TrunkBunker Home

101. "Running to Stand Still"

~U2

Running, we don't care for. Standing still we do. So this song is a bit of conundrum for us. If we're spending the effort of running without going anywhere, well, that's really not something we'd be interested in. If it's vice versa... standing still's effort with running's outcome... sign us up.

103. "Inner Meet Me"

~The Beta Band

Though Inner Jackson and Me Rodriguez respected each other's work, it wasn't until a soiree at Incomplete Jones' pad that they were finally introduced, by Them Stein. Alas, the eavesdropping members of the Beta Band and their shoddy grammar neglected to include the necessary comma in the midst of the overheard quote, 'Inner, Meet Me', which, to those of us who meander through life in a grammatically-sound fashion, made it's understanding more difficult than it should have been. Which makes us very angry.

106. "Can't Take My Eyes Off You"

~Frankie Valli

Frankly Frankie, we have that effect on people.

109. "Stuck in the Middle With You"

~Stealers Wheel

Alas, it's in the middle of trimming the hedges, and to be honest, you're not helping much.

112. "The Road Leads Where It's Led"

~The Secret Machines

Unless, of course, that road's been rerouted to appease fat cat real estate developers.

114. "To You Alone"

~The Beta Band

Interesting fact: the song was originally called 'To You Along With a Couple of Other People' before they wised up and changed it due to syllabic length.

118. "Drinking Song"

~Loudon Wainwright

Mr. Wainwright the elder wrote a song called 'Rufus is a Tit Man' when his boy was breast-feeding. We figure it's either the most ironic or prophetic song ever written. Maybe both. Maybe neither. What do we know, really?

120. "Don't Think Twice, It's All Right"

~Bob Dylan

The way we hear it, Dylan and Vegas had a handshake agreement on a deal that would have this song replace 'Viva Las Vegas' as the city's unofficial tune, but Bobby D. balked when the Vegas group wanted him to add the lyric 'in fact, don't think at all... just let it ride.'

123. "Silent in the Morning"

~Phish

But the snoring throughout the night is deafening

127. "Paper Bag"

~Fiona Apple

Awesome sample lyric: 'He said 'It's all in your head', and I said 'So's everything' but he didn't get it.' So the question now is... do you?

131. "Something I Can Never Have"

~Nine Inch Nails

What would a nine inch nail be used for? And by then, really, wouldn't it be called a stake or spike?

133. "Fucking in the Bushes"

~Oasis

From their autobiography, we've been told.

135. "She's Hearing Voices"

~Bloc Party

Yeah, because unlike you, she actually listens. That's why she's going places while you're already gone.

138. "City Hall"

~Tenacious D

If they didn't also kick ass, their hilarity would mean nothing. As for said hilarity: 'All you people up there, in City Hall... you're fucking it up for the people that's in the streets. This is a song for the people in the streets not the people city hall... all you motherfuckers in the streets it's time to rise up come along children and fucking rise.' Powerful message that.

141. "Under Pressure"

~David Bowie & Queen

Bassline blatantly stolen from Vanilla Ice's seminal 'Ice Ice Baby', but thanks to their infectious dancing and groovy hairstyles, we'll let it slide.

145. "Cycling Trivialities"

~Jose Gonzalez

Jose may think of them as trivialities, but knowledge of gear ratios, and frame materials, and drafting is vital to the cyclist. What Would Lance Do?

148. "It's Alright Ma (I'm Only Bleeding)"

~Bob Dylan

'But Pa, on the other hand... he's messed up pretty good'.

152. "Bliss Like This"

~Ani DiFranco

We had a good argument here at TrunkBunker HQ (where argument = fistfight) on the meaning of the 'This' in 'Bliss Like This'. Many suggestions were... sexual and thus unprintable... TrunkBunker is all about family values, etc., and we don't want to offend... but the some of the others were interesting. Like: incapacitated by drugs, drunk on the beach, some form of being active (the 'runner's high'), in bed with your mother (oh yeah, family site, etc... our apologies)... did we mention the fistfighting?

154. "This is the Dream of Win & Regine"

~Final Fantasy

And this is the hometown of Win and Regine. And this is the charity/parody song of Win and Regine (and others). And this is the band of Win and Regine. And this is the website of the band of Win and Regine. Oh, and apparently this was the dream of Win and Regine.

155. "Jane Says"

~Jane's Addiction

So who is this mysterious Jane? Well, turns out it's lead singer Perry Farrell's former roomie, Jane Bainter, who was a heroin addict. She birthed both the name of this song and the name of the band. Count TrunkBunker relieved that the Jane in question was actually a real person, not some famous fetish of Perry and the boys. The Jane in 'Jane Says' is a real person with real flaws... not Jane Fonda or Jane Goodall or Jane Seymour or some other perfect Jane. We were glad to hear it, and if you know what's good for you, so are you.

158. "Keep the Car Running"

~Arcade Fire

And what do we think of the environment, Arcade Fire? Do we not take issue with the CO2 blasting into the atmosphere when the car's left running? Are we wishing another ice storm on our poor home city, Montreal?

161. "Could You Be Loved"

~Bob Marley & The Wailers

We could, Bob, we could. It's just... no one's ever tried.

164. "Is This Love"

~Bob Marley & The Wailers

Let's see... tingling extremities... excessively sappy cooing... hourly intercourse... vitriolic jealousy... we gotta admit... we have no idea.

167. "Sideways Down"

~The Frames

So... if sideways is down, then down (and up, for that matter) must be sideways. It's simple physics, really... The Frames must be laying on their sides.

169. "Nantes"

~Beirut

In 2004, Time described Nantes as 'the most livable city in all of Europe'. We're guessing it means that when compared to most European cities, you die less in Nantes. Seems songworthy to us. Beirut on the other hand...

171. "Common People"

~Pulp

It's possible, we suppose, that at one point in our life we might have fallen into this category... maybe when we were too young to understand what it meant (so... 27?), or perhaps when we were in our anti-establishment phase, foolishly thinking common was great. But most of our lives have been spent in an entirely different genre of adjective... and it's your homework assignment for the weekend. So if you'll turn your browsers to page thesaurus.com and search the word 'awesome'... your task is to bring the results of this search in on Monday and read them aloud in class. Repeatedly. Oh, and you'll be asked which one doesn't fit, and the answer clearly is 'hairy', which not only doesn't make sense, but as you can plainly see, is taken care of. Class dismissed.

174. "The Good Times Are Killing Me"

~Modest Mouse

Strange, the good times don't seem to affect us one way or the other.

177. "Peach, Plum, Pear"

~Joanna Newsom

What are one syllable fruits starting with the letter 'P'?

179. "Saint John"

~Cold War Kids

TrunkBunker almost got it's undergraduate degree at St. John's, until it wasn't accepted (For the record, Red Storm, we wouldn't have come anyway... jerks).

183. "Piano Man"

~Billy Joel

OK, so some of TrunkBunker's good friends annoyingly talk about themselves in third person... and even worse, they refer to themselves as 'the ass man', or 'the leg man', and even once, 'the penis woman' (don't worry, she's never lived it down)... but this concept of a 'piano man' confuses and infuriates us... and frankly, it also sickens us a little.

186. "None Shall Pass"

~Aesop Rock

Unless you're very pretty or famous... then by all means, go right ahead.

187. "All My Friends"

~LCD Soundsystem

Alas, we've sacrificed the having of friends for our art... except for the Ass Man and the Leg Man. Those guys are cool.

190. "Broke"

~The Beta Band

Imagine how high this song would be if it weren't broke? (insert shit-eating smiley face)

194. "Take Your Medicine"

~Cloud Cult

Ours consists, daily, of varying amounts of laxative (depending on output), the stuff we take for fun, and washing our mouths out with soap (mom's lessons die hard).

197. "Nothing But Green Lights"

~Tom Vek

TrunkBunker has heard of this phenomenon, but never experienced it. We have had the pleasure of 'nothing but red lights', not to mention 'nothing but stop signs', but never the miracle Mr. Vek sings about.

200. "Gimme Shelter"

~The Rolling Stones

Because without it, water, and food, what else could we mooch?