Just an old-fashioned love song

[beautifulduckweed]

I was listening to 69 Love Songs, Pt. 2 by the Magnetic Fields last night. Not nearly as good as Pt. 1, which features brilliant bits of indie-pop love like "Absolutely Cuckoo" ("Don't fall in love with me yet, we've only recently met, true I'm in love with you but you might decide I'm a nut"), "The Luckiest Guy on the Lower East Side" ("I know Professor Blumen makes you feel like a woman, but when the wind is in your hair you laugh like a little girl") and "Come Back to San Francisco" ("You need me like the wind needs the trees to blow in, like the moon needs poetry, you need me"). However, Pt. 2 does have its worthwhile moments. "You're My Only Home" is one of those moments.

I will stay if you let me stay
And I'll go if you let go
But I won't go far away
Because you're my only home

I will hide what you want hidden
And I'll roam if you say roam
But I'd just as soon you didn't
Because you're my only home

When you cancel dinner plans
When you cross the street and you don't take my hand
When you make impossible demands
I wish I didn't understand, but...

I will stay if you let me stay
And I'll go if you let go
But I won't go far away
Because you're my only home

I will hide what you want hidden
And I'll roam if you say roam
But I'd just as soon you didn't
Because you're my only home

And now for something completely different somewhat related:

I've been toying with the idea of creating a mix CD of homo love songs. On top of the list right now are "Michael" by Franz Ferdinand, "Danger! High Voltage" by Electric 6 (Dick Valentine and Jack White screaming "It's high voltage / When we touch, when we kiss, when we touch" at each other = HOMOLOVE DELUXE) and "When My Boy Walks Down the Street" and "I Thought You Were My Boyfriend," both by The Magnetic Fields. Any other suggestions for ze love songs of gayness?

Comments

[paraleipsis.livejournal.com]

1) How about "Blister in the Sun"?

2) Can I have one?

[misshepeshu.livejournal.com]

1. OOOH! Good one. I've never interpreted it that way. GLEE!

2. Absolutely.

Two other songs have just come to mind: "Lola" by the Kinks and "Girls and Boys" by Blur. Well, the former isn't really a love song and the latter is more a slutty bisexual gender confusion and not an honest-to-goodness homosexual love paean, but they're queer enough for me, and I say it's in.

"Somebody Told Me" by The Killers might qualify, too. Hmmm.

[paraleipsis.livejournal.com]

Are you familiar with the Chainsaw Kittens? They do some homolove songs that I'm very fond of, but nobody's ever heard of them.

[misshepeshu.livejournal.com]

I've heard OF them, but have never heard anything they've done. Got some song titles to throw at me?

I just found out that Michael Stipe did a cover of "To Sir With Love." I must have it, yessss.

[paraleipsis.livejournal.com]

I can do one better than that and upload some tracks for you. I'll get to it later today.

(While we're on Michael Stipe [and kittens!], why not "Fuck Me Kitten"?)

How about Green Day's "King for a Day"? It's not really a homo-love song, more a cross-dressing one, but it's great.

[misshepeshu.livejournal.com]

YAY! Thank you for song uploads. Wheeee.

"Fuck Me Kitten" seems to be a song about general sexx0ring, and not so much the gay sexx0ring.

But "King for a Day" is a great suggestion--the line at the end is what clinches it for me: "Just wait 'til all the guys get a load of me."

[browse.livejournal.com]

Walk On The Wild Side
Okay, maybe this one is more about cross dressing and prostitution than homosexuality.

I Kissed a Girl

Cowboys Are Frequently Secretly (Fond of Each Other)

And don't even get me started on the Ani DiFranco catalog. :-)

[misshepeshu.livejournal.com]

Ohmigod, I can't believe I forgot "Cowboys Are Frequently Secretly (Fond of Each Other)" and "I Kissed a Girl." Excellent!

And I agree--"Walk on the Wild Side" doesn't seem so much about gaiety as prostitution. Good song, though.

Isn't there a Beatles song about cross-dressing/teh gay? Or am I hallucinating?

And do get started on the Ani catalog. I listen to her casually, but I'm not at all well-versed. I'm guessing the Indigo Girls probably have a song or three that may fit the criteria, too. But no Melissa Etheridge--I'm just not very fond of her sound.

[browse.livejournal.com]

From Ani, her testimony to bisexuality is "In or Out". She sings "You know I've got spots; do you mind if I've got stripes too?"

I can't think of a Beatles song about cross dressing, but there's a Sting song about a cross-dressing prostitute, "Tomorrow We'll See".

[theotherjay.livejournal.com]

Somebody already got 'I Kissed a Girl' by Jill Sobule, I see... how about '(I Could Never Be) Your Woman' ?

I'd also like to submit the Blink-182 cover of 'Dancin' With Myself', not because it's explicitly gay per se, but because at the end, the (male) singer has a little spoken colloquy as follows:

"Wow. Hey, you look great tonight. That's insane, where'd you get that done? Yeah, I've never seen a circumcision like that before. You want to dance?"

Also because Blink-182 is so very obviously gay.

[misshepeshu.livejournal.com]

I haven't thought of "(I Could Never Be) Your Woman" in years. Excellent suggestion.

Blink-182 song taken under advisement.

AND! I can't believe I forgot this, since I freakin' put this song on a mix CD for you, but "Hot One" by Shudder to Think is not only a gay love song, but an INTERGALACTIC gay love song. Plus it features the phrase "fairy boys." Squee!

AndandAND I also can't believe I forgot "Rebel Rebel" by David Bowie. I feel like there should be more David Bowie love songs about teh gay, but I'm drawing a blank.

[heyokish.livejournal.com]

How about Franz Ferdinand's "Michael"?

[ariiadne.livejournal.com]

Hey, you're that person that my housemate alextiefling knows! ::waveywavey::

Also, THE INTERNET IS WAY TOO SMALL.

[(Anonymous)]

hey hi! the internet is TINY!
So, should I be looking out for green-haired Americans when I'm next in the BL?

[ariiadne.livejournal.com]

That depends on what the BL is! ::obliviousness::

And it also depends on what color my hair is at that point. Green is fading, blue is on the horizon!

[heyokish.livejournal.com]

bl = british library!

[ariiadne.livejournal.com]

oh, DUH. Haha. Yes, keep your eyes peeled, since I may be popping by there sometime next week again. You never know!

[misshepeshu.livejournal.com]

Ohmigod, I will a-splode from eleventy hundred different kinds of jealousy if you get to hang out with Katie at the British fuckin' Library, Jess.

And can I just say that it's so friggin' nifty that the two of you are randomly connected in that way? Because seriously. So nifty.

[heyokish.livejournal.com]

I'll be there on wednesday next week. So, if you're around and see a shortarse with a walking stick...that's probably me.

oops

[heyokish.livejournal.com]

that was me

[heyokish.livejournal.com]

(and obviously i posted that pre-coffee. this was already top of your list. What a fuckwit.)

[ariiadne.livejournal.com]

This whole list and not a single Indigo Girls album upon it? Oh, my. I'm shocked. =)

[ariiadne.livejournal.com]

Also, I don't know why I said "album" when I meant "song."