Nobody
Something to Do Before I Die
649017 Curiosities served
Lights of the City of Angels
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Mood:
Actually, the Queen of Angels, but whatever
This is actually one of my favorite categories of music, so thus you would think that I've actually heard the famous Randy Neuman song "I Love LA." But you'd be wrong. I've just never had the opportunity, really. I'm sure I could ask Molasses to download from Morpheus for me, and maybe one day I will, but otherwise I'm not really even sure what genre it is.
Looking at city lights from a removed place in the hills has always been one of my favorite things. The first time I noticed how awesome it was though, I believe I was Chino. Then I moved to LA and went to the Griffith Observatory right at sunset and was blown away.
For a while there one of my top ten fave songs was The Doors' "LA Woman." It just catches everything that I love about this town that so few people even notice anymore.
L.A. Woman
The Doors
Well, I just got into town about an hour ago
Took a look around, see which way the wind blow
Where the little girls in their Hollywood bungalows
Are you a lucky little lady in The City of Light
Or just another lost angel...City of Night
City of Night, City of Night, City of Night, woo, c'mon
L.A. Woman, L.A. Woman
L.A. Woman Sunday afternoon
L.A. Woman Sunday afternoon
L.A. Woman Sunday afternoon
Drive thru your suburbs
Into your blues, into your blues, yeah
Into your blue-blue Blues
Into your blues, ohh, yeah
I see your hair is burnin'
Hills are filled with fire
If they say I never loved you
You know they are a liar
Drivin' down your freeways
Midnite alleys roam
Cops in cars, the topless bars
Never saw a woman...
So alone, so alone
So alone, so alone
Motel Money Murder Madness
Let's change the mood from glad to sadness
Mr. Mojo Risin', Mr. Mojo Risin'
Mr. Mojo Risin', Mr. Mojo Risin'
Got to keep on risin'
Mr. Mojo Risin', Mr. Mojo Risin'
Mojo Risin', gotta Mojo Risin'
Mr. Mojo Risin', gotta keep on risin'
Risin', risin'
Gone risin', risin'
I'm gone risin', risin'
I gotta risin', risin'
Well, risin', risin'
I gotta, wooo, yeah, risin'
Woah, ohh yeah
Well, I just got into town about an hour ago
Took a look around, see which way the wind blow
Where the little girls in their Hollywood bungalows
Are you a lucky little lady in The City of Light
Or just another lost angel...City of Night
City of Night, City of Night, City of Night, woah, c'mon
L.A. Woman, L.A. Woman
L.A. Woman, your my woman
Little L.A. Woman, Little L.A. Woman
L.A. L.A. Woman Woman
L.A. Woman c'mon
Persuant to that is a completely different song about city lights. You listen to this song and can just imagine two people sitting on a hill overlooking the lights of a city and musing to each other whatever came to mind. It was written by Victoria Williams, but I don't know if she's ever performed it. I don't own any of her stuff, just the Sweet Relief album which I mostly bought for the Pearl Jam song on it (which is still one of my all-time favorite songs), but was pleasantly surprised by the other stuff. If you don't have a knee-jerk reaction against althings folk, get this album.
City Lights
writ. Victoria Williams
perf. The Jayhawks
What kind of song would you give
if you had a song to give
what kind of life would you live
if you had a life to live
Would you want to make something good
that you could look on
give you lots of pleasure
yeah, you would
what about this thing that you gave
what if it weren't quite perfect
what if there was something bad about it
would you love it just the same
would you still care about it
the lights on the city
look so good
almost like somebody thought they they would
thought they would
what kind of song would you sing
if you had a song to sing
what kind of life would you live
if you had a life to live
would you want to make something god
that you could look on
give you lots of pleasure
yeah, you would
the lights on the city
looks so good
almost like somebody thought they would
thought they would
thought they would
What about this thing that you gave
what if it weren't quite perfect
what if there was something bad about it
would you still care about
the lights on the city
look so good
almost like somebody thought they would
The lights on the city
look so good
almost like somebody thought they would
thought they would
thought they would
Then there is the song that is about Los Angeles but has such an intriguing reference to the specific look that we've all seen but probably failed to notice (it is at five am, after all) is the immortal Soul Coughing song, "Screenwriter's Blues." This is about the best and truest song about Los Angeles, ever. Damn I miss Soul Coughing.
Screenwriter's Blues
Soul Coughing
Exits to freeways twisted like knots on the fingers
jewels cleaving skin between breasts
Your Cadillac breathes four hundred horses over blue lines
You are going to Reseda to make love to a model from Ohio whose real name you don't know
You spin like the Cadillac was overturning down a cliff on television
And the radio is on
and the radioman is speaking
and the radioman says women were a curse
so men built Paramount studios
and men built Columbia studios
and men built Los Angeles
It is five am
and you are listening to Los Angeles
It is five am
and you are listening to Los Angeles
And the radioman says it is a beautiful night out there
And the radioman says rock and roll lives
and the radioman says it is a beautiful night out there in Los Angeles
You live in Los Angeles
and you are going to Reseda
we are all, in some way or another, going to Reseda someday, to die
and the radioman laughs because the radioman fucks a model too
gone savage
for teenagers with automatic weapons and boundless love
gone savage for teenagers who are aesthetically pleasing, in other words fly
Los Angeles beckons the teenagers to come to her on buses
Los Angeles loves love
It is five am
and you are listening to Los Angeles
It is five am
and you are listening to Los Angeles
I am going to Los Angeles to build a screenplay about lovers who murder each other
I am going to Los Angeles to see my own name on a screen five feet long and luminous
As the radioman says
it is five am and the sun has charred the other side of the world and come back to us
and painted the smoke over our heads an imperial violet
It is five am
and you are listening to Los Angeles
It is five am
and you are listening to Los Angeles
you are listening
you are listening
you are listening
you are listening
you are listening
you are listening...to Los Angeles
*sighs* typed words just don't do it justice. Get your hands on this song. Listen to it.
Obvious Answers:
Tori Amos: Glory of the 80s
They Might be Giants: None that I could find }:<
Looking at city lights from a removed place in the hills has always been one of my favorite things. The first time I noticed how awesome it was though, I believe I was Chino. Then I moved to LA and went to the Griffith Observatory right at sunset and was blown away.
For a while there one of my top ten fave songs was The Doors' "LA Woman." It just catches everything that I love about this town that so few people even notice anymore.
L.A. Woman
The Doors
Well, I just got into town about an hour ago
Took a look around, see which way the wind blow
Where the little girls in their Hollywood bungalows
Are you a lucky little lady in The City of Light
Or just another lost angel...City of Night
City of Night, City of Night, City of Night, woo, c'mon
L.A. Woman, L.A. Woman
L.A. Woman Sunday afternoon
L.A. Woman Sunday afternoon
L.A. Woman Sunday afternoon
Drive thru your suburbs
Into your blues, into your blues, yeah
Into your blue-blue Blues
Into your blues, ohh, yeah
I see your hair is burnin'
Hills are filled with fire
If they say I never loved you
You know they are a liar
Drivin' down your freeways
Midnite alleys roam
Cops in cars, the topless bars
Never saw a woman...
So alone, so alone
So alone, so alone
Motel Money Murder Madness
Let's change the mood from glad to sadness
Mr. Mojo Risin', Mr. Mojo Risin'
Mr. Mojo Risin', Mr. Mojo Risin'
Got to keep on risin'
Mr. Mojo Risin', Mr. Mojo Risin'
Mojo Risin', gotta Mojo Risin'
Mr. Mojo Risin', gotta keep on risin'
Risin', risin'
Gone risin', risin'
I'm gone risin', risin'
I gotta risin', risin'
Well, risin', risin'
I gotta, wooo, yeah, risin'
Woah, ohh yeah
Well, I just got into town about an hour ago
Took a look around, see which way the wind blow
Where the little girls in their Hollywood bungalows
Are you a lucky little lady in The City of Light
Or just another lost angel...City of Night
City of Night, City of Night, City of Night, woah, c'mon
L.A. Woman, L.A. Woman
L.A. Woman, your my woman
Little L.A. Woman, Little L.A. Woman
L.A. L.A. Woman Woman
L.A. Woman c'mon
Persuant to that is a completely different song about city lights. You listen to this song and can just imagine two people sitting on a hill overlooking the lights of a city and musing to each other whatever came to mind. It was written by Victoria Williams, but I don't know if she's ever performed it. I don't own any of her stuff, just the Sweet Relief album which I mostly bought for the Pearl Jam song on it (which is still one of my all-time favorite songs), but was pleasantly surprised by the other stuff. If you don't have a knee-jerk reaction against althings folk, get this album.
City Lights
writ. Victoria Williams
perf. The Jayhawks
What kind of song would you give
if you had a song to give
what kind of life would you live
if you had a life to live
Would you want to make something good
that you could look on
give you lots of pleasure
yeah, you would
what about this thing that you gave
what if it weren't quite perfect
what if there was something bad about it
would you love it just the same
would you still care about it
the lights on the city
look so good
almost like somebody thought they they would
thought they would
what kind of song would you sing
if you had a song to sing
what kind of life would you live
if you had a life to live
would you want to make something god
that you could look on
give you lots of pleasure
yeah, you would
the lights on the city
looks so good
almost like somebody thought they would
thought they would
thought they would
What about this thing that you gave
what if it weren't quite perfect
what if there was something bad about it
would you still care about
the lights on the city
look so good
almost like somebody thought they would
The lights on the city
look so good
almost like somebody thought they would
thought they would
thought they would
Then there is the song that is about Los Angeles but has such an intriguing reference to the specific look that we've all seen but probably failed to notice (it is at five am, after all) is the immortal Soul Coughing song, "Screenwriter's Blues." This is about the best and truest song about Los Angeles, ever. Damn I miss Soul Coughing.
Screenwriter's Blues
Soul Coughing
Exits to freeways twisted like knots on the fingers
jewels cleaving skin between breasts
Your Cadillac breathes four hundred horses over blue lines
You are going to Reseda to make love to a model from Ohio whose real name you don't know
You spin like the Cadillac was overturning down a cliff on television
And the radio is on
and the radioman is speaking
and the radioman says women were a curse
so men built Paramount studios
and men built Columbia studios
and men built Los Angeles
It is five am
and you are listening to Los Angeles
It is five am
and you are listening to Los Angeles
And the radioman says it is a beautiful night out there
And the radioman says rock and roll lives
and the radioman says it is a beautiful night out there in Los Angeles
You live in Los Angeles
and you are going to Reseda
we are all, in some way or another, going to Reseda someday, to die
and the radioman laughs because the radioman fucks a model too
gone savage
for teenagers with automatic weapons and boundless love
gone savage for teenagers who are aesthetically pleasing, in other words fly
Los Angeles beckons the teenagers to come to her on buses
Los Angeles loves love
It is five am
and you are listening to Los Angeles
It is five am
and you are listening to Los Angeles
I am going to Los Angeles to build a screenplay about lovers who murder each other
I am going to Los Angeles to see my own name on a screen five feet long and luminous
As the radioman says
it is five am and the sun has charred the other side of the world and come back to us
and painted the smoke over our heads an imperial violet
It is five am
and you are listening to Los Angeles
It is five am
and you are listening to Los Angeles
you are listening
you are listening
you are listening
you are listening
you are listening
you are listening...to Los Angeles
*sighs* typed words just don't do it justice. Get your hands on this song. Listen to it.
Obvious Answers:
Tori Amos: Glory of the 80s
They Might be Giants: None that I could find }:<
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