Awakening

• Atlanta - Stone Temple Pilots : "She comforts me when the candles blow out/The cake has grown mold but the memories are sweet "
  
• Atlantic - Keane : "I need a place that's hidden in the deep/Where lonely angels sing you to your sleep/Though all the world is broken"
  

Two songs by bands with lead singers that have fought drug problems. Unfortunately, I probably could've made that point a few times before and will have numerous opportunities going forward. Scott Weiland of STP may not have been in rehab recently, but he's a regular at some center or another. Keane had to cancel a couple legs of it's 2006 world tour due to Tom Chaplin's stint in rehab. With a seemingly endless stream of stories like this, it makes you wonder if drug and alcohol problems are part-and-parcel with being famous or being an artist. Lucky for me, I'm neither.

• Auctioneer (Another Engine) - R.E.M.
• Aurora - Foo Fighters : "I just kinda died for you/You just kinda stared at me"
  
• Australia - The Shins : "I felt like I could just fly/But nothing happened every time I tried"
  
• Authority Song - John Mellencamp : "Dying to me don't sound like all that much fun"
  
• Awakening - Switchfoot : "I want to wake up kicking and screaming/I want to live like I know what I'm leaving/I want to know that my heart's still beating".

The awakening in this song is about breaking free from the modern corporate world - "Last week saw me living for nothing but deadlines." It's a nice thought, leaving that behind. Of course, it's something that's hard to do while trying to feed your family or pay off your college debt. It makes vacation fun to look forward to, anyway.

• Aye Davanita - Pearl Jam : "Awooh/Awooha/Aye Davanita". Yep, those are all the lyrics. Somewhat reminiscent of "Aluminum" by The White Stripes. In stark contrast, though, is the fact that this song can still be identified as music and is actually quite nice to listen to. It's very hypnotic. I think that's what Pearl Jam was going for, placing it between two songs - "Better Man" and "Immortality" - that are thick with meaning and require some concentration to get the point. "Aye Davanita" provides a welcome chance to relax. I did extensive research (OK - I went to Wikipedia, googled it, and checked a couple Pearl Jam fan sites) to try to discover the meaning of the title, or at least the language. I couldn't find anything. It sounds vaguely Eastern, but it's a mystery to me.
  

Summary:
Finished up the letter A with 8 songs. None skipped.

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Now playing: Switchfoot - Awakening
via FoxyTunes