The subtitle is “9 songs Ziggy could have sent Daron, and 4 responses Daron surely would have sent back,” because, as Cecilia commented in an email, these two are definitely not above communicating through song.
For Ziggy, the lyrics come easy even when the conversations don’t. He stores up words, melodies, images; he speaks in coded lyrics and half-truths, and hopes the right person hears him.
Breakeven, The Script
“…what am I gonna do when the best part of me was always you?…”
(Please note, this is a live show clip so has some flashing lights that may be triggers for migraines and such)
Please Don’t Leave Me, P!nk
“…I always say how I don’t need you, but it’s always going to come right back to this…”
(Video contains fictional violence, creepy clowns, and nightmare fuel dolls)
Cut Your Teeth, Kyla La Grange
“…I bled words onto a page for you and you never even knew my name…”
Blank Space, Taylor Swift
“…boys only want love if it’s torture, don’t say I didn’t, say I didn’t warn ya…”
(We need Adam Lambert to cover this. Think about it.)
Breakable, Fisher
“…why are you surprised to see he’s breakable?”
The Company of Men, Eliza Carthy
“I’ve given blowjobs on couches to men who didn’t want me anymore… I want to get my fix and then get away…”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PNlvo-80IQU
Thinking of You, Christian Kane
“…put a million miles between us but you still feel me like I’m right there at your side…”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xYaR8cEE7Y4
Made for You, OneRepublic
“…tell me something, something that can move me, don’t tell me lies or I swear you’re gonna lose me…”
(Please note, this is another video with some strobe light effects as it’s a live show clip)
Hunger, Voices on the Verge
“…I am hunger and you are passion…”
Daron listens and fills in the spaces between what’s said and what isn’t. He can’t always force the right words out from between his teeth—sometimes he chokes on them, swallows them back down, and lets them fly out from his fingers instead.
As Is, Ani Difranco
“…when you’re telling me stories, you actually believe that they are real… just give up and admit you’re an asshole…”
Too Far Apart, Wilco
“…when I really needed you, you were gone so long…”
(Please note, this is another live show clip with light effects)
All My Promises, Mr. T Experience
“…we’ve had a lot of time to think it over to readjust our expectations even lower, I suppose we’ll think it over till we think it’s over, I still think about you all the time…”
You Ruin Me, The Veronicas
“…you play me like a symphony, play me till your fingers bleed… we’re that song you wouldn’t sing…”
And a bonus track because I don’t like the number just before 14. Also, because if you’ve not watched this show, you should. You’re missing out on the most amazing examination of family, music, business, and identity to come out of mainstream media, not to mention Taraji P. Henson’s fierce wardrobe and Jussie Smollett’s gorgeous smile.
Money for Nothing, Empire
Thanks for listening. If you have suggestions for other songs to be included on DGC mixes, please, please do share in the comments.
51 Comments
You did it again! This is great. I love the concept of lines Ziggy sent to Daron and his replies back. They really do communicate best through music.
I’ve thought since the first time I heard that Taylor Swift song that maybe she read the first volume of DGC and wrote the song about those two knuckleheads. The whole song just fits them so well at that stage of their relationship (maybe still does?).
I know, right? I can’t hear that song and not think of Ziggy, which leads to desperately wanting Adam Lambert, or any male singer really, to cover it without changing the lyrics. I’d even love it being the next gender-flip cover by 30 Seconds to Mars (they have a brilliant version of a Lady Gaga song, and did a version of Mikki Ekko and Rihanna’s Stay).
I’m glad you liked this–I was super nervous this time around, so it makes me happy to hear from you.
I say we petition Adam Lambert to do the song! That would be so awesome, especially since he’s similar to what I picture when I think of Ziggy anyway (Ziggy’s hotter, just saying).
I think the thing I like most about this one is that you kind of did what I do all the time…picked out certain lines from songs that make me think of Daron and Ziggy. I was listening to Taylor Swift’s first CD a few
days ago (I’m gonna blame that on my teenage daughter though it’s totally not true. I’m a closet fan), and the end of “Teardrops on My Guitar” got me, especially in light of Daron’s obsession with Ziggy’s new song.
“Because he’s the reason for the teardrops on my guitar
The only one who’s got enough of me to break my heart
He’s the song in the car I keep singing,
don’t know why I do
He’s the time taken up, but there’s never enough
And he’s all that I need to fall into”
No need to be in the closet about Taylor Swift: the more I find out about her the more awesome I think she is. I have a feeling a lot of her adult fans get into her because their daughters like her. 🙂 (Me, I just absorbed her through pop culture osmosis…)
Seconding ctan in there being no need for a closet. I find Taylor Swift fascinating as a cultural icon and as a business model, and some of her lyrics deliver quite the punch. You just demonstrated that with the part you quoted. I haven’t had a chance to look it up yet today, but I’m excited to hear it and figure out what else might fit alongside it.
I’m gonna echo Chris’s statement below…I’ve found my tribe. Most people look at you like, “You’re not 12” when you say you like Taylor Swift…I’ve loved her since the first time I heard “Tim McGraw.” I think I actually introduced my daughter to her music.
There are a few other lines from “Teardrops on My Guitar” that I could make fit with these two. And she definitely has some other songs that would fit. “I knew you were trouble when you walked in” certainly could…except I’m not sure either of them realized how much trouble they were actually in at first.
I can do the lyrics thing all day long :).
“It’s Been Awhile” by Staind:
“And it’s been awhile
Since I’ve gone and fucked things up just like I always do
And it’s been awhile
But all that shit seems to disappear when I’m with you”
And my favorite line from that song:
“And it’s been awhile
But I can still remember just the way you taste”
I started listening to Kelly Clarkson’s “Already Gone” when Daron hung up when he called Ziggy and that woman answered. (the doomsdayer in me came out that day)
“Remember all the things we wanted
Now all our memories, they’re haunted
We were always meant to say goodbye
Even without fists held high, yeah
Never would have worked out right, yeah
We were never meant for do or die
I didn’t want us to burn out
I didn’t come here to hurt you now
I can’t stop”
Oh, and “I Would Die 4 U” has become Ziggy’s song for me. I actually found Purple Rain in the $5 bin at Walmart. Haven’t owned that album since I was a kid, but I do now. I think I’ve listened to that song 400,000 times in the last few weeks…I really miss Ziggy…
I’m so glad you did this, sanders! It’s so much fun!
YES to Staind. That’s one of those songs I forget I love and then catch on the altrock station and remember it’s perfect for so many things. “Already Gone” is a good choice for them, too, and of course pretty much all of Purple Rain. There’s even a moment on one of the tours where Daron peeks into Ziggy’s bunk on the bus and that’s what he’s clearly listening to. I desperately want to include Prince in my mixes but he’s apparently vicious about getting sites to pull down anything using his music.
Staind reminds me of Nickelback’s “This is How You Remind me” (unintentional pun, gah):
It’s not like you to say sorry
I was waiting on a different story
This time I’m mistaken
For handing you a heart worth breaking
Seriously, good music is good music and we get too hung up on what’s “age appropriate” or whatever the same way we get too stuck in genre or what’s considered “cool”. I say we should love what we love unironically and without shame in most cases.
That scene between Daron and Ziggy is the reason it’s his song. It’s one of my favorites.
I’ll see your Nickleback and raise you STP’s “Interstate Lovesong.”
“Waiting on a Sunday afternoon
For what I read between the lines
Your lies”
Also I was thinking Tool’s “Aenima” sounds like Daron’s thoughts about LA.
“I sure could use a vacation from this bullshit three ring circus sideshow of freaks here in this hopeless fucking hole we call LA”
I agree about people getting hung up on genre. If I like the way it sounds, I don’t care who the artist is and what category you want to pigeonhole them into. I love all types of music. I do wish we had more diversity in radio but like Daron pointed out, Clear Channel has everything streamlined.
I’m a big proponent of Sirius because I can’t stand commercial radio. Even before that, I mostly only listened to one of our local public stations that specialized in the triple A, alternative format. I also used to go to our (sadly gone now) independent music store and ask the staff what they were listening to, because they were all excited about music and listening to so many different artists. It’s not the same now that music’s gone heavily online. You can’t survey ten shoppers and five staff to find new things in the same way.
I’ll throw in a snippet of TLC since I saw them live last night: “Don’t go chasing waterfalls, please stick to the rivers and the lakes that you’re used to” for Ziggy going off after the newest shiny things when he has a good man and a good band already.
Yeah, when I used to commute all over Kentucky for work I invested in cds and considered getting Sirius but now that my commute is a whopping 5 minutes it’s hard to justify, especially when you can listen to whatever you want online at home so it’s just in my car that I need it. It’s quite annoying to have the same song playing on 3-4 stations at the same time though…does one city need 3-4 stations that play the exact same songs??? The cd thing doesn’t work well for me either because I get bored after awhile. I really like VARIETY! Lol. Fortunately, where I live I can get some of the stations from smaller markets which do have more variety.
Oooh, good song! Here’s one for Daron. Cyndi Lauper’s “Time After Time.”
“Lying in my bed
I hear the clock tick
And think of you
Caught up in circles
Confusion is nothing new”
And I heard Melissa Ethridge’s “I’m The Only One” the day I read Daron going to Spain. Seemed fitting.
“But I’m the only one
Who’ll walk across the fire for you
And I’m the only one
Who’ll drown in my desire for you
It’s only fear that makes you run
The demons that your hiding from
When all your promises are gone
I’m the only one”
Tag, you’re it. 😉
Kentucky, you say. I’m just outside of Louisville. Now I’m starting to wonder if we’ve met.
Pretty much everything by Melissa Ethridge fits. She’s almost cheating at this, consider the entirety of the Breakdown album, and everything on Yes I Am.
Consider Breakdown:
How could I stay, how could I breathe?
There had to be more for me
Promises gone, plastic and stone,
I’m doing fine all alone
So you’re having a breakdown
So you’re losing the fight
So you’re having a breakdown
And I’m driving and crying
Unraveled and flying
I’m coming to your breakdown tonight
Now, think of Daron driving out the rehab to try to see Ziggy, and trying to get there to pick him up.
Melissa Etheridge is love. I’ve been a fan of hers since before I knew.
Hey I’m just south of Louisville! That’s crazy! I’m hearing “It’s a Small World” playing in the background. Lol.
Sure I can think of all those things, if you want me to dissolve into a puddle of tears…that part of the story broke me. But yes it does fit eerily well. I think of their time apart whenever I hear Train’s “Drops of Jupiter.”
“Did you fall from a shooting star
One without a permanent scar
And did you miss me while you were looking for yourself out there”
I feel like I’ve found my “tribe”…yes… yes to all the comments!
I think that’s what DGC is all about sometimes, both in the story and among us fans. *hugs*
I had a crazybusy day today and then mysteriously crashed at 7:30pm and slept like a rock for 2.5 hours. Had dinner and now I am yawning like I’m going to fall asleep again before I get through playing all the videos. (It occurs to me I was just on the road for 3 weeks. What does Daron do when he gets off the road? Sleeps and sleeps and sleeps. Maybe we’re more similar than I realized.)
But some thoughts before I faceplant into a pillow.
Aha! Breakeven is one of those songs I heard when I was somewhere I couldn’t Soundhound it and couldn’t tell what it was and I’ve been kind of trying to find it ever since! Even in this world of XM and Pandora and Youtube there are still songs we hear, like Daron flipping radio channels in the middle of the night, and don’t know what they are but we connect to them anyway. This live version is really good, too.
Pink fascinates me for a lot of reasons including the whole “massive talent overcoming childhood trauma and music industry shenanigans” angle. I think it’s really daring here the way both she and Taylor Swift are coming right at that “crazy woman” stereotype in the videos. I think I have thinky thoughts on that subject that I’m too tired to quite bring to the surface now.
But yeah, Ziggy as diva, as wounded heart, caught in that weird trap between having all the power and having none of it: sometimes acting out like a lunatic seems like all you can do.
Can’t wait to get to the rest of them but it will have to wait until morning! *faceplants*
I love The Script. I have a stupidly big crush on the lead singer, and I fear that if he ever finds a happy relationship, the band will have nothing left to write about. Colbie Caillat covered Breakeven in some live performances, blending it at the end with a transition into Tracy Chapman’s Fast Car. I keep catching it on Sirius, and it’s a pretty sweet take on both songs.
I didn’t even think about the crazy lady angle to both videos, or how they’d line up together, and now I’m just going to blame sleep deprivation for not seeing how they represent a whole genre of video production. It’s a trope Pink plays with a lot, and generally with the idea of being bold and sort of… I don’t like playing into it being called crazy for a woman, when a lot of the risks she takes in her videos are pretty routine for men and come straight from action films and sports. Interestingly, Taylor Swift is getting a lot of attention right now for a similar approach, incorporating action film themes into her latest video. I have to wonder what they’d think of being compared to each other, or what a coffee date between them would be like.
I have to admit that not telling you all about You Ruin Me was killing me. I heard it and immediately had to look it up online to hear again and all I could think was “this is Daron and Ziggy writing together again once the current crap is resolved.”
I’m also struck by some other parallels in the Swift and Pink videos — both take place in mansions, both seem to imply that it’s the woman’s mansion. Both employ golf clubs for inappropriate uses.
“sometimes acting out like a lunatic seems like all you can do.” Yes! Thank you! I’ve thought this about Ziggy from the beginning. The more Daron pushed him away, the more crazy his antics became. Sure it was manipulative, but I don’t think it was always manipulative for the sake of being manipulative. Sometimes, he was just trying to figure out how to get through to Daron.
But sometimes it’s impossible to have a relationship with someone who will smash your car to pieces with a golf club. That’s Daron’s dilemma.
Hopefully that worked and it’s showing Jazmine Sullivan’s Bust Your Windows. Y’all are making me think of that one and Carrie Underwood’s Before He Cheats.
Of course it didn’t. I’ll figure out the embed eventually. *sigh* Both of them are on YouTube and follow the genre of breaking things in times of high emotions.
If you go into the back end through WordPress you can embed videos in comments. Like this:
But it’s so much easier when you do it for me:D.
Another lady in a nice house, losing her damn mind over a man. I blame Angela Bassett’s character in Waiting to Exhale for some of it, since she piled all of her cheating jerk of a husband’s stuff in his car in the driveway, set it on fire, and lit her cigarette off of it. (Which brings us to the overlap of films and music, since Whitney Houston was also in it, and had several songs on the soundtrack.)
Yeah I know…don’t ask me why I love Ziggy so much. I know I couldn’t handle a relationship with him…
Can I throw out a non-crazy Pink video? She did “Me and Bobby McGee” and it was fantastic!
I saw that when I was putting together the huge playlist, and it’s… oh. I love Janis Joplin to start with, and obviously I’m crazy about Pink, so it was the best thing in my month. The thing I like most about Pink is she’s just as interesting stripped down to just her voice and a guitar as she is dangling from ribbons over an audience, and she usually seems like the kind of person I’d want to buy a drink and talk to for hours.
I think she disproves a lot of Daron’s bullshit about musicians having dancers and choreography and a massive stage show. She has all of that, AND the talent to back it up, AND the agency to say she wants the big crazy shows because they’re fun to her.
If you haven’t found it, she does a kind of “quiet time” in the middle of her shows, usually covering Chris Isaak’s Wicked Game and a couple of other things. It’s stunning.
I love Pink and Janis as well. Daron can be a bit of a music snob sometimes. No matter what job you do, how much you love it, or how long it took you to reach your goals, it’s still work. You may as well try to have fun at it. The best thing about being the boss is getting to make the decisions, right?
Since we hit the nesting limit above, I’m moving down here. “Drops of Jupiter” is a great song for them. I’ve been listening to “50 Ways to Say Goodbye” and “Hey Soul Sister” a lot lately as part of my housework mix, and wondering what kind of over the top songs Ziggy would come out with, and what the videos could be.
The small world aspect of fandom almost doesn’t surprise me anymore, not after I started running into my favorite college ex in comments all over LJ and here. I’m a firm believer in the six degrees of separation theory, too. If Ear X-Tacy were still here, I’d suggest meeting up to go record shopping, but alas, I have to settle for saying I would totally buy you a coffee sometime so we wax nostalgic about music stores having existed once and how MTV used to show videos. (Then we can find some kids to order off of a lawn;) )
I love “Hey Soul Sister”! I used to sing it with a friend all the time, one I bonded with over our mutual love of 80s music and beer. The lines “I knew I wouldn’t forget you, And so I went and let you blow my mind” always make me think of Daron and Ziggy, too. I would give anything to actually hear some M3 songs, and Ziggy’s voice (though my mind does some pretty wonderful things with both of those anyway), and to go to one of their concerts…Why do they have to be fictional??? Sigh
I was wondering if Ear X-Tacy was the store you were talking about that closed. I assume you meant the one in the Highlands? (Were there any others?). Every time I drive through the Highlands it seems like some other place has closed. Body Art Emporium, Lentini’s Italian Restaurant (my favorite), and now Phoenix Hill Tavern…
That sounds like a lot of fun (your suggestions make me feel like you already know me! lol). Perhaps ctan could privately exchange our email addresses…
There was the record store across from Twice Told in the 90’s, Better Days. I think they still have a location in the west end, but yeah, I was thinking of Ear X-Tacy. I just heard about Phoenix Hill and Jim Porters both closing with next to no notice, and I’m trying to figure out where in the heck we’re supposed to ever see shows? The Mercury Ballroom’s getting more popular but the ticket prices for standing room only are kind of outrageous, and otherwise, it’s pretty much Yum Center or the Palace.
I will not start on the gentrification of the Highlands and all the places that I loved that have been replaced by Panera and Urban freakin’ Outfitters. Seriously, how did Urban Outfitters seem like a good fit? Gaaaah.
I have an account to the site now since I did the post (it’s incredibly weird to see the backend of things and have that access, and I think I don’t like the responsibility), so I can look up your email if that’s okay.
Yeah, what ever happened to “Keep Louisville Weird”??? The lack of chain stores is what made the Highlands so great.
Hell yeah you can look me up.
Btw I don’t know if you are a Potterhead (what was ctan’s phrase? Deeply nerdy Harry Potter fans or something like that), but the Science Center is playing all the movies in order (a different one every 2 weeks) on the giant ass IMax screen. My daughter was too young to see the first ones in theater so we are crazy excited about it.
Also, I now understand why you were nervous last week…my contribution to the fan posts goes up tomorrow and…yeah…
Definitely a Potter fan. I saw all but the first with my now-nearly 21 year old cousin and his mom, and it was a Thing with him. I just saw the listing for the IMAX showings on Saturday and didn’t realize they were doing all of them. Now I’m wondering if I can convince my niece and nephew that they really want to go see it.
I am certain that what you post will be loved. I know me saying that probably doesn’t help, but you’ll see I’m right when the comments start rolling in.
“Iris” by Goo Goo Dolls…the whole fucking song.
Eliza McCarthy, oh swoon, you know I do love and appreciate a good torch song. Oh yes.
Oh yes.
I’m glad you approve. The contrast between the style and the content are what make the song so wonderful. It reminds me a little of one of the songs in the film version of Torchsong Trilogy, with the drag queen singing what seems like it will be a lovely ballad but turns out to be about bullimia.
I finally got the time to listen to all of these. Well done. The line you chose from “Cut Your Teeth” reminds me of the fact that Ziggy knew who Daron was before Daron had ever noticed him. And “Thinking of You” is perfect for what is going on right now. Especially the line about wondering if you’ve got your radio on.
And I feel the same way about “It’s Been Awhile”. Every time I hear it I remember how much I love it. So, I just went to iTunes and bought Staind and The Veronicas. I’m always happy when I come across new music to buy because of DGC. So, thank you. 🙂
I didn’t even think of that for “Cut Your Teeth”. I got there in thinking about how we’ve never been told what Ziggy’s real name is, that it wasn’t clear for a very long time (the hotel meet up in LA before Daron left on tour) whether Daron knew what it. There was also a little bit of the confusion in someone–it might have been in Jonathan’s article, even–trying to figure out if it was Farias or Ferias for his last name, and that the Moondog Three audience got all these pieces of Ziggy but not the name his mother called him.
Your take on it adds a whole new dimension to the song for them that’s blowing my mind a little. When you pair that with Jonathan also having seen Daron play before they properly met, there’s a little trend forming.
You mean people fall for me before they meet me and find out what a headcase I actually am. (j/k)
Or they see and hear something memorable that makes them curious about the man behind the guitar.
Why is this conversation making me blush? I should be so over this. Hm.
Aww, cutie. You know, it’s not exactly a secret that they love(d) you for lots of reasons. What is it Colin pointed out? You’re the one who told him guitars were an aphrodisiac? So it shouldn’t surprise you so much when it works as a starting place.
I know and yet. *flails*
You really are too cute, Daron. 🙂
I guess. *hides*
I meant to tell you this before but didn’t…”You Ruin Me” is just perfect of Daron and Ziggy. I love it. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve listened to it now (but it’s a lot).
I didn’t know anything about the song until a couple days before I was due to post. I heard it on the radio on the way to the grocery or somewhere else equally mundane. Probably sixty seconds in, I was pulling over to text myself with the title because it’s *so* Daron and Ziggy in every line.
I love Staind. I wish Aaron Lewis could sing me to sleep every night, unfortunately most of their songs would NOT help me fall asleep. lol. Anyway, Staind did an acoustic cover of Pink Floyd’s “Comfortably Numb” and I’m pretty sure that is my idea of Heaven. I’m also a huge fan of Seether’s cover of George Michael’s “Careless Whisper.” Not that any of this has anything to do with Daron and Ziggy, but it can’t ALL be about them, right? 😉
This post and the comments brought great sadness to me. I followed pop music from the late nineteen fifties through the late nineteen sixties. By the time I was out of college in 1970 I had only time for classical music. Played crumhorn and straight flute in a Renaissance group, sang opera, went to symphonies, operas, etc, had time to sing baritone in a men’s chorus in Germany that did songs from 1935 and earlier.
I missed the experience all of you have shared. The only popular music live performance I ever attended was NKOTB in 1990 in Munich. My daughters wanted to see them. After my return to the U.S. there was no chance to go to live performances of any kind. And I listened to all-news radio. I managed to get to a couple of symphony concerts a year and one or two operas. I have no frame of reference for the common experience almost all of you have had with following favorite pop groups, rock, goth, punk, what have you.
I missed something significant in my life.
By the time I woke up to the existence of MTV they had essentially stopped playing music. The artists of my youth that I loved, Aretha Franklin, the Beatles, the Beach Boys, Jan and Dean, the Bee Gees, Dave Clark Five, the Eagles, Elvis, Fleetwood Mac, Fifth Dimension, the Mamas and the Papas, Gary Puckett, Gladys Knight, Herb Alpert, Jimi Hendrix, Jefferson Airplane, etc, reads like a list of finds from an archaeology dig. I can get some of them on an oldies music channel through cable, but I feel as though, were I to try and come up to date, I’d need to go through almost fifty years of popular music to have the foundation to appreciate today’s pop sounds.
Fortunately, I can live that experience vicariously through Daron and through the DCG community. Thank you, everyone, for helping an old man live your experience. I am far more grateful than I can ever tell you.
You’re part of the Internet now, Bill, the greatest shared cultural experience in human history. <3 <3 <3 We’re glad you’re here.
So uh, after listening to Blank Space” YouTube suggested “Wonderland”. From the album “1989”. Um… Is Taylor Swift a really big fan? Is Daron a prophet?? Does that mean Taylor Swift is DGC endgame??? Every possibility is scarier than other…