Cursed

This is a tape I made while attending Fullerton College in 1993. There are times when you just have to laugh at your younger self. I'm sure I put in way too much time thinking about the lyrics to make the songs mean something in some way. In reality, it's a tape with a bunch of good songs about heartache, unrequited love, and people done wrong.

Side A: Cursed Female

1. Cursed Female - Porno For Pyros ("Cursed to be born, beautiful, young and female. There's none that suffers more." Oh the humanity.)

2. Who's Gonna Ride Your Wild Horses - U2 (This is one of my favorite U2 songs that I always need to be reminded of..."Well you lied to me because I asked you to. Baby, can we still be friends? Hey hey, sha la la...the doors you open, I just can't close.")

3. Why Can't I Fall In Love - Ivan Neville (From Pump Up The Volume. Great song from a great movie. Not sure why Ivan Neville never made it big - his voice is outstanding, bluesy, full of emotion. "It's time to get real and change where I'm at, but the same old questions keep following me back.")

4. Eclipse - Pink Floyd (To be fair, this was around the time the big hubbub about playing Dark Side of the Moon with Wizard of Oz was reaching the pinnacle of newness. Yes, we did it. Yes, it was freaky. Yes I was the only one in the room not high as a kite. "All that you love and all that you hate...and everything under the sun is in tune, but the sun is eclipsed by the moon.")

5. Jump in the River - Sinead O'Connor (This album continues to be one I listen to and identify with - full of stirring, beautiful melodies and haunted lyrics, most notably here. "The phone calls always left me unsure. They never said things on their own accord...there's been days like this before you know and I liked it all.")

6. Again - Janet Jackson (Say what you will about the early 1990's, but there was some damn good female singers cranking out good music, even if it was melodramatic at times. "A wounded heart you gave, my soul you took away. Good intentions you had many, I know you did.")

7. Sound of Silence - Simon & Garfunkel (A lesson in blindly following and the dangers it holds. "But my words like silent raindrops fell and echoed in the wells of silence.")

8. Time - Blind Melon (A performance about a month before Shannon's death by o/d. Yet another talent cut short by drugs. Bleh. "And all the worries you build up inside your soul, the ones that make your world stand still, mean you can feel that it's time to go.")

9. Sunless Saturday - Fishbone (This is one of those bands where if you mention them to me with no prompting, my respect for you will raise a couple notches. "Perhaps the charcoal grey and brown around me is just the mirror image of a tainted soul.")

10. Tryin to Throw Your Arms Around the World - U2 ("How far you gonna go, before you lose your way back home.")

Side B: Cursed Male

1. Cursed Male - Porno For Pyros (No video for this one, most likely due to no reason t have scantily clad women dancing about. "All the guys that really have all the money are too old to have a good time with it." Yes. Such a curse.)

2. So What'cha Want - Beastie Boys ("I'm as cool as cucumber in a bowl of hot sauce." Rhyming doesn't get much better than that.)

3. Maggie Mae - Rod Stewart ("You stole my soul and that's a pain I can do without.")

4. I Just Died in Your Arms - Cutting Crew (No self-respecting female my age doesn't love this song. It'd be akin to hating Peter Cetera. You just don't do it. "Is there any just cause for feeling like this? On the surface I'm a name on a list.")

5. Hey, Hey, What Can I Do - Led Zeppelin ("I need to tell her she's the only one I really love." The woman in the song does not sound deserving of this. At all.)

6. She Talks to Angels - Black Crowes (Amazing song. I can't say enough about it. "She gives a smile when the pain comes. Pain gonna make everything alright.")

7. Dyslexic Heart - Paul Westerberg (This song makes me smile. Every time. "Slip me a napkin and now that you start, is this your name or a doctor's eye chart?...Do I date you, do I hate you? I got a dyslexic heart.")

8. Nothing Else Matters - Metallica ("I never opened myself this way. Life is ours, we live it our way. All these words I don't just say, and nothing else matters.")

9. Everyday I Write the Book - Elvis Costello ("When your dreamboat turns out to be a footnote, I'm the man with a mission in two or three editions." I once dated a guy just because he looked like Elvis Costello. It didn't last long, he couldn't sing.)

10. Fool in the Rain - Led Zeppelin (Pearl Jam backing up Robert Plant. Sigh. "And you thought it was only in movies, as you wish all your dreams would come true. It ain't the first time believe me baby, I'm standing here feeling blue.")