T Party Express: Broken but Not Broke Down

Broken is the latest single by Lifehouse. I prefer the original below to the official radio version.

Lifehouse has a knack for penning lyrics that have crossover appeal, working in the secular as well as sacred sense. My SBTX (soon to be ex-husband) relates to the story of a wretched sinner who lost his way. We are all like Humpty Dumpty after the fall. If we are lucky or wise, we understand that the world cannot put us back together again.

The broken clock is a comfort, it helps me sleep tonight
Maybe it can stop tomorrow from stealing all my time
I am here still waiting though i still have my doubts
I am damaged at best, like you've already figured out

I'm falling apart, I'm barely breathing
With a broken heart that's still beating
In the pain is there is healing
In your name I find meaning
So I'm holdin' on, I'm holdin' on, I'm holdin' on
I'm barely holdin' on to you

The broken locks were a warning you got inside my head
I tried my best to be guarded, I'm an open book instead
I still see your reflection inside of my eyes
That are looking for a purpose, they're still looking for life

I'm falling apart, I'm barely breathing
with a broken heart that's still beating
In the pain is there is healing
In your name I find meaning
So I'm holdin' on, I'm holdin' on, I'm holdin' on
I'm barely holdin' on to you

I'm handin' on another day
Just to see what you will throw my way
And I'm hanging on to the words you say
You said that I will be ok

The broken lights on the freeway left me here alone
I may have lost my way now, haven't forgotten my way home

God Shaped Hole by Plumb mirrors Broken in its message and availability in alternate versions, albeit in a snappier, bouncier way. The song was first featured on the soundtrack of Bruce Almighty, but a 2010 retake is getting some radio airplay. Here is the original.



Previous stops:

The Thrill Is Gone by B.B. King (1970).

Love and Regret by Deacon Blue (1989).

Real Gone Kid by Deacon Blue (1989).

My Book by the Beautiful South (1990).

A Little Time by the Beautiful South (1990).

Your Ex-Lover Is Dead by Stars (2005).

This Woman's Work by Kate Bush (1989).

Love Will Tear Us Apart by Joy Division (1980).

Reptile by the Church (1988).

Accidents Will Happen by Elvis Costello (1979).

Tears Run Rings by Marc Almond (1987).

Killing Moon by Echo and the Bunnymen (1984).

Love Lies Bleeding by Elton John (1973).

Last Time Forever by Squeeze (1985).

Conjure Me by the Afghan Whigs (1992).

Debonair by the Afghan Whigs (1993).

Hallelujah by Jason Castro (2009).

Total Recall by the Sound (1985).

Fly by Jars of Clay (2002).

Train in Vain by the Clash (1980).

It's My Life by Talk Talk (1984).

T Party Express: The November 2009 Election Edition

The T Party Express question of the day: What do Obama and I have in common?

We will return to our regular programming tomorrow.




Previous stops:

Love and Regret by Deacon Blue (1989).

Real Gone Kid by Deacon Blue (1989).

My Book by the Beautiful South (1990).

A Little Time by the Beautiful South (1990).

Your Ex-Lover Is Dead by Stars (2005).

This Woman's Work by Kate Bush (1989).

Love Will Tear Us Apart by Joy Division (1980).

Reptile by the Church (1988).

Accidents Will Happen by Elvis Costello (1979).

Tears Run Rings by Marc Almond (1987).

Killing Moon by Echo and the Bunnymen (1984).

Love Lies Bleeding by Elton John (1973).

Last Time Forever by Squeeze (1985).

Conjure Me by the Afghan Whigs (1992).

Debonair by the Afghan Whigs (1993).

Hallelujah by Jason Castro (2009).

Total Recall by the Sound (1985).

Fly by Jars of Clay (2002).

Train in Vain by the Clash (1980).

It's My Life by Talk Talk (1984).

T Party Express: Deacon Blues Edition

The T Party Express continues to celebrate music coming out of the U.K. in the late 1980s and early 1990s. Yesterday we enjoyed selections from the Beautiful South, a British band that featured rotating vocals among two male and one female vocalist.

Deacon Blue was a Scottish pop band that gained a large regional following on the strength of its energetic live performances. Deacon Blue is often confused with Prefab Sprout, a British quartet from the same era that we will explore someday soon. Both groups featured a male lead backed by a prominent female vocalist – in Deacon Blue's case, the husband and wife team of Ricky Ross and Lorraine McIntosh. Their wonderful 1989 album When the World Knows Your Name hit #1 in the U.K., due in no small part to its tales of bittersweet love and hard luck, including Love and Regret and Real Gone Kid.





Deacon Blue took their name from the epic Steely Dan ode to the spoils of romantic loss. When did lead singer Donald Fagen turn into Ray Charles?




Previous stops:

My Book by the Beautiful South (1990).

A Little Time by the Beautiful South (1990).

Your Ex-Lover Is Dead by Stars (2005).

This Woman's Work by Kate Bush (1989).

Love Will Tear Us Apart by Joy Division (1980).

Reptile by the Church (1988).

Accidents Will Happen by Elvis Costello (1979).

Tears Run Rings by Marc Almond (1987).

Killing Moon by Echo and the Bunnymen (1984).

Love Lies Bleeding by Elton John (1973).

Last Time Forever by Squeeze (1985).

Conjure Me by the Afghan Whigs (1992).

Debonair by the Afghan Whigs (1993).

Hallelujah by Jason Castro (2009).

Total Recall by the Sound (1985).

Fly by Jars of Clay (2002).

Train in Vain by the Clash (1980).

It's My Life by Talk Talk (1984).

T Party Express: No More Tears

It was a dark and stormy weekend, but the T Party Express is chugging full steam ahead toward the light at the end of the tunnel. If you have a little time, we have a little comic relief.

The Beautiful South was a pop British outfit that formed on the cusp of the 1990s from the Housemartins, a 1980s new wave band. TBS featured three distinctive singing talents – Paul Heaton, Dave Hemingway and Brianna Corrigan – who shared rotating lead vocals. Their lyrics were informed by a common sense of self-mocking irony and biting wit. In the modern era, the British music charts have always been more diverse and tolerant of multiple genres than ours in America and TBS enjoyed their share of 1990s singles success.

My Book from 1990 purports to tell the singer's life story with vocals by Heaton and Corrigan. Can these lyrics really be autobiographical?

This is my life and this is how it reads
For every chapter, a thousand memories
A murder, a mystery where everybody bleeds
A fantasy, a thriller with romance and disease

Diary entry 9th of May '62
We've had some ugly babies but none were quite like you
Diary entry '62 end of May
It looks as if the nose and chin are definitely here to stay
They're here to stay, they're here to stay

If my lips start smiling and my knees start a-knocking
I'm a failure
You are, you are
And if I seem half-hearted, it's because I'm broken hearted
And I'm a failure
You are, you are, you are (I am)
You are, you are, you are (I am)

This is my life and this is how it reads
A documentary that nobody believes
Albert Steptoe in 'Gone with the Breeze'
Mother played by Peter Beardsley, father by John Cleese

Diary entry '68 end of the year
A cardboard Apollo 6 has given the all clear
11th December '68 Captain's log
Proposed trip to Mars is cancelled due to fog
It's due to fog, it's due to fog

If my lips start smiling and my knees start a-knocking
I'm a failure
You are, you are
And if I seem half-hearted, it's because I'm broken hearted
And I'm a failure
You are, you are, you are (I am)
You are, you are, you are (I am)

This is the play, it was I who wrote the script
Terry meets June in 'Tales from the Crypt'
It was going to be a film but the camera person slipped
They later found him scolding a banana

Diary entry 10th of April '89
The world is going mad but me I'm doing fine
I'm doing fine

Back to bed, back to reality
Just fine.

A Little Time, also from 1990 and their only #1 hit, documents the breakdown of a marriage from each spouse's conflicting perspective as Hemingway and Corrigan split the vocals.



Previous stops:

Your Ex-Lover Is Dead by Stars (2005).

This Woman's Work by Kate Bush (1989).

Love Will Tear Us Apart by Joy Division (1980).

Reptile by the Church (1988).

Accidents Will Happen by Elvis Costello (1979).

Tears Run Rings by Marc Almond (1987).

Killing Moon by Echo and the Bunnymen (1984).

Love Lies Bleeding by Elton John (1973).

Last Time Forever by Squeeze (1985).

Conjure Me by the Afghan Whigs (1992).

Debonair by the Afghan Whigs (1993).

Hallelujah by Jason Castro (2009).

Total Recall by the Sound (1985).

Fly by Jars of Clay (2002).

Train in Vain by the Clash (1980).

It's My Life by Talk Talk (1984).

T Party Express: Day of the Dead

Here on the T Party Express, sometimes we put the cart before the iron horse.

Yesterday my STBX (soon to be ex-husband) asked me how I feel. It's a deliberately vague question phrased to avoid recriminations. He was looking for an answer he could live with comfortably, but I couldn't oblige and chose to remain silent.

This is how I feel. I am living with stage 4 metastatic cancer and a husband in name only who stopped caring about me several months ago, except to the extent that I am useful to him before he is ready to leave. I don't know which enemy is worse, but neither can be good for me. Without God, I am helpless and hopeless against them both. Naturally, my mind goes to the worst case scenario, but God pulls me back from the brink again and again.

I cannot know what He has planned for us, but these song selections are as good a guess as any.

Your Ex-Lover Is Dead by Stars (2005).

If I am compelled to lose my partner and helpmate, I want to suffer as beautifully as the couple in this video.




This Woman's Work by Kate Bush (1989).

The movie She's Having a Baby employed this song as the soundtrack for the climactic childbirth of an estranged couple, but Bush's video is open to other interpretations. She is one of the most gifted performance artists ever to grace popular music.



Kate Bush - This Woman's Work (Official Music Video) - Funny blooper videos are here


Previous stops:

Love Will Tear Us Apart by Joy Division (1980).

Reptile by the Church (1988).

Accidents Will Happen by Elvis Costello (1979).

Tears Run Rings by Marc Almond (1987).

Killing Moon by Echo and the Bunnymen (1984).

Love Lies Bleeding by Elton John (1973).

Last Time Forever by Squeeze (1985).

Conjure Me by the Afghan Whigs (1992).

Debonair by the Afghan Whigs (1993).

Hallelujah by Jason Castro (2009).

Total Recall by the Sound (1985).

Fly by Jars of Clay (2002).

Train in Vain by the Clash (1980).

It's My Life by Talk Talk (1984).