Is there a song that you’re particularly enjoying at the moment, that’s
on heavy rotation on your iPod, the CD player in your car, or just in
your head? If so, what is it? If not, what was the last song you were
really into?
Extra Credit: What song, if any, has been playing in your head today, and you really wish it would stop now?
I don’t have a specific answer to this week’s question, but I’m not letting that stop me.
I
think I’ve mentioned that my favorite iPod playlist is huge – it just
went over 1500 songs, since my husband has been telling me all week
that I must add the rest of Viva la Vida, the new
Coldplay album, and I finally did it. That’s his current musical
obsession – he’s been listening to the whole thing at work at least
once a day. That playlist is mix of his and my largest playlists – we
like a lot of the same music, but I eliminated duplicates for this
list. My selections tend to be heavier on female artists,
adult-alternative, and more recent music, his pull more from country
and classic rock, and we both have a case of Stuck in the ’80’s. When
I’m listening to my iPod at work and one of his picks comes on –
especially if it’s one that takes me by surprise, or I didn’t realize
(or forgot) that he had – it always makes me think of him and why the
song appeals to him, and that brightens my day.
Tall
Girl, my stepdaughter, is at the age (going on 14) where she’s starting
to pay more attention to music too. When her stepbrother, ten years
older, was that age, I remember walking into his room one day, stopping
for a minute, and then asking him, “What is this CRAP you’re listening
to?” (BTW, saying something like that is one of the Top Ten Signs You
Live With a Teenager.) She was browsing through iTunes the other night,
sampling songs she might buy, and I stopped to make sure I was hearing
correctly. “You know this song?” I asked her. “I love this song,” she said. The song in question was “Mexican Wine” by Fountains of Wayne. (OK, so not all
of what she listens to is crap.) I’d like to take credit for her
discovering it, but I don’t think she’s paid much attention to my
musical selections – and I hope that finding out that FoW is one of my
vary favorite bands won’t make her change her mind about liking them.
I’m
actually not in thrall to any particular song at them moment, although
I certainly have been at times in the past. When I get hooked on
something new, I have a tendency to make it repeat over and over for
the first few days after I download it, so I can take it in – and try
to make out all of the words, since I have a chronic case of
sing-along-with-the-radio (or iPod, in this case). My most recent
purchases on iTunes have been full albums – Rockferry by new Brit-soul artist Duffy (who sounds a little like this year’s Amy Winehouse – one of my musical obsessions last year – but with more R&B influences and less jazz, and hopefully less drugs and alchol too); Blame it on Gravity, the newest by my alternative-country favorites the Old 97’s; and Flight of the Conchords,
which is basically musical comedy. But since the songs from these albums are all
scattered through the big playlist, and my playlists are always on
Shuffle, nothing’s really jumped out at me yet.
This assignment made me curious about what the iPod itself was putting in heavy rotation, so here are the Top 25 Most Played:
“Good to Go to Mexico,” by Toby Keith (one of Tall Paul’s contributions, but I like this one a lot too)
“Brown-Eyed Girl,” by Van Morrison – one of my personal theme songs since junior high!*
“Love Shack,” by the B-52’s
“Hey
Good Lookin’,” by Jimmy Buffett and a bunch of country-music superstars
(Alan Jackson, Clint Black, Toby Keith, Kenny Chesney, George Strait,
and maybe one or two more that I’m forgetting)
“Hope of Deliverance,” by Paul McCartney
“Goody Two Shoes,” by Adam Ant – a.k.a. “my sister’s ringtone” (it’s one of her personal theme songs from college days)*
“The Galaxy Song,” by Clint Black (yes, it is the one from Monty Python’s Meaning of Life)
“Standing Outside the Fire,” by Garth Brooks
“Chattahoochie,” by Alan Jackson
“(What a) Wonderful World,” by Louis Armstrong
“Faith,” by George Michael*
“Dead Man’s Party,” by Oingo Boingo
“Moondance,” by Van Morrison
“Rosalita (Come Out Tonight)” by Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band*
“American Girl,” by Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers*
“Domino,” by Van Morrison
“La Vie Dansante,” by Jimmy Buffett
“Centerfield,” by John Fogerty
“Uptight (Everything’s Alright)” by Stevie Wonder*
“Fortress Around Your Heart,” by Sting
“Steve McQueen,” by Sheryl Crow
“Word in Spanish,” by Elton John
Well, that was interesting. Not exactly representative of my personal favorites, although the *’d ones would make my “all-time” list.
For good measure, I’m going to wrap this up with an iPod Random Ten, since it’s been a little while since I posted one:
“Going, Going, Gone,” Stars, KCRW Sounds Eclectic
“Straight Up,” Luna, Guilt by Association
“Mambo Swing,” Big Bad Voodoo Daddy, Big Bad Voodoo Daddy
“Walk Away,” Kelly Clarkson, Breakaway
“Thunder Road,” Bruce Springsteen, Born to Run (now THIS one’s in my personal all-time Top 25)
“King for a Day,” XTC, Oranges and Lemons
“Cherchez la Femme,” Gloria Estefan, Hold Me Thrill Me Kiss Me
“The Waiting,” Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers, Greatest Hits (all-time Top 50, at least)
“Lay Down Beside Me,” Alison Krauss with John Waite, A Hundred Miles
“Right in Time,” Lucinda Williams, Car Wheels on a Gravel Road
This is a lot more typical of my range of musical interests.
So,
do you have a current musical obsession? Care to share five or ten
random selections from your iPod? That’s what the comments are for,
folks!
You do have some 80’s ‘classics’ in there. Adam Ant? Haven’t heard about him in a while.
You know your daughter is not going to like FoW now, right? It’s automatic when a parent says they like it. 🙂
Now you’ve got me curious! But, alas, I’m at work and no where near my itunes list (still don’t have an iPod) I’ve actually been trying to play some of my lesser played favorites lately to get those numbers up. I think my top song on my playlist with the most plays is Daniel Bedingfield’s If You’re Not the One.
As for a song that I can’t get out of my head–none today. Yet. I’m sure it will come.
My husband and I picked up a copy of Sugarland’s latest CD and one by the Editors yesterday. He and I have similiar tastes in music for the most part, but there are some areas we completely disagree on. He’s a lot more tolerant than I am when it comes to listening to something one of us likes but the other can’t tolerate.
I tend to listen to albums on my iPod, so most of my “most played” are the same artist. Here goes:
Little Favours – KT Tunstall
If Only – KT Tunstall
Hold On – KT Tunstall
Rehab – Amy Winehouse
Whisper – A Fine Frenzy
You Picked Me
Come On, Come Out
The Minnow and the Trout
Hope for the Hopeless
Rangers
Almost Lover
Think of You
Ashes and Wine
Liar, Liar
Last of Days
Lifesize
Nolita Fairytale – Vanessa Carlton
Near to You – AFF
9 to 5 – Dolly Parton
Borrowed Time – AFF
Think – Arethra Franklin
And my Random Ten:
Things Are What You Make of Them – Bishop Allen
The Lover After Me – Savage garden
Where I Go – Natalie Merchant
L’Amour De Moi – Mediaeval Baebes
Don’t Leave Home – Dido
Baker Baker – Tori Amos
Yo George – Tori Amos
Another Place to Fall – KT Tunstall
Epiloge (Nothing ‘Bout Me) – Sting
Bridge Over Troubled Water – Simon and Garfunkel
I am sick, SICK I TELL YOU, of the Empire Carpet jingle playing over and over in my head.
Currently, we’re obsessed with the cast recording of In the Heights. Seriously obsessed. We’re cutting down, though. We only listen to it every OTHER CD now.
Mike – Yeah, I know that’s how it works. She’s my second teen, remember? 🙂 And I wasn’t kidding about that stuck-in-the-’80’s thing, now was I?
Literary Feline – Check out your Top 25 Most Played in iTunes, then come back and let us know what they are!
I think I’m more open to new stuff than my husband is, but he’s still listening to stuff I don’t care if I never hear again – like the Doobie Brothers. No disrespect, I just think some classic rock is TIRED.
Kate – Interesting list; I have to check some of those out. I have a couple of KT Tunstall tracks, but no full albums of hers.
Lucia – I can’t place that jingle, but your comment makes me quite grateful that I can’t :-D!
April – I’ve been there. My sister and I used to wear out some of our mom’s Broadway cast albums (back when they were records and could be worn out), not to mention our own copy of A Chorus Line.
I was worried at first that I’d know none of the non-80s songs on your iPod, but you’ve got some good ones that don’t postdate my musical knowledge. Hooray!
Karen – Both lists weren’t too heavy on 21st-century music. I like to keep up with newer stuff, but if it doesn’t have some traditional musical merit – namely decent melody and lyrics – it’s not going to have a lot of appeal for me. I’m glad you ended up having nothing to worry about :-).
Oingo Boingo. Now there’s a group I haven’t heard of in years. Brings back memories.
Kiva – My husband has several of their songs in his portion of the iTunes library.