Music Musings

I was reading Robert’s blog yesterday and I came across this. This is how I spent my morning writing session today, so some of the answers are a little long (sorry).

What is the total number of music files on your computer?
None – my 8-track tapes don’t fit into the disk drive.

The CD you bought last?
It was probably Norah Jones' Come Away With Me. But it might have been Beatles 1.

What was the last song you listened to before reading this message?
I know it was Paul McCartney. I think it was “Maybe I’m Amazed.” That was, like, an hour ago. How am I supposed to remember that far back?

5 songs you listen to often, or that mean a lot to you.
1. Any song from Abbey Road – The Beatles were my first love, mostly because that’s what my mother listened to. I used to come home from grade school and rock out to Octopus’s Garden and Maxwell’s Silver Hammer. The music that I grew up with – the Beatles, Bob Dylan, Joan Baez, Carly Simon, James Taylor – I still love it all.

2. Led Zeppelin’s “Stairway to Heaven” from the Rune album – I was kind of an outsider growing up. I got beat up a lot. Even the nerds would have nothing to do with me. Finally, in about the 9th grade I managed to make friends with the juvenile delinquents. One of them lived right across the street from the school. We used to skip our E-block electives and sneak over to his house to smoke pot and listen to Led Zep, The Doors, Jimi Hendrix, AC/DC. I was so freakin’ happy (in an angst-ridden, teen-aged kind of way).

3. Any of the songs from the early days of MTV – When MTV first came on air, they played the same five music videos over and over and over again: The Buggles’ “Video Killed the Radio Star,” Thomas Dolby’s “She Blinded Me With Science,” the Human League’s “Don’t You Want Me,” Squeeze’s “Black Coffee in Bed” and that one with the girl in short shorts and roller skates. I can't remember what it was. They played on an endless loop, and yet we watched for hours on end. Those 80’s anthems are serious crap, but they all remind me of being in high school and thinking that MTV was the coolest thing that was ever going to happen to music.

4. Joplin’s “Me & Bobby McGee” – I bought Pearl when I was in college, in preparation for a paper I wrote comparing Janis Joplin to Scott Joplin. I love to sing/shout/scream this song at the top of my lungs. Very cathartic. Other college loves included Tracey Chapman, Elvis Costello, the Clash, The Cure, The Spin Doctors, and John Adams’ minimalist opera, “Nixon in China.” Yeah, I know.

5. “No Such Thing” by John Mayer (from his album Room for Squares) or “100 years” by Five for Fighting (from their album The Battle For Everything) – My post-college tastes are a little more subdued. These days I mostly listen to whatever’s on the local classic rock radio station. At home, I have CDs from all of the above eras and when I do buy CDs, it’s usually to replace a record or tape that I owned in the past. Modern additions include folks like Harry Connick Jr., Diana Krall, and Norah Jones. Kind of soothing, Sunday morning music, you know? But I’m not dead, for crying out loud. I do hear new songs occasionally. And these two songs got under my skin the minute I heard them.

Who are you going to pass this stick to (3 persons) and why?
If any of the three persons who are reading this want to participate, feel free to leave a comment with a link to your answers.
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