You paved the taxis with beer on the shore

Currently listening to: Gato Barbieri - Under Fire

After a period of a few years in which I listened predominantly to jazz and classical music, I'm once again listening predominantly to rock. That doesn't mean, of course, that I don't still listen to music from other genres, like right now. In any case, most rock music has lyrics, and I always entertain myself by trying to figure out what the lyrics are, or by making up my own based on what I think I'm hearing.

A case in point would be the title of this entry, which is my guess at a line in The Beatles' "Lucy in the Sky." I never knew what the lyrics actually were until a minute ago, when I looked them up:

"Newspaper taxis appear on the shore"

Oops. At least I got the "on the shore" part correct.

One of my favorite albums of the last couple of years is The Dillinger Escape Plan's "Miss Machine," which is a heavy, chaotic album that is often classified as "math rock" or "mathcore" music due to the unusual time signatures employed by the band in its music. In any case, very few of the lyrics on this album are coherent, and that coupled with the hardcore screaming delivery makes this album a goldmine for the lyric guessing game. A couple of examples:

My guess: "Cry your eyes both times while there's still time"
Actual lyric: "Cry your eyes bloodshot while there's still time"

My guess: "Savory words, again the gnats just speak"
Actual lyric: "Say three words like the last you'll speak"

Maybe even more fun than trying to guess what the lyrics on this album are is trying to figure out what the actual lyrics mean. From my favorite song on the album, "Baby's First Coffin":

Dear god protect us come on blackest heart she stares forever and then some never again polished barb wire smile tricks And treats she's done so cut her again gut her again silence tells us we're damned jesus we've gone and done it again Jimmy's got a new gun in his hand you're being a liar I'm stealing the show you're being a liar I'm ready to go how could You doubt we would ever find out the emperor is dead goodbye to god dead so long embrace defeat you know we both agreed to It stick the diamond to it gust of wind to the face never returning favors take the prison to the man I could promise the World if we could travel through time don't back out on me now relax and remember the promise of the sign I wish you could See yourself now you look at me like a child the way you glide across the room instrument of seduction let go of it Rapunzel let it down wait for the signal then bring it down with a smile now become the conductor the way you slide across The room how wonderful the connection did the last kiss still taste as good as the first or is this just the opening scene of a new play I look At you like a child but not at all like you looked at me but grace is already dead now is the time to come and face the Master you should never say yes when you really mean no

No idea what that all means, but the song is great.

I've often commented to my wife that I missed my calling as a lounge singer. Singing like Frank Sinatra or Tony Bennett can be a lot of fun, and unless I'm a lot more tone deaf than I think, I think I do it fairly well considering my lack of training/experience. On the other hand, singing hardcore music a la Dillinger Escape Plan or Minor Threat would be great too. Maybe I could alternate nights in Vegas.