Song Share: Wolves

By Jake Parker

This guy, Matthew Houck, is a one man indie-folk-alternative-country band. This song Wolves was recorded live in the KEXP studio here in Brooklyn where I heard it one morning.

This song is open to many interpretations, but I personally think he's not describing wolves so much as he's talking about his own demons. It's as if the act of singing this song is flushing out something heavy that's been collecting in his heart. His voice isn't perfect. It warbles, and cracks, but I can't imagine this song being sung any other way.

Wolves by Phosphorescent



Lyrics:
Mama there's wolves in the house
Mama they won't let me out
Mama they're mating at night
Mama they wont make nice

They're pacing and glowing bright
Their faces all snowy and white
Bury their paws in the stone
Make for my heart as their home

They tumble and fight
And they're beautiful
On the hilltops at night
They are beautiful

Blazing with light
Is the whitest and the tallest and the biggest one
She's muscled and fine
When she runs

They're tearing up holes in the house
They're tearing their claws in the ground
They're staring with blood in their mouths
Mama they won't let me out

They tumble and fight
And they're beautiful
On the hilltops at night
They are beautiful

Blazing with light
Is the whitest and the tallest and the biggest one
All muscled and fine
When she runs

Mama there's wolves in the house
Mama i tried to put them out
And mama i know you're too wise
To wait till those wolves make nice

Song Share: The Sprout and the Bean

By Jake Parker

Here's one: The Sprout and the Bean by Joanna Newsom from her first album: The Milk Eye'd Mender.

A bit about her from Wikipedia:
Newsom's vocal style (in the November 2006 issue of The Wire she described her voice as "untrainable") has shadings of folk and appalachian shaped-note timbres. Newsom has, however, expressed disappointment at comments that her singing is "child-like." Some reviewers have stated that her voice is distracting in juxtaposition to her harp playing.

I say it's a sublime juxtaposition. I love all of her songs as they make for great drawing music. I must have listened to The Sprout and the Bean half a hundred times while making my comic The Robot and the Sparrow. I think it's the bedtime story quality to her songs that I love so much.



Lyrics:
I slept all day
awoke with distaste
and I railed,
and I raved

That the difference between
the sprout and the bean
is a golden ring,
it is a twisted string.
And you can ask the counsellor;
you can ask the king;
and they'll say the same thing;
and it's a funny thing:

Should we go outside?
Should we go outside?
Should we break some bread?
Are y'interested?

And as I said,
I slept as though dead
dreaming seamless dreams of lead.

When you go away,
I am big-boned and fey
in the dust of the day,
in the dirt of the day.

and Danger! Danger! Drawing near them was a white coat,
and Danger! Danger! drawing near them was a broad boat,
And the water! water! running clear beneath a white throat,
and the hollow chatter of the talking of the Tadpoles,

who know th'outside!
Should we go outside?
Should we break some bread?
Are y'interested?

Song Share: My Girls

By Jake Parker

I heard this song on a local indy radio station broadcasting out of Brooklyn and I haven't been able to get it out of my head since.

My Girls by Animal Collective on the album Merriweather Post Pavilion.



Lyrics:
Is it much that I feel I need
A solid soul and the blood I bleed
With a little girl, and by my spouse
I only want a proper house

I don't care for fancy things
Or to take part in a precious race
And children cry for the one who has
A real big heart and a father's grace

I don't mean to seem like I care about material things like a social status
I just want four walls and adobe slabs for my girls

Song Share: Heart of Steel

by Jake Parker

This song is called Heart of Steel by ManOwaR on their album Kings of Steel (1988). It tells of a lone warrior coming home from a long battle. Though the battle was hard, he prevailed and is returning triumphantly. Heart of Steel is about more than just that. It's about standing up for your beliefs, for what you know is right, even in the face of ridicule and scorn. And though the forces that rise up against you may be powerful, and all you want to do is give up, throw in the towel and quit, ManOwaR reminds you that you were born with a heart of steel. That if you live by your heart there is always one more try. And in doing so you will prevail.

What about the band itself? I think this quote from founding band member says it all: "I believe in the fans. I believe in metal more than anybody you've ever met. And another thing, I'm prepared to die for metal. Are you?"

Lyrics:
Build a fire a thousand miles away
To light my long way home
I ride a comet
My trail is long to stay
Silence is a heavy stone
I fight the world and take all they can give
There are times my heart hangs low
Born to walk against the wind
Born to hear my name
No matter where I stand Im alone

Stand and fight
Live by your heart
Always one more try
Im not afraid to die
Stand and fight
Say what you feel
Born with a heart of steel

Burn the bridge behind you
Leave no retreat
Theres only one way home
Those who laugh and crowd the path
And cut each others throats
Will fall like melting snow
Theyll watch us rise with fire in our eyes
Theyll bow their heads
Their hearts will hang low
Then well laugh and they will kneel
And know this heart of steel was
Too hard to break
Too hard to hold

Stand and fight
Live by your heart
Always one more try
Im not afraid to die
Stand and fight
Say what you feel
Born with a heart of steel