Melodic Monday: Songs on the run

As you see from my last post, I've been a girl on the move, and music has been my travel companion.
You see, for me, traveling and music go together like peas and carrots, or... fast food and obesity.

Example: I left my iPod at home on the way to Paris one time, so my only music was the sound of the teenage girls sitting next to me filing their nails the whole train ride. CRINGE.
Needless to say, the iPod is a travel necessity.

Another example:

In the midst of my hellish, snow-storm voyages with the Deutsch Bahn trains,

a tune popped up on iPod Shuffle called "Trains" by Ryan Adams and the Cardinals. How apropos? Well, somehow, this song appeased my anger and desire to strangle the conductors. Read the lyrics...

Trains moan in my sleep when I'm trying to go to bed
Moving way to slow for whatever that they be carryin'
...
Trains moan in my sleep
Seems like something is always moving

...

Trains moan in my sleep
Into the future and out of the past, into the future and out of the past

The song reminded me how much I love to be travelin' and movin', even with the merde that comes along with it. And once I started thinkin' 'bout it, I realized that the songs I've been listenting to on repeat are songs that simulate MOVEMENT and TRANSORT (either with words and/or instruments).

 Take another Ryan Adams and The Cardinals song, "Let it Ride":

  

"Moving like the fog on the Cumberland River
I was leaving on the Delta Queen
And I wasn't ready to go
I'm never ready to go
27 years of nothing but failures and promises that I couldn't keep
Oh lord, I wasn't ready to go
I'm never ready to go
Let it ride
Let it ride easy down the road
Let it ride"

Next, we have Johnny Cash who is known for his sound that's "steady like a train, sharp like a razor" (Walk the Line).  Since last year, I've been adoring his Live at St. Quentin album. Here's big "Big River":

I met her accidentally in St. Paul (Minnesota).
And it tore me up every time I heard her drawl, Southern drawl.
Then I heard my dream was back Downstream cavortin' in Davenport,
And I followed you, Big River, when you called.

Then you took me to St. Louis later on (down the river).
A freighter said she's been here but she's gone, boy, she's gone.
I found her trail in Memphis, but she just walked up the block.
She raised a few eyebrows and then she went on down alone.

Then, of course, we have "Folsom Prison Blues":

I bet there´s rich folks eating in a fancy dining car
they´re probably drinkin´ coffee and smoking big cigars.
Well I know I had it coming, I know I can´t be free
but those people keep a movin´
and that´s what tortures me...

Last but not least, since this summer, I have not been able to stop listening to "Luxury Liner" by Emmylou Harris and the Hot Band:

Luxury liner, forty tons of steel
If I don't find my baby now
I guess I never will
I've been a long lost soul
For a long, long time
I've been around
Everybody ought to know what's on my mind
You think I'm lonesome, so do I
So do I

Well, I'm the kind of girl
Who likes to make a livin' runnin 'round
And I don't need a stranger
To let me know my baby's let me down
You think I'm lonesome, so do I
So do I 

What's even better? This is a song originally written by my man, Gram Parsons...

So, if you've noticed, besides the "on the run, restless soul" feeling of these songs, there is another running theme that relates to me life. What's that you say!?!? Yes, you guessed correctly: country music, my darlin; music notes comin' out of my great hometown of Nashville. I've noticed that I have more of a tendency to listen to twangy music when I'm in France. I talked about this phenomenon with my dear bud, Kelsey. While she and Phil toured Europe, she only listened to Townes Van Sandt, he Outkast's Aquemini. Speaking of Outkast, I think I will end with lyrics from this song, "Humble Mumble":

Ahhhh.. I stank I can, I stank I can
The funky engine that could
Oooo oooo yosky, wosky, pisky, wisky
All aboard the stankonia express
The underground smell road
Everybodys lookin for an excuse to let loose
Whats your locomotive, the chatta nigga choo choo?

The woahMan in Black

"Spring is here....WOOOHOO! So excited that it's sunny," [I open my closet door], "OH wait, I have NOTHING to wear." You see, my uniform consists of black, layers, leggings and boots. Par exemple, the outfit today:

 (headband and leggings from Camaieu, Edie Sedgwick top and earrings from Urban Outfitters, dress from H&M this summer, black leather boots by Gianni Bini)

Well, you wonder why I always dress in black,

Why you never see bright colors on my back,

And why does my appearance seem to have a somber tone. 

Well, there's a reason for the things that I have on.

Why the black? Unfortunately, I do not have spiritual and profound reasons for wearing all black Johnny Cash in his song "The Man in Black."

And I definitely don't "Dress in black and read Camus, smoke cloves cigarettes and drink Vermouth, like I was seventeen" in the Magnetic Fields song. I'm not aiming to be the depressed/ tortured artist-hipster.

 

 ...nor do I dabble in goth or black-magic.

I just like to wear black! That's a part of why I love France. You can be head to toe in black all year long without needing a reason.









 However, suddenly, my unflinching love for black is replaced with a desire for flowery prints and "milk shake" colors.











Yet, I fear for looking like one giant cupcake. (picture to the left from Fashematics.com)

Nevertheless, I will make it a goal to dress more cupcake-esque this season. Maybe if I were able to buy these outfits from Miu Miu, I would have a little more motivation. A girl can dream, right?