing on eight track in my uncle's car. I remember thinking how amazing it was that Elton John wrote a song about The Wizard of Oz . Also, why is it impossible to listen to "American Pie" without singing along? David Bowie dying reminds me that all of these singers I grew up with will soon follow suit, which also reminds me that I am getting older and nearer to the end. 70 years old  is not ancient, but it's not like he burned out at 35. The people who are most taken aback by his death (me included) are in part shocked by their own aging. As a kid, I was never a David Bowie fan, or not a fan. I thought he was strange and interesting and a little scary because of his canine teeth and his two different colored eyes. I also recall his movie, The Hunger, was one of the first rated R movies I ever saw on cable t...

How many songs can a brain hold? It happens to me often where I'll hear just a chord from a song I haven't heard in a long time, and all of the lyrics rush back. That occurred to me driving to work the other day, where I heard a John Denver song--can't recall the title of it now, something about going home, and I was thinking how I hadn't heard that particular song in probably fifteen years. I'm certain there are songs that I will never hear again that I used to listen to all the time, and some that I don't ever want to hear again (the first one that comes to mind is "Cat's in the Cradle"). And then there are some songs that I thought I would never hear again but that I can't seem to shake, like "I Don't Want to Lose Your Love Tonight," by the Outfields, a song that always reminds me of this guy from high school, Jimmy Deputy, who was an actor and went to a different school, but who I had a huge crush on. He had a really deep v...

I don't know if I can come up with more than a couple in the few quick minutes I have before I must leave, but I have been meaning to write how every time this particular Abba song makes it through the shuffle, I always think, like, how is this appealing to anyone. 1. "Take A Chance on Me:" Lyrics: "If you change your mind/I'm the first in line/Honey, I'm still free/Take a chance on me/If you need me, let me know/Gonna be around/If you got no place to go/When you're feeling down/If you're all alone/When the pretty birds have flown/Honey, I'm still free/Take a chance on me/Gonna do my very best/And it ain't no lie/If you put me to the test/If you let me try..." Like, who would say, Oh, really, okay. It's the chase. The chase is more fun and also, you want to be with someone who has a life, right? 2. "All for Leyna" Some of the lyrics: "She gave me a night/That's all it was/What will it take until I stop kidding mysel...

Here's something a person could do if she worked in West Philly and didn't yet have that many friends to go to lunch with: walk across the street in search of food and company at 30th Street Station. However, be forewarned that you will face a minimum of three homeless people scattered about, mumbling to themselves with nearly dead cigarettes smoldering at their fingertips. That's what I did today for lunch. At the same time, the train station is a beautiful building and if you squint and try not to notice the myriad destitute people sleeping toothless on the wooden benches, you can sort of enjoy it. It's the same building where they filmed Witness, one of my favorite movies, if only because of the scene where Harrison Ford dances in the barn with a Quaker woman played by Kelly McGillis to one of the best songs in the world, "Don't Know Much About History" (or whatever the title is). After work, decided to walk to my next destination, just to see what that...

That's what I'm doing right now. Startling the animals in my house because I have decided to become a rock star and have been practicing my singing/dance routine in the living room. It's best to do this in your socks if you have faux wooden floor such as I do because it allows you to slide around much easier and it increases your repertoire of dance moves by at least 12%. Also, best to wear a tank top and blue jeans. Or a leotard if you're planning a lot of elaborate jumps. I guess I'm being kind of loud and probably not quite on-key (can't tell with my i-pod on) because my cats have their ears back like they do when they hear fighting outside or a sudden whistle or the lyrics of "It's the End of the World as We Know It" belted out with the necessary jumping up and down to accompany that particular piece. How about a less energetic one; how do you feel about The Postal Service's "Such Great Heights?" Nope, they don't much care for...

It occurred to me recently that if I should ever be out walking around Center City and get hit by the number 47 bus, I would probably use my dying breath to ask that the paramedic to dispose of my i-pod lest anyone discover the kind of music I have downloaded to it. I have never claimed to be on the cutting edge of music or an avid reader of Rolling Stone or the first to buy tickets to a small show of an alternative-but-up and-coming band. I steal most of my musical taste from friends and primarily, male friends. Men, in their continuing struggle to learn how to communicate like humans, seem to be drawn to music as a means of expression. Like, if they could, they would just hand you a set of lyrics by Death Cab for Cutie rather than try to put into their own words how they feel. So, some of my best music comes from these sources. The more shameful songs can be traced back to hitting adolescence during the advent of MTV and, at the same time, owning only a clock radio which effectively...

I have a temperamental relationship with my i-pod. Half the time, it doesn't work. It's acted funky ever since it got wet and so it sometimes doesn't shut off and then runs out of steam in the middle of an important walk, leaving my soundtrackless. I was thinking the other day how so many of the bands or songs that I have on it can be attributed specifically to certain guys I dated for either a short or long period of time: Lemonheads, Toad the Wet Sprocket: The Bartender with the Concave Chest. We went out a few times but he was too young for me and had super skinny legs. REM (Monster c.d. only), Cracker's "Low": The Other Bartender with the Drinking Problem. Flaming Lips: Not Over His Wife Yet. I said, I love you. He said, Oh, I think of you fondly! That was the end of that. Aimee Mann's "That's Just What You Are," Cheap Trick's "I Want You to Want Me": The Poet Who Made Me Numerous Mixes. But who was also too young for me and...

Now that I have nearly 500 songs on my i-pod (had more but accidentally deleted them all and had to start over), I am starting to realize that my taste in music is pretty goofy. I almost always listen to the i-pod on "shuffle," and then fitfully hit "next song" if I don't like what comes on until I find something I do want to hear. More often than I'd like to admit, the song I settle on is by Greenday or BareNaked Ladies or Blind Melon or The Lemonheads. Tragic. Got to meet Padhraig's sister and her boyfriend on Sunday. Padhraig made brunch and we got to taste real, smuggled in Irish bacon. Then we walked downtown and the Suzanne and Carrie went to the spa and Padhraig and Richard and I went to Macy's. We walked down to Borders and Padhraig found my book. They had five in stock at the Philadelphia store and a few in other area stores. Very exciting. They also had them alphabetized in the wrong place, but I asked the guy and he moved them. Richard bou...

Went with Celia this weekend as a passenger in her Philly car share extravaganza. We stopped at IKEA where I had just enough time to eat lunch (meatballs and soggy garlic bread) before racing to Home Depot where I had again just enough time to find a shopping cart before she had finished up. On the way, she put in a CD of The Postal Service , and I said that they sounded familiar and she said that they had one of their songs in UPS commercial, but I am fairly certain that I've heard them before outside of advertising. So I downloaded a few of their songs and can't stop listening to "Such Great Heights" (from the UPS ad) and am wondering if it's something they stole from Iron & Wine or am I confused? The writing is great, great, great and listening to it while walking to the subway or while riding on the subway or wherever I am always makes me feel like I'm in an indie movie and perhaps the next thing you know, some scruffy hipster dude while accidentally...

I have done absolutely nothing all day except listen to the radio and download music onto my iPod. I've discovered that even though I have over 400 songs on the thing, I still have more than half the space left. For some reason, I thought 2 GB only allowed you 500 songs. Oh, whoops, just looked more closely and I have 1,000 songs. What's a girl to do? I don't think I even know 1,000 songs. More like 469. One of the groups I rediscovered today is Magnetic Fields. Their lyrics are supremely silly and no matter what they're saying, they always sound like they're singing a funeral dirge. I asked my friend BB of Chicago if it was okay if I wrote about what songs remind me of him. He said okay, but I have to only use his initials. There are lots, because he burned me several CDs--he's one of those people who knows about cool music before it's even released. He's sent me two songs over email (Feist and Something I Can't Remember at the Moment) which is ama...

How about this one? "DAMN! Wish I was your lover!" It's impossible not to listen to this station; it's like going back in time. It makes me want to put on leg warmers and a Wham sweatshirt with the collar cut off (though I never owned one of those. I did have Stray Cats, however. And I knew this girl Tammy in middle school who at least once a week wore her Billy Squier concert shirt. She was kind of gross or at least that's how I remember her because she liked this song I considered super dirty...Can't recall the title...Is it "Stroke Me/Stroke Me?" I was really kind of a prude at that age). Ate at that Cantina place again last night. I've got to stop taking everyone I know there and remind me not to order a pitcher of margaritas b/c it's too much, too sweet and it never gets finished and makes my throat hurt. There was chuffing everywhere. Walked over to Liz's afterwards and sat on her outdoor deck discussing Joanie's wedding and a b...

Spent an hour yesterday adding more music that I don't need to my iPod , including a bevy of Elliot Smith songs. He's got a great voice and his lyrics are beautiful and he's sad and he's dead, because he stabbed himself in the chest with a steak knife while his live-in gf had locked herself in the bathroom . So, every song is tainted with this knowledge that he ends up dead. Oh, just did some Web research on him and he was born in Omaha, NE. A Cornhusker , like me. His mother's name was actually "Bunny." At one point, he smoked like $3,000 worth of crack and heroin a day but was still writing music. Then he started to clean up and went into treatment and was making another album and then he killed himself. No illegal drugs were even found in his system. Dumb. Spent Friday night on Liz's brand new roof deck and her friends, Peaches (Drew) and Rauol ( sp ?) came by--they're in town to do the bike race in Manayunk today. I told them a super embarra...

I am deeply in love with my i-Pod. You know how the ad campaign shows people dancing around while listening to their little silver music contraptions? That's accurate. That does happen. I just did a little dance for Ernesto because Liz Phair's "Why Can't I" came on during my shuffle selection. Ernesto was not impressed. Really, though, it's crazy that you can have every single song you love all in one place. I didn't realize that I knew so many songs that make me want to stand up and shake my money maker. Still, I tend to listen to the same artists over and over again--Liz Phair is one and also Aimee Manna and my worst, worst guilty pleasure is Kelly Clarkson's Since U Been Gone. I like a song that uses bad grammar. (Now playing: Scandal's "Goodbye to You.") I should write an essay about how certain songs remind me every time of one person or another. And so for just that song, I'm thinking about whoever the "he" is (...

I keep thinking about that Ray Bradbury short story, "The Veldt." Have you read it? It's a futuristic piece about family life in the year 20++ where technology basically takes care of everything. The two children in the story have this amazingly life-like video projection of life an African field projected on their playroom walls--so real that you can see the lions breath and hear the sounds of the birds in the sky, feel the heat from the sun, etc. I keep thinking about it because it feels like we're not far away from that--these alternate realities in video games and the computer world and then there's this iPod thing that I now own which allows me to listen to any song I want in the entire world. I spent most of Saturday and Sunday afternoon in the coffee shop downloading music. I added pretty much every song I could think of and I still have half the space left. I walked around on both days listening to the songs on shuffle and I can tell you that the ads ...