(#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.

(#28) Miss You

So it turns out I am still the worst at blogging. It's partially because I read all of the great ones out there and then realize that I have nothing nearly as interesting or witty to say, and partially because I am one lazy girl.

Things I Have Been Doing Lately:
- Finishing my freshman year of college!

I'm happy that the work part is over, not so happy that the living-away-from-home/friend part is over. For now, anyway.

I will miss my fabulous rock 'n' roll poster arrangement the most.

- Getting into the Rolling Stones.

I realize that this is not a groundbreaking thing, but let me explain. My dad is legitimately a Stones fanatic. Classic rock in general, he loves and he's a veritable encyclopedia of good music (a trait he's encouraged in me for my entire life), but the Stones come above all. Like, I'm fairly sure I thought the tongue logo was a family crest of sorts due to its presence in our house growing up. I've never done the whole rebellious teenager phase (except for a brief flirtation with Hot Topic and an awful boyfriend, but we won't discuss that...), but I felt like I had to resist something the old man liked. Dylan, I'd take. The Band? Yes please. Beatles and Zeppelin? Don't mind if I do. But I felt like not being a Stones fan was the biggest rebellion I could muster, until I realized that was idiotic. So here I am at eighteen, really paying attention to this forty-year-old music for the first time.

And it's awesome. Which, duh. It'd be kind of hard to be touring into your sixties if your music wasn't flat-out phenomenal. But eh, I'm a teenager, I get to be dumb, right?

More on them later for sure, but let me just say that Exile on Main St. = very yes. I want to refrain from saying even more trite things until I've done my homework, so to speak.

-This isn't something I've been doing lately, but have you ever noticed that the hits from forty years ago are still good today? It's like they were popular because they were quality music, not because a producer wanted to sell records (okay, I've read enough biographies to know that isn't the case, but still)...it seems as though there was soul to the pop music business then, and now it's just business. "Baba O'Riley" is my favorite song of all time, and also one of the most widely recognized songs in rock music. It was popular for a reason, and that reason is because it's great. There's this scope and power you just can't find in "Boom Boom Pow."

I'm not trying to say that music from after 1978 automatically sucks. Not at all. There is still a lot of great stuff out there. It just seems harder to find because it's not marketed like the latest Autotuned rapper's heartwarming saga about gettin' they money.

A little R-Dalts takes the burn out of any rant

- Just existing in a state of happiness for summer!

85+ degree weather? Beach/river/lake/pool? Cookouts? The return of tan lines? Green grass and flowers everywhere? Watermelon???

Can I just get a big amen to all of the above, please?

- Getting stung by a BEE on my FOOT.

I stepped on a bee today, which was my fault - I mean, it wasn't intentional or anything, but it's not like it was seeking me out - but I am still angry at the bee. Yes, I realize it's pretty dead now and won't live to pollinate another day, but...the bottom of my foot? Come on, man.

Side note: I was once stung 13 times (though these might have been wasps) within the same five to ten minute period. It was terrible. Moral of the story: don't have a get-together on a porch with an old rolled-up carpet infested by stinging bugs behind a porch swing. It will get bumped, and insects will get angry. Also don't have long hair because they will get stuck in that, and you will have just attended the worst birthday party of your life.

Kind of like this, but way less adorable.