“Everybody Loves Me, Baby” – Don McLean. My whole childhood is in this song. I remember being disturbed, as a kid, by the blatant egotism of the song, it scared me. I was probably 5 years old. (It is important to remember that for my first “show and tell” in kindergarten I recited the whole of “American Pie”. Other kids brought in their Barbies and GI Joes and hamsters. I stood up there, crowing out at the top of my lungs, “Do you believe in rock ‘n roll, Can music save your mortal soul, And can you teach me how to dance real slow?”) I remember hearing “Everybody Loves Me Baby” and asking my dad if he “was serious” and I remember my dad explaining it to me, and the concept of irony and sarcasm. It was a relief. At least he’s not SERIOUS!
“Crumb By Crumb” – Rufus Wainwright
“All I Want for Christmas” – Mariah Carey. Well, chalk up another play for my #1 most played song on my entire iPod (by a HUGE margin). This song (as much as it would horrify him) will always make me think of Michael. I remember Mitchell basically yelling at Kate and me at breakfast in Chicago, saying, “IT’S A CHRISTMAS CLASSIC.” Kate and I cowered in fear, saying, “No argument there, Mitchell ….” None, indeed.
“Rivers of Babylon” – Sinead O’Connor. Lighten up, hon.
“All Over the World” – ELO. Never gets old. A little bit too happy for me right now, but still. Never gets old.
“I Can See a Liar” – Oasis. I liked Oasis for about 2 seconds. I still like a lot of their sound but for me … there’s something lacking. It doesn’t go into the mythic level. And with a sound like that, it really should. To me, Robbie Williams goes into the mythic level – similar sound, but he embodies something huge and campy and rock star-ish that Oasis doesn’t come close to capturing. Again, that dude has one of the best voices in music (in my opinion – classic rock voice) … but to me, it stays on the level of sound, and doesn’t transcend. That being said, this is my favorite of their songs. (Props to Brendan for our conversation about Oasis – he helped me formulate this paragraph)
“Headache” – Liz Phair. Love her to death.
“A Mháire Bhruinneall” – Sarah McKeown. I like her.
“Conquest” – The White Stripes. This song makes me want to dry-hump someone on a couch. (Ibid.)
“My Hero” – Foo Fighters (live version. Speaking of Kurt Cobain …) I actually like the live version better. It’s raw.
“Love In An Elevator” – Aerosmith, florid central. “Livin’ it up while I’m going’ down”?? I mean, come on. Love them though.
“Some Unholy War” – Amy Winehouse. She’s so fantastic.
“Let the River Run” – Alexandra Billings. Goosebumps. What a diva!!
“Sorry Seems To Be the Hardest Word” – Elton John. God, this song reminds me of college. And becoming friends with Mitchell.
“Close Every Door To Me” – from Joseph and the Technicolor Dreamcoat – the big showstopping anthem! “Children of Israel are never a-lone …” “If my life were important I / would ask will I live or die?” Stop being so self-pitying, Joseph. Oh, wait. That’s the whole point of the story. Right.
“Nothin’ Will Ever Change” – L.E.O. (the brilliant wonderful joint venture between Mike Viola, Bleu, Andy Sturmer – and others … inspired by ELO – great stuff.)
Untitled Instrumental – from Wynona Carr’s awesome rocking gospel album Dragnet for Jesus. This is raw honky-tonk God music that makes you want to get up and scream for the Lord. Either that or say, “Screw the Lord” and jitterbug in a juke dive until you fall down from exhaustion and too much hooch from a mason jar. Whatever. I love Wynona Carr.
“Say Yeah” – Pat McCurdy. No matter how many times I hear those opening chords, it still pierces an arrow in my heart.
“Rock and Roll Ruby” – Warren Smith. Hot.
“Tragic Kingdom” – No Doubt. God, I loved this album when it first came out.
“Photograph” – Weezer. I love Weezer.
“Make Them Hear You” – Brian Stokes Mitchell from the musical Ragtime. Weirdly, Ragtime is one of my “desert island albums”. But boy does Mitchell milk it!! Humorous aside: My friend Kate saw the original Ragtime, and said that Audra McDonald was basically a “raw nerve” – Kate had no idea how she did 8 shows a week at that pitch of emotion. I asked, “And how was Brian Stokes Mitchell?” Kate said drily, “I felt like every time he came onstage, it suddenly became Jagtime.”
“Outside Villanova” – Eric Hutchinson. Such a funny “morning after” song – thank you Siobhan for introducing me to him!
“The Bear, The Tiger, The Hamster and the Mole” – Lynne Wintersteller – uhm yeah, this is from the 30something-musical Closer Than Ever. Boy, can this chick sing – but I listened to this song one too many times circa 1990 and I really should just delete it.
“Somebody Bigger Than You and I” – Whitney Houston (featuring Bobby Brown) – from The Preacher’s Wife soundtrack, one of my favorites. I miss you, Whitney. Come back. Although I think you mean “bigger than you and me”.
“The Look” – Dean Martin. One of my favorites of his. Man is he smooth. And always with that little smile in his voice.
“We’ll Do It All Again” – Bleu. His voice absolutely kills me. It soars. One of the most emotional voices out there.
“I’m Okay” – Pat McCurdy. The last time I saw Pat, I said, “You know, iPod shuffle is so ridiculous sometimes, because you come up every other song.” He said, “How annoying.” “Totally.”
“That Thing You Do” – speaking of Mike Viola …
“14th Street” – Rufus Wainwright. This song makes me cry. Not because it’s sad, but because its so damn happy. At least the tune is. But with lines like: “Why’d you have to break all my heart? Couldn’t you have saved just a little bit of it?” My sentiments exactly.
“Every Time You Say Goodbye” – Alison Krauss. Her voice to me is like a warm comforting blanket.
“I Can’t Tell You Why” – The Eagles. I only have their live album of greatest hits. It’s a great album.
“Double Happy” – Split Enz. This album – True Colours – is probably one of my favorites of all time. “Nobody Takes Me Seriously”??? Love it. Love the whole album.
“Hotel California” – Eagles (live) – hmmm. A strange confluence in the iPod shuffle …
“Bad Day” – Daniel Powter. Wow, I forgot I had this song. Why did I buy it again?
“Creep” – Radiohead. An entire era of my life springs into my mind when I hear this song. Dancing to this song like a banshee at a party in Soho, with a guy I had just met, throwing ourselves around, screaming the lyrics into each other’s faces. I made out with him later.
“Music For a Found Harmonium” – Patrick Street. This comes from a compilation album of Irish music I have called Green Linnet Twentieth Anniversary Collection. Lots of balderdash on there – Celtic New-Age stuff makes me yawn – but I like the real Irish stuff, with the bodhrans and crap like that. “Music for a Found Harmonium” is great.
“I Want You (She’s So Heavy)” – The Beatles. Hot.
“Chet Baker’s Unsung Swansong” – David Wilcox.
My old addiction
Changed the wiring in my brain
So that when it turns the switches
Then I am not the same
So like the flowers toward the Sun
I will follow
Stretch myself out thin
Like there’s a part of me that’s already buried
That sends me out into this window
My old addiction
Is a flood upon the land
This tiny lifeboat
Can keep me dry
But my weight is all
That it can stand
So when I try to lean just a little
For just a splash to cool my face
Ahh that trickle
Turns out fickle
Fills my boat up
Five miles deep
My old addiction
Makes me crave only what is best
Like these just this morning song birds
Craving upward from the nest
These tiny birds outside my window
Take my hand to be their mom
These open mouths
Would trust and swallow
Anything that came along
Like my old addiction
Now the other side of Day
As the springtime
Of my life’s time
Turn’s the other way
If a swan can have a song
I think I know that tune
But the page is only scrawled
And I am gone this afternoon
But the page is only scrawled
And I am gone this afternoon
“It Hasn’t Been Long Enough” – Eric Hutchinson. This might be my favorite track.
“Someone To Watch Over Me” – Julie Andrews. This song makes me cry. This is a killer version. The first section of it is completely a capella.
“Drivin’ On” – The Breeders. There were a couple of years there when i didn’t go a day without listening to their album Last Splash. I still love The Breeders.
“Higher Ground” – the kickass cover of the Stevie Wonder song by the Red Hot Chili Peppers. It’s one of those rare covers that is almost (almost) superior to the original. And of course it always reminds me of my favorite scene in Center Stage. HOT.
“Twilight” – ELO – from their album Time, which was the first album that was not a musical that I bought on my own. Brilliant album – I still think so.
“Let It Will Be” – Madonna – from Confessions on a Dance Floor which is a terrific album. One of my favorites of hers. I know she’s an asshole, and I liked her better when she was a dirty girl from Detroit and not a fake-British-accented moron with a red string on her wrist. But I do love her music.
“Bye Bye Baby” – Marilyn Monroe. Words can’t express my love for this song. You want to be in a nightclub wearing a tight strapless gown and gloves dancing with some GI on leave.
“J.A.R. (Jason Andrew Relva)” – Green Day. Just thrash your head around. That’s the only thing to do to such a song.
“She Came In through the Bathroom Window” – The Beatles. Great makeout song.
“Dark Side of the Sun” – Tori Amos. I used to listen to her 24/7. Now I most explicitly must be in the mood for her. HOWEVER, her latest album has some tracks (“Big Wheel” in particular, and “Teenage Hustler”) that I am always in the mood for. It’s kind of thrilling. I’ve been a fan for years. I saw her in concert in Chicago before Little Earthquakes came out. I think it was being released the following month or something like that, so I was lucky – to see her in that small intimate venue – and she was UNBELIEVABLE. Raw. And funny, too.
“…. Baby One More Time” – Fountains of Wayne doing a cover of the Britney Spears song. It is so brilliant to have a bunch of guys singing those lyrics – and I also love their comment on why they had covered it. “It’s a great pop song. Whatever.”
“Simon Zealotes” – from Jesus Christ Superstar (“Christ, you know I love you …”) Love it.
“20th Century Boy” – Placebo. LOVE THIS SONG.
“Longer” – Dan Fogelberg. I admit. I had to skip this one. Too sad. Way too sad for me on this day.
“New Religion” – Duran Duran. Ahhhhhhhhhh.
“Crimson and Clover” – Joan Jett. Never gets old.
“White Christmas” – Bing Crosby. From the Christmas mix Emily sent me. Kerry! You and your performance have taken over this musical in my mind forever, you Broadway Irish Colleen!
Wow…your apartment must have been a mess!
Really? I did two loads of laundry – which took about two hours, all told, cleaned the bathroom and the kitchen … did a bunch of stressful filing of financial papers which took me a couple of hours – that’s only about three hours of music there. Not too bad!
You’re right; that’s not bad. At first glance, it just seemed like such a long list. Some great segues there!
What a wonderful cornucopia of randomness!! I love how individualised this is. Oh, and I must hear Ms Billing’s version of “Let The River Run”. My old choir used to do this, it was one of our favourite pieces to do.
That Mariah Carey song. I love it. My absolute favourite place to going dancing in Dublin is this little club in the city centre called Spy. I was there about a fortnight before Christmas and all of a sudden, in the wee hours of the morning when people were starting to leave, the dj starts to play “All I Want For Christmas…” and collectively, we all lost our shit. People were bouncing off the walls, hollerinh the lyrics in strangers’ faces…it was great!! There was no snobby or jaded “Mariah Carey, wtf?” reaction. Everyone just had a blast, dancing to that song.
Oh, and I enjoyed your anecdote about the Don McLean song. It’s not one I’m familiar with myself, but I did have a similar experience. My dad explaining irony, and censorship, by means of Randy Newman songs!
Um. Remember that weird moment of synchronicity a few weeks ago, about James Joyce and “yes”? Well here’s another: the first song on your list? Everybody Loves Me Baby? I just wrote a whole post about that song. I was going to put it up tonight but this is starting to spook me so I’ll just let it collect dust in my drafts folder. : )
Cara – that is so unbelievably weird. So specific!!! Cosmic tumblers clicking down. Now you have to write about that song!
I love the little story about your first show and tell! If I ever am a teacher I would hope to have studnets like you.
Holy crap, Sheila. I was just listening to the Green Linnet 20th Anniversary collection this morning and I had this exact thought: “You know, I should really learn how to program my CD player so I don’t have to keep getting up to fast forward through Silly Wizard and all those namby-pamby songs”.
And “Music for a Found Harmonium” was the last song that played just before I went out this afternoon to go hear sea shanties being sung at South Street Seaport Museum. I agree – that compilation would be ace if it just stuck to the tunes, not the wishy-washy songs. Freaky!
Therese – wow, such synchronicity today!! There are some real GEMS on that album, but yeah … I could do without the other ones!
I owe you an email – life’s been nutty this week!!
Catherine – oh, the image of the denizens of Dublin rockin’ out to “All I Want for Christmas” with no irony or snark has made my day! Next time I’m there I will definitely check out Spy.
Dan Fogelberg can just rip your heart out sometimes. You have such wonderfully eclectic tastes.
Speaking of synchronicity: I’ve JUST watched Centre Stage for some comfort viewing, logged on to the internet, and you mention one of the best scenes! Typically, my contribution is not as cool as everyone else’s.
A – hahahahahaha Never worry about being “cool” here!
That scene from Center Stage just WORKS – I love every shot, every character – and it’s just exhilarating. I’ve actually taken classes at that place!! But I always just huddled in the back, trying not to call attention to the fact that, uhm, I’m no dancer.
I love the energy that scene captures. Best scene in the movie.
It’s so wrong, but in your story about “All I want for Christmas is you” you made Mitchell sound just like Owen Meany in my head! That voice! :D
I’ve actually taken classes at that place!!
That’s so exciting! Not Ben Marley exciting, but still exciting!
I love the moment in the warm-up when they slap their hands in unison on the floor, and that despite having never learned the routine, she barges to the front of the girls like she’s the soloist and executes it perfectly. So good. Exhilarating is the perfect choice of words for that scene and song.
Rose…ur not the first person to compare me to Owen Meaney…friends and strangers alike!