Thursday, January 29, 2009

Mixtape for Inanimate Objects

A long time ago, I made this mix in honor of a (now married) friend's statement: There is too much romance in songs. I decided to make a mix all about love songs to inanimate objects. However, it sort of rotted on the vine, since I made it way too hard for myself. Here were the rules:

1. No songs about places-- that's a mix in itself.
2. No songs about cars-- that's also a mix in itself.
3. I could include non-car vehicles, but no more than one song about each type.

I think it's pretty obvious how I only came up with 7 songs. This was the best one: Darren Hanlon's "The Kickstand Song", which is all about the enterprising person who devised the bicycle kickstand. Others were:

"Television" by Robyn Hitchcock. I think this song is about how television is creepy. But it's also an unrequited love song...to TV.
"Speeding Motorcycle" by Yo la Tengo (originally by Daniel Johnston). Pretty obvious. This song has great lyrics: "We don't need reason and we don't need logic, 'cause we have feeling and we're damn proud of it."
"Enola Gay" by Orchestral Manoeuvers in the Dark. Again, kind of creepy because this song is about the plane that bombed Japan in World War II. So I'm not sure if it's really a love song. But it's just a good song, and about such a strange inanimate object that I had to include it.
"A Summer Wasting" by Belle and Sebastian, which doesn't seem quite relevant (summer and indolence are a little abstract for this mix), but having six songs was just too pathetic.
"Truck Train Tractor" by the Pastels. Getting a few objects in at once! This song doesn't make much sense lyrically, but it is, believe it or not, a pretty great song to dance around to.
"Wheelz of Steel" by Outkast. A love song to turntables.

I may have to revisit this mix and find more songs. It seemed like such a good idea at the time...

7 comments:

Anonymous said...

Well...been reading your blog for quite a while and it's a first time posting a comment :)
Anyway, the mixtape was a very nice idea :)
I also add: 'Plug-in Baby' by Muse, a song about the singer's guitar...

Fellmama said...

I don't know about "love" songs, per se, but King Missile has quite a few songs about inanimate objects. The ones that spring to mind are "Detachable Penis" and "The Little Sandwich that Got a Guilt Complex Because He Was the Sole Survivor of a Horrible Bus Crash." I'll have to think more about this!

Ily said...

Thanks y'all! I find what's hard about this is that in so many songs, inanimate objects are metaphors for people (that doesn't count) or peripheral. I wish I could find the Kickstand Song online, it's amazing!

Anonymous said...

"I Can't Take My Eyes Off You" by Melanie Doane is a love song to TV too. Hm, wish it wasn't about the same thing as a song you already have.

When I was in a band in high school I wrote a song complaining that all songs were about love, then I wrote one about vacation, then I wrote one about insomnia, then I realized I was a bad songwriter and I stopped.

Ily said...

Sea, you've reminded me of my magnum opus, a song about tourists. I know it's about people, but your vacation song made me think of it. I haven't been a tourist in a very long time (sadly), so I've been missing breaking it out:

Bermuda shorts
A camera 'round my neck
A fanny pack
What the heck?
I'm a traveller
A tourist, some might say
Although too many use that term
In a negative way.
I'm just having fun
Under the sun.
Although I look confused,
I'm really quite amused.
I might look out of place
But it feels so right
Exploring the world
All day and all night
In my bermuda shorts.

...it went on.

Kim said...

I found an article about lesbian feminism, which I hadn't previously known was separate from feminism in general.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/lifeandstyle/2009/jan/30/women-gayrights

A quote: Both Crockett and Garthwaite can see why LYE upset people. "The arguments in LYE were a stick of dynamite up a very cosy feminist convention," says Crockett, "that heterosexual feminists must never be criticised for choosing men over women."

Anonymous said...

Dune Buggy and Toob Amplifier by The Presidents Of The United States Of America

Sweater by Eskimo Joe



P.S. Thank you for your blogging Ily, you rule.