Ben Folds and Regina Spektor together

Today's NPR Song of the Day: Ben Folds: Cynicism Meets Sweetness

• Song: "You Don't Know Me"
• Artist: Ben Folds (featuring Regina Spektor)
• CD: Way to Normal
• Genre: Pop-Rock

It's a good track. It's funny. It's witty. It's catchy. Oh, and its got some bitter realism mixed in there. Speaking of mixing, it's interesting combining Spektor and Folds. You can stream the track at the NPR page. The music video is embedded below...

The explicit lyrics go something like... (where Spektor's lyrics are in parentheses)

I wanna ask you —
Do you ever sit and wonder,
It's so strange
That we could be together for
So long, and never know, never care
What goes on in the other one's head?

Things I've felt but I've never said
You said things that I never said
So I'll say something that I should have said long ago:

(You don't know me)
You don't know me at all
(You don't know me)
You don't know me at all (at all)

You could have just propped me up on the table like a mannequin
Or a cardboard stand-up and paint me (paint me)
Any face that you wanted me
To be seen.
We're
Damned by the existential moment where
We saw the couple in the coma and
It was we were the cliché,
But we carried on anyway.

So, sure, I could just close my eyes.
Yeah, sure, trace and memorize,
But can you go back once you know

(You don't know me)
You don't know me at all
(You don't know me)
You don't know me at all (at all)

(You don't know me)
You don't know me at all
(You don't know me)
You don't know me

If I'm the person that you think I am (Ah ah ahh)
Clueless chump you seem to think I am (Ah ah ahhh)
So easily led astray,
An errant dog who occasionally escapes and needs a shorter leash, then
Why the fuck would you want me back?!

Maybe it's because

(You don't know me at all)

Ahhh ah
Ahhh ah

(You don't know me,
you don't know me.)

Ahhh ah
Ahhh ah

So, what I'm trying to say is
What (What?)
I'm trying to tell you
It's not gonna come out like I wanna say it cause I know you'll only change it.
(Say it.)

(You don't know me)
You don't know me at all
(You don't know me)
You don't know me at all (at all)

(You don't know me)
You don't know me at all
(You don't know me)
You don't know me at all (at all)

What?

(Mmmm, ohh oh
Ah ah ah ah ah
Aha ah ah ah
Ah-ah-ah-ah-ah
Oh-oh-oh-oh-oh
Aha ah
Ah ah
Ah-ah-ah-ah-ah-ah-ah-ah-ah
Oh-oh-oh-oh oh ohh)

What?

"Hands in Pockets" with Cellos

Great version of an already pretty song: NPR Song of the Day: "Hands in Pockets" by Portland Cello Project with Laura Gibson (streamable via RealPlayer)

"Don't Be Upset" by Jeffrey and Jack Lewis

Great lyrics and a fun little song...

i took my darling out to the aquarium
sea creatures stared at us and we stared back at them
my baby freaked when she peeked at that 8-legged blob with a beak
she was too scared to speak
i said don't be upset it's only an octopus
don't bother it and i'm sure it won't bother us
please don't be upset my darling, please don't get upset
my baby came riding to meet me one time
on the crowed last car of the downtown-bound 9
she was brave but she caved
when the train was delayed
it was just the last straw in her hard busy day
i said don't get upset 'cuz it's not a catastrophe
nothing will happen and soon you'll be back with me
please don't be upset my darling , please don't be upset
my gal's got a headhache, her ankle is hurting too
boots she bought gave her a rash & her winsdom tooth
is coming in and it's damp out and she's having cramps and she's so mad at me cuz i didn't shave
i said don't be upset i know you're feeling sensitive
i'll try to be kinder and be more attentive
please don't be upset my darling please don't get upset
darling i said, i'm gonna be 27 soon
i've only got rejection letters and a sense of impending doom
i think it's too late for me
all the comic companies hate me
and i try but it's always the same
i guess my art is just lame and it's strange but still somehow i'm
always not suiting their needs at this time
and she said ........don't be upset,
you know that you're wonderful
just keep on trying ...(actually what she really said was)
all you ever wanna talk about is your self and your comic books and your album and your tour
and everytime i see your friends they just ask me where you are again and it hurts
it makes me feel like dirt
i'm just gonna write where you are on my shirt
and i said don't be upset, don't be in a bad mood
let's just go to a show and hang out and feel good
come on please don't be upset my darling, please don't be upset, i'll do anything baby, just don't be upset

Wryness in song: The Girls Don't Care

"Eef Barzelay: A Blueprint for Finding Love" by Stephen Thompson

• Song: "The Girls Don't Care"
• Artist: Eef Barzelay
• CD: Lose Big
• Genre: Pop-Rock

As leader of the now-defunct Clem Snide, Eef Barzelay took flak from critics for weaving smart-alecky wordplay and pop-culture references into his keenly observational songs. But then, with the release of 2003's Soft Spot — a concept album about the unconditional love and sacrifice inherent in marriage and parenthood — he took yet more flak for singing straightforwardly sincere love songs.

Truth be told, Barzelay's work has always mixed wryness with unmistakable warmth, and he's never gotten enough credit for both the subtlety of the former and the sincerity of the latter. Ever since Soft Spot, and starting with the title track to 2005's End of Love, he's taken to occasionally needling those for whom expressions of love run counter to a painstakingly maintained ironic distance. "You're so sophisticated / Your mind's been liberated / You're the first to notice when a movement's come and gone," he sang in "End of Love," concluding, "No one will survive the end of love."

Since then, Barzelay has released a solo acoustic record (2006's Bitter Honey), recorded Clem Snide's swan song (the still-unreleased Hungry Bird), and made Lose Big, a smart and compact collection of rock 'n' roll conversation-starters. "The Girls Don't Care" in particular functions as an ideal sequel to "End of Love," as Barzelay gently advises against hipper-than-thou posturing: "The girls don't care that you ache to be free," he sings. "The girls just want a sweet melody."

Barzelay has never been afraid to turn a pop song into a mission statement: For proof, check out Clem Snide's masterful "I Love the Unknown," which Barzelay helpfully tacks on as a bonus track to Lose Big. In "The Girls Don't Care," he lays out a bona fide blueprint for how to find love: "Don't listen to Frank Zappa / play Coltrane, Faust, or Can / Just take that twisted heart of yours and lay it in her hand."

It's a pretty song too. Have a listen at the SotD link. Song lyrics are easy to find too.

(Am I Just) Fooling Myself

NPR Song of the Day (April 11, 2008): "Eli 'Paperboy' Reed Channels Soul's Giants" by Marc Silver

Just who does Eli "Paperboy" Reed think he is? The reincarnation of the wicked Wilson Pickett? A skillful James Brown imitator? Winner of the Austin Chronicle's award for "best Otis Redding impersonation by a 23-year-old Jewish boy from Massachusetts"?

• Song: "(Am I Just) Fooling Myself"
• Artist: Eli "Paperboy" Reed
• CD: Roll with You
• Genre: Soul

Hear the track at the story page.

Get Your Head Around my Blue Morning

Recent NPR Song of the Day tracks for you:

• "Get Your Head Around It" by Headlights
• "Blue Morning" by Kate Maki

You can stream them from NPR's site (which is linked from each song). I've sent Pandora an e-mail suggesting that they add the songs to their database. On that note, I always get a personal response from one of the people at Pandora whenever I send them a song suggestion. I think that's pretty cool.

What's wrong with engineers?

"Love Affair" (Regina Spektor) lyrics

There was a love affair in this building
The kind of love affair
Which every respectable building must keep as a legend
Slowly festering through an innocent "by the way"
Or "have you heard"
He was perfect except for the fact that he was an engineer
And mothers prefer doctors
And lawyers

Yet despite this imperfection
He was clean-looking and respectable-looking
And you'll never find a mother
Who doesn't appreciate a natural man
So he grew healthy aloe vera plants by the window
Healthy teeth in his mouth
Healthy hair on his head
He grew healthy wavy brown hair on his head
The kind, the kind that babies always go for
With sticky little fingers

I have healthy hair and teeth and wavy brown hair. I don't know about the baby thing...

I'm pretty sure my aloe vera plant is dying too...

I suppose it is true that mothers rarely like me...

NPR Wedding Music

Stephen Thompson is one of the music experts on NPR. I like him a lot. One day I sent NPR a note saying that I liked him a lot, and he sent me his "Best of" CD's for 2003, 2004, and 2005. Evidently he was having a rough move to DC away from his own midwestern family, and it was nice to hear the good words.

Anyway, today's piece:

Wedding Day Blues: In Search of the Perfect Mix CD by Stephen Thompson

He was asked to put together a mix CD for his niece's wedding. After a lot of deliberation and realization that there are really few happy songs about marriage, he came up with:

1. Clem Snide, "Forever, Now and Then"
2. Old 97's, "Question"
3. Josh Rouse, "Nothing Gives Me Pleasure"
4. Death Cab for Cutie, "Passenger Seat"
5. Jimmy Scott, "When Did You Leave Heaven?"
6. The Lemonheads, "Into Your Arms"
7. Ron Sexsmith, "Moonlight Becomes You"
8. Nick Drake, "From the Morning"
9. Norah Jones, "Come Away with Me"
10. Sade, "By Your Side"
11. Matthew Sweet, "I've Been Waiting"
12. Radney Foster & Abra Moore, "I'm In"
13. Neil Young, "Harvest Moon"
14. Chet Baker, "Embraceable You"
15. Iron & Wine, "Ab's Song"
16. Low, "The Plan"
17. Johnny Cash & June Carter Cash, "As Long As the Grass Shall Grow"
18. Clem Snide, "Find Love"

I recommend actually reading the article. The text sounds like something straight out of the mouth of a grown-up version of one of the characters in High Fidelity (book, movie, soundtrack). Additionally, you can listen to at least six of the songs from the mix directly from the story.

For more NPR music stuff, see:

NPR : Music

"Song of the Day" is a particularly good segment to catch each day (contributed to by a number of NPR music fans):

NPR : Song of the Day

Of course, there are NPR RSS Feeds for all of these and more.

• RSS: NPR : Music
• RSS: NPR : Song of the Day
• RSS: NPR : Stephen Thompson