Songs For Girls In Their 20s

I'm reliving all my Miranda July love

2011-07-18T13:55:00.003-04:00

after seeing her at a Q&A at IFC that followed some Jane Campion shorts she loved when she was a senior in high school. As I was reading the articles rolling in with The Future on the horizon (it's out July 29), I came across this playlist she made in 2007 for The New York Times Arts Beat blog, which is totally a list of songs for girls in their 20s, especially with stuff like this:

3) Sitting In The Park, Quix*o*tic. Which reminds me of another great contribution that Christina Billotte has made to my life – the song “Soda Pop*Rip Off” from the album of the same name (via her early 90’s band, Slant 6.) If you are going to look for this though, don’t just download it, because it is important to stare at the picture of the three really tough girls on the album cover the whole time the song is playing, and conjure a life where you, too, are tough. This works best if you are in your early 20s. If you’re older than that, go straight to “Sitting In The Park,” and comfort yourself with the fact that those three tough girls are older now too.

Melix's Mix

2011-07-02T14:13:00.002-04:00

“Sentimentality is a form of fatigue”
Leonora Carrington, ix

1. Square Heart by The Black Heart Procession

2. Maladjusted by Morrissey

3. 30 Equals by Sleepytime Trio

4. Shine So Bright by Inkwell

5. All of the LP, “Another Green World” by Brian Eno
Here's the track, Golden Hours

6. All of LP, “Thief” by Destroyer
Here's the track, Queen of Languages

7. All of the LP, “Baader Meinoff” by Luke Haines
Title Track

8. Open a Rose by U.S. Maple

9. Get No Toys (When You Pay the Money) by Karp

10. Great Communicator by Rye Coalition

11. Algebra of Need by Rye Coalition

12. Get the Kid with the Sideburns by Reversal of Man

13. Sluttering (May 4th) by Jawbreaker

14. Hands that Mold by Dystopia

15. All of the LP, "Orange Rhyming Dictionary," by Jets to Brazil
Here's the track, I Typed for Miles

16. Sex is Personal by The Faint

17. You Will Miss Me When I Burn by Palace Brothers

18. Wolf Among Wolves (live) by Bonnie Prince Billy

19. Tennessee by Silver Jews

20. Run Run Crying by Adult

--Melissa Severin

Mairead's Mix

2011-07-01T12:45:00.002-04:00

1. sleater-kinney – “get up”
2. phranc – “life lover”
3. karen dalton – “take me”
4. tommy janes and the shondells – “crimson and clover”
5. iggy pop – “fall in love with me”
6. brightblack morning light – “everybody daylight”
7. kevin coyne – “highway of dreams”
8. the cure – “close to me”
9. annie – “heartbeat”
10. a-frames – “eva braun”
11. psychic tv – “godstar”
12. gravy train!!! – “hella nervous”
13. hole – “rock star”
14. jewlia eisenberg – “meister of culture”
15. cansei de ser sexy – “let’s make love”
16. new order – “ceremony”
17. battles – “atlas”
18. suicide – “mister ray”
19. the shaggs – “it’s halloween”
20. los jaivas – “foto de la primavera communion”
21. dub narcotic soundsystem – “fuck shit up”
22. yeah yeah yeahs – “y control”
23. kate bush – “running up that hill”
24. tracy and the plastics – “oh henrietta”
25. cadallaca – “june n july”
26. buffalo – “stump”
27. le tigre – “deceptacon”
28. scout niblett – “fuck treasure island”
29. can – “i’m so green”
30. tegan and sara – “call it off”
31. stereolab – “peng! 33”
32. sonic youth – “do you believe in rapture?”
33. matmos – “steam and sequins for larry levan”
34. the modern lovers – “girlfriend”
35. spiritualized – “any way that you want me”
36. daniel johnston – “speeding motorcycle”
37. beat happening – “our secret”
38. hella – “1-800-ghost-dance”
39. talking heads – “this must be the place”
40. patti smith – “gloria”
41. the raincoats – “in love”
42. the gossip – “yr mangled heart”
43. arto/neto – “malu”
44.the gits – “another shot of whiskey”
45. lizzie mercier descloux - "wawa"
46. hold steady – “cattle and the creeping things”
47. big star – “ballad of el goodo”
48. roxy music – “all i want is you”
49. black flag – “nervous”
50. pj harvey – “a place called home”

--Mairead Case

Fro's Mix

2011-07-01T12:43:00.002-04:00

Here are some of my favorites from the 8 years that I've spent in my twenties (in iTunes order after #1):

1. James "Laid"
2. Belle & Sebastian "Asleep on a Sunbeam"
3. Ben Folds "Annie Waits"
4. Bishop Allen "Empire City"
5. Boston "Peace of Mind"
6. Clem Snide "Action"
7. The Decemberists "The Crane Wife 3"
8. The Flaming Lips "Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots"
9. Flo Rida Featuring Wynter "Sugar"
10. The Jesus and Mary Chain "Sometimes Always"
11. Kate Nash "Foundations"
12. Modest Mouse "Get It On"
13. The Mountain Goats "This Year"
14. The New Pornographers "Adventures in Solitude"
15. The New Pornographers "Fake Headlines"
16. Roxette "Fading Like a Flower"
17. She & Him "Sentimental Heart"
18. Stars "Tonight"
19. The Weepies "All Good Things"

--Fro Klaver

Fred's Mix

2011-07-01T02:05:00.001-04:00

MORE SONGS ABOUT GIRLS & GEOGRAPHY

[click above to download mix]

there were two ways to go about this, as i saw it: songs from the years during which you were in your twenties or songs from your own personal twenties. this project is a product of the former approach. the latter approach would have yielded a history of the musical taste i now possess, more or less: only in memory reconstructed did i mope to morrissey at 14; at the time i was probably listening to a rap album w/ a parental advisory sticker on it, on headphones, all the while attempting to figure out a new&better hiding place so that my mother wouldn't find that album (again).

from this remove, the person i was at the beginning of this mix is just as unrecognizable as that 14 year-old; he only comes into focus at around track 13, the year i began both drinking & graduate school. the one thing that we have in common is that we are both me, or were. & that we remember these songs and we remember what these songs make us remember--really palpable memories, some more sensitive to the touch than others. these songs are about girls i liked and loved, new york and not new york, me and not me.

my twenties were all right but i never missed them, not even at age 14.

THE TRACKS
"let me state that without my notes [this mix] simply has no human reality at all since the human reality of such a [mix] as his (being too skittish and reticent for an autobiographical work)… has to depend entirely on the reality of its author and his surroundings, attachments and so forth, a reality that only my notes can provide."

(following caolan, these tracks--from 1997 through 2007--are arranged mostly chronologically, although some came up and bit me after the fact, and some continue to do so, alas&alas&alas.)

01 morrissey: "the edges are no longer parallel": age 20
CREDO: my only mistake is… well, never mind, never mind.

02 the future bible heroes: "lonely days": ""
arcade fire got a grammy for their suburbs, but really i don't think they've ever even been to a mall. FBH, though, they deserve a monument: "nothing good is on TV // no one falls in love w/ me." exactly.

03 masters at work feat. india: "runaway" (radio edit): ""
now these sentiments would be expressed by "box elder" but you can't dance to "box elder" and i like to dance now, more than then.

04 mercury rev: "delta sun bottleneck stomp": age 21
"waving goodbye // i'm not saying hello." music for the end credits to a film about me, roughly; & end credits worth sitting through and seeing through to the end since you've been waiting so long anyway.

05 will oldham: "in my mind": ""
rehearsals for a farewell not far off and a reconciliation that never was. it's all all right, now.

06 the magnetic fields: "just like a movie star" (live): ""
beginning to learn about the internet, romance. listening to MP3s at work, downloading from FTP sites, dreaming of the ways &c.

07 death in vegas: "aladdin's story": age 22
emerging in new york from PATH tunnels, looking for work, late autumn '99. the sound of becoming an adult in new york, but not yet an adult new yorker.

08 mary j blige: "all that i can say": ""
& not yet either. still looking for work, and so is my girlfriend. one december afternoon, after an interview of my own, i'm listening to this waiting for her to finish w/ hers so we can just… i don't know, walk together. that was good. such synesthesia here; remember lauryn hill?

09 the clientele: "as night is falling": age 23
but now. the metropolitan subterranea. subways rattle & roar but not this, not me.

10 lambchop: "grumpus": ""
midtown west, winter 2000. it's all going to fall apart, i think, his falsetto so fragile at 4:06. he seems like he won't make it, but he does. it takes practice.

11 pulp: "like a friend": ""
so it did all fall apart and sometimes still does, even now.

12 the strokes: "the modern age" (EP version): age 24
it was good to be young in prelapsarian new york. i wouldn't want to be young there now and nature obliges.

13 the go! team: "hold yr terror close": age 26
oh, hello, you. i am getting a second bachelor's degree; i am going to become a high school teacher; i do not know how i feel about this exactly but this song says something about it.

14 the long blondes: "lust in the movies" (7" version): age 27
the last band i loved. i saw them w/ a girl i'm pretty sure i loved for about, oh, four years, maybe. my life's great what-if, or so i thought. (unsure of tense.) after this show she kissed me.

15 danny chung: "happy together": ""
she never did again though. this is from the end of one of our shared favorite films. not long after this, i told her that i was over it, that i hope someday, when we're in our 40s, we're having coffee somewhere in new york, talking about our lives. & she told me, oh, i just broke up w/ my long-term ex- and i was just about to ask if you wanted to come over and listen to records but now i guess not? she's married now. the last time i saw her we talked about the girl i was then dating, whom i thought everyone was wrong about; everyone, including her, was right as it turns out. i emailed her the other day to ask her about her life.

16 sébastien tellier: "la ritournelle": age 28
times square, august 2006, early AM. i'm really unhappy about everything. i turn to the new york of my childhood. i'm glad it exists. & to be the kind of person i'm in the process of being and to make such a statement one would have to have known times square as a child. have felt at the center of everything and so sure that everything had a center.

17 silver jews: "random rules": age 29
west village, fall 2006, and today when the light catches the branches on the sidestreets just so. i see all kinds of people i have known in new york and elsewhere in new york; it's so strange sometimes. on this day i see my ex- who doesn't see me. i think about catching up w/ her, literally catching up w/ her as she's ahead of me. but i don't. i think of the end of annie hall, which took place a few blocks from our old apartment but before either of us were born. people leave and these streets aren't going to bring us back, but we had some times esp. around the time of track 8.

18 guillemots: "made up lovesong #43": ""
at a point where some days it's hard to get up off the couch, but now i'm singing and it's love again.

19 peter born and john: "objects of my affection": ""
but it's life always.

--Fred Solinger

Lauren's Mix

2011-07-01T01:58:00.001-04:00

Songs for Lauren in her twenties. So far there are only 4 years to choose from, so that makes it a little easier.

(year 20)

1. Joni Mitchell, “Carey”

2. The Pretenders, “I’ll Stand By You”

3. Crosby, Stills & Nash, “Southern Cross”

4. Razorlight, “America”

5. Keith Jarrett, “Shenandoah”

6. Ali Farka Toure & Toumani Diabate, “Debe”

7. Youssou N’dour, “Li Ma Weesu”

8. Céu, “Rainha”

9. Regina Spektor, “Field Below”

(year 21)

10. Simon and Garfunkle, “America”

11. Alison Krauss and Robert Plant, “Killing the Blues”

12. Cat Power, “The Greatest”

13. The Spencer Davis Group, “I’m A Man”

14. The Shins, “Caring is Creepy”

(year 22)

15. Led Zeppelin, “Goin to California”

16. Blue Oyster Cult, “(Don’t Fear) The Reaper”

17. The Sundays, “Here’s Where the Story Ends”

(year 23)

18. Blind Faith, “Can’t Find My Way Home”

19. John Lennon, “Jealous Guy”

(year 24)

20. Florence and The Machine, “Dog Days Are Over”

21. Adele, “Someone Like You”

22. Massive Attack, “Teardrop”

23. The Who, “Substitute”

--Lauren Kimball

Caolan's Mix

2011-06-30T17:50:00.002-04:00

Songs for Me in My 20s

Here's my mix! It's arranged roughly chronologically, according to how old I was when I was most actively listening to each song. There are a lot of songs that seem to be missing--like, where is the Hole? where is the Liz Phair? Where are the Smiths??--but I think that's because those are Songs for Me in my Teens, which will be important forever, but not necessarily unusually important in my 20s.

1. Joni Mitchell, California (20)
I don't really have a relationship with California. This should probably be "Case of You." But so many of these songs from my 20s are about ramblin', or wishing you were ramblin', or wishing you were home, and I listened to this song a lot when I was away from home, so. I think sometimes "California" = "America." At least when you're outside America.

2. The Lucksmiths, The Year of Driving Languorously (20 - 21)
The only show I ever used a fake ID to get into was a Lucksmiths show, about two weeks before I turned 21.

3. Magnetic Fields, The Book of Love (21)
This album makes up, like, half of the songs you listened to in your 20s, right? Be honest. Also one of the only nice love songs on my list. I _do_ love it when you read to me! And when you give me things.

4. The Be Good Tanyas, The Littlest Birds (21 - 22)
Ramblin'!

5. DQE, Go Bananas (21 - 22)
I can't find a video to link to. But, you know. Just look at that title. You can figure it out.

6. Le Tigre, Much Finer (22 - 23)
In your 20s you have a lot more time and opportunity to be depressed than in your teens. I don't think my mom would have let me stay in bed all day when I was living at home. No! I can't imagine feeling any other way.

7. Gillian Welch, Miss Ohio (22 - 23)
"I wanna do right but not right now" was the theme song of my 20s. I think it makes sense! In your teens you don't even want to do right. Also related to frustrated ramblin' impulse.

8. Old 97s, Buick City Complex (23)
Yes, I do wanna mess around. Might as well mess around if you are not ramblin'.

9. The Pretenders, Night in My Veins (24 - 25)
Yes, I still want to mess around.

10. Joanna Newsom, Book of Right On (23 - 24)
OK, now it's time to weirdly and ambiguously settle down. This is the song that made me want to settle down with Joanna Newsom, after initially thinking she was just an elf who wrote about Narnia: "even when you touch/my face/you know/your place."

11. Will Oldham, Agnes Queen of Sorrow (24 - 25)
Oh, sorry, I mean Palace Songs. Oops! Anyway, more settling down: maybe your 20s is about learning to wait another day?

12. Diamond Nights, The Girl's Attractive (24 - 25)
Enough downers. It is time to get sexy and dance.

13. Cat Power, I Don't Blame You (25 - 26)
This song is probably about Kurt Cobain, but I just like how that I don't blame you soars in. I'm ashamed of how much some of these songs have to do with "growing up." I am learning to wait another day! I am learning not to blame people! I am feeling conflicted about doing right but not right now. Well, I am. I mean I was. Now I have it all figured out.

14. Leonard Cohen, Famous Blue Raincoat (25 - 26)
"Suzanne" was one of the most important songs of my teens, but let's put this one in for the 20s. A crazy "Between Men"/doppelganger thing going on. Both those things are interesting! Also I like to get mad at Leonard Cohen & Bob Dylan and forbid them to date my impressionable girlfriends.

15. David Bowie, Modern Love (25 - 26)
It does terrify me!

16. Throwing Muses, Shimmer (25 - 26)
Keep your eye on Kristin Hersh she is the best! Also her memoir Rat Girl changed my life when I was 30 (glimpse into the future!). I also considered including "Your Dirty Answer," which includes the lyric "It's not my fault you don't love me/ when I'm drunk." IT'S NOT.

17. Talking Heads, And She Was (25 - 26)
Best exercise song for girls ever. Go running in the suburbs to this song!

18. Shonen Knife, Tomato Head (23 - 26)
Also good for exercising. Also good if you wanted to start drinking tomato juice (I don't!)

19. The Decemberists, Myla Goldberg (26 - 27)
Well, it was only a matter of time before I got into the Decemberists. I felt a pull, like the pull I felt toward Dungeons & Dragons. I resisted both until someone else pulled me in.

20. Sufjan Stevens, That Was the Worst Christmas Ever (26 - 27)
2006 - 2007 was the year of Sufjan. Lots of Illinoise. But the Christmas albums are the ones I'll take into the future. Your 20s are when you realize how weird and sad your childhood really was! And you haven't messed up anyone else's childhood yet.

21. Neko Case, Furnace Room Lullaby (26 - 27)
Good God the keening! Also didn't you always want to listen to a beautiful song that seems to be based on "The Telltale Heart"? Or that scene in _Native Son_.

22. Bob Dylan, Is Your Love in Vain? (27)
OK, so a lot of Dylan songs belong on this mix, but a lot of them also belong to the "Songs for Girls in Their Teens" mix. This song really gets at my love-hate relationship with Bob--like, I think this speaker is ridiculous! but I also love the song. I want to do a cover of this song as a duet with one my many Dylan-lookalike friends, and I want to be wearing a wedding dress and a white satin top hat.

23. Carrie Nations, Find It (from Beyond the Valley of the Dolls) (28)
If only this band were a real band, you guys.

24.The Breeders, Saints (25 - 29?)
It would behoove all of us to pay attention to this song right now. Summer IS ready when you are.

25. Pat Benatar, Heartbreaker (29)
In my mid- to late-twenties my main thing was I liked songs where women encourage men to try to break their hearts. Like, Pat really wants you to try. I think "Bad Romance" is about this, too.

26. Lady Gaga, Bad Romance (29)
If I'm going to talk about it in relation to "Heartbreaker," it might as well be on here!

27. Kate Bush, Wuthering Heights (29 5/6)
So, I think all the songs on this mix and like my whole musical and literary history are pointing to this song, and yet I never heard it until I was 29 and 10 months old and had a nightmare about Heathcliff trapping me in my apartment and Becca sent me this link. Which only goes to show that songs may be kind of getting you through your twenties without you even knowing it.

Happy last day of your 20s, Becca!

--Caolan Madden

Candice's Mix

2011-06-30T17:47:00.003-04:00

Here's my top 10 (one song per year) for girls in their 20s (in no particular order):

1. Patti Smith's "Gloria"
2. Pixies' "Gouge Away"
3. Neko Case's "I Wish I Was the Moon"
4. Sonic Youth's "Little Trouble Girl"
5. Velvet Underground's "Pale Blue Eyes"
6. David Bowie's "Rock & Roll Suicide"
7. Nina Simone's "See Line Woman"
8. Le Tigre's "Tell You Now"
9. Bob Dylan's "Visions of Johnanna"
10. Marianne Faithfull's "Why D'ya Do It?"

--Candice Amich

Julia's Mix

2011-06-30T17:45:00.001-04:00

1. A Better Son/Daughter by Rilo Kiley
2. Hyperballad by Bjork
3. Kiss Me On My Neck by Erykah Badu
4. Anna Begins by Counting Crows
5. Dookie by Green Day
6. China by Tori Amos
7. Rosa Parks by Outkast
8. Up Up Up Up Up by Ani DiFranco
9. I Want You (She's So Heavy) by The Beatles
10. Breathe and Stop by Q-Tip
11. Gossip Folks by Missy Elliot
12. Polyester Bride by Liz Phair
13. Venus as a Boy by Bjork
14. Anthems for a Seventeen-Year Old Girl by Broken Social Scene
15. Stephanie Says by The Velvet Underground
16. These Days by Nico
17. The Fairest of the Seasons by Nico
18. Jolene by Dolly Parton
19. Doll Parts by Hole
20. Lion's Mane by Iron and Wine
21. Sweet Marie by The Anniversary
22. Doo Wop(That Thing) by Lauryn Hill
23. Cowboys by Portishead
24. A Comet Appears by The Shins
25. Nothing Compares 2 U by Sinead O'Connor
26. Sigur 3 by Sigur Ros
27. Clint Eastwood by Gorillaz
28. Breathe Me by Sia
29. Super Bass by Nicki Minaj
30. The Denial Twist by The White Stripes
31. More Human than Human by White Zombie
32. Closer by NIN
33. All I Need by Radiohead
34. You Look So Fine by Garbage
35. Criminal by Fiona Apple
36. Shadowboxer by Fiona Apple
37. The Beautiful People by Marilyn Manson

--Julia Gay

Gina's Mix

2011-06-29T15:29:00.001-04:00

"militia" -cypher in the snow
"caught a lite sneeze" -tori amos
"aphrodisiac" -bow wow wow
"pretty girls" -neko case
"didn't cha know" -erykah badu
"get out of my house" -kate bush
"to bring you my love" -pj harvey
"me myself and i" -beyonce
"get naked" -britney spears
"v.g.i." -julie ruin
"if anyone falls" -stevie nicks
"monkey and bear" -joanna newsom
"stumpside" -rasputina
"freakum dress" -beyonce
"dance this mess around" -b52s
"Do Me in Once and I'll Be Sad, Do Me in Twice and I'll Know Better ..." -G.T.O.s
"rise up with fists!" -jenny lewis & the watson twins
"dance in the dark" -lady gaga
"the one" -kylie minogue
"witches' song" -marianne faithfull
"ring the living bell" -melanie
"lucretia my reflection" -sisters of mercy
"i eat cannibals" -total coelo
"trophy" -siouxsie and the banshees
"chain gang" -sam cooke

--Gina Abelkop

Danielle's Mix

2011-06-29T15:24:00.001-04:00

Songs That Got Danielle Through Her 20s:

Talking Heads - "This Must be the Place (Naive Melody)"
Talking Heads - "Burning Down the House"
Talking Heads - "Girlfriend is Better"
The Sea and Cake - "Biz"
Bjork - "There's More to Life"
Bjork - "Hyper-Ballad"
Bjork - "Joga"
Bjork - "Undo"
The Pixies - "Gigantic"
The Pixies - "Head On"
Prince - "Pop Life"
Prince - "When You Were Mine"
The Cars - "Just What I Needed"
The Decembrists - "Grace Cathedral Hill"
Belle & Sebastian - "Get me Away From Here, I'm Dying"
Belle & Sebastian - "Like Dylan in the Movies"
Belle & Sebastian - "Expectations"
Donna Regina - "A Quiet Week in the House"
David Byrne - "A Million Miles Away"
Susana Baca - "La Macorina"
Tom Waits - "Blind Love"
De La Soul - "Eye Know"
The Clash - "Train in Vain"
The Clash - "Rudie Can't Fail"
Me'Shell NdegeOcello - "Mary Magdalene"
Elliott Smith - "Clementine"
Elliott Smith - "The Biggest Lie"
Elliott Smith - "Between the Bars"
Elliott Smith - "Say Yes"
Nina Simone - "I Loves You Porgy"
Nina Simone - "Ne me Quitte Pas"
Ella Fitzgerald - "Love for Sale"
Billie Holiday - "Billie's Blues"
Rolling Stones - "Beast of Burden"
David Bowie - "Oh, You Pretty Things"
The Strokes - "Last Nite"
Aimee Mann - "Red Vines"
Aimee Mann - "Just Like Anyone"
Aimee Mann - "Deathly"
Aimee Mann - "That's Just What You Are"
Wilco - "Jesus, etc."
Liz Phair - "Divorce Song"
Liz Phair - "6'1"
Lauryn Hill - "Doo Wop (That Thing)"
Fleetwood Mac - "I Don't Want to Know"
John Cale - "Paris 1919"
John Cale - "Hallelujah" (cover)
Chet Baker - "But Not for Me"
Pretty Girls Make Graves - "Speakers Push the Air"
Modest Mouse - "Paper Thin Walls"
Innocence Mission - Glow
Bob Dylan - Blonde on Blonde
Bob Dylan - Blood on the Tracks
PJ Harvey - Is This Desire
Kristin Hersh - Hips and Makers (X 1 zillion)

Songs for Girls Reading & Party: This Friday!

2011-06-28T12:35:00.001-04:00

Karyn's Mix

2011-06-28T11:53:00.001-04:00

Jeff Buckley's 'Lilac Wine' when studying abroad in France and just falling in love with Nico
Tom Jones 'Sex Bomb' epitomizes my study abroad experience
Madonna's 'Miss American Pie' re-do, even though not a fave, was popular in bars in France and was a slice of home when blasted through speakers
Erykah Badu 'Certainly', I played this album incessantly and this song always stuck in my head
Tori Amos' 'Little Earthquakes' and 'Under the PInk' - Under the Pink ALL the songs are great.
U2 'In a Little While' when missing Nico after we got married, we lived apart for 3 months
Backstreet Boyz album 'Millennium' , don't judge, my roommate and I threw keggers and would force ppl to listen to boy bands, we lived on Bartlett St near UW campus.

--Karyn Mikkelsen-Tillet

Annie's Mix

2011-06-28T01:26:00.003-04:00

Annie being my big sister & all, many of these songs changed. my. life!

Velvet Underground - Sweet Jane
Belle & Sebastian - The Boy with the Arab Strap
The Unicorns - Sea Ghost
Cat Power - Cross Bones Style
Neutral Milk Hotel - Holland 1945
The Concretes - Say Something New
Son Volt - Tear Stained Eye
Mountain Goats - This Year
The Delgados - Sink or Swim
Sarah Siskind - Lovin's for Fools
Cracker - Eurotrash Girl
Wilco - Ashes of American Flags
Leonard Cohen - Sing Another Song, Boys
The Flaming Lips - Fight Test
Arcade Fire - Rebellion (Lies)
Gillian Welch - Wrecking Ball
Annie - Anniemal
MGMT - Time to Pretend
Iron & Wine and Calexico - History of Lovers
Pavement - Summer Babe
Yeah Yeah Yeahs - Maps
Old 97s - Salome
The Jesus and Mary Chain - Sometimes Always
New Pornographers - The Fake Headlines
The Postal Service - Nothing Better
Yo La Tengo - Stockholm Syndrome
Neko Case & Her Boyfriends - Guided by Wire
Destroyer - English Music
Architecture in Helsinki - Do the Whirlwind
Liz Phair - Divorce Song
Silver Jews - Trains Across the Sea
Ryan Adams - To Be Young (Is To Be Sad, Is To Be High)
Bonnie "Prince" Billy - I See a Darkness
Robby Hecht - Thirty

--Annie Klaver

Sleater-Kinney being all over

2011-06-28T01:15:00.002-04:00

so many of these mixes made me want to share this, a track from Wild Flag's forthcoming self-titled album, out September 13:

Wild Flag - Romance by MergeRecords

Kristin's Mix

2011-06-28T00:56:00.002-04:00

1. Here Beside You - Holly Golightly, God Don't Like It
2. La La Means I Love You - The Delfonics, La La Means I Love You
3. No No - The Sandwitches, How to Make Ambient Sadcake
4. Engine - Jeff Mangum, Live At Jittery Joe's
5. I'm So Glad - The Staple Singers, Swing Low Sweet Chariot
6. Black River Swamp - Link Wray, Wray, Link - Link Wray
7. Tennessee Border - Hank Williams, Alone With His Guitar
8. The Eiger - Oneida, The Wedding
9. A Salty Salute - Guided By Voices, Alien Lanes
10. Wave Of Mutilation - Pixies, Doolittle
11. Fear Is A Man's Best Friend - John Cale, Fear
12. White Like Heaven - Gowns, Red State
13. The Boss Wants To Party With You - Quintron, Too Thirsty 4 Love
14. Can You Get To That - Funkadelic, Maggot Brain
15. Frank Sinatra - Miss Kittin & The Hacker, First Album
16. The Gilded Cunt - Thee Oh Sees, The Cool Death of Island Raiders
17. Jesus - Homosexuals, Astral Glamour 2
18. My Love For You - ESG, A South Bronx Story
19. Heart-Shaped Box - Nirvana, Heart-Shaped Box
20. Hospital - The Modern Lovers, The Modern Lovers
21. I Will Move on up a Little Higher - Mahalia Jackson, The Best of Mahalia Jackson
22. Reeling The Liars In - Swans, My Father Will Guide Me Up A Rope To The Sky Rock
23. The Gold We're Digging - Parts & Labor, Mapmaker
24. Head Up - Daniel Francis Doyle, Who Are Your Customers?
25. Dorothy Dreams Of Tornadoes - Cursive, Happy Hollow
26. Modern Girl - Sleater-Kinney, The Woods
27. I'm Sorry - The Delfonics, La La Means I Love You
28. Maybe - The Shangri-Las, Golden Legends The Shangri-Las
29. Your Golden Ass - Califone, Quicksand/Cradlesnakes
30. Lord Ronald - Alasdair Roberts, No Earthly Man
31. Last Caress - Papa M, Hole of Burning Alms
32. Cherylee - Gowns, Red State

--Kristin Aardsma

Carina's Mix

2011-06-28T00:52:00.002-04:00

"songs for girls hacking dramatically through their 20s":

the yeah yeah yeahs -- hysteric
sufjan stevens -- casimir pulaski day
neko case -- this tornado loves you
iron & wine -- naked as we came
camera obscura -- french navy
lisa loeb -- stay
hall & oates -- she's a rich girl
vanessa carlton -- white houses
regina spektor -- dance anthem of the 80s
andrew bird -- fake palindromes
billy joel -- scenes from an italian restaurant
vitamin string quartet -- in your eyes (orig. by peter gabriel)
the white stripes -- fell in love with a girl
modern english -- I melt with you
the carpenters -- superstar
semisonic -- closing time
gin blossoms -- follow you down
the ting tings -- be the one
lady gaga -- poker face
ingrid michaelson -- the chain
tegan and sara -- back in your head
sheryl crow -- strong enough
m.i.a. -- paper planes
the weepies -- comfort
the social studies -- weathered white
stevie nicks & don henley -- leather and lace
kate nash -- merry happy

--Carina Finn

Hanna's Mix

2011-06-27T22:48:00.004-04:00

a liner note: some of these songs speak to moments of my 20s, some underscored certain events in my 20s, and others were just songs I listened to on repeat at times during that decade. In fairness, the truest soundtrack for *this* girl in her twenties is all-encompassed by the Rolling Stones “Exile on Main St.”, Liz Phair’s “Exile in Guyville”, and Sleater-Kinney’s “Dig Me Out” in their entirety, sprinkled with any of Kathleen Hanna’s projects.

In the interest of variety, (and Bowie, who should be a part of any mixtape) here goes:

side 1

1. Utopia—Goldfrapp

2. Lover I don't have to love—Bright Eyes

3. My number—Tegan & Sara

4. English music—Destroyer

5. V.G.I.—Julie Ruin

6. The Engine Driver—The Decemberists

7. Science vs. Romance—Rilo Kiley

8. Nude as the News—Cat Power

9. Pretty Good Year—Tori Amos

10. White Lexus—Mike Doughty

11. Evergreen—The Fiery Furnaces

12. Much Finer—Le Tigre

13. Maps—Yeah Yeah Yeahs

14. Buckingham Rabbit—Silver Jews

15. Russian Berries But You're Quiet Tonight—Frog Eyes

16. All Fires—Swan Lake

17. Fire Up the Batmobile—Liz Phair

18. Jenny—Sleater-Kinney

19. Changes—David Bowie

side 2

1. The Jump Off—Lil Kim

2. Born Curious —Craig Wedren

3. The Luckiest Guy on the Lower East Side—Magnetic Fields

4. Love of My Life –Erykah Badu

5. Happy—Rolling Stones

6. Let's Not and Say We Did—Silver Jews

7. You Are What You Love—Jenny Lewis

8. Vanessa from Queens —Stephen Malkmus

9. Woman Driving Man Sleeping —Eels

10. I Summon You--Spoon

11. Perfect Day—Lou Reed

12. Seven Days—Azure Ray

13. Forgiveness—Patty Griffin

14. Polyester Bride—Liz Phair

15. The Bleeding Heart Show —The New Pornographers

16. Rock & Roll With Me—David Bowie

hidden track: Eau D'Bedroom Dancing—Le Tigre

--Hanna Andrews

THAT TEENAGE FEELING

2011-06-27T02:34:00.004-04:00

That teenage feeling is luscious but unbecoming.

That teenage feeling is probably too tight in the hips and tits by now.

That teenage feeling should be confined to doorways and powder rooms, under awnings and over grates.

That teenage feeling will pass, but like a kidney stone.

That teenage feeling is wound-up music-boxy.

That teenage feeling hid in the stall after the all-ages show at the Roxy.

That teenage feeling will never be thirty.

That teenage feeling says birthday parties are so passé.

That teenage feeling probably actually said lame or retarded.

That teenage feeling is leaping from bedroom window to thickest branch.

That teenage feeling doesn't care if forever never comes.

That teenage feeling has made it, woop and shimmy, floating a polka-dot umbrella down.

I WAS BORN (A UNICORN)

2011-06-24T18:14:00.001-04:00

I is another. Too bad for the wood which finds itself a violin, and brush off the oblivious, who quibble over things they know nothing about!

—Arthur Rimbaud, letter to Georges Izambard, May 13, 1871

—so it’s not all sad

When I said I lost my wonder
I never told the whole story

[off to the left
the Hudson’s majesty
Hoboken like any port town]

I first found my wonder on the playground
Behind the bushes
Where the other kids thought I was praying

I was, sorta

I’d suddenly seen my life from the outside

all eight years of it

and it was like a drug in the arm

I shot up and up and up

I was an ‘I’
I was a ‘me’

and whatever made me full of longing
could not touch I

I was someone else
I was an other

And if you doubt I discovered the secret
to postmodern lyric subjectivity
next to the jungle gym

whatevs

because I was always another.

My selves split

wonder flooded in

And I could not believe, I could not believe the beauty of the world—

The light through the bushes and the children playing beyond—

From then on I was and was not one of them

From then on I could flip the wonder switch

I could cleave myself and fill the gap with light

Until I couldn’t anymore

[off to the right near-solstice sun
streaming through clouds]
When it left me, when I forgot it
possibly forever

There once was a unicorn in a wood with trees made of violin that the wind would play and play.

It was right around the time I fell in love
Right around the time I turned twenty-one

A common time to lose

your irony

your shame
your horn

The unicorn took a liking to one violin in particular, and as a trade-off for seeing the forest for the tree, which is also called falling in love, the unicorn lost her horn.

I don’t know where it went
Except to know that I was all in

She was not the first unicorn to lose her horn or the last unicorn to lose her horn but the loss was utter.

I was me, there was no separating out
I was living this life and it meant

No schism, no light

A horse wandered out of the forest with a violin slung on her back, and she was glad.

Except the clean cold light of the daily
I’ll start believing in you
if you start believing in me
And I want it back / but I want to be

all in

Taryn's Mix

2011-06-24T18:02:00.000-04:00

1. Where is My Mind? – The Pixies
2. One Beat – Sleater Kinney
3. Moonlight Mile – The Rolling Stones
4. We Were Born the Mutants Again Leafling – Of Montreal
5. Champagne From a Paper Cup – Death Cab for Cutie
6. Igloo Glass – Holopaw
7. Cat Faces – Ugly Casanova
8. Dramamine – Modest Mouse
9. I Don’t Blame You – Cat Power
10. Anthems for a Seventeen Year Old Girl – Broken Social Scene
11. New Slang – The Shins
12. The District Sleeps Tonight – Postal Service
13. All Hands on the Bad One – Sleater Kinney
14. Portions for Foxes – Rilo Kiley
15. The Plan – Built to Spill
16. Our Way to Fall – Yo La Tengo
17. From Blown Speakers – The New Pornographers
18. Truckers Atlas – Modest Mouse
19. Who’s Gonna Ride Your Wild Horses? – U2
20. Atlantic City – Bruce Springsteen
21. Bowl of Oranges – Bright Eyes

--Taryn Fort

Lauren's "Mix"

2011-06-24T14:18:00.002-04:00

Fiona Apple's When the Pawn in its entirety:

1. "On the Bound"
2. "To Your Love"
3. "Limp"
4. "Love Ridden"
5. "Paper Bag"
6. "A Mistake"
7. "Fast as You Can"
8. "The Way Things Are"
9. "Get Gone."
10. "I Know"

--Lauren Fanelli

Andrea's Mix

2011-06-24T13:37:00.002-04:00

Thanks, everyone, for sending in your track lists -- keep 'em coming!

Andrea's list contains some New Zealanders that we should know about:

U.S. Girls - Red Ford Radio
Pocahaunted - Riddim Queen
Lady Gaga - Dance in the Dark
Kate Bush - Wuthering Heights
Essential Logic - Aerosol Burns
X-Ray Spex - Identity
The Coolies - Throwaway
Young Marble Giants - N.I.T.A
Broadcast - Tears in the Typing Pool
The Velvet Underground and Nico – All Tomorrow’s Parties
Islaja - Rakkauden Palvelija/14. Käsky
Look Blue Go Purple - Circumspect Penelope
Bachelorette - Complex History of a Dying Star
Hertta Lussu Ässä - Norsun Sydän

--Andrea Quinlan

Kristy's Mix

2011-06-24T13:34:00.001-04:00

1. Patti Smith - Dancing Barefoot
2. Stone Temple - Pilots Sour Girl
3. Mazzy Star - Fade into You
4. Lisa Loeb - Firecracker
5. Indigo Girls - Least Complicated
6. Fiona Apple - Sleep to Dream
7, Sam Phillips - Holding onto the the Earth
8. Cowboy Junkies - Sweet Jane
9. Tori Amos - Tear in My Hand
10. Concrete - Blonde True
11. Veruca Salt - Seether
12. Cat Stevens - Wild World
14. Bangles - Complicated Girl
15. Liz Phair - Polyester Bride
16. Shawn Mullins - Beautiful Wreck
17. Joan Osborne - Crazy Baby
18. Patti Rothberg - Inside
19. Freedy Johnston - Bad Reputation
20. Better than Ezra - In the Blood
21. Counting Crows - Mrs. Potters Lullaby
22. Pulp - Like A Friend
23. Hole - Violet
24. Garbage - Only Happy When It Rains
25. Cardigans - Been It
26. Heather Nova - Sugar

--Kristy Bowen

Kate's Mix

2011-06-23T23:20:00.004-04:00

Songs for Girls in Their 20s
Kate Durbin / Slip Dress Slut

Tori Amos – Past the Mission “she said she knew what my books did not”
Lady Gaga — Scheiße “if you’re a strong female, you don’t need permission”
Lady Gaga — Highway Unicorn “with the fury of a saint in her eyes”
Lunachicks — Less Teeth, More Tits “but miss america I can’t ignore you”
Gwen Stefani — Wait You Waiting For? “take a chance you stupid hoe”
Le Tigre — Keep on Livin’ “don’t let them fuck you around”
Tori Amos — Bachelorette “she can turn dust into champagne”
The Hangovers — I’m Glad I’m Me Today
Peaches — Boys Wanna Be Her
Sleater-Kinney— The Ballad of a Ladyman

Brandi's Mix

2011-06-21T14:42:00.002-04:00

1. Ada – The National
2. How Good You Are – Joe Pug
3. Calling and Not Calling My Ex – Okkervil River
4. Almost Lover – A Fine Frenzy
5. You Are the Best Thing – Ray LaMontagne
6. Stuck Between Stations – The Hold Steady
7. Swan Dive – Ani DiFranco
8. Silent All These Years – Tori Amos
9. A Chicken With Its Head Cut Off – The Magnetic Fields
10. Crazy – Patsy Cline
11. Hit Me With Your Best Shot – Pat Benatar
12. Rock’n’Roll Lifestyle – Cake
13. I’d Rather Go Blind – Etta James
14. Land of Canaan – Indigo Girls
15. This Tornado Loves You – Neko Case
16. Sunday Morning Coming Down – Johnny Cash
17. Bad Romance – Lady Gaga
18. American Girl – Tom Petty
19. Romeo and Juliet – Dire Straits
20. Just Live Your Life – TI and Rihanna
21. Paris (Ooh La La) – Grace Potter and the Nocturnals
22. To Be Young (Is to Be Sad, Is to Be High) – Ryan Adams
23. Southern Girl – Erykah Badu
24. Since U Been Gone – Kelly Clarkson
25. Better Things – The Magnetic Fields
26. Work It – Missy Elliot
27. Closer to Fine – Indigo Girls
28. Just a Girl – No Doubt
29. Killing in the Name – Rage Against the Machine
30. These Boots Are Made for Walking – Nancy Sinatra
31. I Know What Boys Like – The Waitresses
32. You Can’t Always Get What You Want – Rolling Stones
33. Unknown Legend – Neil Young
34. Throw Your Arms Around Me – Pearl Jam
35. My Best Friend’s Girl – The Cars
36. Dog Days Are Over – Florence and the Machine
37. Time After Time – Cyndi Lauper
38. Hold on to Me – Cowboy Junkies
39. Hollaback Girl – Gwen Stefani
40. The Middle – Jimmy Eat World
41. Now at Last – Cover by Feist
42. Single Ladies – Beyonce
43. Seven Nation Army – The White Stripes
44. Little Bit of Feel Good – Jamie Lidell
45. Breakaway – Kelly Clarkson
46. Get Rhythm – Johnny Cash
47. That’s Not My Name – The Ting Tings
48. The House That Built Me – Miranda Lambert
49. A Beautiful Mess (From a Raining Jane Session) – Jason Mraz
50. She’s a Jar – Wilco
51. Party Barge – Silver Jews
52. Mad World – Cover by Gary Jules and Michael Andrews
53. Midnight Train to Georgia – Gladys Knight and the Pips
54. Pavement Tune – The Frames
55. Marry Me – St. Vincent
56. I Want You Back – Jackson 5
57. Somewhere Over the Rainbow – Judy Garland
58. Hey Boy – The Blow
59. Our Life Is Not a Movie or Maybe – Okkervil River
60. The Boxer – Simon and Garfunkel
61. Raise Your Glass – Pink
62. Here Comes Your Man – Cover by Meaghan Smith
63. Sentimental Heart – She and Him
64. Dickhead – Kate Nash
65. Wise Up – Aimee Mann
66. Independence Day – Martina McBride
67. Mother – Tori Amos
68. 32 Flavors – Ani DiFranco
69. Breathe – Anna Nalick

--Brandi Homan

Daniela's Mix

2011-06-19T21:50:00.002-04:00

1. Walkabout - Atlas Sound (w/Noah Lennox)
2. Human Behavior - Bjork
3. The Orchids - Califone
4. The New Sound - The Capricorns
5. I Want To Be The President - Electrelane
6. South Is Only A Home - Fiery Furnaces
7. Yr Mangled Heart - The Gossip
8. Black Night - Holly GoLightly
9. Tightrope - Janelle Monae (ft. Big Boi)
10. Is it Medicine - The Knife
11. Again Again - Lady Gaga
12. Icebound Stream - Laura Veirs
13. Deceptacon - Le Tigre
14. Song Against Sex - Neutral Milk Hotel
15. Letter From an Occupant - The New Pornographers
16. Black and White - The Raincoats
17. Cobrastyle - Robyn
18. All Hands on the Bad One - Sleater-Kinney
19. Crosseyed and Painless - Talking Heads
20. We're Desperate - X
21. There is XXXX (Within My Heart) - You Say Party! We Say Die!

--Daniela Olszewska

Pop Time

2011-06-19T16:57:00.003-04:00

The latest song for girls in their 20s, "Pop Time" (for Lady Gaga's "The Edge of Glory"), can be found on Gaga Stigmata.

Palmyra

2011-06-05T16:16:00.007-04:00

1/9/11

I was taking a bus to Philly this morning—
January 9, 2011—Jenny’s 30th birthday—
(this one’s for Jenny, a woman in her 30s)

wondering which song to write about next
when I saw a road sign that read

PALMYRA 4

In “Palmyra,” I like the whole thing
the whole supercharged melancholy ballady thing
but I really like when the tempo picks up and
put my lipstick back on
look myself in the eye
because it reminds me of all the times
standing in front of a mirror
making sad faces
pouty faces and kissy faces
painting them pink and red

I did enough homework to be valedictorian
and when I couldn’t do homework any longer
I’d stand at my vanity—
(what the architect labeled the four sinks, one per sister)
—I’d stand at my vanity and apply lipstick

I wasn’t allowed to wear lipstick until I was twelve
and when I was twelve I wore lipstick to Catholic school
and the little Napoleon principal stopped me in the hallway,
said, “Wipe that off your face right now, young lady”
and the next year I left Catholic school

My three sisters would see me
putting on lipstick on schoolnights
and insist, “But you’re not going anywhere!”
and I’d laugh them off
because I was going someplace
with all that homework I did
I was going to LA
the world was going to get huge and sunny and sad

Now in PhD school when I’m glazed over from homework
I click on Facebook instead
which is after all like going to one’s vanity
PhD school will teach you that vanity was once a sin
But it is something else now

A luxury
A currency
Not beauty
but we have lost some ways of knowing
what means beautiful

And to be the girl who kicks the door down
to be avant-garde
is to make a study of disgust

I saw Black Swan today finally
In Philadelphia I saw Black Swan and my sister
and a famous penitentiary

Black Swan is a study of beauty and control
and the pursuit of untenable perfection
and so it is about ballerinas but also about
girls in their 20s

fetishy & gothic

There is the application of lipstick at mirrors
and the rending of flesh
and the letting of blood
and they filmed the apartment scenes for three weeks
in the building right next to mine
Eastern Parkway, Brooklyn, NY

From my vanity—
which I have painted bubble-gum pink
and on which I have leaned & set an old mirror, a parasol,
lipstick, scarves, tiaras, binoculars, black feathery wings—
I can see the side of the Turner Towers

But it is only a blank slab, no glass, no darkened reflection

I try to absorb all the light

I wonder if Jenny has seen Black Swan
Jenny, a beautiful stage presence, who had, I think,
to say goodbye to perfection
to survive

But we all still want control
I can’t think of a single one of us who doesn’t
even, especially
the wild Mila Kunises, who molt & molt & molt it off

“Palmyra” is the kind of song you write
not when you have stabbed yourself with a mirror shard
but when you have made peace with somebody you were
some body sharp and unrelenting

When Jolie Holland sings that she’s getting very good
at saying her goodbyes, I wonder if it’s
the former-self goodbye or
the local-daily goodbye
or the romantic or existential or what

When we left Black Swan I was kind of looking over my shoulder
and by the water fountain I saw a girl
wearing a black hoodie bedazzled with prismatic angel wings
and the glittering word BELLA
which kind of freaked me out because of reasons
that will make sense if you’ve seen Black Swan but also because
when I was little I’d write Cs that looked like Ls
and so they’d call me Bella

When we left Black Swan it was time to go back to New York
so the feeling was that I’d gone to Philadelphia for the first time
to get a message from the black swan

and my invisibly pregnant sister and the crumbling penitentiary

This is the message

In pursuit of the untenable, the beautiful woman dies.
The beautiful woman dies because beauty is never beauty enough
when it looks like beauty but is something else.

This is the moral on the back of my hoodie

We’re all swanning & molting & vain
We can choose how to wear it
We can choose when & where to see the signs
We can see ourselves in the hall of mirrors
Or we can get very good
At saying our goodbyes

Shannon's list

2011-03-14T15:03:00.002-04:00

Shannon Greene wrote to me with the songs that have gotten her through her 20s so far:

1. "Don't Stop" Fleetwood Mac
2. "Birmingham 1982" Maria Taylor
3. "Combat Baby" Metric
4. "Shadow Stabbing" Cake
5. "Good Enough" Evanescence
6. "Special Two" Missy Higgins
7. "Valley of the Damned" Dragonforce

Here's her blog, The Pancake Plan. A plan that involves pancakes is invariably wise.

Send me your playlists at beccavista at yahoo dot com!

Monsters of My 20s

2011-03-06T18:28:00.002-05:00

by Grant Snider (& lifted from Lili Loofbourow's Facebook wall).

Heather's Mix

2011-02-21T14:35:00.004-05:00

Announcing a new Songs For Girls In Their 20s blog feature!

You send me a playlist of songs that got you through your 20s (beccavista at yahoo dot com), and I put it on the blog. All submissions will be published.

Heather's list arrives just in time for her 30th birthday on Saturday. Heather and I have known each other since we were 13, so this one's hitting me hard. Congrats on makin' it through, H!

"Cross Bones Style," Cat Power
"Ship out on the Sea," The Be Good Tanyas
"Cripple and the Starfish," Antony and the Johnsons
"The Lakes of Canada," The Innocence Mission
"Birds," Emiliana Torrini
"Back in Time," Gillian Welch
"Crazy," Gnarls Barkley
"Eternal Flame," Joan As Police Woman*
"The Party," Justice featuring Uffie
"Tell You Now," Le Tigre
"I Think I Need a New Heart," Magnetic Fields
"Trailer Trash," Modest Mouse
"Flight Attendant," Josh Rouse
"Runnin' Out of Fools," Neko Case
"The Bleeding Heart Show," The New Pornographers*
"On the Radio," Regina Spektor
"Hearts of Oak," Ted Leo & the RX

*songs that probably could've gone on my list, too.

RAZZLE DAZZLE ROSE

2011-02-18T22:28:00.005-05:00

Why should the color Tracyanne chooses
Be razzle dazzle rose?
I ask myself
Staring blankly at my metallic pink iPod

An aha-duh slap to the forehead—
This is my color, too

Out of red

orange

yellow

green

violet

blue

I always choose razzle dazzle rose

There is a line of underwear called PINK
My middle school girls wanted to name our lit mag Pink
It is a color found in clothes, makeup, bodies, flowers, and skies

No you don’t have to wear pink
But Victorian baby boys did
So it’s not that big a deal

Both of my grandmothers are named Rose
And it’s my sister’s middle name
My Myers-Briggs personality—INFP—
Is famous for looking at life through rose-colored glasses

Add an accent mark, a bucket of ice, and a hunk of brie
And you’ve got a picnic

Razzle dazzle is what makes pink
Metallic, ironic, glinty

To say I wear pink without irony
Would be like saying
I wear shoes without soles

My pink, pink soul knows
The color of the guts it swirls through—
Knows I’m pink on the inside, too

Rose is not the same as pink
But if you razzle dazzle it up
You can grow up
And you can keep having fun

A BETTER SON/DAUGHTER

2011-02-13T12:30:00.005-05:00

It is the final year of my 20s
And it is Oprah’s final season
Because you don’t need a TV show anymore
When you are everywhere
And your WWOD rubber bracelet
Hugs the equator tight

I spend the 1 a.m. hour with Oprah
While I wait for Andy to get home
I don’t really watch it
But I like to keep my eye on her
And tell her to stop it, just stop it
When she tells people how to act
And then makes big eyes and pursed lips
At the audience

The first song I want to talk about
Is Rilo Kiley’s "A Better Son/Daughter"
Which begins in suffocation
And ends with a ship coming in

This is a song for girls in their 20s
Because of the part about

The lows are so extreme
that the good seems fucking cheap

And the part about

And sometimes when you’re on
You’re really fucking on

Well the girl in the song she got up anyway
And she went to work
And life wasn’t terrible it was just life
And sometimes just life
And just going to work
And stuff like fluorescent bulbs
And no windows
And stuff like same bathroom every day
And stuff like my chest kinda hurts
Or, I wiped out on the bridge
Will make you afraid of things
(planes, cars, people)
While you’re becoming less afraid of other things
(eyes, hands, people)
And sometimes it’s nothing at all but the daily motion of it
The bloated wheel of quotidian
That’s enough to make you afraid
Because there are grooves
And you’ve got to get out of them but you can’t
Because they’re the Grooves of Life
They’re there for a reason

And down there where the cattails are
And up there where the sky just changes, changes, changes
You never go
And you end up afraid

I lived in LA and Milwaukee in my early 20s
I lived in Chicago in my mid 20s
I live in Brooklyn in my late 20s

The mid 20s are the worst
I hope it’s true what they say about 30s
Being easier than 20s
But all I know so far is about 20s
And the mid 20s are the worst

Because at first there was all that possibility
And you might end up being anybody!
And then at the end there is this sense of
Oh shit, I can say whatever I want
And I didn’t magically become an astronaut
But I can still say whatever the hell I want

I’ll say that I’m an astronaut

On the pics Caolan put on Picasa
Of my 29th birthday party, she wrote
As regards me and a white squirrel

The beast shimmered at the foot of the sacred birthday tree . . .
. . . then vanished as surely as childhood innocence vanishes as we pass from girlhood (ages 0 - 28) to womanhood (ages 29 - 30). Becca spread her arms in bittersweet anguish, despairing with Diderot that we all die at 29.

I don’t know what she means about Diderot
And I should probably ask her
But right now I’m focused on this idea
That you’re a girl till you’re 29
And this is something that Arielle and I
Talk about in our Plath essay
That you should read by Googling it
And this is something I’ve disagreed with other women about
Women whom I’m calling women
Because they say that these people in their 20s
Who are not guys
Should be called "women"
Out of respect
And I sometimes do that
But mostly I say "girl"
Because I love girls

Girls are the best

Girls know how to laugh and play
And they don’t get anxious and paranoid
Or suffocatingly melancholy like Jenny Lewis
Or if they do
They get through it by imagining themselves
One day getting through it
One day being *30*
Still young

But old enough
To have all the answers

Oprah does not control the weather
But she controls good and bad sometimes
Like Oprah I can’t always control my body

There are girls and girls and girls of it

I like it with a u, I like it with a grrrrrr

I will try to do it right before your eyes
I will try to pass through
This is a rite of passage
This expires at midnight
But you were here
You just saw it

The Project

2011-02-12T18:02:00.001-05:00

I'll be turning 30 on July 1, 2011.

Until then, I'll be posting poems I've written or will soon write inspired by, about, for (over, under) the songs on the track list on the left.

These are all songs that got me through my 20s in one way or another.

If I can find them, I'll post videos for each song on the right, so you can listen as you read.

The poems will explain the how & the why of it.