14 Day Beirut Meme//Day 14: favorite song from The Rip Tide

Port Of Call - Beirut

I could only smile, I’ve been alone some time

and all and all, it’s been fine

and you, you had hope for me now

I danced all around it somehow

be fair to me, I may drift a while

were it up to me, you’d know why

I would have posted Payne’s Bay, but that was the first song I posted on here when TRT was released, and this is definitely a close second for favorite track. Zach always says what an emotional album this is, and I feel like this is one of these very personal ones. It talks about leaving home and hoping to make his family proud in his endeavors, I think. I feel as though he’s saying, let me go and see who I can become. To me, Zach is brave not only because he pursued something he is so passionate about, but he did it with so much verve and determination. He made himself into this musical icon I don’t think he ever saw coming. Not only does this song have the perfect marriage of uke, piano, and brass, his sincerity is evident in every word.

14 day Beirut meme//Day 13: Favorite live performance

Canals of Our City - Malta, 2007

The emotion in his voice, as if he’s on the verge of tears and the palpable electric buzzing and energy in this entire set is perfect. Also, young Paul and ALL the ukes in this performance. PERFECT.

14 day Beirut meme//Day 11: Favorite song From The Flying Club Cup

not going to bother telling you what song is this; just do yourself a favor - press play and close your eyes.

14 Day Beirut meme//Day 10: A song you’d kill to see live

Un Dernier Verre (Pour La Route) - Beirut

This song is my most played Beirut track on iTunes, and it’s easy to see why. It encompasses everything I love about Beirut - the gentle, mellow intro, the beautiful abstract lyrics, and the wonderful swell of brass at the end. At the first Beirut show I attended, I could hear them sound checking the piano with this song, and I nearly burst with joy at the idea of getting to hear them play it live, Unfortunately, it didn’t happen. Here’s hoping!

PS - I would have also said Transatlantique but I’ve heard live recordings of that song, so I always have that, at least :/

14 day Beirut meme//Day 9: A Beirut song whose lyrics you can’t figure out, no matter how hard you try

Brandenburg - Beirut

If you know the lyrics to this song, let me know because I’d like to discuss your supersonic hearing that can decipher the ramblings of a lone 19 yr old boy.

14 day Beirut meme//Day 7:Favorite song they’ve covered 

Hallelujah - Beirut (Leonard Cohen cover)

What I find most endearing about this cover - and trust me, it was difficult to choose my favorite cover (BECAUSE O LEAOZINHO!!) is the fact that he screws it up so much.

14 day Beirut meme//Day 6:Favorite band photo

because they all look so young and dorky

14 day Beirut meme//Day 5: Favorite song from Gulag Orkestar

Mount Wroclai (Idle Days), live San Francisco 2007

Why did I choose a live version of this song? Listen to it, and it all becomes very simple - the emotion that Zach conveys during this, through all 3 sentences in this entire song - is so packed with beauty and feeling, that it becomes tangible. Getting to experience this song as many times as I have, I can tell that there is nothing like it. From the second Perrin’s accordion starts the melody, there’s this warmth that spreads from your throat to the rest of your body until it feels like you’re going to melt into the floor. Because that is what Zach’s music does.

14 Day Beirut Meme//DAY 4: Favorite unrecorded song 

CLOSING SONG. 

14 day Beirut meme//Favorite photo of Zach

I couldn’t pick one

14 day Beirut meme//Day 2: Favorite Album

There is no emotion that this album does not make me feel. Everything from deep-rooted nostalgia, to exhilaration, to sorrow - every emotion is beautifully written out in lyrics and chords on Beirut’s second album. My favorite tracks include Guyamas Sonora, Une Dernier Verre (Pour La Route), Cherbourg, The Penalty, Forks And Knives (La Fete) and The Flying Club Cup. Heck, every song on this album is my favorite song on the album.

14 day Beirut meme

1. Day one!! Favorite Beirut song[s]

lol, as if would be able to pick one, anyway. 

• Guyamas Sonora - for obvious reasons. Something about this song - every time I hear it - right at the part where Zach’s fluge comes in - reaches down into my gut and twists it around, as if Zach is reaching in there, going DO YOU FEEL THIS, JANIE!? DO YOU FEEL THIS!?!
• Mount Wroclai - it’s such a simple, uncomplicated song that makes me feel so many feelings. The accordion and tambourine are the best parts of the song, but also Zach’s moany-singing that makes me go cray
• Transatlantique - seriously, this song. The lyrics, the uke!! So pure and undeniably beautiful. 
• The Shrew - you know how rock bands have that one song with the unforgettable guitar solo? For Strokes fans, that song is vision of division. For Beirut fans, it’s the trumpet solo in this song.