It's pretty extraordinary how much music plays a part in my everyday life without me consciously provoking it. It seems like any element of my life worthy of discussion has something to do with music - either directly or indirectly.
As usual, while being the epitome of a creepy, young girl I googled something that lead me to the lyrics of "Don't Stand So Close to Me" and "What I Go to School For" (I'm sure the more clever of you can use the context clues to figure it out). I'm probably one of the only people strange enough to look for songs pertaining to even my weirdest of obsessions. I heard "Don't Stand So Close to Me" at a bar a few months ago and whilst drunk found it incredibly endearing. That Sting definitely knows what he's talking about from the female perspective at least. I'd post the lyrics but they're slightly incriminating to my character. I have a lovely boyfriend and my indecent infatuation is on his last nerve. With the growing anticipation of classes next week, I will admit I'm out of hand. But I invite any one of you to come with me and see for yourself. It's practically a rite of passage within pop culture to be in love with at least one gorgeous prof. Funny note, my iTunes is telling me that I haven't listened to that Police song since Christmas of 2007 until now. Oh my.
Now I'm embarrassed so on to the next topic:
There are too many good songs I've been listening to lately. I was at another bar (I'm not the alcoholic I make myself out to be, I promise) the other night where the jukebox was ten times better than the usual one I frequent and it inspired me so much that I ran to the library the following day and actually PAID to download at least three of the songs I heard. On a side note, I have fully given up on free music networks like LimeWire that absolutely do not work anymore. If you're looking for a real gem, they are always impossible to find for free these days. I am so satisfied with the music I've been blasting from my headphones. I'll admit when I'm out in public, I get nervous about my music being heard by people sitting next to me on buses, at coffeehouses etc. through my headphones but when I'm listening to Edwin Starr and classic Bruce Springsteen I have nothing to fear. It's just those off days of Britney Spears' "Radar" that I have to worry about.
ANYWAY, it's these soul songs mixed with some other tunes I downloaded after people watching at an Urban Outfitters several months ago that have been reverberating off my eardrums in the past two weeks. I might have written about it at the time but the sound system was so good at UO that songs I've been hearing for the past decade finally started to take shape in my brain as really good material and I immediately dug into exploring them further. I'm talking about songs like "Sunday Bloody Sunday" and "One Headlight" here. I don't know where some of this stuff comes from out of nowhere. One day I'm barely listening to something on the radio and the next I'm obsessed with it. It's absolutely all about timing and speakers. Listening to my same old music on my incredible speaker system at home always makes me get up from whatever I'm doing, go to the iTunes playlist, and check out what the amazing song playing is - I'll find it's something I've heard 5 times before that I didn't recognize as great until that very minute - then suddenly I can't get enough of it. While folding clothes the other day, a whole mess of Rhett Miller came on the speakers and I was dying. How did I forget about this guy?
I was also watching part one of The Beatles Anthology tonight on VH1 and felt happier than ever that I didn't go out of the house. This documentary captured my attention for the entire two hours to the point that I was waiting to even get up to go to the bathroom even though I have DVR and could've just paused it. As mentioned previously, I've been a huge fan of George Harrison for nearly a decade now but my immense love of the band collectively didn't reach its peak until maybe five years ago. I had many of their albums before then but didn't appreciate them the way I should have. Hearing their music on this show tonight really opened my mind. I seriously couldn't tear myself away and was really bummed when it was over. If you're any level of a Beatles fan, I highly suggest the cumulative cover story on this week's Rolling Stone that truly encompasses at least a paragraph for every phase of the band. Both the story and documentary got me in the mood to listen to all of my favorite Beatles song on a loop for the rest of the night.
And now for the best part of this post, the playlist. Let's add a dash of this post, a sprinkling of recent 'Songs to Love', and a large dollop of what I've been listening to lately:
01.Edwin Starr - 25 Miles
02.Bruce Springsteen - It's Hard to Be a Saint in the City
03.The Police - Don't Stand So Close to Me
04.Stevie Nicks - Stand Back
05.Sebastien Tellier - Divine
06.The Avett Brothers - Will You Return?
07.The Wallflowers - One Headlight
08.The Clash - Spanish Bombs
09.Bill Withers - Ain't No Sunshine
10.Sam Cooke - You Send Me
11.Beyonce - Ego (yes, I love it, actually - oh well)
12.Cornelius Brothers and Sister Rose - Too Late to Turn Back Now
13.Paolo Nutini - These Streets
14.Phoenix - 1901 (probably on another list too but I still love it - MUST LISTEN)
15.Paul McCartney - My Love
16.The Beatles - You Can't Do That
17.Desi Arnaz - Babalu
18.Eddie Floyd - But It's Alright
19.Gene Vincent - Be-Bop-A-Lula
20.INXS - By My Side
I promise this would make an awesome - if not diverse and maybe even semi-impressive - cd mix for the car or office.
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