janie_tangerine | Nothing Man

I don't have an idea of how I ended up fanmixing Jack last night really. The idea came, I found out I had some songs aleady and uhm, guess that here it is. The song choice doesn't make much sense if you haven't seen S4. Also, serves for a demonstration that I can't possibly do fanmixes without Springsteen in. Or Bon Jovi in. My bad. I actually wanted to make it a bit grungier but didn't come out that way.

1. Nothing Man - Bruce Springsteen

Around here, everybody acts the same
Around here, everybody acts like nothing's changed
Friday night, the club meets at Al's Barbecue
The sky's still, the same unbelievable blue

Darlin' give me your kiss
Come and take my hand
I am, the nothing man

You can call me Joe
Buy me a drink and shake my hand
You want courage
I'll show you courage you can understand

To me, that sums up perfectly how he would feel on being back when he starts to doubt that they've done the right thing. And it's really a beautiful song.

2. Novocaine - Bon Jovi

You can take back all your secrets
We'll divide up all the lies
Keep all the pictures in their frames
Cut me out, yeah, I'll be fine
Tell the neighbors all my feelings
Go on and give away my pride
It's hard to laugh and cry, live and die every night [..]
I tell myself I (feel no pain)
But I'm feeling the pain (walk away)
Can't walk away
I'm hanging on the ropes of hope
It's getting hard to cope you know
When you're the needle running through my veins
I've changed my name to novocaine

While that, to me, is the breaking up with Kate square and straight. And yes, I need a BJ song everywhere, too.

3. Oxycontin Blues - Steve Earle

Well I never cared much for whiskey
`Cause it only made daddy mean
Wrapped a little bit tight they tell me
For the methamphetamine [..]
Now I`m headed nowhere but downhill
With the oxycontin blues

Oxycontin = Oxycodone. I had to have it here.

4. Fell On Black Days - Soundgarden

Whomsoever I've cured I've sickened now
Whomsoever I've cradled I've put you down
I'm a search light soul they say
But I can't see it in the night
I'm only faking when I get it right
When I get it right
Cause I fell on black days

I do realize I already used it for Sawyer, but it fit ;)

5. Lithium - Nirvana

I'm so lonely but that's okay I shaved my head...
And I'm not sad
And just maybe I'm to blame for all I've heard...
But I'm not sure
[..]
I like it - I'm not gonna crack
I miss you - I'm not gonna crack
I love you - I'm not gonna crack
I kill you - I'm not gonna crack

First Nirvana! Hey, one can't not have Nirvana in a S4 Jack mix.

6. Creep - Stone Temple Pilots

Think you're kinda neat
Then she tells me I'm a creep
Friends don't mean a thing
Guess I'll leave it up to me

Take time with a wounded hand
'Cause it likes to heal
Take time with a wounded hand
Guess I like to steal

I'm half the man I used to me
This I feel as the dawn
It fades to gray

To be honest I should have uploaded the whole record this song is from because it's just perfect, but went with this because IMHO it's just it.

7. Zero - The Smashing Pumpkins

My reflection, dirty mirror
There's no connection to myself
I'm your lover, I'm your zero
I'm in the face of your dreams of glass
[..]
Emptiness is loneliness, and loneliness is cleanliness
And cleanliness is godliness, and god is empty just like me
Intoxicated with the madness, I'm in love with my sadness

8. A Corner - John Frusciante

everyone's in a corner
face to the wall
I never looked the other way
I'm not allowed to at all
great is my confusion
It never lets me be
no one said to be here
I was punished by me

9. Rub Me Raw - Warren Zevon

Word's out on the street
Whispers in the night
They come out of the woodwork, wanna see what it's like.
[..]
Oh no these blues are gonna rub me raw

Now I'm shaking all over
I'm a shuddery mess

But I'm gonna sit up straight
I'm going to take it with class
[..]
I was walking pretty well then I fell into a hole
I should climb out quick, but I hate doing what I'm told

I don't want your pity or your fifty-dollar words
I don't share your need to discuss the absurd

10. Dumb - Nirvana

I think I'm dumb
or maybe just happy
Think I'm just happy
my heart is broke
But I have some glue
help me inhale
And mend it with you
We'll float around
And hang out on clouds
Then we'll come down
And have a hangover... have a hangover

This is the Unplugged in NY version. Because it's just better and whoever says that Kurt Cobain couldn't do his job should just listen to that record and shut up -nod-.

11. Independence Day - Bruce Springsteen

Now I don't know what it always was with us
We chose the words, and yeah, we drew the lines
There was just no way this house could hold the two of us
I guess that we were just too much of the same kind
[..]
So say goodbye it's Independence Day
Papa now I know the things you wanted that you could not say
But won't you just say goodbye it's Independence Day
I swear I never meant to take those things away.

I never heard a more beautiful song regarding a troubled father-son relationship. Alright, maybe another one, but he wrote it too so...

12. Estranged - Guns n' Roses

When you're talkin to yourself
And nobody's home
You can fool yourself
You came in this world alone
[..]
Well I jumped into the river too many times
to make it home
I'm out here on my own, an drifting all alone
If it doesn't show give it time
To read between the lines
'Cause I see the storm getting closer
And the waves they get so high
Seems everything We've ever known's here
Why must it drift away and die

While Axl Rose is probably my musical pet peeve, I love GNR until Use Your Illusion. And while I don't think Jack would like this kind of stuff, I think this is some of the best songs Mr. Rose ever had the grace to put out and works perfectly in the contest.

Bonus:

This is a song by an Italian artist who is IMHO one of the best musicians ever existed period, regardless of the language. And you'll never find a more heartbreaking and haunting song dealing with addictions. The title would translate as 'Junkies' canticle', but it doesn't really make justice to how beautiful this song is. I put a translated piece in the lyrics examples and attempted a translation here. It doesn't even come close to how poetic it sounds in Italian, but it's just beyond beautiful IMHO.

13. Cantico dei drogati - Fabrizio De André

I dismissed God, threw away a love
In order to build emptiness in my heart and soul

The words I say don’t have a shape or accent
The sounds shifts in a dull lament
[..]
Who is ever going to talk to me about luminous tomorrows
Where the mutes will sing and the nuisances will shut up

When will I ever hear again the wind through the leaves
Whispering the silences that the evening raises up
[..]
How will I ever tell my mother that I’m afraid?

You, that are listening to me, teach me an alphabet which is
Different from the one of my cowardice

Download the whole thing here

And that's it. *phew*