How on Earth am I defending the Jonas Brothers...

I am, though. Am I the only one who feels like they've got everyone fooled? That they're way smarter and self-aware than people give them credit for? This isn't exactly a lyrics, but this will help explain a bit of my thinking. I cracked up on the way to work this morning when I heard this. It's a teeny-girlish voice over at the beginning of a song called "Video Girl":

"OMG, did you hear I'm dating a Jonas Brother? It's so hot!"

"They're all same, they all want the money,
They're all insane, they live for fame honey..."
- The Jonas Brothers

What is it with me and the religious kids...

"You say we're both little people and you like it that way..."
- Nevershoutnever!

This kid is too sweet for words. Major kudos to Katharine for allowing me to fall in love with this song. I want to see what else he has going on.

Some things tie your life together...

I love days like the one that Kat and I had on Sunday. No pressure, no plans. Except for, you know, watching Pete and Ashlee and Hemmy and Rigby. But that's not important to note. It was really chill and lunch was amazing --- Kat's lunch that I stole mercilessly off her plate was amazing, I should say. That record store was amazing. And I was just listening to Jack's Mannequin and I heard "Holiday From Real" and some of the lyrics made me think they were written for awesome days like that.

"Oh, it's a picture of perfection
And the postcards gonna read
"Fuck yeah, we can live like this."
We can live like this..."

I will never love a song like I love this song...

It's hard sometimes because I feel like this song has a lot to live up to. There's a lot of pressure associated with being someone's favorite song, I would assume. But since the song is technically an inanimate object, I think it's okay. But I do feel pressure for this song to remain my favorite, even when I don't listen to it all the time. However, there are still days where I play it over and over. It's still the one song I will never skip on my iPod. It's still the song that Julie plays when I'm crying in her car. It's the song that made me fall in love with a band who made me fall in love with music.

"I'm hopelessly hopeful,
You're just hopeless enough..."
- Fall Out Boy

This is one of the greatest songs ever...

That I always forget about. It's just a really wonderful piece of music. I played it three times on the way home last night. I think the lyrics get at me, but also it just totally brings me back to sitting in the passenger seat of my dad's station wagon in the 90's, which was my very first exposure to any music at all.

"A long December and there's reason to believe
Maybe this year will be better than the last..."
- The Counting Crows

"And the feeling that it's all a lot of oysters, but no pearls..."
- The Counting Crows

"Drove up to hillside manor sometime after 2a.m.
And talked a little while about the year
I guess the winter makes you laugh a little slower
Makes you talk a little lower about the things you could not show her..."
- The Counting Crows

When the flowers bloom...

I was going to quote a bunch of lyrics on here from the two albums, but once I started I realized I was pretty much quoting every line.

That's got to say something.

It's the greatest story ever told. It's the saddest story ever told. But we all want a love like yours.

Nothing hits closer...

"It's not so pleasant and it's not so conventional,
it sure as hell ain't normal but we deal..."
- Panic! At The Disco

Paper chase in the winter snow...

"Don't tell us how it ends, 'cause we're the ones who wrote the end..."
- The Academy Is...

I have never been more scared/happy/sad to be leaving this place. It's too soon. And yet, it's more the time than it ever has been. I need this more than anything.

I'll never forget getting to hear this ever...

"When you wake up, the world will come around..."
- Peter Pan

So I know I'm not alone in a world full of vampires...

"There's a fighter somewhere underneath this skin and bones..."
- Jack's Mannequin

This semester holds some of my favorite memories of this school. It has also easily been the hardest semester yet for various reasons. I've spent many nights walking this campus comforted by those words.

Julie's next tattoo...

"We all need a reason to believe...
At the end of the day we always need a reason to believe
She said love can take you anywhere you want..."
- Valencia

This album still gives me chills. I honestly don't know if I get prouder than I do with them. Maybe with Fall Out Boy.

Welcome to life...

"You know when it's right 'cause you cry when we fight..."
- Go Radio

I can't stop listening to this song. It's too catchy and it makes me feel like I'm in a movie when I walk around campus with it on my iPod. Yes, I am a dork.

You can't be dumb enough to dream so big...yes we can...

"You're only brave 'til you're scared,
You're only unique until compared..."
- You, Me, And Everyone We Know

These guys are clever and profound at the same time. Today's the last day to get their new EP, So Young, So Insane so get it now. It's free. Smiles all around.

She's back...

"Womanizer, woman-womanizer
You're a womanizer
Oh, womanizer, oh
You're a womanizer, baby..."
- Britney Spears

Okay, she's done it again. This song is beyond addictive and actually sends a better message than most of her songs. And she's so much healthier now. I love that I have a genuine concern for Britney's well-being. Such is life as a 90's kid.

The Academy's Is... make their second appearance on here

"Right here, the best days of our lives
Is this coincidence or a sign?"
- The Academy Is...

and

"When we met I was on my back,
I swear we spent most afternoons somewhere in the act
We were part of something ours and ours alone, anywhere was home.
We're almost here...again."
- The Academy Is...

William Beckett has this bittersweet nostalgia thing going on and I can't get enough of it. And hearing him sing "We're almost here...again" live was chilling.

Their new album is impressive beyond expectations...

"I told her about the couple that I saw earlier
She said, "I'm sure they were cute, but they're no you and I.""
- Gym Class Heroes

These guys have never been my favorites. But The Quilt is objectively great music. And it grows more on me every single day and I find myself coming back to it every day. It's going to be great airport music tomorrow. Until then, back to paper writing...

"We'll live forever and they will write a novel about our love..."
- Gym Class Heroes

The moments that stay with you forever...

"Because my heart is in Ohio..."

I can't believe it's been a whole year. It really doesn't feel like it's been that long. Casey, you're missed dearly. To the other guys in Hawthorne Heights, all throughout this trying year, you've been nothing but gracious, composed, and kind.

This tragic loss had such an impact on the scene in a way that I never anticipated. It's terrible, but I think it takes something so bad to see what's really important. I remember just about two weeks before this, I was annoyed with middle schoolers at Fall Out Boy concerts and crying in my room because I had to miss the secret show and it was just like "Why was I doing that?" and "Oh yeah, this is a real community."

Rest in peace, Casey.

Songs are stories hidden away for the moments you need them most...

"Each little mystery is safe in your heart
You've got to wonder, is moving on the best that you can do?
Need to have a little conversation,
Find the truth behind the questions that are haunting you."
- Seven Mary Three

I love you and when you love people seeing them sad makes them sad. You are miles away from where you were the last time I saw you, for better and for worse. And I know we're not what we used to be and we're both terrible with phone calls, but I'm always always always here.

"Maybe this road we're on is the very thing that's come between us,
Maybe it's the highway to the very place that might just save us..."
- Seven Mary Three

As the days get colder...

"It's autumn in Amherst..."

Can't. Stop. Listening. I want to keep these guys in my back pocket for just a little bit longer.

In honor of my dream last night...

"And I'll be here by the ocean just waiting for proof that there's sunsets and silhouette dreams.
All my sand castles fall like the ashes of cigarettes and every wave drags me to sea.
I could stand here for hours just to ask God the question, "Is everyone here make-believe?"
With a tear in his voice he said, "Son, that's the question."
Does this deafening silence mean nothing to no one but me?"
- Mayday Parade

They're the band behind Julie and I's only running musical curse. I know absolutely nothing about them as people or even about the band, which is strange for me. I've only seen them live once. But A Lesson In Romantic is still in my top five albums of all time.

This band took me by surprise...

For anyone wondering where the title for this blog came from ---

"'Cause this is no attempt to abandon anyone,
It is the influence of the music we love..."
- The Starting Line

This band took me by surprise. I've always kind of liked them and I've always had a personal connection to "The Best Of Me", but they were never my favorite. And then I bought their last album, Direction and was absolutely blown away. The lyrics are gorgeous and it is definitely that final album for them and it felt like it even before they announced their indefinite hiatus. It's the end of something awesome.

"To all those who love me so much,
I'd like to return the favor and have
something left to give..."
- The Starting Line

These lyrics remind of five years worth of moments...

"I'm ready to forget, I'm feeling hopeful yet,
I'm moving towards our happy ending still.
Here's to a second chance, to love without regret
To living in the here and now you're gone..."
- The Holiday Parade

I think about that morning everyday.

This album is beautifully intimate...

She says, "Andy, I know
That we don't talk as much
But I still hear your ghost
In these old punk rock clubs
Come on, write me a song
Give me something to trust
Just promise you won't let it be
Just the keys that you touch."

and

She says, "Andy, the doctors
Prescribed me the pills.
But I know I'm not crazy.
I just lost my will.
So why am I, why am I
Taking them still?"

- Jack's Mannequin

Life's like this sometimes, the bad is as good as the good...

"I do confess, it's the mess that feel so right..."
- The Academy Is...

What is good enough to say about these boys...

Valencia's We All Need A Reason To Believe

This is my album of the year thus far. I'm going to be sad to see it usurped, in all honestly. Might have to call it a tie.

These five guys managed to write an absolutely flawless record. It's some of the best pop-punk out there right now. It's one of the most honest albums lyrically I've ever heard. It's one of the few albums that I can't help but listen to from start to finish.

If you don't own it, legally friends, you're missing out on something really special.

They have to be the first ones on here...

"They say the captain goes down with the ship.
So when the world ends, will God go down with it?"
- Fall Out Boy

This is one of the most hotly contested lyrics from their new album, Folie A Deux, which is set to drop on December 16th. Yes, I'm looking at you, Katharine and Katie. I love it though. It's something I wouldn't expect for Peter.

An explanation...

So, for months now, I've started scribbling down the names of bands and songs I love, lyrics that have stayed with me long after the notes behind them have faded away. They are in my notebooks, on my Econ homework, and most noticeably all over the wall above my desk in my dorm room. I've been trying to decide what to do with them all and I've decided that it's probably best/more fun if I share them with people. That's exactly what this is. It's not going to me blogging about my life, just random posts about lyrics/bands/songs that I'm into. Enjoy and let me know your thoughts!