Music

I haven't done a post about music in a long while. I've had the headphones on a lot this week. Tuesday was a good day: everything just flowed. Wednesday...well, it took me a couple of hours and a lot of flipping between all the "moods" in Launchcast to finally get something going. For awhile it was all comedy.

The original intention of this post was to list the good songs I heard, but they've all disappeared, one of the downsides of Launchcast is the playlists don't hang around very consistently. I don't know why. It would be a good thing to have them.

In any case, instead of that, I'm going to list some of the stuff I have rated highly because I heard it (as opposed to a lot of stuff I rated in hopes that I'd hear it eventually--which hasn't always happened). And I'm not including comedians. Keep in mind that I've rated over 6,000 songs. This little fact clearly marks me as clincal.

Erasure - Chains Of Love
I wish I could say why I like this song so much. In truth, the majority of the reason probably lies in the voice of Alison Moyet. If she toured to this area, I'd totally be at the concert. If I could choose how I sounded when I sing, I'd choose her voice.

Guns N' Roses - Sweet Child O'Mine
Yes, overplayed. Yes, possibly overrated. But this song has a great deal of emotional weight in my life: Jenny, clubbing, Harley-wear, James and Don (my nephews), a former co-worker, Sparky sleeping with this blaring in the car stereo, and my almost complete inability to stay seated when it plays. ...Must...Dance...

Hot Chocolate - You Sexy Thing
Speaking of dancing...I don't dance to this. I remember when it was popular in the 70s (not that I "got it" since I was probably all of 9 at most). What puts this in my "best" list is the movie. Or rather, The Movie. If you don't know what Movie, nevermind.

Miriam Makeba - Sabumoya
C'mon, it's Miriam Makeba. It's fun. If you don't know her, you should, and this is as good a place to start as any. Also, another one hard not to dance to.

The BoDeans - Lullabye
I saw these guys playing in a bar in Waukesha, Wisconsin, in 1984. They transfixed and repelled and fascinated me. I'm still very confused about them, but I like this song, and a few of their others.

John Mellencamp - Authority Song
Hey, sue me: I love Mellencamp. And I loved this video. The lyrics are hysterical, and the kid in the vid...perfect. The end of the video, where he pulls up his sleeves: priceless. I want this to be my theme song. But it's totally NOT. I could only wish.

U2 - One
THIS is my theme song. When I die, play it at my funeral. Get Mary J. Blige to sing it, if possible.

Mary J. Blige - No More Drama
Speaking of whom.... This song always reminds me of 9/11. I'm pretty sure it was released in the weeks immediately following that day. Beyond that, though, there is no better call to accounting for yourself TO yourself that I've ever heard.

The Commodores - Nightshift
Speaking of funerals, and eulogies...what a great song about the Big Guys: Jackie Wilson and Marvin Gaye. "I know you're not alone...." I do hope they're still singing when I get there.

Dolly Parton - I Will Always Love You
ONLY this version. There is no other version of this song. Not only will I always love you, but I will always cry when this song plays. Always. I love Dolly; can she adopt me?

The Seekers - Georgy Girl
According to my sister Ellen, when I was a baby she sang this to me all the time. I have known this song for as long as I can remember, and it makes me happy to hear it. "Swingin' down the street so fancy-free." OK, so very 60s, but...shit, I miss Ellen. She defined fancy-free for me.

Soul Asylum - Runaway Train
We appear to have cruised into Songs To Make Cat Cry. I liked this song, and then I saw the video and LOVED this song. And cried. And cry.

Bruce Springsteen - Born In The U.S.A.
There are 15-odd people for whom this song conjures up memories of a Pepto-Bismol-Pink basement bar in Irkutsk, where the bartender threw a tape with this song across the room at us in 1985. Fuck him; we danced to it repeatedly in St. Petersburg.
And, no, Mr. Reagan, it is not the song you thought it was.

Monty Python's Flying Circus - The Castle Of Louis De Lombard: "A Strange Person"
OK, one comedy track. "Your mother was a hamster and your father smelt of elderberries..."

C.W. McCall - Black Bear Road
My brother and I have this song memorized, along with most of the rest of the songs McCall recorded. "You don't have to be crazy to drive this road, but it helps." The house we owned in the mountains was in a town where "C.W." was mayor for several years, and Black Bear Road is a real road that "looks like a whole bunch of Zs and Ws all strung together.

John Denver - Annie's Song and Rocky Mountain High
While we're doing Songs From My Childhood, here are two others that I never tire of hearing. Lots more emotional baggage here. I listened, in tears, to a tape including these songs while sitting in a train compartment in Siberia. Or maybe Outer Mongolia. Somewhere around there. And for allowing me to listen to it, I forgave the Oprichniks a great deal of their annoying behavior.

Sara Groves - The Word
I know nothing at all about the singer, but I do like this song. It's probably because the lyrics are a paraphrase of the beginning of the most maddening and beautiful gospel: "And the Word was/And the Word is/And the Word will be/The old Word is the new Word is...." It just doesn't get any clearer than that, does it?

Angelique Kidjo - We Are One
The first time I heard this song, a couple of years ago, time literally stopped. I just sat, probably with my mouth open, amazed at the lyrics, the music, the whole package. I adore this woman. Where is she playing? I'll be there. Guaranteed.

The Sugarhill Gang - Rapper's Delight (Long Version)
Sparky and I love these guys. What he doesn't know is that I was introduced to them by the guy I had an unrequited crush on throughout high school...when they were actually performing. THIS is rap.

Tsidii Le Loka - Circle Of Life
If you haven't seen The Lion King on stage, you have no idea of the impact of this song. It is simply astounding, and the woman singing it sells even the bits in Swahili...Xhosa??...I'm ignorant...so clearly that it doesn't matter what language it's in.

Africanism All Stars - Soul Conga
I can NOT sit still when these guys are playing! I challenge anyone to do so.

William Shatner - Common People
The funniest Dead Serious song I've heard in decades. Another one where my jaw was on the floor the first time I came across it (on XM radio, believe it or not). It renewed my admiration, which had been waning, of Shatner's talent.

The Proclaimers - D.I.Y.
In the same genre, among the angriest protest songs I've ever heard. How often are lyrics like these heard against a danceable beat: "Warmongers.../Make a big hole in your head with a shiny shell."

Balkan Beat Box - Bulgarian Chicks
A tonic to the last two, this is just pure silliness and fun. How can you not love the title of that song??

Melissa Etheridge - Piece Of My Heart
She simply knocked my fucking socks off when she performed this at whatever awards show that was. I've been a fan for years, and this song absolutely solidifies her standing in the Could Sing The Phone Book And I'd Buy It pantheon.

So, there's 25 of my Best of... list.

Don't worry: I won't do a Worst of... list. Most of the tracks there are ones I couldn't stomach long enough to finish listening to them once. Yaak.