Wednesday, July 30, 2008

What's on my iPod?

A week ago, my friend posted to her blog what were the last twenty songs she had listened to on her iPod. So after finishing up listening to a podcast of "This American Life", I switched my iPod over to shuffle songs and recorded the first twenty songs. This list was made on Monday morning after arriving at work and transcribed and posted on Wednesday evening so as to not interfere with Monday's Recipe and Tuesday's President. Here is the list with some comment on why this song appears.
  1. Tequila Sunrise - The Eagles (I enjoy the Eagles. This particular song will always make me think of the movie of the same name - that and one too many nights drinking the devil's clear liquid.)
  2. Smile - Natalie Cole (I am a product of my parents. Growing up I would listen to WNEW 1130AM - home of the Make Believe Ballroom and Saturdays with Sinatra. Natalie Cole's album where she remixes her father's stuff is good listening. In the interest of full disclosure - Natalie Cole also came up at number 3 and number 5 - with 710 songs on my iPod, I need to understand how the shuffle software really works - when it doesn't. The other songs were This Can't be Love and Paper Moon)
  3. Madly - Tristan Prettyman (I subscribe to the iTunes New Music Tuesday newsletter, which offers up a free song each week, it has certainly broadened my musical range. I got this one there or it might have been one of the songs that Starbucks is offering each week in their stores. In any case, she's got one of those voices that I could listen to forever.)
  4. The Way You Look Tonight - Frank Sinatra (I loaded almost my entire collection of Sinatra songs to my iPod. You can't beat the Chairman of the Board. "You shook Sinatra's hand - and you should have known better, Willy." Movie?)
  5. Never Can Say Goodbye - Gloria Gaynor (I may own some "best of the 70s" music and I may have put some of them on my iPod. Maybe I like that music. Maybe. Stop Laughing!)
  6. (And it goes from bad to worse) One - Finale - The Company, A Chorus Line (Sorry what can I say? It was one of the first Broadway shows I ever saw.)
  7. Mercy - Duffy (see #3. She's Welsh and well, Have Mercy on me!)
  8. The Marvelous Toy - The Chad Mitchell Trio (yes, it's a Christmas song, but I love it. Get over it.)
  9. East Bound and Down - Jerry Reed (Smokey and the Bandit anyone?)
  10. Searchin' So Long - Chicago (For several years in a row, I went to see Chicago in concert, on more than one occasion they appeared on the same bill as the Beach Boys. Talk about your wide variety of concert goer there . . . Chicago, Alive Again, came on right after this and then again with We Can Last Forever after Billy Joel)
  11. We Didn't Start the Fire - Billy Joel (One should not be surprised at all by this. One could be surprised that only one Billy Joel song came up in the first twenty. Did I mention that I would have given my right arm to have been here? I used this particular song, released as a single, as an educational tool in my classroom back when I was a teacher. Hey, using music to sooth the savage beast that are middle schoolers works.)
  12. The Boy in the Bubble - Paul Simon (not my favorite Paul Simon song, but it's catchy.)
  13. Let's Dance to Joy Division - The Wombats (there are times that I wonder that my iPod doesn't explode when a song like this (scored from Apple for free) comes on in close proximity to Sinatra or Natalie Cole.)
  14. Walk Like an Egyptian - The Puppini Sisters (This is a great remake of the Bangles "classic." Also free from iTunes.)
  15. Homeward Bound - Simon and Garfunkel (While this song comes from "The Essential Simon and Garfunkel" - there is also a version on my iPod from the Concert in Central Park, which leads to a rant I could go off on about live music on iPods. Sometimes it doesn't work. For example, after the Dream Academy came the first song from the Concert in Central Park, Mrs. Robinson, which includes the introduction by Mayor Ed Koch, and some talking by Paul Simon at the end of the song. Bah.)
  16. Life in a Northern Town - The Dream Academy (A song that I bought on iTunes. It is one of my most favorite songs, ever. It is also my default ringtone on my phone.)
  17. It's Only a Paper Moon - James Taylor (This song comes from the League of Their Own soundtrack - which does not feature the Madonna song from the end of the movie, but does feature a lot of good music.)
  18. Fever - Peggy Lee (she's one of the original "one of those voices" that I love)
  19. Running on Empty - Jackson Browne (another live song, but not nearly broken up as bad as "The Load-In" and "Stay" which, when live, should always be played together.
  20. The Guide - Borne (possibly the first free song I downloaded from iTunes. Love it!)

9 comments:

Unknown said...

re: The Marvelous Toy

It's not a Christmas song! It used to show up in the Easter mix at home every year.

Great song.

Eryl Shields said...

I subscribe to the itunes newsletter and had no idea they gave away a song every week. Just goes to show how much attention I pay. I'll look at it properly now, so thanks.

Amy said...

There are soooo many things I could say about fine-tuning features like the shuffle, smart playlist, party shuffle, etc. and so on, but I suppose I should save it for my own blog post — because I'm obviously going to totally steal this post idea and use it on my site next week. (I'm sure you're tingling with anticipation . . . not!) I leave you with this: You have only 710 songs on your iPod?! Yeesh. Piker. ; )

pricklygirl said...

One of these days, when you're least expecting it and the tiny astronauts are enjoying themselves in the funfest that has become your backyard (we're gonna need a much bigger tent), I am going to launch into "One". And then maybe "Kiss Today Goodbye". I'm not touching "T&A" though. My sister and I used to sing that over and over -- we were like nine and six. We also did "Dreamgirls" into the grownud..."On the 20th Century"...my dad really liked Broadway shows. And fancy sweaters.
I'm gonig to have to go think for a bit now.
Yours truly,
PricklyGirl (aka the bringer of good ideas)

Lana Gramlich said...

I was just thinking about "One" from "A Chorus Line" the other day, actually. Ironic!

stinkypaw said...

Interesting variety!

ADR said...

OK - I played in the comment thread over at Life After DC. You can mock me there.

Brave Astronaut said...

C - It's a great song.

Eryl - I'm all about information. Glad to have been of service.

Amy - I'm waiting with bated breath

Prickly - Problem is, "what I really couldn't do was . . . sing!"

Lana - it's a singular sensation

Paw - thank you.

ADR - I've looked and I will mock at some future point, possibly.

Southern Gentleman said...

Here are the first 20 on my random shuffle:
1. Night / George Winston
2. Oh Very Young / Cat Stevens
3. Knuckle too Far / James
4. Get Up / REM
5. Notorious / Duran Duran
6. Died in Your Arms / Cutting Crew
7. Something so Strong / Crowded House
8. Mary Mac / Carbon Leaf
9. Born Innocent / The Proclaimers
10. Pige Rudh / Capercaillie
11. Out to Get You / James
12. Make Me Lose Control / Eric Harmon
13. Come Undone / Duran Duran
14. What Child is This / Vince Guiraldi Trio
15. Sweet Dreams / Eurythmics
16. The Sea / Carbon Leaf
17. Nobody Does it Better / Carley Simon
18. Ready to Run / Dixie Chicks
19. Amazing Ian / Rogues of Scotland
20. Mr. Jones / Counting Crows

Comments? Questions? - OSG