This Week in the Mercury
Wednesday, September 17, 2008
Contest Win Tickets to Okkervil River!!!
Posted by Ezra Ace Caraeff on Wed, Sep 17, 2008 at 11:22 AM
Okay, now this is getting ridiculous. First Starfucker, then CSS, and now a chance to win tickets to see Okkervil River this Friday at the Crystal Ballroom? Who did End Hits have to sleep with in order to get all these free tickets? Well, a lot of people. A lot. We were young and we needed the money tickets, and besides, after a few shots of peppermint schnapps, we'll sleep with just about anyone.
Anyway, on to Okkervil River. God, what is left to say about the Austin band that is on a staggering roll of releases--the latest being the untouchable The Stand-Ins, the follow-up to last year's The Stage Names--and is unquestionably the favorite band of 50% of this blog's staff? (Rob and myself are the fans. Andrew and Ned listen to nothing but crap as far as we are concerned.) Singer Will Sheff has established himself as one of the truly great songwriters of our generation, a Dylanistic talent whose vivid prose is the foundation for Okkervil's gorgeous sound.
Enough glowing praise--jeez, get a room already--let's giveaway some tickets: We are parting with not one, but two, pairs of tickets to see Okkervil River this Friday evening at the Crystal Ballroom. To win your way into this sure-to-be-amazing show, just post your favorite Will Sheff lyrics below, and maybe why they you chose them. The best two entries by Thursday at 1pm will win a pair of tickets and become the envy of all their friends.
LISTEN:
Okkervil River - "Starry Stairs"
1
I'm already going (obvs), but I want to share my current favorite lyrics, from "Love to a Monster":
"Yeah, I hope you get angry, and hurt, and have the hardest of landings/
And I hope your new man thinks of me when he sees what a number I did on you."
Damn near perfect.
"Yeah, I hope you get angry, and hurt, and have the hardest of landings/
And I hope your new man thinks of me when he sees what a number I did on you."
Damn near perfect.
2
From "A Hand to Take Hold of the Scene":
"I'm a man in a dream and there, dancing in front of my eyes, is a queen - formed out of flaws, with her eyes all gone odd and a rod bolted into her spine. She rises up like a yawn. She grips my heart like a claw. She splits apart like a jaw, like an eye. And she asks me with a sigh, When we're so far from right, when we're losing the fight, when we're letting the light weaken its beam - is there a hand to take hold of the scene?"
The whole song is amazingly written, but that's the verse that made it for me.
"I'm a man in a dream and there, dancing in front of my eyes, is a queen - formed out of flaws, with her eyes all gone odd and a rod bolted into her spine. She rises up like a yawn. She grips my heart like a claw. She splits apart like a jaw, like an eye. And she asks me with a sigh, When we're so far from right, when we're losing the fight, when we're letting the light weaken its beam - is there a hand to take hold of the scene?"
The whole song is amazingly written, but that's the verse that made it for me.
3
So many to choose, it's really difficult, but since I recently saw them perform "Maine Island Lovers," live, this has been floating in my head. Here are some of the lyrics:
To cheat on Maine Island, days of laughter, nights of sighing
To love without ceasing - flowering orchards, salty sea-things
To say without shyness "unreal city, you have killed me."
When you walked out on her love was it easy?
When I left him while sleeping was I dreaming?
We take each night's journey to the hotel in a hurry,
where we love without worry on a bed that's five days dirty.
And we read without irony from a book my husband bought for me...
When I fell on the concrete it was lovely, because you could see what's been running so hot in me.
But when I fell on the concrete, you went white as a sheet
and wished that nothing in this world would ever hurt me
Well, keep wishing. Because when I look in my future,
I don't see you and don't wish to
Idle talk made when I'm lying by your side on some Maine island is too funny to me, honey, so let's drop it. If you really want to love me, well, then do it.
This is an early song--simple, evocative lyrics, beautiful imagery, sung so passionately as only Mr. Sheff can do. I love "Girl in Port," too, and again, so much fantastic songs and lyrics, hard to choose.
The newest release I love is "Calling and Not Calling My Ex," if not just for the title alone!!
To cheat on Maine Island, days of laughter, nights of sighing
To love without ceasing - flowering orchards, salty sea-things
To say without shyness "unreal city, you have killed me."
When you walked out on her love was it easy?
When I left him while sleeping was I dreaming?
We take each night's journey to the hotel in a hurry,
where we love without worry on a bed that's five days dirty.
And we read without irony from a book my husband bought for me...
When I fell on the concrete it was lovely, because you could see what's been running so hot in me.
But when I fell on the concrete, you went white as a sheet
and wished that nothing in this world would ever hurt me
Well, keep wishing. Because when I look in my future,
I don't see you and don't wish to
Idle talk made when I'm lying by your side on some Maine island is too funny to me, honey, so let's drop it. If you really want to love me, well, then do it.
This is an early song--simple, evocative lyrics, beautiful imagery, sung so passionately as only Mr. Sheff can do. I love "Girl in Port," too, and again, so much fantastic songs and lyrics, hard to choose.
The newest release I love is "Calling and Not Calling My Ex," if not just for the title alone!!
4
I can't believe it can be so. I won't believe that my girl froze. Well, my girl knows I'm coiled tight and green inside. Just give me time, baby, give me time. And that weight you hold, it's getting light, and, love, I know you'll raise it easily up high. Just give it time, just give it time. Oh baby, just give it time.
Its simple, beautiful and tugs at my heart at this moment, because I have a boyfriend who loves me despite my being a bit crazy and conflicted.
Its simple, beautiful and tugs at my heart at this moment, because I have a boyfriend who loves me despite my being a bit crazy and conflicted.
5
The reason that I love this lyric in "It All Ends with a Fall" is the reason I love Okkervil River. Given this life, I find infinite encouragement and comfort in the way Will slices open and lays out for us moments of paradox and despair, and admits his ignorance as to the what and why of what we feel and do and don't.
[I wish I could remember why it mattered to me...]
Then he makes a response to this unknown, makes a shaky vow to stake a claim and assert himself just where he's at, that inexplicable place on earth where you find yourself one moment then again.
[I can't claim to know how love is born or grows
but I can still take control and so refuse to just go home, back down the hall. ]
The organs swirl and escort us directly to the scene, where in the passion of the detail we see the essential illuminated.
[ All the false confetti blooms up in this attic room
I'm gonna make my stand I want to see both of your hands put down the phone. ]
[I wish I could remember why it mattered to me...]
Then he makes a response to this unknown, makes a shaky vow to stake a claim and assert himself just where he's at, that inexplicable place on earth where you find yourself one moment then again.
[I can't claim to know how love is born or grows
but I can still take control and so refuse to just go home, back down the hall. ]
The organs swirl and escort us directly to the scene, where in the passion of the detail we see the essential illuminated.
[ All the false confetti blooms up in this attic room
I'm gonna make my stand I want to see both of your hands put down the phone. ]
7
favorite lyrics, from "A stone"
i'm going as well. Tickets for my friends wouldn't be bad though. Especially those who need to witness the beautiful okkervil river!
"And I think I believe that, if stones could dream, they’d dream of being laid side-by-side, piece-by-piece, and turned into a castle for some towering queen they’re unable to know. And when that queen’s daughter came of age, I think she’d be lovely and stubborn and brave, and suitors would journey from kingdoms away to make themselves known. And I think that I know the bitter dismay of a lover who brought fresh bouquets every day when she turned him away to remember some knave who once gave just one rose, one day, years ago..."
this song is so true to my life and the relationships i am faced with.
i'm going as well. Tickets for my friends wouldn't be bad though. Especially those who need to witness the beautiful okkervil river!
"And I think I believe that, if stones could dream, they’d dream of being laid side-by-side, piece-by-piece, and turned into a castle for some towering queen they’re unable to know. And when that queen’s daughter came of age, I think she’d be lovely and stubborn and brave, and suitors would journey from kingdoms away to make themselves known. And I think that I know the bitter dismay of a lover who brought fresh bouquets every day when she turned him away to remember some knave who once gave just one rose, one day, years ago..."
this song is so true to my life and the relationships i am faced with.
8
"I was breaking in a case of suds/at the brass rail, fall-down drunk/with my tongue torn out, and balls removed/when I knew that my last lines had gone how stupidly I lingered on/only wise men know when it's time to go/and so I should too."
Genius. Perfectly captures alcoholic evenings & regrets.
Genius. Perfectly captures alcoholic evenings & regrets.
9
The heart wants to feel. The heart wants to hold. The heart takes past Subway, past Stop and Shop, past Beal’s, and calls it “coming home.” The heart wants a trail away from “alone,” so the heart turns a sale into a well-worn milestone towards hard-won soft furniture, fought-for fast food, defended end table that holds paperbacks and back U.S. News. The mind turns an itch into a bruise, and the hands start to twitch when they’re feeling ill-used. And you’re almost back now, you can see by the signs; from the bank you tell the temperature and then the time, and the billboard reads some headlines. The head wants to turn, to avert both its eyes, but the mind wants to learn of some truth that might be inside reported crimes.
from the war criminal rises and speaks. great lyrics about trying to find meaning in what seems meaningless...
from the war criminal rises and speaks. great lyrics about trying to find meaning in what seems meaningless...
12
Some of the people didn't give the actual song title (lo-lee-ta, Anne)...there's so many and I don't know every word...yet...please give the song titles. Thanks,
13
Some of the people didn't give the actual song title (lo-lee-ta, Anne)...there's so many and I don't know every word...yet...please give the song titles. Thanks,
14
Suzanne-
lo-lee-ta posted lyrics from "Just Give Me Time" from Sleep and Wake-Up Songs.
Anne posted lyrics from "John Allyn Smith Sails" from The Stage Names.
lo-lee-ta posted lyrics from "Just Give Me Time" from Sleep and Wake-Up Songs.
Anne posted lyrics from "John Allyn Smith Sails" from The Stage Names.
16
It's just a bad movie, where there's no crying - handing the keys to me in this Red Lion, where the lock that you locked in the suite says there's no prying. When the breath that you breathed in the street screams there's no science. When you look how you looked then to me, then I cease lying and fall into silence.
FROM "Our Life Is Not A Movie Or Maybe"
I love these lyrics... this is the firt Okkervil River song I heard and it's still my favorite. I always picture my life as a movie - and I totally involve the Red Lion
FROM "Our Life Is Not A Movie Or Maybe"
I love these lyrics... this is the firt Okkervil River song I heard and it's still my favorite. I always picture my life as a movie - and I totally involve the Red Lion
17
It's just a bad movie, where there's no crying - handing the keys to me in this Red Lion, where the lock that you locked in the suite says there's no prying. When the breath that you breathed in the street screams there's no science. When you look how you looked then to me, then I cease lying and fall into silence.
FROM "Our Life Is Not A Movie Or Maybe"
I love these lyrics... this is the firt Okkervil River song I heard and it's still my favorite. I always picture my life as a movie - and I totally involve the Red Lion
FROM "Our Life Is Not A Movie Or Maybe"
I love these lyrics... this is the firt Okkervil River song I heard and it's still my favorite. I always picture my life as a movie - and I totally involve the Red Lion
18
Thanks, Rob, for the clarification. Of course, I have most all of Okkervil's stuff (except for "Stars Too Small..."), again, don't know every word, haven't done a song-by-song sit down with the lyrics which happily they include with the records...I enjoy listening and then going "oh, that's what he's saying." One of the first times I heard "In A Radio Song," the part where he sings: "We're f#^ked, we're f#^ked, we're f#^ked," I thought is he really saying f#^ked.
19
I have so many favorites! Am I allowed to post more than one? If not, just count the first one, I guess.
From "Dead Dog Song":
"He’d never been to church, so he doesn’t have a soul. He isn’t waiting at the place where all of us will go. But the woodchucks wouldn’t run so wild, the bushes wouldn’t be so overgrown if we were not alone."
I just love that he has a spiritual crisis because of the death of his dog.
And also this: "He was in this world, by my side he was curled, but he came uncurled and this world holds him that much tighter." Because that's just an awesome lyric.
From "Blanket and Crib":
"And my mother once said 'Son, remember this, no matter what someone did: that they once were just a kid at breast and in bib, in blanket and crib. So just reach inside yourself and find the part that still needs help, find that part in someone else and you’ll do good,' so I thought that I would."
A succinct reminder of the necessity of forgiveness.
"Song About a Star"––amazing, but my favorite bit is this:
"And the words that some screenwriter counted and chose, and then set in their sequence and froze, unfreeze on his tongue as he speaks for all of us but one."
The imagery! I love it.
I also want to take exception to jimmy's comment that "The President's Dead" is "wishful thinking." Come on: Right from the beginning, he sings, "Dear friends, is it not so horrible? A shock through my heart like a knife right through bread." But I don't think this suggests that the song is pro-Bush, either; I don't think it's about the president as much as mortality and love of life. The core of the song, to me, is his description of his morning with his girlfriend, followed by the line, "Have you ever lived through a day where the littlest things, in the littlest ways, made you feel you were blessed? And if you died right then, well, you know you'd be missed, but there's no better state to cease to exist, and you wouldn't be sad, and you wouldn't resist, because you knew what you'd had and were thankful for it in your own little way." That, not the political implications, is what makes me love that song.
One last one, since you just said "Will Sheff lyrics," Shearwater's "Near a Garden": "You were once a live body, then you died. And I'll sing your name with my instrument, but one day it will leave my hand"... and the rest of that song as well.
More...
From "Dead Dog Song":
"He’d never been to church, so he doesn’t have a soul. He isn’t waiting at the place where all of us will go. But the woodchucks wouldn’t run so wild, the bushes wouldn’t be so overgrown if we were not alone."
I just love that he has a spiritual crisis because of the death of his dog.
And also this: "He was in this world, by my side he was curled, but he came uncurled and this world holds him that much tighter." Because that's just an awesome lyric.
From "Blanket and Crib":
"And my mother once said 'Son, remember this, no matter what someone did: that they once were just a kid at breast and in bib, in blanket and crib. So just reach inside yourself and find the part that still needs help, find that part in someone else and you’ll do good,' so I thought that I would."
A succinct reminder of the necessity of forgiveness.
"Song About a Star"––amazing, but my favorite bit is this:
"And the words that some screenwriter counted and chose, and then set in their sequence and froze, unfreeze on his tongue as he speaks for all of us but one."
The imagery! I love it.
I also want to take exception to jimmy's comment that "The President's Dead" is "wishful thinking." Come on: Right from the beginning, he sings, "Dear friends, is it not so horrible? A shock through my heart like a knife right through bread." But I don't think this suggests that the song is pro-Bush, either; I don't think it's about the president as much as mortality and love of life. The core of the song, to me, is his description of his morning with his girlfriend, followed by the line, "Have you ever lived through a day where the littlest things, in the littlest ways, made you feel you were blessed? And if you died right then, well, you know you'd be missed, but there's no better state to cease to exist, and you wouldn't be sad, and you wouldn't resist, because you knew what you'd had and were thankful for it in your own little way." That, not the political implications, is what makes me love that song.
One last one, since you just said "Will Sheff lyrics," Shearwater's "Near a Garden": "You were once a live body, then you died. And I'll sing your name with my instrument, but one day it will leave my hand"... and the rest of that song as well.
20
{Lover, now that you've left me, I'm glad you're unlovely. 'Cause if you could take all the heat in your heart and just hang it from you...I wouldn't be able to bear the way you cannot love me. It's much easier of me to make a monster out of you.} - Love To A Monster, The Stage Names
I'm already the envy of all my friends, but they don't know how broke I am.
I'm already the envy of all my friends, but they don't know how broke I am.
21
all i meant was that one particular phrase "the president's dead" was my favorite okkervil river lyric --- not the whole lyrics, just that one line.
chill.
chill.
22
What, anyone who disagrees with you is unchill now? Don't flatter yourself.
So I guess your point was that you like the phrase "The president's dead" because it allows you to engage in wishful thinking while listening to a song that's partially about how it would suck if the president were killed? Sorry, I still think that's dumb.
So I guess your point was that you like the phrase "The president's dead" because it allows you to engage in wishful thinking while listening to a song that's partially about how it would suck if the president were killed? Sorry, I still think that's dumb.
24
This one was too close to call, but the judges went with "codenamedragonfly" and "Molly G." As always, I wish we had more tickets to giveaway...
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