First 30 Songs

[zdashamber]

A meme I collected from jldecker... "Load all music files to your Media Player and hit Shuffle. List the first 30 songs that play. Even if you have a secret Hansen fetish, DON'T CHEAT!" Except I feel like adding commentary on most of them.

First commentary, on the meme itself: this is how I always listen to music on the computer, the load-everything-and-shuffle method. I think the other option is to make playlists, but that always seemed like too much trouble to me... If I'm not in the mood for the song Winamp offers me, I just skip on to the next. And a couple months ago, I went through every song I own alphabetically (by band, and then title) to weed out the ones I didn't care to hear anymore... It was kind of a pain in the ass to not allow myself to listen to any song but whatever came next on the list, but at least now I can feel even more like my own private radio station, having run through my entire catalog alphabetically...


For the songs where it's relevant, I linked the lyrics in the title...

1. The Kinks - Sunny Afternoon



Truly great song. This year I've already filed my federal taxes, by phone, and I was quite pleased with myself for having an old-fashioned desk phone, where the buttons are on the lump part that sits on the desk, and the receiver (a word I had to just now dig up out of the dusty depths of memory) is on a long curly cord. Of course, I specifically bought this phone off eBay so I could wend my way through phone trees with speed and comfort... And so there would be a real phone ring in the house, and so I'd have a real phone around if the power went out. Actually, the reception on it is far better than that on the cordless phone, too, so I'm just all-around lucky. I'm not strange, though-- I only happened to be filing my taxes early so I could get the refund so I'd have more money to buy a car with, which is something I may discuss in a future post. On to song number 2!



2. Billy Joel - Just The Way You Are



This one barely made the cut for "staying on the computer". <shrug>



3. Beethoven - Piano Sonata No. 23 3rd Movement


4. Christmas - Sleigh Ride


5. Cinderella - Do I Love You Because You're Beautiful



I actively hunted this song out, it and "Ten Minutes Ago"; together, they're unquestionably the best parts of the musical Cinderella. Actually, they're the only parts I remember.



6. Proclaimers - 500 Miles



I was looking for the "you can hear the whistle blow 500 miles" song, but I liked this well enough to keep it around...



7. Marilyn Monroe - I Want to Be Loved By You


8. Dion - Runaround Sue


9. Dr. Teeth - Mushrooms



I have a bunch of .wavs in my music folder,tiny sound clips. This is one of those... Dr. Teeth of the Muppets saying, "You should try growing mushrooms!" I have no idea where it's from.



10. Dragnet - 2things.wav



Once I found the website moviesounds.com, which is a big part of the reason I have a gaggle of sound files sitting in my music folder. I've never seen Dragnet, and all I know about it is the parody "Mathnet" that ran on PBS when I was little (which I enjoyed, and which is the reason that the Fibonacci Sequence was no surprise to me later in life), and I have no idea why I picked up this sound file and none of the rest from Dragnet, but... There ya go.



11. Everly Brothers - All I Have To Do Is Dream



I always think of the first Sandman book when I hear this song, and smile.



12. Metallica - Nothing Else Matters



Ah, the Black Album. The only album I own that I can happily listen to all the way through, no desire to skip songs. Sgt. Pepper's is next closest.



13. Vivaldi - Summer - Presto (Movement 3)


14. Metallica - Unforgiven


15. Guns n' Roses - November Rain



I feel it necessary to clear a space off, unclip my hair, and headbang to the last bit of this song, and try to do so whenever it comes on. <shrug>



16. Ozzy Osbourne - Mr. Crowley



I love this for the opening organ bit. The "white horse" thing always has me snickering.



17. Trans-Siberian Orchestra - God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen


18. Crosby, Stills, Nash, and Young - Woodstock


19. Beethoven - Moonlight Sonata - Allegretto



The classical is kind of over-represented, this set...



20. Grieg - Peer Gynt Suite No. 1 - In the Hall of the Mountain King


21. A Taste of France - La Mer


22. Beatles - Your Mother Should Know



Yes!! So, odd thing. Last year, I had this song stuck on endless repeat in my head on night--while I was asleep... Never having heard it. I woke up, and I'm like, "What was that?!" I must have heard it on the radio, and subconsciously absorbed it... And you can see, with the "Sing it again" bit, how easily it could be on endless repeat.

Anyway, I sometimes develop a yen for a song, and play it into the ground until I'm finally just fond of it. Thus, the song will become associated with that section of my life... Like, Queen's "Crazy Little Thing Called Love" brings back memories of drafting class in high school. "Your Mother Should Know" will probably bring back memories of Winter 2003 for me...

Currently, the song I hanker after is Led Zeppelin's "When the Levee Breaks."



23. Greatful Dead - Dire Wolf



This is a darn good set for the Classic Rock.



24. Kermit the Frog - Disco Frog



When this came on, I thought to myself, "Oh, dear. I knew if this went on long enough I'd get embarassed..." It's definitely disco, and it's definitely by the Muppets, and I still like it... It grows on ya.



25. J.S. "Henry" Bach - "Toccata and Fugue"



This is the most rich, gorgeous piece of classical I own, fuging organ interweaving... I found it while looking for the Toccata and Fugue in D Minor, from Fantasia. This was listed as being by "Bach, Henry", and so you will no doubt be unsurprised to learn that it is not, in fact, the Toccata and Fugue in D Minor... Even my dad, a big Bach guy, can't identify what it is. I invite you all to go check it out-- I'd be thrilled to learn its name, and you guys will be blessed to have it... Just right-click "save target as" for this link (5MB), then kick up the bass and give it a listen...



26. The Cyrkle - Red Rubber Ball



Heh. The music is great, and the lyrics are appropriate... Your bit 'o random trivia for the day: this is the only song written by Paul Simon that someone other than him made into a hit.



27. Anastasia Soundtrack - Once Upon a December



I really enjoy songs in waltz time.



28. Tchaikovsky - 1812 Overture - Finale


29. Santana - I'm Winning


30. Eubie Blake - The Chevy Chase



A midi, but the music is darn good... Ragtime, by the guy who isn't Scott Joplin. Eubie Blake lived from 1883 to 1983, playing the piano the whole time, the last one left who could talk about the ragtime era with first-hand knowledge. Pretty amazing life... Here, you can go collect the midi for yourself on this page. :)

So: Pretty good set. :) I mentioned that I don't really have as much classical as it made out, right? It was also odd that no Scott Joplin ragtime showed up, since the Joplin subfolder is as big as the Classical subfolder; but, aside from that, the set was reasonably representative.

Anyway, fun meme--thanks, jldecker!