I got an idea for a song so I sat down with my guitar and started writing. Then I began to doubt myself, the lyrics where quite silly, as were the melody. But then I started thinking of Map of Tasmania by Amanda Palmer. That song is silly, but I don’t want my sings to be silly. I want to be taken seriously. Then I realised that I’m not at all serious, wouldn’t writing a serious song make me a hypocrite?
I could write lyrics that are both silly and serious, like Vegemite by Amanda Palmer. It’s just; I’m not very good at that. What if people laugh at me? I wouldn’t like that. But you’re supposed to laugh at Vegemite and now I don’t know what to do.
I don’t know if you believe in ghosts or not. Anyway, you should. Because they do exist. Me and my family has always known that there is a ghost in the house. A little girl. Mum has seen her, we have all heard her. You can hear her running around on the second floor even though there’s no one up there. Don’t blame the cats, this has happened for as long as I can remember.
This morning I dreamed that Amanda Palmer slept in my house (random). When we were having breakfast she told me that she had seen the girl. I believed her of course, no one had told her about it so there’s no way she could have known. There was this other man who said that he had felt that someone sat down on his bed, he looked up and saw… the king of Sweden (even more random).
I woke up. Here’s the scary part. I felt, I literally felt someone sitting down at my bed. Right next to me. I could feel the weight of a person. I don’t think I’ve ever been that terrified. I wanted to scream but I couldn’t breathe. After a few seconds, felt more like minutes, I managed to turn the lights on. Hid under the covers for thirty minutes.
Now I’m too afraid to leave my room. I wish that everyone could just wake up now, I don’t want to be alone. But it’s 5 in the morning, people won’t wake up for hours.
Dear Editor-
I am 8 years old. Some of my little friends say there is no Santa Claus. Papa says, “If you see it in The Sun, it’s so.” Please tell me the truth, is there a Santa Claus?
-Virginia O’Hanlon
Virginia, your little friends are wrong. They have been affected by the skepticism of a skeptical age. They do not believe except they see. They think that nothing can be which is not comprehensible by their little minds. All minds, Virginia, whether they be men’s or children’s, are little. In this great universe of ours, man is a mere insect, an ant, in his intellect as compared with the boundless world about him, as measured by the intelligence capable of grasping the whole of truth and knowledge.
Yes, Virginia, there is a Santa Claus. He exists as certainly as love and generosity and devotion exist, and you know that they abound and give to your life its highest beauty and joy. Alas! how dreary would be the world if there were no Santa Claus! It would be as dreary as if there were no Virginias. There would be no childlike faith then, no poetry, no romance to make tolerable this existence. We should have no enjoyment, except in sense and sight. The external light with which childhood fills the world would be extinguished.
Not believe in Santa Claus! You might get your papa to hire men to watch in all the chimneys on Christmas Eve to catch Santa Claus, but even if you did not see Santa Claus coming down, what would that prove? Nobody sees Santa Claus, but that is no sign that there is no Santa Claus. The most real things in the world are those that neither children nor men can see. Did you ever see fairies dancing on the lawn? Of course not, but that’s no proof that they are not there. Nobody can conceive or imagine all the wonders there are unseen and unseeable in the world.
You tear apart the baby’s rattle and see what makes the noise inside, but there is a veil covering the unseen world which not the strongest man, nor even the united strength of all the strongest men that ever lived could tear apart. Only faith, poetry, love, romance, can push aside that curtain and view and picture the supernal beauty and glory beyond. Is it all real? Ah, Virginia, in all this world there is nothing else real and abiding.
No Santa Claus? Thank God! He lives and lives forever. A thousand years from now, Virginia, nay 10 times 10,000 years from now, he will continue to make glad the heart of childhood.
No, I can’t talk enough about her. Don’t care? Don’t read.
I didn’t sleep last night, at all. Crawled out of bed at 11 am and somehow manage to travel all the way from my bed to my computer. (That’s a long trip, I swear!)
Immediately logged on Facebook and…
I nearly peed my pants from excitement. And oh my god raging emotions! Amanda Palmer is the only musician that can make me cry. Alright, Call It Off – Tegan and Sara, Fall Asleep For Nuclear War – Pretty Balanced. That was tears streaming down my face.
Amanda Palmer on other hand, makes me curl up on the floor and cry so hard that the neighbours call the police. Not when I listen to the studio versions of the songs, though they sometimes make me weep in silence. No, I’m talking about live. Amanda has this voice that just gets into your soul and messes everything up (of course I’m only speaking for myself, I have no idea what her voice is doing to you). There is so much emotions that I can’t handle it.
When she hits certain notes it feels like I’ve been kicked in the stomach. It’s weird really, how some music can make you feel so much. Ha, and then you try to explain how you feel and nobody understands.
This song has a very long intro, so if you just want to hear the singing skip to 04:30. If you don’t want to hear the entire song, skip to 08:30.
Let’s talk about music. My favourite kind of music. Brilliant music. Music that’s not anything like Tegan and Sara. Dark cabaret, punk cabaret, gothic cabaret, it has a lot of names, but to me it really sounds the same.
(I just need to add that I am no journalist, therefore my writing is not the best. This is me telling you why I love this music. It is not a review of any kind.)
(I strongly recommend you to check out some these bands. You might be missing out on some really great music.)
Everyone should know that I love Amanda Palmer, The Dresden Dolls and Evelyn, Evelyn (Amanda Palmer is a part of all of them). Before I say anything else I just need to mention something about Amanda Palmer/The Dresden Dolls. You need to start listening to the “right songs” (unless you’re not into music the sounds kind of unserious). I’ll just make a list of songs that I think you should start with. (I’ll link all the songs to YouTube.)
The thing about this kind of music is writing about very serious things and sometimes make it sound like the silliest thing ever. Like The Indelicates, they wrote a song called “Our Daughters Will Never Be Free” with the lyrics:
“Rape us and beat us ’til we’re black and blue We made it okay on the day we said nothing Was better that something to say”
When you first hear it you might not think about what they’re really singing about. You need to take some time to actually listen to (or read) the lyric.
This music has a lot of sarcasm (who doesn’t love sarcasm?) and all things mean and bad.
“Now you’re gone it’s not so funny anymore We took your name and dragged it all across the floor To say that you did not deserve it isn’t true But just to clear up this confusion we hate you”
“Mummy, when grandfather dies, can we cut him open to see what’s inside? Mummy, when grandfather dies, we want our grandfather’s eyes. To satisfy our curiosity we’ll cut, slice and drill and we’ll see And once we’ve cut him apart I’ll take his liver.. I’ll keep his heart”
Two of my favourite songs, at the moment, are both by birdeatsbaby.
“Pages and pages and pages of poetry
I am not doing so well
Teach me the Bible, the scriptures, disciples
and baby teach me how to spell
My mother and father they got for a daughter
I wish that I could have been more
They were so proud when I learned how to walk
but since then I just lay on the floor”
“So why tell the truth
When it’s easier to put the blame on you I was
Bored with no hope but I always hang myself with the same rope
So why must you always play the victim it’s time that I wasn’t your hero
I’ve got troubles of my own that you used to care for
Now all I desire is to run so far away from those open and angry
Arms I am not your possession”
My first thought was “annoying spammers!!”, but I changed my mind. You should give every band/artist a chance right? I regret nothing. Awesome band and a great idea to get more listeners by checking out people’s last.fm.
This is the kind of music I want to play, but sadly no one who lives anywhere close to me wants the same.
What I really love about this kind of music is that you can go completely crazy. Don’t be scared to be honest. Write about whatever you want, and do it a very obvious way. Too many bands/artists are to scared to really spell out what they really want to say.
If you don’t feel like listening to them all, at least check out Amanda Palmer! I promise, you won’t regret it.
A lot of her music can you download here. (<– click!) A lot of is costs no more than a 1$/7 SEK. It’s so worth it!
When I went to see Tegan and Sara in London, Amanda Palmer said that she would show up. And she did… about 5 minutes after I got in… That sucks.
Got back from my grandparent’s a couple of hours ago and damn… I kind of like don’t like those two. They basically said (like they always say) that I’m ugly, that I need to lose weight and that I really should find another hobby than singing. So what if I’m ugly and fat!? Maybe I want to be ugly and fat huh!? And as far as singing goes…
Fuck that shit. Just fuck it.
They did get me a camera bag and a new memory card so I can’t totally dislike them. Doesn’t change the fact that they are forever rude.
I need my Get Along Deluxe Package now. Like right now.
Also, I went to Universeum this weekend. Mostly just to visit the fishes. I love fishes. I met a clownfish and I heard the name “Nemo” at least ten times. Come one kids! (eat those pills you got #neeeerd) Not every orange fish with white stripes is named Nemo. I feel sorry for the fish. Seriously.
I almost forgot how fun it is to play! And Amanda Palmer always reminds me that it doesn’t have to sound perfect to be perfect. You guys have no idea how much I love Amanda Palmer. She’s my God. Like literally, I see her as God. Or goddess?
She’s just the most amazing person I know of.
I mean who can write this song,
and this song,
and also this song,
without being amazing and a genius and fantastic?!
Yes, about that picture in my last post. I can’t sleep and I just felt like talking about it. I really like this picture, or at least the original, don’t really like having my friend painted over like that. I know my smile seems a bit forced but in that moment I was really happy. Which was a very unfamiliar feeling for me back then. In that moment I felt like I really did have friends. Like I was one step closer to trusting people. It’s truly amazing how much one can change in just three years, okay three years could seem like a lifetime but it’s still only three years. I’m not going to say that I wish that things could have been different, because I might have become someone completely different from who I am now and I’m just starting to like who I’m becoming. But at the same time I want to go back in time, give myself a hug and tell me that it really does get better. When I’m “back in time” I would also go around slapping a bunch of people for completely giving up on me haha. I do understand why they couldn’t stand me but you never give up on a friend right? If you do, you’re not really a friend.
