A Song You Listen To When Happy

"As Soon as the Sun Comes Down" by Animal Logic

Animal Logic

Animal Logic was something of a "let's get folks together and make an album" situation. Stewart Copeland of the Police is probably the name best known, but I love the sound of Deborah Holland's voice, and I think it's very noteworthy that she wrote most of the songs on the group's albums.

I had a boyfriend with the self-titled CD, but his brother "borrowed" it and it never came back. This prevented me from borrowing it and having a similar case of amnesia. A friend with the CD and without such a boyfriend's brother copied the album onto cassette for me (hey, this is what college students did before we worried about file sharing.) Now that I don't have a cassette player, this song only plays in my head, but I can still hear every bit.

This is a terrible recording of "Sun," obviously done live, but it's all I could find on You Tube.

As Soon as the Sun Comes Down"

Holland's voice is obviously tired - on the album, the notes of this song come out as a low purr.

a song you listen to when angry

I skipped "Song From Favorite Album" as I just couldn't pick a single album, and by the time I'd waxed on about all of the ones I love, I'd still be hard pressed to select just one song.

There's a lot of Sondheim that's great for being angry - "Could I Leave You" from Follies possibly being the best, even if I'm not angry at or with a person. I think this song is most effective when sung by a man, though it's written for a woman, so if I hear it in my head, I hear a second tenor gnashing through the rhymes, insults and nastiness.

"Good Luck" by Basement Jaxx is on the soundtrack to Queer Eye For The Straight Guy (oh, how I mourned when that show jumped the shark, so thoroughly, all in one episode...)

Good Luck

It is impossible to listen to this song at a low volume. It is meant to be played loudly. You don't just hear or feel the rage (or both) - it screams at you on all levels.

A Song You Wish You Heard on the Radio

Years ago, one of the Indianapolis radio stations (best of the 80s - loved it) announced that in a week or so, their format would be changing. In the meantime they would play (obvious choice) television theme songs.

Here's the catch - they did this for three days with no disc jockeys. They'd play a theme song, but with no information. Half of the time I would hear the opening notes and know - "love, exciting and new" or it would be http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YjpCU4Zy9Cs the theme music to Dynasty or http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K2S6ZQn9lvk to Unsolved Mysteries and I'd yell the name. Other times, I'd know that I knew the tune, but could not place it: drove me bonkers, but I loved it.

I listened to that radio station pretty much non-stop for three days. It was awesome. Then it started all Spanish content, and that was the end of my fun.

I won't want to hear a song on the radio - I want those three days of, "wait! I know this!" back. So instead of a song, I wish to have a station that only plays television theme songs.

A Song You Always Hear On the Radio

Believe it or not, I have no answer for this question. Almost all of my radio listening is NPR and the BBC International News and I don't really count their theme music as songs, though I do hope that their composers were well paid.

A Song You Once Loved, But Now Hate

Tricky - I tend to be fiercely loyal beyond the point of reason or rationality, whether it be people, places, things ("so I unpacked my adjectives") or music.

"Have Some Madeira, M'Dear"

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vrbAyHVVYgI

by the Limelighters struck me as very funny as a kid. As an adult, I realized that it is, technically, about date rape, hence much less funny.

Interesting how much the world has changed - in the sixties, a group that encouraged brotherhood, etc. got laughs with a song like this. As a history teacher, I get the humor, but it's a lot more creepy now.

A Song That Describes You

Whew! I've been pondering this one for a while.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cj7z96PuBOs

"Jesus Child" by John Rutter is one of the pieces that I have such joy and such fun in singing. I have posted this particular version partly because the choir has clearly worked at it... and partly because I love seeing the men come dashing in (having obviously not been aware that they were on) and yet they jump right it. May I add that this is not an easy piece to need said jump - it goes very fast, and there's enough repetition that you've got to stay focused, so it speaks to this choir that the late men could make that leap. (Also to the women that they didn't beat the men soundly with their music folders...) This is hilarious and spirited. Given that I love to sing, and I love to laugh, and that singing church music has been a large part of my life for (cough) years, this describes me.

Sort of fits me.

"Shy" from Once Upon a Mattress is also a good fit.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ouL9ZMzEZ4k

This was one of my big numbers when I had the lead in the high school musical. I honestly think that the director chose the show for this song for me, because he knew that though I'm an extrovert, I actually am very shy. For those not in the know, this is Carol Burnett in her break-out role, singing at the top of her lungs about being shy, which is pretty much what I do.

Sort of fits me.

As long as I'm on Carol Burnett, though, Sondheim's "Could I Leave You" should be mentioned.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S3vp2_W95Ks

There's a time and a place to be catty.

Day Thirteen - Song Meme - A Guilty Pleaure

I've been told that the new "30 Days Meme" is all about musical theater, a genre where I'm more likely to be focused in my replies, and that I am behind the times by only being on day thirteen.

So be it. :-) It's my blog.

Oh, and a recent student evaluation complained that I should not use smiley faces when I write comments. Again, it's my class. So be it.

Speaking of show tunes, I reserve the right to sing (quietly) "The Lusty Month of May" on May Day, and "June is Bustin' Out all Over" on the first of June. One song was written for a soprano and another for an alto, so I can pretend that it's vocal exercise, right? Well, maybe it is, but they're both damned fine songs and I know all the words, so why not?

I think that "guilty pleasure" means "a song you really like, don't know why, but that doesn't matter, you might feel vaguely guilty, or a bit silly, but you like the song anyway, and so what if you think I'm a bit odd." (Well, I am a bit odd.)

"What Fool Believes" by the Doobie Brothers - I'd post a link, but You Tube is being weird - is that guilty pleasure. I blush to think about how high up it is in my itunes frequent play list.

First of all, this is a great song to sing at the top of my lungs when it comes on the car radio, particularly on a sunny day when the windows are open. Secondly, though my music theory and arrangement music and sense of harmony is thin, this song has some great non-sung moments when I love to sing "bump-bump-bump" etc.

Day Twelve of Song meme

A song from a band you hate

Hmm...

The problem with this question is that if I dislike a band, I'm probably not going to know any of their songs well enough to remember a name of any individual one. To paraphrase Dave Barry, I've caused great pain to my car radio hitting buttons to remove "Maybe I'm Amazed" from my listening space, but I don't hate Paul McCartney.

Years ago, a very musical friend confessed that he hated everything Judy Garland had ever recorded. (I know she's not a band, but bear with me.) After a bit of chat, I went home and made him a copy of Garland singing "Purple People Eater." Friend now says that he hates almost everything Garland ever recorded.

This friend comes to mind because he's one of several people who have tried to make me enjoy the band Rush. Now, I've never heard them do "Purple People Eater" so I am willing to change my mind, but none of their music does anything for me... hence my not being able to name any of their songs.

birthdays

Today is George's birthday.

George gave new meaning to the word "extrovert" - you could not say "Good Morning" to him without it becoming a fifteen minute conversation. It was always funny, detailed, smart and enjoyable. He cared deeply, believed deeply, and was the first person to stand up for what he thought was right.

Note that I say was. George died, peacefully, several months ago.

I'm staggering with the number of people who have wished George Happy Birthday on Facebook today. His family did post an update to say that he'd left us, but an incredible number of people seem not to have noticed.

George - I noticed. Happy Birthday.

Day Ten - a Song That Makes You Fall Asleep

I've been alerted that there is a code that will let me embed You Tube links more directly to these posts. Stand by - I might actually learn some technology.

That having been said, no link this time.

At my alma mater, one of the fraternities had a music tradition that has always made me laugh. During Hell Week, pledges had to spend any time that they were not in class, in the library, at meals or in the shower in the fraternity lounge, where one song would get played over and over and over, 24/ 7, for the entire week. One year it was "Ice, Ice Baby" and another year it was "I'm Too Sexy." I confess that the idea that people were trying to sleep to, "I'm too sexy for my cat" still makes me grin.

On a very different note, Mozart wrote plenty of rousing and stirring music, but I confess that I've always preferred his quieter stuff. It's calm and peaceful, and probably has helped more than one student get a slightly higher grade on a paper or exam. Years ago, I picked up a CD called "Mozart For Morning Coffee." It's a collection of works, primarily for strings, that are downright soothing and happy.

There's no individual tune that makes me fall asleep from this disk, but it makes me feel so peaceful and calm that sleep is inevitable. I suppose composing a series of tunes called "A Little Night Music" does make this inevitable.

Day Nine - A Song You Can Dance To

I loathe, abominate and despise Dumbo.

Put a baby in my arms, and I will automatically rock it and sing "Baby Mine."

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y7JvL2ap3Cg

A Song You Know All the Words To

Ahem. This title should be "A Song to Which You Know All the Words" - but I digress. :-) Hey, it's my blog, I can digress if I want.

I have searched You Tube, but I cannot find a good recording, or at least one that meets my standards. "This Plum Is Too Ripe" from The Fantasticks is something I mumble under my breath all too often. Consider the opening:

"This plum is too ripe."
"Sorry."
"Please, don't watch me while I'm eating."
"Sorry."
"You're about to drown that magnolia."
"Sorry."
"You're - standing - in - my - KUMKWATS!!"
"Sorry!!!"

Apart from my soprano envy (some really great bits for the woman's voice in this quartet) this song is such a great expression of frustration. I'm not a composer or musicologist, but my take on the harmonies and whatnot is that this is how many of us argue, be it with a loved one or with the idiot in front of us on the Interstate.

Kumkwats grow on trees. Sometimes I just get so frustrated that I need to think about standing in kumkwats.

Day Seven - Thirty Days of Songs

A Song The Reminds You of A Particular Event

A great many possibilities here -

"Let the Bright Seraphim" (Handel)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5SNj1AQ8r3w

reminds me very much of the Charles & Diana wedding back in 1981. Yes, I knew said tune at the time... I didn't get out much as a kid. I nearly dropped my breakfast when Kiri Te Kanawa got up and sang something I knew. Not just knew, but loved and still love...

I freely admit that some of this is probably soprano envy. Singing is great fun for me, but it's highly unlikely that I will ever stand in front of an orchestra and belt this piece out, let alone sound half as good as Te Kanawa does at it. She makes this performance all look and sound so effortless... and I'm sure that on that sunny July morning, even though she'd performed the piece countless times, Te Kanawa thought about the size of her international audience and felt at least a little nervous.

The way that the trumpet and the vocal trills come together thrills me no end. This is a piece I truly could listen to over and over again, Royal Wedding or no Royal Wedding. I'm still not entirely sure what it's about, but that doesn't matter.

As a slightly (cough) older person than the starry eyed kid with a bowl of Honey-Nut Cheerios in her lap who watched the wedding with her dog, I'm struck by this being a rather odd choice for a wedding - perhaps this is English tradition, or perhaps it's further proof that Charles didn't quite think through all of the details of marriage before jumping in.

No matter. There's nothing wrong with the occasional fairy tale.

Day Six

A Song That Reminds You of Somewhere

Oh, this is painfully easy.

As an undergraduate, double majoring and doing honors work in one of those majors at the same time might not have been the wisest academic decision on my part, but I'm damned proud of it, and would like it to be noted in my obituary. Oh, yeah, and I was in a long-distance relationship at the time. Consequently, I did not get a lot of sleep. The day I started hallucinating in class, I realized that I needed to shift a few priorities and get a bit more rest.

(I kept the boyfriend.)

I didn't sleep eight hours each night after that, but I did try to grab at least five. OK, maybe I didn't succeed, but I tried...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rCNJBopK25I

Sting's "Fields of Gold" always seemed to be on the radio when I woke up each morning that spring. My bed was next to the window, and I would look out at the basketball court (not very sentimental sounding, I realize) and the trees and the grass and the dew and the village waking up, and I felt so much at peace. This song puts me back to being twenty-one, feeling hope, enthusiasm, and joy - oh, yeah, and a bit of lust for that long-distance boyfriend.

Thirty Days of Songs - Day Five

A Song That Reminds You Of Someone

The first few answers that come to mind are too personal to post in public. There's another answer that would lead me to write screens and screens of acidic horribleness that might be entertaining to read, but could lead to a lawsuit for slander. (Then again, it might be worth it, hmmm...)

When I worked as a camp counselor, the counselors had a song we listened to only when the kids (and the people in charge) could not hear it. It is the single most filthy song I've ever heard, and just thinking about it brings me back to the utter insanity and the sheer fun of that job, and being with that group of people. I refuse to post a link, but if you google "Eat, Bite" you'll probably find it.

One summer in my youth, my best friend and I, both quite broke, spent a lot of time doing whatever we could to get out of the house that might also be cheap. Loosely translated, this meant a lot of movies at the dollar theater and nursing cups of coffee for as long as possible. "Hands to Heaven" by Breathe

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KC5InWPjtL8

seemed to be constantly on the radio, and we went mad trying to figure out the words to the chorus. It took us far longer that we'd care to admit, but I will never forget being in the Burger King parking lot when he yelled, "tonight you calm my restlessness!"

I miss those days, and wish we now lived less than several thousand miles apart.

Thirty Days of Songs, Day Four: A Song that Makes you Sad

There are many songs that make me cry tears of sentimentality. I don't think that's what this question wants us to ponder.

Harriet's post about her (now deceased) friend from college I think may be the best I've seen on this topic. I've lost family and friends, far too early and far too soon, but no one with whom I ever so strongly associated any piece of music.

Many moons ago, my mother took me on a trip to Washington, D.C. The Vietnam Memorial was still new, and was among the places we visited. My mother went straight to the part of the wall that she knew would have the names of her high school classmates.

I have seen my mother cry. I have seen my mother sob.

My mother put her hand on the panel with the names and wept, the first and only time I have ever seen her do this. She ran her fingers over the name of every man she knew in high school who didn't make it back home. She stood, very still, and stared at the names, and then made rubbings of the names for their parents, people she hadn't seen in twenty-five years, but she knew that the rubbings would bring comfort when she mailed them to parents, keeping alive the memories, knowing that their names were not lost, would make a difference, that this recognition had been accorded to them in death.

I already knew the song "Goodnight Saigon" by Billy Joel, but it's had a deeper significance ever since seeing my mother, on that sunny day, weeping.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j6gZefW4yEA

I didn't plan this (I'm not good with schedules) but as this is Memorial Day, thank you to the men and women who left this country to fight for the protection of what is good, and a particular thanks to the families of the ones who didn't make it home.

At eighteen one might be physically fittest, but that doesn't mean that you have the maturity to handle all that war entails. I felt pretty clueless at eighteen (and nineteen, for that matter) and my biggest challenge was getting to class on time. Faced with jungle, with a war no one seems to have understood, with an enemy not always visible... these men (and some brave women!) "clung to each other/ like brother to brother" and they did their jobs, they did their duty, they tried to do the best, even when it wasn't clear what "best" might be.

I like the opening of this song more than the conclusion - the opening suggests a man who is very much trying to find his feet, to know what to do, how to do it. The end of the song suggestions resignation, knowing that one will die, and however hard life might be, I refuse to give up.

As a slightly older person than I was when standing with Mom at the Vietnam Memorial, what grabs me now is thinking about this song in the context of World War I. I think about the charge at Gallipolis, and the men who left behind their personal possessions and wedding rings, knowing that they were about to die.

Day #3 - A Song That Makes you Happy

Again, I just get to pick one? Sheesh. :-)

When I was a junior in college I ended up in a dormitory with the best shower ever. I want to emphasize this point. Fantastic shower. Plenty of hot water, plenty of room for your shampoo, conditioner, soap, etc. - and this shower stall just cried out for you to sing in it. I probably annoyed the heck out of everyone else on my floor, but I sang in that shower every day, all year. This shower might have been the reason that I actually passed my biology class.

I am definitely NOT a morning person, but that shower got me up and moving six days a week. (Hey, Saturdays are for sleeping in, right?)

In my sophomore year, my college did a production of Gilbert & Sullivan's The Gondoliers. A year later, I was still singing this song http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LgJSIKhqHGE in the shower. It's been (cough) years and I still sing it in the shower. I refuse to sing it in public, (let alone while dry) but it's an awful lot of fun.

Day Two - Your Least Favorite Song

Again, there are many possible answers.

My first choice would be "Jesus is the Rock and He Rolls My Blues Away," a song I only sang because I was a camp counselor and was being paid to be chipper. This song is even more horrible than the title suggests.

It goes on for five verses. Five.

Harriet chose "And We Danced" by the Hooters for her answer to this question. This startled me. It might be a moral failing on my part, but the same part of me that hates the above mentioned song like a bit of mindless fluff to which one can dance. I liked the Hooters' MTV videos. I wish their music turned up on the radio. The funny sounding mouth organ-type instruments make me grin.

Second choice would be anything by Paul McCartney, with "Silly Love Songs" pretty high in the pantheon. He's trying too hard. He's better than all of us. Mock him if you will (and I will) but he's far above the rest of us. I will go grovel in shame and misery at the sheer thought of this song.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AK9QVN0bpa4

Thirty Days of Songs - Day One

Day One: Your Favorite Song:

OK, I'll start by saying that this meme will probably take me sixty days, rather than thirty. I don't blog every day, I'm going to be out of town for a week, I tend to procrastinate... but enough apologies. I've been challenged, so I'll jump in.

As has been said by so many, it's hard to pick just one song. There's a lot of music that is part of my soul, and that I will probably still be singing in the shower long after I have forgotten much else. I could list endless hymns, random anthems, and any number of lullabies.

I confess to having a weakness for Sondheim, so in the end I went with the song that always makes me cry and makes me feel brave - "Sunday" from Sunday in the Park With George.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eVO9rN5Bk1A

grocery runs

I did the usual Monday morning run to the mega-grocery store today - bread, milk, pizza, pickles, all lemming staples - and noticed, yet again, just how many of the shoppers alongside me were Dads with toddlers. Said Dads obviously had not woken up, realized that today they had to bring snacks to pre-school and panicked, but had shopping lists and obviously planned to get everything their family needed for the week.

I'm all in favor of stay-at-home dads, but we all know that the economy has generated quite a few dads who now stay at home without ever having planned on doing so.

What really struck me this morning was how many of the dads were laughing and joking with their toddlers. None of the kids had a screaming fit when told they couldn't have fruit snacks, all wore clean clothes and most of the girls had ponytails, braids or other hair accessories. Some of the older children tried to make out letters on the grocery lists.

OK, I confess - I spent much more time people watching than finding pickles; it just struck me as a wonderful bit of humanity at a hard time in our history.