If you smile through your fear and sorrow Smile and maybe tomorrow You'll see the sun come shining through for you

Artist- Nat King Cole
Song of the day- Smile

After my friend Suzanne posted a link on my facebook about the powers of smiling, it got me thinking about this song. A song I've already carved out as my funeral song during a moving photo montage mixing positivity and sadness, awe not a dry eye in the house! But I digress and am overly morbid. It is quite amazing what smiling has done for my life both my own and from others. If you have time to watch the link below you will find it hard not to agree. Smiling can turn a day around, can make people think you are much more charming than you are, can make you happier, can hide what is really going on inside you, can ease a tense situation, can make people think you are quite strange, but often will make people smile back regardless. And what I hope at the very least in my life is to have made people who weren't smiling, smile. Because when I think of all the people in the world who make me smile, I do get happier, and can't help but smile more, which according to this smart man makes me more attractive, smarter, and I will live longer...so I guess my moving montage will have to wait. But I'm pretty sure you need a smile today, so this one's for you.





Smile though your heart is aching
Smile even though it's breaking
When there are clouds in the sky, you'll get by
If you smile through your fear and sorrow
Smile and maybe tomorrow
You'll see the sun come shining through for you

Light up your face with gladness
Hide every trace of sadness
Although a tear may be ever so near
That's the time you must keep on trying
Smile, what's the use of crying?
You'll find that life is still worthwhile
If you just smile

You were just always talking about changing. What if I was the same then, the same I always was

Artist- The Airborne Toxic Event
Song of the day- Changing

I tried to post this most excellent ditty a few days ago but the blogisphere hated me, almost as much as I hate myself for not snagging a ticket to this concert as seeing them live is at the top of my most favorite things to do list! Alas, I shall just have to appreciate their new album beginning with this first release. It has been stuck in my head lately thanks to the clever guitar hook and lyrics and well did I mention how great this band is? But I also can't escape the thought of change lately, how I keep having to make choices that will change my current existence, how much I've changed and how much I've been wondering if I've actually changed or just the same in the end? We evolve, we move around but are we actually better versions of ourselves, or different versions, or just the same in different places when it comes down to it. Sometimes it's tough to tell, so I think I'll just enjoy some dance troop jives instead. For all of you changing or the same man, this one's for you.



All these buckets of rain, I’ve heard enough about. You say that I lied.
I am a gentleman didn’t I ask for a place I could stay What were we both thinking
The next part just got in the way. You were just always talking about changing.
What if I was the same then, the same I always was

All these things that you say, like I’ll forget about the mind-numbing games that you play.
I am a gentleman, didn’t I pay for every laugh every dime, every bit every time and then you feed me some line.
I won’t hear one more word about changing.
Guess what I am the same man, same that I’ve always been.

Days pass and turn into weeks, when we don’t even speak. We just lay wide awake and pretend we’re asleep.
You go home alone and you’re checking your phone and you’re looking at me like I’m something you own.

All these buckets of rain, you can’t forget about it, you say I never tried.
I am a gentleman, didn’t I answer every time that you call, pick you up when you fall
But you never listen at all
You were just always talking about changing.
Guess what I am the same man.

What I've got they used to call the blues Nothin' is really wrong Feelin' like I don't belong

Artist- The Carpenters
Song of the day- Rainy Days and Mondays

After trading stressed out sob stories with my dear gay soulmate Paul on my back porch (or what I like to call the only place my phone will work) post the rainstorm tonight, this song came to mind. Not only because of the blues, but also we share many an eclectic passion including but not limited to our love of this and other sad songs by this tragic/weird brother sis duo. And after relistening to the lyrics I have an even greater appreciation for the songwriting, it's not really a feel sorry for me song, but the peculiarity of sadness and how it can spur from life's stresses or also come and go that you have no control over it sometimes, you don't know what is wrong with you and totally pointless things like rain or mondays can make you blue. And usually in any situation not matter the source, you just wanna find someone who loves you. So for all the one's who love you, this one's for you.



Talkin' to myself and feelin' old
Sometimes I'd like to quit
Nothing ever seems to fit
Hangin' around
Nothing to do but frown
Rainy Days and Mondays always get me down.
What I've got they used to call the blues
Nothin' is really wrong
Feelin' like I don't belong
Walkin' around
Some kind of lonely clown
Rainy Days and Mondays always get me down.
Funny but it seems I always wind up here
with you
Nice to know somebody loves me
Funny but it seems that it's the only thing to do
Run and find the one who loves me.
What I feel has come and gone before
No need to talk it out
We know what it's all about
Hangin' around
Nothing to do but frown
Rainy Days and Mondays always get me down.

And let go And rise again You're not done yet I know

Artist- Everest
Song of the day- Let go

Someone told me this quarter that the stress would get so intense that I'd probably see the worst of people's personalities, including my own. And while it sounds rather dramatic and I haven't witnessed any homicides or crazed rampages (yet) I am seeing the stress takes it's tole on many a people, including myself. Where you wanna give up in doing your best and just try to get by and then feeling like you're failing because of it. And after hearing this song tonight, it made me start to look at things a bit differently, that its not so much about the giving up on yourself and what you thought you'd be capable of, but more the letting go. The letting go of being so hard on yourself, of trying to control what is out of your hands whether you like it or not, the letting go of the outcome knowing whatever happens will lead to where you're supposed to be, even if it's not what you expected doesn't mean it can't be as good or possibly better than what you had planned. Now this passing optimism could disappear at any moment but while I'm thinking of it, why not let go? And know you'll make it, know it'll be alright, know that even if it won't you'll rise again!

Everest - Let Go from The General Assembly on Vimeo.

May I come in?
My old friend
You're looking thin
Do you feel alright?
There's somethin'
I wanna say
Tonight
Let Go

Chorus:
Oh I know we're gonna make it tonight
Tomorrow will be alright
Let Go
Let Go
And I know we're gonna make it tonight
Tomorrow will be alright
Let Go
Let Go

So take a breath
My dear friend
Take it slow
And let go
And rise again
You're not done yet
I know
Let Go

Chorus 2X

They crowd your bedroom like some thoughts wearing thin Against the walls against your rules against your skin

Artist- Passion Pit
Song of the day- Sleepyhead

After a day of dealing with fussy exhausted kids when all I wanted to do was jump in the crib with them and take a nap, today's song with it's high pitched indian like falsettos reminding me of infant cries, scattered electronica as my jumbled brain, and well the general sleepyhead feel of the whole song sums up my day and perhaps a few others out there. So to you other sleepyheads out there, this one's for you



And everything is going to the beat
And everything is going to the beat
And everything is going

And you said
It was like fire around the brim
Burning solid
Burning thin the burning rim
Like stars burning holes right through the dark
Flicking fire like saltwater into my eyes
You were one inch from the edge of this bed
I drag you back a sleepyhead, sleepyhead

They couldn't think of something to say the day you burst
With all their lions and all their might and all their thirst
They crowd your bedroom like some thoughts wearing thin
Against the walls against your rules against your skin
My beard grew down to the floor and out through the doors
Of your eyes but go in disguise like a sleepyhead, sleepyhead

Go ahead

Now here I go again, I see the crystal vision I keep my visions to myself

Artist- Fleetwood Mac
Song of the day- Dreams

Just when I decide to stop watching glee out of annoyance and bad story lines, they devote an entire episode to one of the greatest bands of all time and just maybe the greatest album. I had a young education on Fleetwood Mac thanks to my father and could sing most of the album "rumours" before I think I knew what a rumour was. And similar to my friend Morgan who's long lost dream is to be roommates with Stevie Nicks so she can brush her hair and be taught how to twirl properly, my affection for the band and all it's drama runs deep to peculiarly deep. They are masters of their craft both musically with Lindsey Buckingham's insane guitar abilities, and their songwriting both intense, relatable and catchy. I think if I had to choose only one album to listen to for the rest of my life, it just might be this one...or a live concert version so I can throw in "rhinannon" and some 80s fleetwood mac. I don't even know what to say about today's song cuz it says so much on it's own. It's a song about losing something and getting through it, but it's a song about so much more, it often has been the song that does get me through it. So if you need some getting through, this one's for you.



Now there you go again
You say you want your freedom
Well who am I to keep you down
It's only right that you should play it the way that you feel it
But listen carefully to the sound of your loneliness
Like a heartbeat, drives you mad
In the stillness of remembering
What you had, and what you lost
what you had, and what you lost

Chorus:
Thunder only happens when it's raining
Players only love you when they're playing
They say, women, they will come and they will go
When the rain washes you clean you'll know
You'll know

Now here I go again, I see the crystal vision
I keep my visions to myself
It's only me who wants to wrap around your dreams and
Have you any dreams you'd like to sell,
Dreams of Loneliness, like a heartbeat drives you mad
In the stillness of remembering
What you had, And what you lost
What you had, oh what you lost

Thunder only happens when it's raining
Players only love you when they're playing
They say, women, they will come and they will go
When the rain washes you clean you'll know

Oh thunder only happens when it's raining
Players only love you when they're playing
They say, women, they will come and they will go
When the rain washes you clean you'll know
You'll know
You will know
Oh oh oh you'll know

Superboy and the Invisible Girl... Son of steel and daughter of air. He's a hero, a lover, a prince? She's not there.

Artist- cast "Next to Normal"
Song of the day- Suberboy and the invisible girl

Though I have an avid love of musical theater, it is often difficult for songs to stand alone in a usual song context. And though the same might be said to today's song, I am most recently obsessed with this musical "Next to Normal" after seeing it last night and can't stop listening to the music. A story based on family relationships, mental issues, secrets and being bi-polar how could I not love this musical? The moment this song began I was hooked and not just because I like superheroes, though it doesn't hurt. I've always related to the invisible girl, thought not the Fantastic Four Jessica Alba version, blek, but growing up I thought that maybe I actually had the power of invisibility and then realized being ignored was not the same as a super power. But I began to try and use it as one, because it is amazing what people reveal about themselves if you stay quiet enough to listen, if you stand off and watch interactions of people, you find out who they are, being invisible you can often see people so clearly. But eventually this super power isn't enough and you want the be the superhero that can fly, that can save, that could be who people see and look to and wish would appear. So far all you invisible or supers, this one's for you.



Natalie:
Superboy and the Invisible Girl...
Son of steel and daughter of air.
He's a here, a lover, a prince?
She's not there.

Superboy and the Invisible Girl...
Everything a kid ought to be.
He's immortal, forever alive?
Then there's me.

I wish I could fly
And magically appear
And disappear.
I wish I could fly
I'd fly far away from here.

Superboy and the Invisible Girl...
He's the one you wish would appear.
He's your here, forever your son?
He's not here.
I am here.

Diana:
You know that's not true.
You're our little pride and joy,
Our perfect plan.
You know I love you...
I love you as much as I can.

Natalie:
Take a look at the Invisible Girl...
Here she is, clear as the day.
Please look closely and find her before
She fades away.

Natalie & Gabe:
Superboy and the Invisible Girl...
Son of steel and daughter of air.
He's a here, a lover, a prince--
She's not there...
She's not there...
She's not there...
She's not there.