youletyourmomlistentothatmusic

[youletyourmomlistentothatmusic]

Why I love slaughter beach, dog

Sam and I love to talk about all the different things music can do, and one of those things is set a scene. In my mind, there’s no one better at setting a scene than Slaughter Beach, dog. It’s like getting a hug from your late 20’s. It’s a nostalgia for something you haven’t quite reached yet but you know it’s coming. When it does, god it’s gonna be great. At the moon base is bursting with that feeling. “Do you understand what has happened to you” “Are you there” “Song for Oscar’s” and “Notes from a brief engagement” describe your past, or possibly your future. You and your friends are getting “old”, you’re falling in love, you’re falling out of it, you’re moving out and you’re doing it to the soundtrack of slaughter beach, dog.

Take a trip to slaughter beach,

Bobby

[youletyourmomlistentothatmusic]

14 songs for the 14th: Day 14

We made it!! Day 14th!

And even though I said there was no particular order I did save my favorite for last.

Laura Marling - For you

Now this is a love song. It’s the feeling of someone else being made for you, by something cosmic.

“It was just an evening

Much like any else

When you came into my life

It takes one to know one

And I saw you there

As I had seen you all my life”

As I’m sure we all know, there’s people we meet sometimes and from that instant we know they are going to be important. And it’s even more special when that person is the person we love.

And the chorus,

“I thank a God I've never met

Never loved, never wanted (For you)

I write it so I don't forget

Never let it get away

I wear a picture of you

Just to keep you safe”

“I thank a god I’ve never met, never loved, never wanted for you” I mean holy shit. I mean I think even if you’re not religious there are times when you think, Fate or God or whoever planned this.

And my favorite line ever,

“No childish expectation

Love is not the answer

But the line that marks the start”

There’s this passage from a writing by C.S. Lewis that I’ve always loved where he’s talking about marriage and love. He says, “Being in love' first moved them to promise fidelity: this quieter love enables them to keep the promise. It is on this love that the engine of the marriage is run: being in love was the explosion that started it.”

Love is not stagnant, it grows and changes much like all of us change and I think Laura Marling captures that perfectly.

No childish expectations,

Bobby

[youletyourmomlistentothatmusic]

14 songs for the 14th: Day 13

we’re so close!! its day 13!

Father John Misty - Real love baby

I know I know you’re probably heard this song before but it’s a classic!! And sometimes it’s fun to actually break down the lyrics of songs you’ve heard a thousand times.

The first verse starts,

“Our hearts are free

So tell me what's wrong with the feeling

I'm a flower, you're the bee

It's much older than you and me

I'm in love, I'm alive

I belong to the stars and sky

Let's forget who we are for one night

We're not animals, baby

It's the people who lie (to themselves)”

Love’s much older than you and me. Love began long before us and undoubtedly will continue long after you and me (and tumblr.com) are long long gone. And that’s both utterly terrifying and somehow comforting.

Then the chorus,

“I want real love, baby

There's a world inside me

Got the key, just use it

Just if for a minute”

I think there’s this desire, especially in the modern age, for real relationships, real connections, real love. Not just wanting to be viewed digitally but the feeling of being truly known by those you love. “There’s a world inside me, Got the key, just use it” We all have little worlds inside us. Made of media and people and endless knowledge. And it’s so sweet to be able to share that, to give someone a “key”.

There are worlds inside us,

Bobby

[youletyourmomlistentothatmusic]

14 songs for the 14th: Day 12

Day 12!!

Lisa LeBlanc - 5748 km

In general, I love Lisa LeBlanc’s work but I particularly love this song.

The first verse LeBlanc describes the distance between her and the person she loves, you guessed it, 5748km.

And the second verse begin,

“That’s a lot of writing about your day

And sending letters by pigeon

That’s a lot of “I miss you’s’’

And “I wish you were here’s’’

A lot of Xs on the calendar and Xs for kisses

A life of hellos and a life of goodbyes”

It’s so sweet, I don’t know how else to describe it. It’s like lots of little tiny I love you’s in lyric form.

And every verse ends with,

“But I love you, yes, I really do”

The whole song was essentially boils down to, “this is a ridiculous distance and traveling it is going to be incredibly annoying and inconvenient, but at the end of the day I love you and that makes it all worth it.”

Plus I think it’s unique because you don’t really hear a whole lot of songs about long distance relationships.

Sending this via pigeon,

Bobby

[youletyourmomlistentothatmusic]

14 songs for the 14th: Day 11

Day 11!!

Dr. Dog - I saw her for the first time

This, unlike a lot of the other songs I’ve talked about, is truly a love song. And not only are the lyrics perfect but it’s got this really sweet sounding string backing.

The chorus,

“I saw her for the first time

And I was longing for the last time

I saw her for the first time

And now I know I gotta make her mine”

I love the use of the word “longing” I think it would have been really easy to substitute it for “lonely” but I enjoy “longing” so much more. It’s like a ‘you fulfilled everything I was looking for’

And later, quite possibly my favorite lyric of the song,

“When she walked out I felt no doubt

I would see her again

Up in the clouds and deep in the crowds

Till the very end”

“I would see her again, up in the clouds and deep in the crowds, till the very end” Are you kidding me??

This, at its core, is what I love and admire most about music. It reminds me of the Ethan Hawk quote where he’s talking about poetry and says, “They have a life to live and they’re really not that concerned with Allen Ginsberg’s poems or anyone’s poems—until, their father dies; they go to a funeral; you lose a child; someone breaks your heart. And all of a sudden you’re desperate for making sense out of this life… And that’s when art’s not a luxury—it’s actually sustenance.” I think music is really similar it captures what we often don’t know how to say, and gives name to the feelings we struggle to describe.

And to me “I saw her for the first time”describes love.

Hope to see you in the cloud and deep in the crowds,

Bobby

[youletyourmomlistentothatmusic]

14 songs for the 14th: Day 10

day 10!!!

Shakey Graves - Not wife (Could it be Her)*

This song was just (officially) released for shakey graves day (Woop Woop) and I don’t think it’s left my head since I heard it.

“My favorite not wife

I'll never cross the line

But what if we're together in another life”

It’s this idea of feeling like you could maybe be something with someone but never really fully committing to it.

And the chorus,

“Cause I fall in a little bit of love

With a lot of people

All the time”

Which gets repeated till the end of the song. I’m obsessed with that line. “I fall in a little bit of love with a lot of people all the time” because I think that’s true for all of us, even if we don’t realize it. A friend joking asked me recently “you don’t think love’s exciting?” and I think it can be. I think the idea that you meet people “all the time” that you “fall in a little bit of love with” is actually really sweet.

*based on the genius lyrics it seems like this song might have went by a different name before it was officially released so I chose to include both

Fall in a little bit of love,

Bobby

[youletyourmomlistentothatmusic]

14 songs for the 14th: Day 9

okay so it might not actually be day 9…

Oops

Steam powered giraffe - Honeybee

A bit of backstory, when I first heard this song never in a million years did I think one of my favorite love songs to date would be a steam powered giraffe song. but, this song is so good.

“You didn't have to say my name

Ignite my circuits and start a flame

But you did”

Part of why I love this song is it just has such great imagery. “ignite my circuits and start a flame” you can immediately picture that in your mind.

“Oh, Turpentine erase me whole

'Cause I don't want to live my life alone

Well, I was waiting for you all my life”

This song mightttt not be about mutual love. But god does it capture the feeling of unrequited love. Which is especially true in the chorus,

“Set me free

My...

Honeybee

Honeybee”

Start a flame,

Bobby

[youletyourmomlistentothatmusic]

14 songs for the 14th: Day 8

Day 8!

Alabama Shakes - Gimme all your love

I had a hard time deciding whether or not to include this song. Is it a love song? I’m not quite sure, but I think it definitely describes being in love so therefore it’s included.

There are certain songs sometimes that sound best laying down on your bedroom floor. Just bathing in the music. And this is one of them.

(Side note: also a fantastic song to listen to when it’s raining)

It opens with,

“So much is going on

But you can always come around

Why don't you sit with me, for just a little while?

Tell me, what's wrong?”

We all want to help the people we love, especially when they’re dealing with something hard. And to me that’s what this line represents a “please let me help you feel better”

And of course the chorus,

“If you'd just give me all your love

Gimme all you got, baby

Gimme all your love”

In a way it reminds me of Yo La Tengo’s “You can have it all”. One saying just “gimme all your love” and the other says “you can have it all”

I think this song is so perfect because it captures that feeling of “God just let me love you” and “Please just give me all you got to give”

Give me all you got,

Bobby

[youletyourmomlistentothatmusic]

14 songs for the 14th: Day 7

Day 7!!

Mac DeMarco - Let my baby stay

No surprise this song is on here since Salad Days is one of my favorite Mac albums. But thinking about it from a love perspective, this song is also a fantastic love song.

If you haven’t heard the story behind it I recommend checking out the Genius lyrics.

But even purely from a lyrical standpoint,

“I was made to love her, Been working at it”

That’s a fantastic line. There’s this whole concept you’ll run into a lot in media about romance, the idea of being made for someone else. (Some call it soulmates, some call it twin flames, etc. etc.) From the day that you met them something became right again. But even still, love takes work. You can be made to love someone and still want to try and continually be better for them (and to them).

And the chorus,

“So please don’t take my love away

Let my baby stay

Let my baby stay

Please don’t take my love away

Let my baby stay

Let my baby stay”

Again, it means so much more when you here the story behind it. (I probably sound a bit pretentious, “you gotta like know the story man” but seriously I mean it)

Keep workin at it,

Bobby

[youletyourmomlistentothatmusic]

14 songs for the 14th: Day 6

Day 6!

Caamp - Penny, Heads Up 

This song is dancing in the rain with the person you love. (which would make sense, since that’s what it describes :-) And it’s just the right amount of sweet.

“Oh, I'd drink up an ocean Just to show you I could”

I think we know now by day 6 that I love “head over heels” love songs and this is that. But it’s also just about enjoying time with the one you love,

“Fallin' in love to a little tiny speaker Rained so hard that our tent started leakin' on us We ain't got much, what we got, it's enough”

I love the vibe of the song and the guitar, and I hope ya’ll do too.

Bobby

p.s sorry this one is shorter! but we have a few other posts coming up so I didn’t want to write too much.

[youletyourmomlistentothatmusic]

14 songs for the 14th: Day 5

Day 5 Woop Woop

Kurt Vile (with the Sadie’s) - Baby’s Arms

Now, I say this a lot because I love music. Why else would I be apart of a music blog if I didn’t? But this truly is one of my favorite songs. The second I heard it, it got put in all my love playlists. Sam and I were just talking about what we like in love songs and this is what I look for. Vile is backed by the Sadie’s, and there’s three of them playing guitar together. Which is that a groundbreaking concept? No, it’s undoubtedly been done before but it adds so much depth.

And the lyrics,

“I get sick of just about everyone

And I hide in my baby’s arms”

Dude…

I talked about this a bit with “when you wash your hair”. There’s something so attractive about love songs that describe the mundane. Or at least the songs that describe the simple parts of love.

“Hide in my baby’s hands

'Cause except for her

There just ain't nothing to latch onto”

The people we love are constants in our lives. They’re the people we turn to when it feels like there’s “nothing to latch onto”.

And there’s this fantastic video of the live recording of this song. The setting is so intimate and fits the songs so well. (I’m also in love with the teapot lamp they use in the video, but that’s beside the point) It’s like sitting around a campfire with all your favorite people.

Hope you enjoy,

Bobby

[youletyourmomlistentothatmusic]

14 songs for the 14th: Day 4

Day 4!

Lee Fields & The Expressions - You’re the kind of girl

This song feels like something you’d dance to in your kitchen on a Sunday morning, which I guess is why I’m sharing it with you on a Saturday night ;) It’s just a really great soul love song. The first verse ends with,

“And you’re the kind of girl Makes a man believe That true love Not as hard as they say”

And I love that line. “that true love (is) not as hard as they say”. Because there’s so much media about how love is pain but being in love shouldn’t be painful, it shouldn’t be “as hard as they say”. Which is I think why I put this song on this list, I think it’s good to enjoy media about how good love can be. 

“And since you walked in my life My life means so much more”

Love (at least at it’s best) can be a positive influence in your life, something that makes you want to be better. Something that makes your life mean so much more.

And I love the way this song ends. It ends with the single line, 

“I think I love you”

Bobby

[youletyourmomlistentothatmusic]

14 songs for the 14th: Day 3

Good things come in threes, including love songs…

It’s Day three :)  

Matt Maltese - When you wash your hair

This song is a quiet kind of love, and that’s why it’s on this list. It’s about the unspoken, the mundane and the oddly intimate. There’s so many things that become part of our routines, things we do so frequently we don’t even have to think about them. But to the people we love, those things can be fascinating. 

“You take your evening outfit off

You run your shower and lean back your head

I love when you wash your hair”

And while it could come off as embarrassing, letting someone into your life like that, to view you at your lowest; Maltese reminds us that it doesn’t have to be. 

“I hear you tell me lightly

You were quite a mess

But I worship you no less this way”

Not “I love” but “I worship”. I think Maltese manages to capture something beyond the love that we often describe. He describes acceptance, and that’s the sweetest kind there is. 

Hope your love is fascinating,

Bobby

P.S. I won’t write too much about it but another song of Maltese’s that I love is “Everyone adores you”, specifically the quiet version. It’s linked in our bio (under my name) ;)

[youletyourmomlistentothatmusic]

14 songs for the 14th: Day 2

It’s Day twoooo

Yo La Tengo - You can have it all

This song is some like classic rom com fade to black, walk off hand and hand in the sunset shit. You’re sitting in your partner's apartment, the lights are dim, you got a record playing, and this is the song that’s playing. It’s not very complex lyrically, just a few lines repeated over but musically it’s amazing. It’s classic Yo La Tengo. It opens with the declaration,

“If you want, want my love

Take it baby

If you want, want my heart

Take it baby”

If you want my love take it, if you want my heart take it. Which might sound a bit unrequited if it wasn’t for the lyrics that follow. The repetition of “You can have it all” makes it begin to sound like a promise. You can have it all. And at 3:06 he begins to repeat it back to her. It’s saying “You can have all my love and I’ll return just as much back to you.” 

Like I said, rom-com shit.

Hope y’all can have it all,

Bobby

[youletyourmomlistentothatmusic]

14 songs for the 14th: Day 1

Music and love are pretty deeply entwined. So, as a makeshift Valentine’s Day countdown I’ll be sharing some of my favorite songs about love and being in it each day til the 14th. 

Field Medic - mood ring baby

This song has been both one of my favorite Field Medic songs and love songs probably since the day I heard it. Kevin Sullivan has this talent for coming up with analogies and lyrics that A. I could never come up with in a million years, and B. are just so so satisfying. “You’re a silver ring of moods, You’re origami paper, I don’t know what to make of you” I mean come on. Is this the happiest love song? No, maybe not, but as cliche as this sounds, love is complicated. It’s folky, mainly guitar and harmonica, and it’s got this fantastic post-chorus build. It begs the question,

“So you wanna get close?”

Runner up: Field Medic - i want you so bad it hurts

I honestly had a pretty difficult time deciding between these two, so I felt I had to include “i want you so bad it hurts”. I ultimately decided that “mood ring baby” feels a bit more like being in love while “i want you so bad it hurts” is more so a longing for love. Nonetheless, I hope you enjoy both.

Disclaimer: the songs I’m going to review for 14/14 are in no particular order. Ironically, I tend to have a difficult time picking what song I love the most. ;)

Bobby