(#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.

(#30) Oh, you think I'm in control

On the search to discover good music made in the last two decades, I came across and have been subsequently obsessed with Ida Maria.

I love a girl who can write a funny song about cute boys.

The video for "Oh My God" isn't very interesting, but the song...sigh.

And...school is happening again. I should be studying for a statistics exam, but the way I see it, I'm going to do poorly anyway, so why waste my time being miserable and studying when nothing will come of it?

Awesome life philosophy, I know.

I finished The God of Small Things by Arundhati Roy recently. It was a beautiful story about a set of twins from Kerala, India and how seemingly unrelated details in our lives add up to create something much more significant. I'm pretty sure I'm going to read it again soon, and I would recommend you to do the same thing!

Rambling over.

(#26) Words of Love

So I'm an hour and a half late, but yesterday was the day the music died. Sad times.

(#25) The Song is Over

I haven't done a music post in forever, (although I am working on one about The Band's second album, which is proving to be much more difficult than it should be) and this doesn't really count, but here are my top 20 most played songs as of June 2009:

1. Love Ain't For Keeping - The Who

2. Don't Do It - The Band

3. Long Tall Sally - The Beatles

4. Jumping Jack Flash - The Rolling Stones

5. The Weight - The Band

6. Ain't No More Cane - The Band

7. You Ain't Goin' Nowhere - Bob Dylan & The Band

8. Badge - Cream

9. Can You Tell - Ra Ra Riot

10. You Know I'm No Good - Amy Winehouse

11. Across the Great Divide - The Band

12. King Harvest (Has Surely Come) - The Band

13. Crooked Teeth - Death Cab For Cutie

14. American Pie - Don McLean

15. Faded From the Winter - Iron & Wine

16. Guilty Cocker Spaniels - Modest Mouse

17. Gimme Shelter - The Rolling Stones

18. Baba O'Riley - The Who

19. The Real Me - The Who

20. Smash the Mirror - The Who

Notice that only five of these songs were written after the 1970s. You should probably fill me in on any nowadays-bands/artists you like. I'd be a big fan of you if you did.

(#19) Saturday Night's Alright (For Blogging)

I am watching the football game. The football game is boring. Here's a lovely picture I took at the one I went to a while ago...

You know, that picture is exactly how I feel about the game in general: there's a bunch of little people running around, everything's kind of blurry to me because I have no idea what they're doing, and there are a million people in the stands. That's about it. That said, though, we're totally going to win.

So the other day my dad gave me two books to read (but to be returned in "perfect condition"):

Um, yes! I love The Beatles so much (I'm pretty sure every English-speaking person has to, but whatever). My favorite era of theirs was the clean-cut media darling phase - they were just so bright and witty in interviews and whatnot. I mean, I love their music from any year (Let It Be is not my fave, but we'll ignore that), but I love looking at pictures from the early(-ish) days.

I would have been one of these girls:

I think the White album is my favorite.

(#14) La-La-La Lies

These are actually truths, but I couldn't think of a song title or lyric with "truth" in it off the top of my head. Here we go:

I will never be able to finish a milkshake/Arctic Rush float/McFlurry/Frosty/etc. Not even small sizes. And I definitely will never be able to sit through that song. (Now it's in your head, isn't it?)

I have a huge crush on Mike Rowe, host of Dirty Jobs. I mean, how can you not? He's hilarious and manly and smart and...yes please!

I tend to define myself (and others) by my and their taste in entertainment. Not entirely; I don't refuse to be friends with someone because they like Nickelback or Family Guy (although quite honestly, that's two strikes), but it's a lot easier to get to know someone when they share my love of Stephen King and The Who.

My dream job is to be an animal behaviorist and train dogs. I would love that so much.

I would so rather listen to music from forty years ago than anything made today.

(How cute is that picture of The Hawks? Robbie Robertson looks about 15.)

I cried at Pam and Jim's wedding.

More of these later, I'm sure.

(#12) Fall is here, hear the yell, back to school, ring the bell...

It's October! I am not a big fan of cold, but I do love the few in-between days where it's still summer-warm and fall-crisp.

I wish the leaves turned different colors here...

On the less-seasonal side, I made two mix CDs yesterday. One was mostly comprised of Basement Tapes/Last Waltz songs, but the second's theme was less clear.

1. Annie - Ronnie Lane & Pete Townshend

2. Black Dog - Led Zeppelin

3. Blackbird - The Beatles

4. Catmelody - Ronnie Lane & Pete Townshend

5. Don't Stop Belivin' - Glee cast

6. Goldigger - Kanye West

7. Heartbreaker - Led Zeppelin

8. Hold Me Tight - The Beatles

9. The Lemon Song - Led Zeppelin

10. Martha My Dear - The Beatles

11. Michelle - The Beatles

12. Poker Face - Lady Gaga

13. Push It - Glee cast

14. Whole Lotta Love - Led Zeppelin

In my defense, "Poker Face" and "Goldigger" are the kind of virulently catchy songs that once you hear you can't help but put on a CD so as to rid your brain of their choruses. And Glee is a darn good show. Ridiculous, but good.

This isn't in my defense, because they're awesome, but the Ronnie Lane/Pete Townshend collaborations come from Rough Mix, which is a fabulous album. I favor the Lane parts for the most part, but all of it is great, which kind of goes without saying. Duh. It's Ronnie Lane and Pete Townshend! Together!

Anyway, Happy October! Allison has some cute pictures of fall over at One Glad Morning, if you're interested (and you should be).

(#11) Deuce and A Quarter

If you haven't heard this song covered by Levon Helm and Keith Richards, I suggest you do so right now.

(#10) The Song(s) Remain the Same

Five of my favorite songs, in no particular order. In interest of fairness, I'm only using one song per artist.

1. "Ain't No More Cane" by The Band
I don't think I can even pick a favorite Band song, but this is as good a place as any to start. It captures the spirit of the band perfectly, with its weird timelessness and the feeling of a ragged communion between all the members. The verses are divided between everyone but Garth, but the shared choruses are all-for-one. Besides the stellar vocals (Rick's "ooohs" are particularly great, with his soaring, quavery voice), my favorite part of the song has to be Richard's drumming. I don't know if all piano players have some kind of innate sense of funk or what, but I love songs where Richard drums ("Rag Mama Rag," "Jemima Surrender," "Don't Ya Tell Henry," "Evangeline," etc.). You can't separate The Band into individual parts, though. When one is missing, it's just not The Band. When they're all working together, it's pure magic.

2. "My Generation" by The Who
The Who, to me, means a lot of exclamation points. Explosive! Loud! Brilliant! Raw! The Who! Townshend's written a million great songs, and I don't even know if this one's my favorite Who song, but it's definitely up there. It sums the band up rather well to me. There's Moon beating the hell out of the drums, Roger singing his heart out, Pete doing his thing, and John's amazing bass solo (those are always a high point of Who songs for me). I feel like this mixture of defiance and talent is what's made the band so loved over three generations. If you haven't seen their performance on The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour, shown in The Kids Are Alright, you should do so as soon as possible.

3. "Kashmir" by Led Zeppelin
I dig a lot of Zeppelin, but this one stands out to me particularly. You've got the strings and horns, not to mention the four members at the center of it. Middle Eastern music always fascinates me, and "Kashmir"'s got this exotic vibe to it. Robert Plant is not always my favorite vocalist, but he nails it here (as he does on pretty much everything; just because he's not my fave doesn't mean boy can't sing).
"Like Shangri-La beneath the summer moon, I will return again." Sigh.

4. "He Can Only Hold Her" by Amy Winehouse
I love me some Amy. If you've heard Back to Black in its entirety, you can never again judge her solely on her (undeniably unwise) life choices. Her jazzy blues-soaked vocals are such a welcome relief from today's auto-tuned "singers" who are more parts plastic than actual flesh. All of the songs on this album convey genuine emotion, and her voice on this song in particular, about a girl unable to get over her former lover even though she's with another man (yes, it sounds soap opera-y written out like that, but trust me on this) is so beautiful to me.

5. "Blackbird" by The Beatles
The quiet simplicity of this is just so beautiful. Paul had the civil rights movement in mind when he wrote it, which makes it all the more meaningful. The intricacy of the guitar part and the birdsong at the end, and Paul's fabulous singing...ah. It's just perfect.

Obviously, I am no music writer. But I kind of like doing this and probably will include more posts along this line, as there is in no way this is a good representation of all the fantastic music out there, and really isn't even a good representation of my top hundred.

(#7) Who Do You Love?

There are not enough words to describe how much I love The Band. So I'll let these pictures do the talking.

R.I.P. Rick Danko and Richard Manuel.