Mixtape

I chose to have Bowie as the front cover of my mixtape. Doggy Bowie though.

1. Waldorf Worldwide - Good Charlotte
2. Crisis in the Slow Lane - The Xcerts
3. Conversation Piece - David Bowie
4. Holiday - Weezer
5. Bar Italia - Pulp
6. Even if it Kills Me - Motion City Soundtrack
7. Bennie and the Jets - Elton John
8. 99 Red Balloons - Goldfinger
9. Indoor Living - Motion City Soundtrack
10. Aberdeen 1987 - The Xcerts
11. ADHD - Blood Red Shoes
12. The Motivation Proclamation - Good Charlotte
13. Glory Days - Pulp
14. After Hours - We Are Scientists
15. Safe in LA - Gold Motel
16. I Sing I Swim - Seabear
17. Pretenders to the Throne - The Beautiful South
18. Harlow's Song - Good Charlotte
19. Los Angeles Worldwide - Good Charlotte

I've chosen songs that have memories attached to them or that I can relate to, but they all mean a great deal. There's a lot of Good Charlotte and Pulp as they were my favourite bands at high school so they remind me of a lot. There's a lot of Motion City Soundtrack as I can relate to the lyrics and how Justin Pierre feels a lot of the time. I've written something about each song:

Waldorf Worldwide:

Good Charlotte are my absolute number one favourite band and have been for 6 years. I always listen to this song (or any off their first album) when I’m sad because it is so happy and hopeful. I also love that even when they weren’t yet doing so well, they were so cocky. They knew they were going to get somewhere.

“All I wanna do is make somethin from nothin . It's GC baby and we're workin with somethin. We'll be self-made millionares, these lives we'll lead without a care, oh yeah. And we'll see what we'll be.”

Crisis in the Slow Lane:

Once I met a band I liked called The Xcerts and then became friends with them. On my 16^th birthday I went to Brighton and I saw them and they got me presents and dedicated this to me, it made the most perfect birthday and I get all happy when I hear it.

“We are tired of being alone, destroy a head but not your own; and if we make it, to see morning coffee. Then I swear you'll find an answer, yeah I swear you'll find an answer.”

Conversation Piece:

“Wouldn't think to look at me, that I've spent a lot of time in education. It all seems so long ago. I'm a thinker, not a talker, I've no-one to talk to, anyway.”

Holiday:
On my 18^th birthday I was in Brighton again and Owain and I put his iPod on shuffle and decided that the first one would be my birthday song. It was this and it was actually also kind of relevant so now reminds me of Brighton, too.

“Don't bother to pack your bags, or your map. We won't need them where we're goin'. We're goin' where the wind is blowin'. Not knowin' where we're gonna stay.”

Bar Italia:
This is my number one favourite song. I remember it from when I was little and my mum would always play it and then when I was about 13 and got into Pulp for myself I fell in love with it. When I see Pulp in July I’m going to Bar Italia. Cus I can. If I based my decisions solely on music then Pulp would be my numero uno band. I absolutely love ‘em.

“If we get through this alive, I'll meet you next week, same place, same time. Oh move, move quick you've gotta move. Come on it's through, come on it's time. Oh look at you, you, you're looking so confused, what did you lose?”

Even if it Kills Me:

“But if I had a little more time to kill I'd settle every little stupid thing, yeah, you'd think that I would. But I'm too tired to go to sleep tonight. And I'm too weak to follow dreams tonight. For the first time in a long time I can say that I want to try to get better and overcome each moment. In my own way.”

Bennie and the Jets:

This is my favourite Elton John song and just one of my favourite songs. I love Augusten Burroughs and when this was used in the film adaptation of Running With Scissors it kind of just confirmed my love for it. Not ashamed.

99 Red Balloons:

Even though it’s a cover, it’s probably my favourite Goldfinger song. On my 18^th I went to an 80s night at a club and the original came on so this reminds me of then but also every time I’ve thought it was smart to get really drunk and show everyone that I can sing the chorus in really awful German.

Indoor Living:

“I've got so much to talk about but I don't wanna let you, I don't wanna let you down. Last call for societal knockdowns, measure my endeavors loosely based on someone else's song. Melodrama and a bottle of wine. Yeah, here's to self expression, here's to everyone that's dead. Bring back the days that fell behind. I'm all wasted conversations in the corner of an empty room. So don't ask me out, don't make me try. 'Cause I don't wanna let you down.”

Aberdeen 1987:

My favourite Xcerts song. In 2009 they invited me to their album launch, which was on a little boat on Loch Ness. It was just the band and some friends and family and when they played this we turned all the lights off and they didn’t even play the instruments, we just all sang it together and it was really lovely.

“I'm your new best friend, yeah I'm your new haircut. Yeah I'm the alcohol that burns down your neck and into your gut. And I was cold outside and your screams are loud and I'm trying to wrap up, I find it hard as I stumble to the ground.”

ADHD:

Another one that just describes how I feel and everything. Blood Red Shoes’ lyrics are never hugely imaginative or deep, but I still relate to them a lot. There is absolutely no point in me putting any lyrics from this song here, because they are useless.

The Motivation Proclamation:

“Motivate me, I wanna get myself out of this bed. Captivate me; I want good thoughts inside of my head. If I fall down, would you come around, and pick me right up off the ground? If I fall down, would you come around, and pick me right up off the ground?”

Glory Days:

“Oh and I could be a genius, if I just put my mind to it. And I, I could do anything if only I could get 'round to it. Oh we were brought up on the Space-Race, now they expect you to clean toilets. When you have seen how big the world is how can you make do with this? If you want me I'll be sleeping in - sleeping in throughout these glory days.”

After Hours:

This just reminds me of my friends and all the things we used to do before I got all boring and stopped leaving the house.

“We’re finally drunk enough that we’re finally soaking up the hours that everyone else throws away. And if we have to go now I guess there’s always hope, tomorrow night will be more of the same.”

Safe in LA:

Los Angeles is probably my ultimate number one have to go there ever place. To go there would mean seeing Hollywood, David Bowie’s star, Joel and Benji Madden’s DCMA store…it has everything I want to see. I’ve been told it’s not that amazing but I’ll have to find out for myself.

“Maybe we're right, maybe we're wrong. Maybe we're both too far gone. Coast away, waitin' for the day when we're both safe in LA.”

I Sing I Swim:

Once I was recovering from a migraine in the dark and I asked Owain to put on the Where the Wild Things Are trailer so I could listen to it. From there we listened to a related video that was this song by Seabear. I fell in love with them, but this always reminds me of then.

“Throw me a dream please; it's been a dreamless sleep. For such a long time, such a long time. Sing myself awake, watch the branches break. No one could ever take your place.”

Pretenders to the Throne:

Even though chances are it isn’t about it at all, this song always makes me think of Brighton and how excited I get when I’m going there. But I guess the beauty of the song is the ambiguity of it, so I can make what I want of the lyrics.

“Is it Dublin with its culture and its wit? Madrid with its market square? Paris with its bustling cafes? Hull with its musical flair? Do you know where I'm gonna go? None of you have guessed, so none of you can know. If you've been, that's not where I mean. It's got class and it's got excellence like you've never seen. Your town is dragging me down.”

Harlow’s Song:

One of my favourites from Good Charlotte’s new album. It’s by Joel Madden about his daughter Harlow and it makes me want a relationship with my dad like theirs – Joel adores Harlow. It also reminds me of Mia as she’s the closest thing I have to a child (luckily) and I love her more than anything. It reminds me of the need I feel to protect her from everything in the world and how I have no idea how I’ll cope when I move away.

“And tomorrow when you wake I'll be next to you, the protection from the day. When the tears fall down your face like morning dew, I'll be there to put a smile on your face. And I'll say I don't wanna live this life without you, I don't wanna spend the night without you, I don't wanna know what it's like, I can't dream without you.”

Los Angeles Worldwide:

I wanted to close on this one as it’s an update of Waldorf. Good Charlotte wrote this for their Greatest Remixes album and it’s all about how they got where they wanted to – the lyrics are just changed slightly to be made relevant.

“Take away the platinum records now look what I got - I got my girl, I got my daughter, that's a hell of a lot. And no one's ever trying to shut this down, I'd have a party for the haters but they're never around. I had dreams of putting food on other people's plate now we go to the arounds and they never make us wait.”