Top Ten Liz Phair Songs
Lyriquediscorde received five new Top Ten Tuesday requests when we opened up the request lines last weekend. Stay tuned if you put in a request because we will be hitting all of them, in the order they came in Top Ten style. First up is a lyriquediscorde Favorite who has gotten the Top Ten treatment twice already. But, as I’m known to say, Music is fluid and changeable, and our Favorites change along with us. I’m looking forward to revisiting Liz and listing out and listening to, my Top Ten Favorites today.
Liz Phair is up first, requested by J. Coates via lyriquediscorde’s Twitter.
I think sometimes people forget how rad Liz Phair is. She was one of the 90’s Hit “It-Girls” who broke songwriting stereotypes, especially with her Chicago-made debut, Exile in Guyville, wherein she Sang frankly about sex and sexuality and desire, and of coming-of-age as a woman in the 90’s. She was lauded and revered, wrote about in all the top indie magazines, and beloved by most of the girls I knew at the time. She was in her twenties just like me and my girls were, and she Sang like we talked, and she could write one hell of a good Song.
Liz kept her cool with Whip Smart, and to a lesser degree with the album that may just be my favorite, but not a fan-favorite, Whitechocolatespaceegg. Still, even with the less than loved 1998 album, Liz was still an indie darling in that stereotypical, and honestly rather insulting, “girls want to be her and boys want to be with her” kind of way.
Liz kept her cool with Whip Smart, and to a lesser degree with the Album that may just be my Favorite (but not a fan-favorite), Whitechocolatespaceegg. Still, even with the less than loved 1998 album, Liz was still an indie darling in that stereotypical, and honestly rather insulting, “girls want to be her and boys want to be with her” kind of way. Though, hell, I knew quite a few girls who wanted to be her and be with her.
Then the 90’s ended and so did so many people’s love of Liz. Funny how fans so often don’t want their idols to change and grow, isn’t it? Though it isn’t just our idols that we resent changing, we feel that way about each other a lot of the times, too. Liz Phair’s self-titled came out and she got that awful “sell-out” label affixed to her. Some of the Songs were chart hits, and for a while seemed to be in a ton of romantic comedy Soundtracks, but the core fan base that I had been a part of seemed to sneer and run the other way.
I still love her though. I loved her through all that, too, and though her albums from the 2000’s are not my most Favorites, I still have them and have Favorite Songs from them. (from an early post of mine from 2014 that is still true to me today)
What are some of your Favorite Liz Phair Songs? Though it was tough to narrow down, here are mine:
Top Ten Liz Phair Songs
Top Ten Tuesday
1. “Divorce Song”
from the Album, Exile to Guyville (1993)
Live Version
“And, the license said you had to stick around until I was dead.
But, if you’re tired of looking at my face,
I guess I already am.”
2. “Polyester Bride”
from the Album, Whitechocolatespaceegg (1998)
“And Henry said,
‘you’re lucky to even know me.
You’re lucky to be alive.
You’re lucky to be drinking here for free,
cause I’m a
sucker for your lucky, pretty eyes.’”
3. “Fuck and Run”
from the Album, Exile to Guyville (1993)
Live Version
“I want all that stupid old shit,
like letters and sodas,
letters and sodas.”
4. “Whip-Smart”
from the Album, Whip-Smart (1994)
“And I’m gonna lock my son up in a tower,
’til I write my whole life story,
on the back of his big brown eyes.”
5. “What Makes You Happy”
from the Album, Whitechocolatespaceegg (1998)
“I’m sending you this photograph,
I swear this one is going to last,
and all those other bastards were only practice.”
6. “Stratford-On-Guy”
from the Album, Exile to Guyville (1993)
“It took an hour,
maybe a day.
But once I really listened the noise just fell .”
7. “Dogs Of L.A.”
from the Album, Whip-Smart (1994)
“The sawed-off tree trunks stand among the living palms.
You were beaming as I focused in,
and I panned along.
And I raced you to the top,
kicking snakes up from dusty rocks
Young Abe Vigoda plays Frankenstein.“
8. “Never Said”
from the Album, Whip-Smart (1994)
“I don’t know what they told you,
don’t even care what about.
All I know is I’m clean as a whistle, baby,
I didn’t let the cat out.”
9. “Love Is Nothing”
from the Album, Whitechocolatespaceegg (1998)
“Love is nothing, nothing, nothing like they say,
you gotta pick up the little pieces everyday.”
10. “Girls! Girls! Girls!”
from the Album Exile In Guyville (1993) and from the Soundtrack to Amateur (1995)
“You been around enough to know,
that if I wanna leave,
you better let me go.”
Top 5 Music Obsessions featuring Mazzy Star
Tuesday’s here with a fantastic set of Songs. I’m loving these 5 so much that I’m pretty sure I will be obsessing over them for a long time to come. I’m fighting with a cold that wants to take me over, but so far I’m not letting it. Lots of water, rest, hot ginger tea, vitamin C, and vitamin M for Music are my combat gear and weapons. Me and Today’s Top 5 Music Obsessions are determined to be victorious. Go Team Music.
I had no idea that there was a new Mazzy Star Song until early this morning. I can’t stop listening to it. Its lush and cinematic and gorgeous, and I love it. “Quiet, the Winter Harbor” is the perfect first Song for today.
A Girl Called Eddy’s “Life Thru the Same Lens” is up next. I’ve been discovering/rediscovering Artists featured on the Always On the Run site lately. I’m digging A Girl Called Eddy’s Self Titled Album so much.
Track 3 is one of my all-time Favorite Siouxsie And The Banshees’ Songs, “The Killing Jar”. I love the entire Album its from, Peepshow, from 1988. I played it so much back then (the cassette I had was on heavy rotation in my first car). I still listen to the Album often now, too, just digitally, or on Vinyl.
“What You Do To Me” by Teenage Fanclub is up next. I sometimes forget how much I love Teenage Fanclub until a Song comes on and then I remember. This Track has me seriously remembering!
Last, but not least, is “Simpletons” by The Bats. This is so dreamy and feel-good to me. Reminds me of drives by the ocean and Summer vacations and the smell of sunscreen.
Top 5 Music Obsessions of the Day – April 24, 2018
1. “Quiet, the Winter Harbor” by Mazzy Star
2. “Life Thru the Same Lens” by A Girl Called Eddy
3. “The Killing Jar” by Siouxsie And The Banshees
4. “What You Do To Me” by Teenage Fanclub
5. “Simpletons” by The Bats
I hope the Music is a superpower to you today, and that you enjoy Today’s Top 5 Music Obsessions featuring Songs by Mazzy Star, A Girl Called Eddy, Siouxsie And The Banshees, Teenage Fanclub, and The Bats.
We’d love to hear what Music you are obsessing over. Please share in the comments below.
Top 5 Music Obsessions – The Week of 4/23/18
“Read My Mind” by The Killers
“Read My Mind” was the third Single from The Killers second Studio Album, and my Favorite Killers’ Album, Sam’s Town. It was released in February of 2007, and peaked at #62 on the Billboard Hot 100, and reached #15 on the UK Singles Chart. (from Wikipedia)
“Read My Mind” by The Killers
from the Album, Sam’s Town (2006)
“A subtle kiss that no one sees,
a broken wrist and a big trapeze.”
In a Rolling Stone interview with Brandon Flowers of The Killers explained that “Read My Mind’ started as a B-Side Song named “Little Angela”. At the time, Andy Moulder and Flood, who produced the Album Sam’s Town, got into an argument over “Little Angela” during its recording. Brandon explained:
“I heard Alan say, ‘We’re trying to make ‘Peggy Sue’ into ‘With Or Without You’, which came as a blow because he was basically saying my lyrics weren’t good enough. So I started singing different melodies, and in two hours it was a whole new song. I think it’s the best song we’ve ever written.”
“Read My Mind” is my Favorite Song by The Killers. Like the Album, the Song reminds me of the desert, and my love and curiosity I feel for it. It reminds me of writing and of stories, and storytelling. “Read My Mind”, and all of Sam’s Town helped to inspire a novel I’m writing that takes place in the desert.
