(#34) Three Marlenas

Day 1 of my blogging challenge is to discuss my favorite song. Picking a favorite song, singular, is kind of impossible for me, so I'll narrow it down to three, which is still pretty darn difficult.

I've done this before but here I'll add some to the list...

1. "Baba O'Riley" by The Who

This song is the end all be all for me. The synthesizer at the beginning, followed by the piano, then Moon on the drums then Entwistle with the bass and Daltrey coming in on the vocals...such a beautiful build-up. Even from the first twenty seconds of the swirling synth line, you can tell that something big is about to happen. And happen it does - my favorite five minutes of music on this planet. This song is so sweeping and epic to me and I feel like it says something when almost forty years after its creation, it still holds that power.

Don't forget the violin at the ending. Never forget the violin at the ending.

This is probably the most amazing cover I've ever heard of this song.

2. "Rocks Off" by The Rolling Stones

"Aw, yeah!"

This song just sums up the dirty blues of the Stones for me. The imperfections are what makes it great; the way individual bits of the music -even Jagger's lead vocals - fade in and out add to the dazed, spinning feeling of the piece as a whole and the rollicking piano and horns complete this song that is equal parts raw, confused, and quite honestly, just plain fun. To me, this is a summer driving song, to be played loud with the windows down.

3. "House by the Sea" by Iron & Wine

If you've never heard The Shepherd's Dog in its entirety, download/buy it right now and listen to it. I'll wait.

Back? Okay. Now, if your favorite track wasn't "House by the Sea," I...really don't mind, because there are so many great songs on this album I could see how it would be difficult to pick one. But still.

This is one of the strangest pieces of music I've heard and many adjectives could be used to describe it - wistful, haunting, beautiful, complex, mysterious, etc. The way the various sounds and strings flow together paint this gorgeous blurry sepia-toned picture in my head. I know I won't do justice to describe it so if I link to it here will you promise to listen to it? Thanks.

Whew. One down, twenty-nine to go.

(#2) Love and Some Verses

I am a terrible blogger. I am neither interesting nor determined enough to get up the motivation to write/type every day. I don't like feeling like I have to do something on a regular basis and clearly this falls under the category of "something."

You know what I do like, though? Iron & Wine. It's not classic rock, but I'll take it! I don't know if you've ever listened to him (until proven otherwise, I'm pretty sure Iron & Wine is just Sam Beam's stage name, so from here on out, I will refer to this artist by the male pronoun. Cool? Cool.), but if you haven't, you should. I like his early stuff. I like his in-between stuff. And man, oh man, do I love his most recent studio album (yeah, it came out in 2007, but whatever). The Shepherd's Dog is absolutely beautiful. And you should check it out. Specifically "Lovesong of the Buzzard," "House By the Sea," "The Shepherd's Dog," and "Resurrection Fern." The whole album kind of flows together, though, so I recommend the whole experience. You will not be sorry.

That is, unless you only listen to the last track, which was featured in the Twilight soundtrack, ack, and really isn't that great anyway.

Life: is still pretty good. I am apparently going to two college football games this weekend. Football is not my favorite thing, but we'll see how they go. I'm pretty sure I'm actually going to get to go to church this Sunday. School is meh and no one wants to read about it anyway. I bought a necklace last week. Accessorizing and I do not mix well. I'm counting down the days until the fall seasons of The Office and Parks and Recreation start (15!!). I am deeply boring.

Love: Iron & Wine. And my boyfriend for coming to visit me last weekend.

Classic Rock: is still my fave. One of the guys on my floor has a ton of old records with a player and everything and I spent thirty minutes discussing how everyone else's music sucks. You know, the usual.

P.S. I don't really think everyone else's music sucks.