Come Sail Away
Starting to amass quite an arsenal of Styx music in the bloggic record of songs in my head. This one suits my emotional set of late, struggling with the obligatory logistics of life under considerable emotional stress over the last couple years:
I'll try, oh lord, I'll try (EPIC PIANO BREAK) to caaaaarrrrry on!
The similarity ends at the whole aliens/starship thing, though.
70s prog rock: Where Middle Earth meets Outerspace.*
Artist: Styx
Year: 1977
Rating: Luke Hot
*Tip o' the hat to Liz Bohm.
Do You Want Crying? or Two (or Three)-Hit Wonders
As I was waking up yesterday, I heard a baby crying somewhere outside my window. I opened the blinds, and saw a man walking with a toddler on the other side of the street, and the kid was sobbing all the way down the block. This relatively obscure secondary hit song by 80s popsters Katrina and the Waves then emerged in my head and stayed with me all day.
It's sort of timely, because Scott and I were recently talking about making a playlist of lesser hits by artists that only had two or three charting songs. You probably recall Katrina's bigger hit a lot better than this one, right?
Or you know how this song immediately springs to mind when you think of Crowded House? Well, instead, we'd put "Something So Strong" on the mix.
I've always preferred it, actually, even though (or maybe because) it's gotten way less air play over the years.
Or, take the band Thin Lizzy. You probably quickly conjure up this 1976 hit, but if you perk up your mind's ears a moment, you might remember this one:
So, readers, what are some other second-rate songs you love by Two (or Three)-Hit Wonders?
Artist: Katrina & the Waves
Year: 1985
Rating: Luke Hot
Dear Sons and Daughters of Hungry Ghosts
Been whistling this song all day. I was itching to hear some Spencer Krug, so I played the video for friends a few days ago. It's been stuck since. A lovely, brilliant earworm if there ever was one.
Artist: Wolf Parade
Year: 2005
Rating: Hot!
Dear Prudence
I always loved the White Album, all 30 songs lending themselves seamlessly to the whole, but "Dear Prudence" has only recently popped out at me as a stand-alone masterpiece. The gathering momentum of the orchestration, the loving encouragement to coax us out of our shell and into the world of experience. What a life-affirming mantra. Holy shit, it's so beautiful.
Artist: The Beatles
Year: 1968
Rating: Hot!
Gotcha!
How's this for obscure? The movie theme song from a 1985 romantic espionage flick starring Anthony Edwards. Watch the trailer - it's classic 80's.
Artist: Thereza Bazar
Year: 1985
Rating: Lukewarm
You and Me and the Moon
Joyous and sad. Certain Magnetic Fields songs will always remind me of Amber. She's moving into her new place this week. There are boxes of books stacked up in the hallway with labels like "Deutsche Literatur" and "Feminist Theory" written in Sharpie. Despite the complex circumstances of our break up,
The sound of your voice [still] sends shivers up my spine.
Artist: Magnetic Fields
Year: 1995
Rating: Hot!
Ufaratza!
Woke up with a spirited Jewish song in my head, "Ufaratza," a song we sang/shouted on a weekly basis at Camp Shalom every summer of my childhood. Above, some amazing footage of Chasidic rabbis singing the song in the 1970s.
The song is based on the Old Testament verse in Genesis (28:14) in which god tells Jacob that his people will spread out like the dust of the earth, to the west, east, north, and south, and that all people will be blessed by this spreading out. In the most Zionist/evangelical interpretation, this is a mandate for the Jewish people to populate the entirety of Israel. Thankfully, I grew up quite liberal/secular, and so my own meaning from the song is simply an affirmation of the Jewish diaspora, that our people and culture have spread out throughout the world, and that this sharing of culture is a benefit to all humans.
In looking up this song, I came across a great progressive Jewish blog, written by Rabbi Jared Saks. Here are some of his thoughts on the teaching in the song. His blog entry also includes a new interpretation of the song, reggae-style.
Artist/Year: unknown (Saks credits Avi Maslo with the original song, but I'm not sure that's correct. Anyone know?)
Rating: Warm
Waltz of the Flowers
Thanks to my friend Lisa for identifying this song for me. All I had was a vague rendition of the most famous portion of the composition, whistled through a cell phone exchange. She entertained my indulgent query, and nailed the tune, even though I interrupted her life at 10:00 pm on a school night. That's what friends are for. :)
Artist: Tchaikovsky
Year: 1892
Rating: Warm
2011 Review, Part 2: Genres & Whatnot
Finally done tabulatin' the data for 2011. I present to you the genres of music most frequently appearing involuntarily in my head: (Click charts to embiggen!)
Classic rock took the biggest leap this year, looks like. And the pop category has a big jump only because I've been using it recently as more of a catch-all category. Likely the tags for commercial pop and contemporary pop will phase out over time.
The "Whatnot" tags are dear to my heart, those categories in the blog that aren't exactly genres but are groupings I wish to track.
Noteworthy this year: posts containing personal anecdotes and meta or self-referential info are gaining in popularity (due to my ever-increasing narcissism). It looks like songs from the U.S. Bicentennial year, songs by bands named after geographical locations, old camp songs, and songs best left to the sharks are all dying breeds in my head, at least in 2011.
New to the category, the Barry-Mix tag, songs that have featured in mixes my dear friend Barry has made me over the years. I have retroactively imposed this exciting (ahem, navelgazy) new category on previous years' entries, so now we have its complete bloggic history.
Excised from the Whatnot stats is data on the earworms tag: my new policy is to use that label on every entry in order to get the bots to recognize it as a keyword to improve hits to my blog. Ergo, the number of times I use that tag is pretty meaningless for personal interest, but might serve a more nifty marketing purpose.
Jump to 2011, Part 1: Artists, Eras, and Ratings
Okay, done. I humbly thank you, my loyal readers.
xo, Sooze
Classic rock took the biggest leap this year, looks like. And the pop category has a big jump only because I've been using it recently as more of a catch-all category. Likely the tags for commercial pop and contemporary pop will phase out over time.The "Whatnot" tags are dear to my heart, those categories in the blog that aren't exactly genres but are groupings I wish to track.
Noteworthy this year: posts containing personal anecdotes and meta or self-referential info are gaining in popularity (due to my ever-increasing narcissism). It looks like songs from the U.S. Bicentennial year, songs by bands named after geographical locations, old camp songs, and songs best left to the sharks are all dying breeds in my head, at least in 2011.New to the category, the Barry-Mix tag, songs that have featured in mixes my dear friend Barry has made me over the years. I have retroactively imposed this exciting (ahem, navelgazy) new category on previous years' entries, so now we have its complete bloggic history.
Excised from the Whatnot stats is data on the earworms tag: my new policy is to use that label on every entry in order to get the bots to recognize it as a keyword to improve hits to my blog. Ergo, the number of times I use that tag is pretty meaningless for personal interest, but might serve a more nifty marketing purpose.
Jump to 2011, Part 1: Artists, Eras, and Ratings
Okay, done. I humbly thank you, my loyal readers.
xo, Sooze
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