MetroLyrics Blog

Rolling Stone reports that Lil Wayne’s “Rebirth” album has been pushed again, and that the new release date is “unclear.” A video for “On Fire” is out, though, so you can get an advance taste of the rock-inspired album.

A new clip has arrived for “On Fire,” Rebirth’s recent single that, as Rolling Stone previously reported, borrows its hook from the Scarface soundtrack’s “She’s On Fire.” The video, which appears to have been filmed during the same photo shoot that generated the Rebirth cover, was directed by Chris Robinson, according to Nah Right.

Here’s the video. What do you think?

Reports Billboard.biz:

Susan Boyle’s “I Dreamed a Dream” reigns for a sixth straight week at No. 1 on the Billboard 200 chart with 137,000 (down 73%) according to Nielsen SoundScan, bringing her cumulative sales total up to 3,104,000. However, while that is a huge sales sum — especially considering it was totaled in just six weeks time — it’s not enough to overtake Taylor Swift’s “Fearless” as 2009’s top selling album. The latter is at No. 5 on the Billboard 200 this week, selling another
60,000 — bringing its 2009 total to 3,217,000.

Of course, Boyle can rest easy in knowing that her “Dream” is but one of just two albums to sell at least 3 million copies in the U.S. last year — something that hasn’t happened since 2006, when three albums did it. Boyle’s “Dream” is also 2009’s top selling album released last year (Swift’s “Fearless” dropped in late 2008), and was also the top selling physical album of 2009. Of its overall 2009 total, physical CDs accounted for 3,019,000 copies, whereas digital downloads made up a rather tiny 86,000.

To read more, clickhere.

If you’re like me, you’ve probably been wondering what happened to Louisville’s VHS OR BETA. It seems like they’ve been featuring the same songs on their MySpace page forever, and MTV.com only has one music video available to watch from them. (The delightful “Can’t Believe A Single Word,” featured below.) Well, the buzz on their Facebook page is that they’ve been doing remixes of several of their existing songs, and that they’re working on a remix of a new single that they say is “going to blow up dancefloors.”

If you aren’t already familiar with them, check this out and tell us what you think!

Have you heard about JamBase? The site is primarily a searchable database of upcoming concerts, but you can search and refine a variety of ways. I looked for concerts near me (within 40 miles of my town) first. When I saw that Vampire Weekend are coming to my area, I was able to click on the band for a full tour schedule, and I could buy tickets at several different junctions in my search. There are other features on the site that are worthwhile, but it’s searchability for upcoming shows is really helpful!

What are some of the resources you’ve found to keep tabs on what’s coming to your area? What upcoming shows are you especially excited about?

DJ Earworm created a mash-up of the top 25 hits of 2009 that’s making the rounds. If you haven’t already watched it, you can do it here. It’s very catchy! Enjoy, and HAPPY NEW YEAR!

In this episode, Seattle’s Ehren Ebbage shares the story behind his song, “Snakes.”

Almost all of my songs are written with at least one degree of separation; a real life experience inspires an idea but the names and dates are changed to protect identities, so to speak.

Snakes is one of the few that are totally unaltered reflections of my life. The song started to emerge during a particularly challenging period. I was touring non-stop with a band that was slowly but surely achieving some rather large goals, including a major label record deal. We were crackling with excitement and big success seemed to be just around the corner. For the first time in my life I was a full-time musician and I was rubbing elbows with big time industry folks. It was truly exciting.

As time went on and the novelty wore off I noticed a consistent, nagging feeling of profound unhappiness. I was lonely. My relationship was on the rocks. I was going deep into debt (a Google search will provide many details as to how bands who sign record deals usually go broke). I was spending most of every day in a van or hotel room. I was booking the national tours for the band so the few scattered days that I was home were spent working long hours to prepare for the next tour. The stated goal of the bandleader was huge success; he wanted to play stadiums and arenas and I was at odds both because of the improbability of the goal and the fact that I didn’t see myself being any happier if we did happen to become rock stars. I wanted to be a musician but I was playing music for no more than 45 minutes a day. After a long period of this I realized that the sacrifices I was making were much greater than the rewards. I quit the band.

The song is written in a general way. There are no lyrics about ‘…the road ain’t no place to start a family…’. It deals with the points in life when you find yourself torn between options; what you thought you wanted and what you obviously need. It deals with growing pains and the feelings of failure.

It took some nerve to pack up and hit the road with the band but it was ten times more difficult to quit. This song came as I sorted through the process.

Snakes

I can’t explain
I just need to do things my own way
Cause this heart of mine
pulls in two directions at the same time

Loneliness here it comes
it’s been so long since I’ve loved someone

It doesn’t really ever pass
it just waits around like a snake in tall grass
at every opportunity
I turn my back and it sneaks up on me

but it doesn’t bite
it just hisses and spits
so why should I be scared of it

I don’t like to show it
when I’m feeling beaten
but nobody goes their whole life undefeated

it’s a matter of confidence
it’s just something you find
cause you’re not born with it

I’m starting to understand
even my dad had to learn how to be a man

I see those signs
just as clear as they get
like red lights flashing right over my head

this is my challenge and I’ll try to meet it
but nobody goes their whole life undefeated

which of us is brave enough
to throw away their fears
mostly we just save them up like little souvenirs
we keep them wrapped up
with all the other stuff
at the back of the dresser drawer
maybe someday I’ll take them out and say
I don’t need these anymore

These holes I keep falling in
there’s nothing to do but climb back out again
I just need a little privacy
some place to think without everybody watching me

everyone goes through the same kinds of feelings and
happiness is really just how well you are dealing
you say I am strong and I’d like to believe it
but nobody goes their whole life undefeated

In this episode, Portland, Oregon’s The Dimes share the story behind their song, “Paul Kern Can’t Sleep.” (As told by lead singer, Johnny Clay.)

“Paul Kern Can’t Sleep” is the story of a WWI vet who was shot in the head in battle. Doctors were able to save him, but the bullet struck the part of the brain that controls sleep and he never slept again for the rest of his life. I read about Paul Kern in an old newspaper from the late 1920s, and at the time of the article he’d been awake for 15 years straight. In fact, the article was written about the fact that he couldn’t pay his tab at a local night club. It seems that he’d been spending his nights at the local bar, looking for someone to talk to since everyone else was asleep. There’s not much information about Paul Kern after that article, but hopefully he was able to get some shut eye.

The Dimes – Paul Kern Can’t Sleep from grammar school on Vimeo.

Paul Kern Can’t Sleep

The year was 1915,
when Regret won the Derby,
and the war was on…

They say it must have struck a vein,
the bullet lodged in his brain,
and he’ll never be the same

Paul Kern can’t sleep,
and he can’t afford his whiskey neat
Paul Kern can’t sleep a wink

The year, 1930,
and Paul made the dailies
for 15 years he’d been awake,
and it’s earned international fame

and by 1945, 30 years without shut eye,
if Paul was still alive then,
would fatigue have finally set in?

Paul Kern can’t sleep,
he can’t afford his whiskey neat,
and Paul Kern can’t sleep a wink

Paul Kern can’t sleep,
for 15 years he counted sheep,
and Paul Kern can’t sleep a wink

Words and Music by Johnny Clay
C, P HursterSongs (ASCAP)

The Dimes are playing a New Year’s Eve show at The Mission Theatre in Portland, Oregon. This show and the video above both feature appearances by sometimes-Dime Ehren Ebbage.

Vic Chesnutt, discovered by REM’s Michael Stipe and regarded with respect by many of the biggest names in the music industry, passed on on Christmas Day from a drug overdose. It isn’t yet known if it was accidental or deliberate.

(From the full article at RollingStone.com)Neutral Milk Hotel’s reclusive Jeff Mangum released a statement that reads, “In 1991 I moved to Athens, Georgia in search of God, but what I discovered instead was Vic Chesnutt. Hearing his music completely transformed the way I thought about writing songs, and I will forever be in his debt.”

Reuters reported today:

The news about the singer’s condition first spread through the Internet on Wednesday through Twitter posts by former Throwing Muses singer Kristin Hersh, who has collaborated with Chesnutt.

“(H)e’s gone…so much to go away in a moment,” she wrote in a subsequent series of messages. “(H)e was supposed to go to *my* funeral, damn it.”

According to MTV: “He put out a total of 13 records over his career (including two in 2009), though he is probably best known for the 1998 compilation Sweet Relief II: The Gravity of the Situation, a benefit CD that saw artists like Garbage, Live, Soul Asylum and Madonna covering Chesnutt’s tunes. The album was a benefit for the Sweet Relief Fund, which sought to provide health care to musicians who needed it…”

Learn more about Vic Chesnutt on his official site, www.vicchesnutt.com.

Read the full story

Billboard’s got some amazing year-end round-ups right now, and looking at them inspired us to see what else was out there. It turned out that everyone is doing it, so why shouldn’t we? In the spirit of comprehensive coverage, here are the Top 10 Top 10s for music in 2009:

1. Billboard’s round-up of round-ups. Charts, stories, trends, and more. Billboard’s got lists galore!
2. Pitchfork’s Top 50 Albums of 2009 and Top 100 Tracks of 2009. There are more than 10 items on each list, but they’re definitely in the spirit.
3. Rolling Stone’s 25 Best Songs of 2009. Another longer-than-ten list, but this one has players for each song, so you can listen while you reminisce.
4. MTV asked Lady Gaga for her tops of 2009. MTV has a bunch of other great year/decade-end wrap ups, but their report on Lady Gaga’s faves for 2009 is the one that makes our list.
5. VH1’s Best of 2009 catch-all. So maybe nobody limits their lists to 10 anymore, but who cares? VH1 has become the go-to for retrospective lists, so how could we exclude them from ours?

Did we miss anything? Which lists make your best-of?

So either you’ve had a lovely Christmas and now you’re cruising the Internet looking for something to do in the wake of eating and exchanging gifts, or you don’t celebrate Christmas and can only eat so much Chinese food and see so many movies. However you spent your day today, you’re here now and you may as well have some fun while you are!

Use the list below as your guide to search the lyrics database on MetroLyrics.com to find songs that use the following words and phrases. Submit your answers as a comment for a chance to win a fabulous prize!

• I love you.
• What are you doing?
• Shoot the moon.
• I’m so lonely.
• How are you?
• That hurts.
• Text me.
• I don’t care.
• I hate you.
• Tell me how you feel.
• Loser.
• Winner.
• Puppy.
• Kitten.
• It’s a miracle.

No joke! Fabulous prize for the best/most complete list! Merry Christmas!

While tearing up at an old episode of Extreme Makeover: Home Edition on CMT, I caught an ad for The Singing Bee that had nothing to do with Mario Lopez Joey Fatone and made an appeal to the viewer to preserve the integrity of song lyrics by watching and participating in the show. It got me thinking about lyrical slips I’ve heard friends make over the years and famously indistinct lyrics nobody seems to be able to decipher. How would they do “Yellow Ledbetter” on a show like that?

In the spirit of The Singing Bee’s message, here are a few songs with commonly misunderstood lyrics we’d like to see the world get right:

• The aforementioned “Yellow Ledbetter,” by Pearl Jam. A friend of mine performed this song many years ago, and because she wasn’t able to find the lyrics anywhere, she made most of them up and mumbled through the rest. Nobody in the audience could tell.
• Jimi Hendrix’s line “excuse me while I kiss the sky” in “Purple Haze” has actually inspired a Website of misheard lyrics called www.kissthisguy.com. Excuse me while I kiss this guy? Not what he’s saying after all.
• Blondie’s “Heart of Glass” is a perennial favorite for dancing at weddings and road trip playlists, and the lyrics are pretty terrible once you understand them. It turns out that Debbie Harry isn’t saying “You’re cheezy like the devil,” she’s saying “you teasing like you do.” IN this case, they lyric is better that what I’d always heard, but I’ll never get used to “mucho mistrust.”
• Have you ever read the lyrics in the album liner notes of Michael Jackson’s “Thriller”? In particular, the lyrics to “Wanna Be Startin’ Somethin’”? Despite having happily sung along with the song forever, something changes when you see “ma ma se, ma ma sa, ma ma coo sa” typed out. (And now I just ruined it for you. Sorry!)
• Finally (for this list) is Nirvana’s “Smells Like Teen Spirit.” Even when you do understand the lyrics to this classic, you don’t understand the lyrics. “A mulatto, an albino, a mosquito, my libido.” What??? Was Kurt Cobain really the voice of his generation? Let’s hope not.

What did we miss? Have you got a great story about misunderstanding lyrics or hearing someone else sing a song totally wrong? Share it with us!

Brittany Murphy, one of the stars of the 90’s teen classic Clueless and ex-girlfriend of Ashton Kutcher, died this morning from cardiac arrest. According to Yahoo’s OMG: “A Los Angeles Fire Department spokesman told Access (Hollywood) that they responded to a 911 call made from the 1800 block of N. Rising Glen Road — the same street where the actress lives — at 8 AM on Sunday. According to TMZ, the actress was pronounced dead upon arrival at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center.”

Ex-boyfriend Ashton Kutcher said on Twitter today, “2day the world lost a little piece of sunshine. My deepest condolences go out 2 Brittany’s family, her husband, & her amazing mother Sharon.”

In addition to her acting credits, Murphy provided vocals on songs on the soundtrack to Happy Feet and for the 2006 hit “Faster Kill Pussycat.”

In this episode, These United States, from Washington, DC, and Lexington, KY, share the story behind their song, “The Important Thing.” (As told by lead singer, Jesse Elliott.)

This is the most straightforward song I’ve ever written. I couldn’t say exactly what it’s about. A lotta people assume it’s Love. Just as many have asked me if it’s God. Some people take it as a Joke, a send-up: there isn’t actually any one important thing. It might be all of those, but plural. I like plural. I think the universe it made mostly of plural – just from where I’m standing, anyway. Maybe it’s a love song to plurality – to the belief that, at any given moment, there are actually quite a few things in the world worth considering the most important. That’s certainly true for people, plural. Might even be true for a single person. The video we made for this one tries to get at that – young, ignorant, unbridled Belief. Again, it’s not a parody, though I could see how some people have taken it that way. It’s more of an homage (maybe slightly caricatured) to youth, one of the most important things, and of course to music. Oh yeah, I think this song is about music, now that I think about it. Music is the roses and the revolutions and the changes and the wings, definitely.

The Important Thing from These United States on Vimeo.

The Important Thing

The important thing is to love me when your love’s all gone.
The important thing is to let me love you, too.
The important thing is to remember all the little things that aren’t even important.
And you do. You still do.

The important thing’s to throw roses from all the balconies.
The important thing? Throw your arms into the air.
The important thing’s to start outrageous revolutions –
like I love you like no other anywhere.

The important thing will strongly surely change with time.
The important thing will meet you through the night.
The important thing will always leave you breathless, deathless,
restless – I’m gonna love you like I’m senseless.
That’s gonna be alright.

The important thing’s gonna grab your hand in those summer storms.
The important thing left a nice note by the door.
The important thing is to spread your wings and fall and ask for mercy.
Ask for any, ask for every, ask for love to leave you lossless, ask for more.

In this episode, Oregon’s “The Comforters” share the story behind their song, “Lazy Sundays.”

I would love to be able to say that when the muse strikes, I just have to get out of the way, that I’m merely a conduit for the song to get out. The truth is, I’m more like that annoying faucet that drips in the bathroom. The story behind Lazy Sundays is pretty much the same story behind most of our songs. That is, it’s not the result of a singular moment of inspiration and it didn’t come quickly. As I recall, we had Car Wheels on a Gravel Road (Lucinda Williams), Transcendental Blues (Steve Earle), and Crossing Muddy Waters (John Hiatt) on heavy rotation at the house around that time. I think I was also reading Capote’s In Cold Blood. All of that stuff filters through and creates a certain mindset or mood, which I think contributes to Lazy Sundays’ mix of swagger, detachment, and a dim sense of hope and solace.

The verse section probably came first with the chord progression and its slightly syncopated melody being interesting enough for us to pursue. I’d keep playing the chords on guitar while Pia sang or hummed ideas. The nonsense words or sounds that served as placeholders for lyrics would have been there for a good while until a phrase popped out and a direction for the lyrical content of the song became evident. After that, it’s just a lot of work trying to make it sound like it’s not a lot of work. That way, if someone asked, I could say that I picked up the guitar and it just came to me – words and music together – as if I were merely a conduit…

- Jason Robbins

Download a free MP3 of “Lazy Sundays” at Last FM by clicking HERE

Lazy Sundays (Pia and Jason Robbins)

I’ve been hanging around the house
I’ve been shooting off my mouth
Sleeping, dreaming, mostly just keeping to myself
Ain’t this the life?

Long live lazy Sundays
On the porch with the radio real low

Sunday morning hallelujah
Thank god for silent prayer
Thinking, being, mostly just drinking by myself
Ain’t this living?

Long live lazy Sundays
On the porch with the radio real low

Sunday
Sunday is the world
Frozen in a pose
Close to heaven I suppose

Long live lazy Sundays
On the porch with the radio real low
On the porch with the radio real low
On the porch with the radio

You’ve probably seen the now-famous image above and others documenting Kevin Federline’s transition from “K-Fed” to “K-Fat,” but with the help of Celebrity Fit Club on VH1, he’s really slimmed down.

According to Yahoo’s OMG, “Most of that fat is apparently in the past now: Federline has reportedly lost 50 pounds as a contestant on the next season of VH1’s Celebrity Fit Club, airing in January..”

The big question now is, what will Britney Spears’ ex do with his slimmed-down form and the exposure he gets on the reality show? Playing with Fire Part II?

In this episode, Seattle’s “The Soft Hills” share the story behind their song, “Molten Change.”

Molten Change consists of two parts: A and B. In part A there are several layers of experience juxtaposed together, happening all in the mind of a man named, Ashely. The story begins with Ashely peering into his psychic landscape of madness, teetering on the verge of collapse. He realizes that his fear is founded upon a false image of himself, which is merely an illusion. The realization comes to him in a moment of darkness and despair.

In the 2nd verse he is mesmerized by a woman’s eyes. His desire for her drives out feelings of loneliness. This new found love opens up a vault of things to be discovered within his heart. The second chorus, “Man is not alone, so why’s he paying the fee?” suggests that human suffering stems from one’s feeling of isolation. But the irony is that we are actually connected to everything around us, at one with the whole universe, so why are we causing ourselves misery? Metaphorically, the “molten change” might be thought of as a state of mind that comes through catharsis. It is something equivalent to being struck by a ray of illumination.

Part B lifts off into a space and points towards a new horizon, a different way of seeing things: consciousness transformed. It poses a reflective question, “Are you happy?” It seems that many of us are constantly running around, looking for distractions, expending our energy in all directions, chasing a mirage which we call happiness. The lyric asks the listener to stop for a moment and think about their motives and actions, to ask themselves if they really are happy. What is happiness? Is happiness this blind pursuit of some far off future where we never fully arrive at? I think that when we really stop and look at ourselves, it becomes clear that our life is overrun by a kind of madness; it is as if we were caught in the cogs of a monstrous machine whose wheels never stop turning. It’s a shame that we spend our whole life wasting away in the treadmill. So why not get off the treadmill?

Molten Change is about overcoming fear and abandoning the old, stagnant way of life and finding a new way of living where we are one and at peace with ourselves. Ultimately, it is a song of healing.

Molten Change

Ashley was looking deeply into the chaos of his soul
He fell like a crumbling ceiling through a vast sea of holes

Why do you fear for your limited life?
The solution seems clear in the dead of the night
You’ll awaken to the molten change

Her eyes were a fascination like rubies on fire
You’re no longer feeling lonesome as your heart visions fly

Man is not alone, so why’s he paying the fee?
Through the lens of delusion you’ll be following me
You’ll awaken to the molten change

Are you happy?

Susan Boyle, the big winner of “Britain’s Got Talent” who’s taken YouTube by storm with the video of her first performance of “I Dreamed a Dream” from “Les Miserables,” is celebrating the success of her first album, “I Dreamed a Dream.” According to Billboard:

This past week, Boyle’s “Dream” held on to the No. 1 slot for a second frame with 527,000 — down just 25% — after bowing last week with 701,000. Now, with 1.23 million sold in its first two weeks, “Dream” is chasing after Taylor Swift’s “Fearless” (2.53 million sold this year) for the title of 2009’s best-selling album.

With four sales weeks left in the SoundScan tracking year, and with industry gurus suggesting “Dream” will have yet another blockbuster week, Boyle could overtake Swift’s sales figure by year’s end.

Congratulations, Susan! If you’ve somehow been under an Internet rock for the past few months and missed it, here’s the video that made her n international star:

Carrie Underwood’s “Cowboy Cassanova” warns the ladies against a troublesome cowboy, but she’s definitely not the first girl (or cowgirl) to fall in love and get burned. Here are some other tales of love gone wrong from some formidable female singers…

1. Patsy Cline’s “Walkin’ After Midnight.” This classic heartbreaker about a woman who spends her evening hours looking for the man she loves (who’s nowhere around) is perfect to crank up when your heart is breaking but you haven’t given up yet. Key quote: “I’m lonesome as I can be. I go out walkin’, after midnight out in the moonlight, just hopin’ you may be somewhere a-walkin’ after midnight searching for me.”

2. Alannah Myles’ “Black Velvet.” I’d been singing along with this sultry ballad for ages before realizing that it was a tribute to Elvis and a lament for his passing. Key quote: “Black velvet and that little boy’s smile, Black velvet with that slow southern style, A new religion that’ll bring ya to your knees, Black velvet if you please.”

3. Tracy Chapman’s “Fast Car.” She thought he was going to rescue her from her dead-end life and overwhelming responsibilities, but instead he added to her problems and got her stuck even farther. Key quote: “You stay out drinking late at the bar, See more of your friends than you do of your kids, I’d always hoped for better, Thought maybe together you and me’d find it, I got no plans I ain’t going nowhere, So take your fast car and keep on driving.”

4. Beyonce’s “If I Were a Boy.” Her gender-bending song & video take a fresh approach to pointing out some of the cruel things men do and how odd they would look if a woman were doing them. The end of the video is a real tear-jerker, though. Key quote: “If I were a boy, I would turn off my phone, tell everyone it was broken, so they would think I was sleeping alone.”

5. Lilly Allen’s “Smile.” Ending this list on a slightly upbeat note is Lily Allen’s “take that” to a man who broke her heart by cheating. With help from her friends she has learned to just smile instead of crying when she sees the worm. Key quote: “When you first left me, I didn’t know what to say, I’ve never been on my own that way, Just sat by myself all day.”

This seems like a list that could go on forever. What are your favorite heartbreak songs? What did we miss?

While watching a re-run of VH1’s “100 Greatest Hip Hop Songs” today, Queen Latifah’s “Ladies First” really stood out to me. Her current CoverGirl look (see above) is a pretty dramatic shift from where she was when All Hail The Queen came out in 1988. She’ll be hosting the People’s Choice Awards again in January, and her most recent album, August’s Persona, should give her some good tunes to work with if she sings during the broadcast.

To get a feel for how a strong woman like the Queen can evolve, check out the video for her classic “Ladies First” below…

Devendra Banhart’s new album, “What Will We Be,” came out last week, and Stereogum is offering a free stream of samples from it. If you’re new to Devendra, you might remember him as having dated Natalie Portman and featured her in the video to his trippy song, Carmencita.

Here’s the video for Carmencita, which is pretty cool:

What did you think?