a partial break down of Sir William Joel's "Only the Good Die Young"

I heard this song in the car this morning for the first time in years...  And I never realized how hilarious it actually is (intentionally or unintentionally).

I also wonder how many young men in the 70s and 80s played this song for their girlfriends in an attempt to generate actual intercourse.  It has to be in the tens of thousands, right?  (And... Did it ever actually work?)


> Come out Virginia, don't let me wait

Her name actually has the word VIRGIN in it.  I just got that.


> Only the good die young

Are there vampires on the lookout for virgins here?  Is someone demanding a virgin sacrifice?

Is that what Long Island was like in 60s?

"If you don't have sex with me... I'm not saying you WILL die... But you COULD die.  Seriously.  Oh, and it has to be tonight."


> I might as well be the one

"Listen... Are the other guys you could sleep with?  Sure.  I'm not debating that.  I don't even have reason to believe that you're necessarily that crazy about me.  But... You know... I'm here.  And you're here... So... We might as well, right?  You could do worse."


> But Virginia they didn't give you quite enough information

Based on the interactions I've had with people that attended Catholic high schools, I'm guessing they didn't really give her any kind of sexual education information.


> I'd rather laugh with the sinners than cry with the saints

That's actually not a bad line.


> You Catholic girls start much too late

Start what?  Piano lessons?  Gymnastics?


> Things that you might have done...

Like had sex.  With me.

Closing Ceremonies

Whatever Fatboy Slim was on last Sunday night must have been AWESOME.

He looked like he was having the best time of anyone there.

Circle of Life

I dropped off a bunch of old CDs at Newbury Comics on Saturday.

The guy actually thanked me for having interesting stuff to sell back.

Then I went and spent that money on insulation for the attic.

In other news, I am old.

15 Albums

This was a fun little Facebook exercise I thought I'd post here, too.

"Fifteen albums you've heard that will always stick with you; not necessarily your favorites or an artist's best album. List the first fifteen you can recall in no more than fifteen minutes."



1. The White Stripes - "White Blood Cells"

2. Sugar - "Copper Blue"

3. R.E.M. - "Automatic for the People"

4. New Pornographers - "Electric Version"

5. Ted Leo - "Hearts of Oak"

6. Pavement - "Crooked Rain, Crooked Rain"

7. Prince - "Purple Rain"

8. Led Zeppelin - "Physical Graffiti"

9. Beatles - "Abbey Road"

10. Nirvana - "Nevermind"

11. Fleetwood - "Rumors"

12. Pixies - "Doolittle"

13. Folk Implosion "One Part Lullaby"

14. Vince Guaraldi Trio - "A Charlie Brown Christmas"

15. The Lemonheads - "It's A Shame About Ray"

Music in the Car


"Change that."

"What?"

"I don't want him listening to that. You said you cleaned this up."

"This is fine. The sooner he learns that fat bottomed girls do in fact make the world go 'round, the better off he'll be."

The Best of 2009
By P. Canole
   
1. "There Are Maybe Ten Or Twelve" - A.C. Newman
2. "Now We Can See" - The Thermals
3. "Quiet Little Voices" - We Were Promised Jetpacks
4. "It Ain’t Gonna Save Me" - Jay Reatard
5. "Oscar Wilde" - Company Of Thieves
6. "Magpie To The Morning" - Neko Case
7. "Oh No" - Andrew Bird
8. "One Machine, One Long Fight" - Lou Barlow
9. "1901" - Phoenix
10. "Over It" - Dinosaur Jr.
11. "Will There Be Enough Water?" - The Dead Weather
12. "Never Turn Your Back On Mother Earth" - Neko Case
13. "Know Your Enemy" - Green Day
14. "Like A Hitman, Like A Dancer" - A.C. Newman
15. "Building All Is Love" - Karen O And The Kids
16. "Anonanimal" - Andrew Bird
17. "I'm An Animal" - Neko Case

Pat Canole's Albums of the Decade

10. Ted Leo & The Pharmacists - Shake the Sheets (2004)

9. Radiohead - In Rainbows (2007)

8. Interpol - Antics (2005)

7. Sufjan Stevens - Illinoise (2005)

6. Fountains Of Wayne - Welcome Interstate Managers (2003)

5. The New Pornographers - Electric Version (2003)

4. Aimee Mann - Bachelor No. 2 (2000)

3. Ted Leo & The Pharmacists - Hearts Of Oak (2003)

2. The White Stripes - Elephant (2003)

1. The New Pornographers - Twin Cinema (2005)

The Best of 2008
By P. Canole

1. Vivian Girls - "Tell the World"
2. R.E.M. - "Horse To Water"
3. MGMT - "Electric Feel"
4. TV On the Radio - "Golden Age"
5. Beck - "Gamma Ray"
6. Sigur Rós - "Gobbledigook"
7. Santogold - "L.E.S. Artistes"
8. Mudcrutch - "Scare Easy"
9. Fleet Foxes - "White Winter Hymnal"
10. Bell X1 - "Rocky Took a Lover"
11. TV On the Radio - "DLZ"
12. The Raconteurs - "Rich Kid Blues"
13. Sigur Rós - "Inní mér syngur vitleysingur"
14. Holy F*** - "Lovely Allen"
15. MGMT - "Time to Pretend"
16. R.E.M. - "Supernatural Superserious"
17. The Raconteurs - "Salute Your Solution"

The Best of 2007 by P. Canole

The CDs are done. It was a good year for music. I probably could have done a third disc.

Disc 1

1 The Fratellis - Baby Fratelli
2 The Go! Team - Grip Like a Vice
3 Bruce Springsteen - Radio Nowhere
4 The Hives - You Got It All... Wrong
5 Black Lips - Cold Hands
6 Ted Leo and the Pharmacists - The Lost Brigade
7 Sigur Rós - Hljómalind
8 The Kinks - This Time Tomorrow
9 The New Pornographers - Unguided
10 Fountains Of Wayne - Michael And Heather At The Baggage Claim
11 Radiohead - All I Need
12 The White Stripes - Rag & Bone
13 Arctic Monkeys - Fluorescent Adolescent
14 The Shins - Sleeping Lessons
15 The Go! Team - Fake ID
16 Dinosaur Jr - Almost Ready
17 The Apples In Stereo - Energy
18 Ted Leo and the Pharmacists - Who Do You Love?

Disc 2

1 The Fratellis - Flathead
2 The Long Blondes - Once and Never Again
3 Interpol - The Heinrich Maneuver
4 Rogue Wave - Lake Michigan
5 Feist - 1234
6 The Thermals - Test Pattern
7 The New Pornographers - My Rights Versus Yours
8 Fountains Of Wayne - New Routine
9 Dinosaur Jr - Been There All The Time
10 Amy Winehouse - You Know I'm No Good
11 Elliott Smith - Thirteen
12 The Shins - Australia
13 The New Pornographers - Myriad Harbour
14 Ted Leo and the Pharmacists - C.I.A.
15 The White Stripes - Icky Thump
16 The Fratellis - Chelsea Dagger
17 Spoon - The Underdog

Because it's nice to get something in the mail...

My annual "Best of" CDs have been sent out. I know I've been saying this for the last few years, but this will really probably be the last year I do this.

If you didn't get one and you think you'd like a copy, drop me a line.

Here's the track list for "The Best of 2006 By P. Canole". Think of this as a countdown, with the songs getting better as you go:

1. Crazy...Gnarls Barkley*
2. Gold Lion...Yeah Yeah Yeahs
3. I Bet You Look Good On The Dancefloor...Arctic Monkeys
4. Sing Me Spanish Techno...The New Pornographers**
5. The Denial Twist...The White Stripes**
6. You Only Live Once...The Strokes
7. Ticket to Immortality...The Dears
8. Long Way Home...Tom Waits
9. Smile...Lily Allen
10. Fidelity...Regina Spektor
11. There's Always Someone Cooler Than You...Ben Folds
12. Skip to the End...The Futureheads
13. When You Wasn't Famous...The Streets
14. Another Sunny Day...Belle & Sebastian
15. Moving to L.A....Art Brut
16. LDN...Lily Allen
17. Wolf Like Me...TV On the Radio
18. Star Witness...Neko Case


* Yeah, I'm sick of "Crazy", too. But it will age well. Trust me.

** The White Stripes and New Pornographers albums came out in 2005, but these songs were released as singles in January 2006.