kiss the bottle

This is how all the cool kids spend a Saturday night home alone.

songjournal:

Dillinger Four - “Doublewhiskeycokenoice”

God save Otis Redding because I know he’s never gone
As the sick falls from this mouth, hear me sing it wrong
Is it “Cigarettes and Coffee” now or “Dreams to Be Remembered”?
I’ll leave regrets for dead and I’ll sing along
So I’m reaching for the phone, I don’t wanna be alone
I’m gonna get some friends here tonight
I got a basement full of booze and some blues to lose
I’ll ignore the whole world tonight, it’ll be alright

In honor of it being Pilot’s 22nd or 20th birthday, I’m dedicating this song to her.

This song has been the soundtrack to more nights (and occasional afternoons) that Pilot and I have shared than I can count over the last four years. Semi-formal open bars we’ve attended for the sole purpose of drinking them our of all their whiskey, Sparks power hours at six in the morning, drunken sing-alongs in basements all over Long Island, Meat Party after Meat Party after Meat Party. Stolen signs and shopping carts and bottles of liquor. For me, this song will always evoke the burning sensation of whiskey, getting kicked out of shows, the stale smell of vomit, and everything that I like about life.

“Doublewhiskeycokenoice” presents itself as a song about drinking for drinking’s sake, but it’s not. It begins as a notion of drinking just to forget, but turns into something else. When Erik Funk takes over vocals in the song, it turns from angry and cynical to hopeful and elated. No one wants to drink alone, and even if it’s just you and your alcoholic best friend, you feel better about yourself. While Pilot and I might have become friends because of a shared desire to not drink alone, and some people might think of that as destructive or unhealthy, I’m hard pressed to think of a more honest friendship that my four/five years of college yielded.

Of all the things I miss about not living in Long Island anymore, being close to her is one of the things I miss most. I miss getting drunk at her house, going home, realizing that I didn’t really want to sleep, and riding my bike the four miles back just to drink another couple of beers and watch a shitty (read: awesome) movie with my friend after the party had cleared out. I miss hanging out with someone who was as content hating everything as I was, and having no problem aiding and abetting my drinking problem, all the while still being there for me as a real human being. Mostly I just miss Pilot everyday, regardless of whether or not it’s her birthday, but I can only say it today, because otherwise she’d probably just laugh at me all the time.

Happy birthday, Pilot! You’re my favorite person, and you’re the only one who understands why Nicolas Cage is the greatest actor of our generation or why Back to the Future III is clearly the best Back to the Future film, and when I see you tonight, I’m going to recite this whole thing verbatim and cry while I do it, and I’m going to force you to listen to the whole thing. I love you and I hope you have a great birthday, because I know you get down on yourself, but you deserve to be happy all the time.

continuants:

songjournal:

The Good Life - “Album of the Year”

The first time that I met her, I was throwing up in the ladies’ room stall
She asked me if I needed anything, I said, “I think I spilled my drink.”
And that’s how it started, or so I’d like to believe

This song’s a real heartbreaker for me. While he can be obtuse or melodramatic from time to time, Tim Kasher can really cut deep when he’s on. “Album of the Year” is the opening track from the album of the same name, a concept record about one year in a relationship from beginning to end. Each song represents a month in the life of this couple, but this song has the unique opportunity to describe this couples first and last interaction. As the above are the opening lines to the song, the last verse is a beautiful parallel, showing the way intimacy can destroy two people who have so much in common.

The last time that I saw her, she was picking through which records were hers
Her clothes were packed in boxes with some pots and pans and books and a toaster
Just then a mouse scurried across the floor, and we started laughing until it didn’t hurt

Call me a sucker, but I love the courtship process of a relationship. Getting to know someone, and feeling out the situation and the spark between yourself and another person is kind of worth dealing with the subsequent months of things getting boring and the two of you growing apart and becoming jealous or hating yourselves (Is that a thing? Is that just something that happens to me?). Maybe that’s why I’m bad with relationships. Admittedly, I’m a pretty huge bastard, and I’m selfish and childish. I end relationships and then can’t get over them. I just want everything to be easy like it was at first, but I make everything way more complicated and difficult than it needs to be.

I love how Kasher takes such delight in those small details. I fall in love every morning on my way to work, I fall in love every time I leave my apartment, and I imagine so does (or did) Tim Kasher. The male protagonist of Album of the Year is a bastard also, and he gets his fair share of shit throughout the album, but this song is really his song. He might be a bastard, but his account of the relationship in this song is genuine and heartfelt. I certainly also tend to do things like that, romanticizing old relationships just because I’m lonely, and then once I’m back in one, I lose it and revert back to being unreliable and distant. I think it’s universal though.

this is one of my favorite albums. i’ve never heard (read?) anyone talk like this about it before. nick, you move me!

Album of the year is in my all time top ten records. Fact

halffiction:

apparently reagan is a chesterfield king?

Friday afternoon

jotterbook:

(via suzywire) (via scantmusic) (via synecdoche)

delawareareyou:

ryancox:

lifeonfiction:

spinlighted:

Can’t Hardly Wait - The Replacements

Jesus rides beside me
He never buys any smokes
Hurry up, hurry up, ain’t you had enough of this stuff
Ashtray floors, dirty clothes, and filthy jokes

(via helloilikeyou)

Is this yours Lou ? If so, I like what crosses you.

— Chuck Klosterman (via lungful : finallyseeing) (via blurthelines) (via breathsoftruth) (via lovebot)