your favorite album opener
"Radio Song," from R.E.M.'s Out of Time
a song starting with the first letter of your first name
"All I Ever Wanted" by Train, from For Me, It's You
a song outside of your usual genre
"Stack O Lee" by Samuel L. Jackson, from the movie Black Snake Moan
a song that reminds you of your favorite season
it doesn't, exactly, but it reminds me of a season and it's one of my favorite songs that relate to any season - "A Long December" from Counting Crows. A lyrically and musically beautiful, haunting song that reminds me that even pop music can be well done.
a song from a lifelong favorite artist
"The Cool, Cool River" by Paul Simon. It's one of my "crank it" songs - if I can, at around the 3:30 spot in this video I will BLAST it. And every single time I do, I get chills. It reminds me of being in Band for eight years, having ready-made friends who got music in the same way (mostly), having a creative outlet at a time that was stifling and emotionally uncertain. Music saved me, and Band was a big part of it. Plus, we were legitimately good!
your current “on repeat” song
I've been in a meditation music kick lately. Nothing specific, just some sort of instrumental soothing weirdness, whatever I can find at the time. (Search for "brown noise" or "rain sounds no birds".)
a song your friend introduced you to that you ended up loving
Kenny Chesney in general, but especially "Better as a Memory" - brought to me by Chris, as part of our heartbreak exchange program
a song that speaks words you couldn’t say
"Fake Plastic Trees" by Radiohead
a song about the place where you live
Joni Mitchell's "The River"
a song you can scream all the words to
gotta be something by Dashboard Confessional, since I scream along more with them than anyone else. Hmm. How about "Screaming Infidelities", from The Swiss Army Romance
a reboot of a song/songs you already loved (remix, mashup, acoustic, etc.)
well, my favorite mashup is "Come Closer Together," a smoosh of "Come Together" by The Beatles and "Closer" by Nine Inch Nails. These links tend to die quickly but my fingers are crossed that this will last long enough for someone to see it...
NSFW
a song with the name of a place in the title
"New Orleans", by Toby Keith. The lyrics get to me in some elemental way, and the song gives me shivers. (Rest in peace, sir.)
a song that reminds you of traveling
the first few years I was single again, I made lots of trips back to the home state. The route, the car-ride routine, even the snacks and caffeine and music all became ingrained. I knew, based on the time between stops, how much to load up with peanut M&Ms, Coke, and playlists so each leg of the trip went as smoothly as possible. And those playlists always, always included Vertical Horizon. For me, the point of road-trip playlists is singability. I need to be motivated (and able) to sing along, both to stay alert and to pass the time. My voice matches pretty well with Matt Scannell and Keith Kane from Vertical Horizon in "You're a God"...
a song that reminds you of a good time
"Extra Ordinary" by Better than Ezra reminds me of my first years as a newly-again-single woman, living alone for the first time in my life, and loving it
a song that reminds you of a bad time
my divorce affected some people in pretty bad ways. Though we are now close again, one of my family members was particularly hard on me about it—which had the effect of making me feel broken and guilty, just when I had enough of that going on inside. Simple Plan's "Perfect" sums up that painful, ugly, complicated year.
a song from an artist whose old music you enjoy more than their new music
Alkaline Trio's "Every Thug Needs a Lady", from Good Mourning. Pretty much all of AT3 tickles my fancy, but I do particularly love the older stuff.
a song that empowers you
"I Don't Care Anymore" by Phil Collins never, ever, ever fails to rouse something inside me. I absolutely love everything about it - the song, and the way it makes me feel.
a song from a local artist
ugh, no thank you. There is a "famous" singer who hits the bars in this town every now and then, but his music sounds like cat MMA and he, personally, revolts me.
How about a song from an artist that used to be local to me, when I lived on the Flat? Here's "Shameful Metaphors" by Chevelle - which is, incidentally, the only good thing I ever got from Brian-from-Madison.
a song you related to in the past and present, but for different reasons
I fell—hard and fast—for Meat Loaf, who entered my life when I was in high school, and has never left. His weird, operatic, complex, wordy, melodramatic music was a staple of nights spent driving around with my friends, and to this day remains one of my favorites for road trips. Besides the infectiousness and jollity, it fills me with nostalgia and infuses me with energy like nothing else. "Bat out of Hell" is my favorite.
your favorite cheesy pop song
it's gonna be something really old. How about "The Night has a Thousand Eyes" by Bobby Vee?
a song from a soundtrack
Music for Hal Hartley's movies was often done by Ned Rifle—a pseudonym for Hartley—while select parts were done by Hub Moore, sometimes with The Great Outdoors. My favorite was this track from 1991's Surviving Desire: "Gonna Miss You".
the song currently stuck in your head, or the song you are listening to right now
Depeche Mode's "Sometimes." Short, yearning, obscure.
a song that taught you a lesson
"Paralyzer" by Finger Eleven. Seem strange?
A couple of years ago, on my birthday, I posted to FB asking for a gift from my friends: for them to share a song, a movie, a poem, a book, TV show, whatever, that reminds them of me. That exercise taught me a lot of things! For instance, the friends I'd expected to share something almost uniformly did not. And those who did came up with The. Most. Random. reminiscences, mostly in the form of music but also a couple of poems and a few movies.
And the most surprising, the most dramatic lesson, came from one of my library friends. He was a nemesis, and then (much later!) a friend, and then the most pure friends-with-benefits arrangement I've had, before or since. Apparently, it made an impression on him...
an instrumental song
Rush's Neil Peart was a percussion god, and his solos are unforgettable. I loved "La Villa Strangiato", though that's more of a guitar song than a real drum feature. "YYZ" is a classic, of course. But my favorite was the often-changing, lyrical, musical "The Rhythm Method". That marimba bit is divine.
a song you always skipped, but ended up loving once you listened to it
"Just Like Fred Astaire" by James. I came to realize that all of James is my favorite James.
your favorite album closer
Semisonic's "Gone to the Movies", from the Feeling Strangely Fine album
your all-time favorite song
"Throw Your Arms around Me" by Hunters & Collectors, brought to me by my dear friend and former physical therapist, Wolfgang. It's been covered dozens of times and, odd for me, I love most of the covers, too.
[after MONTHS of thinking and working - I got it from here; the title quotation is from Paralyzer]
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