Music Meme

[shannon_a]

So last week wolflady26 tagged me to do the music meme. The basic idea? Your favorite 5 songs at this particular moment. Here we go:

1. War on Drugs by Barenaked Ladies. The BNL are a band that Kimberly introduced me to. I like almost all of their songs, and I adore maybe a quarter of them. This, off of their most recent album, is one of my favorites because it tells the tale of the pains of drug addiction, suicide, and life. Yeah, cheery, but it's sung from the heart.

Won't it be dull when we rid ourselves
Of all these demons haunting us
To keep us company

Won't it be odd to be happy like we
Always thought we're supposed to feel
But never seem to be

It's on Everything to Everyone.

2. Let it Be by the Beatles. I suspect I've listened to more Beatles in my life than any other band, thanks to the fact that they're a favorite of my father's. I'd be hard-set any particular day to say which was my favorite, but today it'd be this one:

When I find myself in times of trouble
Mother mary comes to me
Speaking words of wisdom, let it be.
And in my hour of darkness
She is standing right in front of me
Speaking words of wisdom, let it be.
Let it be, let it be.
Whisper words of wisdom, let it be.

Others would be John Lennon's Imagine, The Beatle's Yesterday (which I've learned to play on the piano) and in a lighter mood Yellow Submarine or Octopus' Garden.

3. A Long December by Counting Crows. Not too long ago Kimberly ripped me a CD full of music which I listened to obsessively afterward. This is currently my favorite of the bunch:

And it's been a long December and there's reason to believe
Maybe this year will be better than the last
I can't remember all the times I tried to tell my myself
To hold on to these moments as they pass

And it's one more day up in the canyon
And it's one more night in Hollywood
It's been so long since I've seen the ocean...I guess I should

Similarly appreciated were 100 Years by Five for Fighting and Closer to Fine by Indigo Girls though In These Shoes? by Kirsty Maccoll was a somewhat lighter but very fun piece too.

4. All There Is by Rebecca Riots. I'm not a big folk music fan, but I like the music of local band Rebecca Riots and I especially like Eve Decker's compositions. This one is her best:

Dancing alone in my living room
I've been dancing alone since I was a kid
I don't think I'm practicing for dancing with someone
I'm just doing what I always did
You know I do the best I can
To be honest and decent and kind
But some people come around only once
And then I leave them behind.

I could also have listed "Gardener" or "Cemetary", which I think are both songs by Eve as well.

5. Wise Up by Aimee Mann. I adore the combination of visual and audio mediums. Ali McBeal was a favorite TV show for a while because of the beautiful musical montages they ended most shows with, and I adored both the Buffy and Xena musicals--and various musical movies, no matter how cheesy. Magnolia, which this was the centerpiece of, was particularly nice because it was a musical with an intricate plot structure and a bite. I've played Mann's cover of One off the album more often, but this one is more likely to make me cry. The song ends on what's probably the hardest hitting line in the whole three hours:

Prepare a list of what you need
Before you sign away the deed
'Cause it's not going to stop
It's not going to stop
It's not going to stop
'Til you wise up
No, it's not going to stop
'Til you wise up
No, it's not going to stop
So just...give up

It's on the Magnolia Sound Track. Jacob Marley's Chain from Whatever is another favorite.

Comments

[slipjig.livejournal.com]

Prepare a list of what you need
Before you sign away the deed
'Cause it's not going to stop...

For some reason, I always end up fighting off tears at this part. Lovely choices.