2000-12-06 | 06:00:03

there is a song i've been listening to lately that makes me tear up with its first few notes.

this song is by a canadian band which i never would have heard of if it weren't for a certain young lady named jess. she raved about them on her site and then hooked me up with mp3 sources. thanks, girl! i owe you one.*

the band is called the weakerthans and they make great pop. REALLY great pop.

the song that makes me fahklempt (or however you spell it) is "left and leaving" from the album of the same name. here are the lyrics. of course, the melancholy strains of their lovely melody enhances these beautifully sad words:

my city's still breathing (but barely, it's true) through buildings gone missing like teeth.

the sidewalks are watching me think about you, all sparkled with broken glass.

i'm back with scars to show. back with the streets i know.

they never take me anywhere but here.

those stains in the carpet, this drink in my hand, these strangers whose faces i know.

we meet here for our dress-rehearsal to say "i wanted it this way" and wait for the year to drown.

spring forward, fall back down.

i'm trying not to wonder where you are. all this time lingers, undefined.

someone choose who's left and who's leaving.

memory will rust and erode into lists of all that you gave me: some matches, a blanket, this pain in my chest, the best parts of lonely, duct-tape and soldered wires, new words for old desires, and every birthday card i threw away.

i wait in 4/4 time.

count yellow highway lines that you're relying on to lead you home.

***

the bittersweet beauty of sadness, ah yes. but there is much beauty in joy, as well. and beauty in a boy. hee.

*for the upbeat flipside of pop joy beauty, may i suggest fastball's newest album? it is pop perfection, too. their "you're an ocean" song is off-the-hook, toe-tappin', head-over-heels fabulous.

***

another jess shares good stuff at girlboy today...

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