Day 12 – A song from a band you hate
I'm going to assume that this is a song I like from a band I hate, which is interesting/challenging/etc. It's possible I've been watching too many Sherlock Holmes adaptations recently, but I'm up for a challenge.
At first I was going to go with Firework by Katy Perry, since I really dislike her but the song's okay. I didn't want to settle for okay, though, so I pushed on. There's Justin Bieber, of course, but I don't like anything by him. Taylor Swift is slowly (very slowly) winning me over (shhh! don't tell anyone), so she's out. Then, I thought, hey! How else is rap going to get on this list?
I don't hate him, per se, but Kanye West kind of seems like a jerk. And he might not like George Bush, but I refuse to do all the-enemy-of-my-enemy-is-my-friend on this one. The world is more complicated than that.
Jerk or not, there is one song (besides the sudden eleventh hour appearance of You Give Love A Bad Name) that I have looped more than any other while writing this thesis (and I kind of hate to say it, but I sort of dig the music video).
Power
Monday, February 28, 2011
Sunday, February 27, 2011
Day 11 – A song from your favorite band
Here's the thing: I thought I didn't have a favorite band until I saw this prompt and then I knew exactly which song I would pick. So, congratulations, Coldplay, you have the dubious honor of being my favorite band.
Yes
And now, a special bonus along the lines of my Hair post. This is from Young @ Heart. (I couldn't embed it, and I apologize for the German subtitles, but seriously.) If you haven't seen this movie, stop what you're doing right now and go watch it. Context is everything.
Here's the thing: I thought I didn't have a favorite band until I saw this prompt and then I knew exactly which song I would pick. So, congratulations, Coldplay, you have the dubious honor of being my favorite band.
Yes
And now, a special bonus along the lines of my Hair post. This is from Young @ Heart. (I couldn't embed it, and I apologize for the German subtitles, but seriously.) If you haven't seen this movie, stop what you're doing right now and go watch it. Context is everything.
Saturday, February 26, 2011
Friday, February 25, 2011
Day 09 – A song that you can dance to
Roommate J and I went to a concert this week. On Monday night, a school night, because we are suddenly cool apparently. Oh, and it was Lady Gaga at Madison Square Garden.
We've had the tickets for something like six months. We bought them on a whim over the summer. We planned our outfits for weeks. Finally, on Monday, we begged out of class early and caught the train to New York. We headed to Koreatown for dinner, where we got the last table and ate a great meal while an increasingly long line gathered. Afterward, we wandered over to Borders where we changed and did makeup in the bathroom and then went next door to MSG and our tip-top seats.
By tip-top I mean second to last row, of course, but they were still amazing. And we paid just about as much as we were wiling, so it was incredible to be there at all.
The opening act was The Scissor Sisters, and there was just about as much awesome falsetto and pleather as you would think. The Lady herself was amazing. HBO was filming a special that night and so she was really on her A-game. There were several songs that showcased her voice in ways the radio edits of her songs sometimes lack. We lost our voices screaming and singing. It was a great night.
There were several points in the show when people surged to their seat to dance in their seats. Poker Face was one. This was the obvious other.
Bad Romance
Roommate J and I went to a concert this week. On Monday night, a school night, because we are suddenly cool apparently. Oh, and it was Lady Gaga at Madison Square Garden.
We've had the tickets for something like six months. We bought them on a whim over the summer. We planned our outfits for weeks. Finally, on Monday, we begged out of class early and caught the train to New York. We headed to Koreatown for dinner, where we got the last table and ate a great meal while an increasingly long line gathered. Afterward, we wandered over to Borders where we changed and did makeup in the bathroom and then went next door to MSG and our tip-top seats.
By tip-top I mean second to last row, of course, but they were still amazing. And we paid just about as much as we were wiling, so it was incredible to be there at all.
The opening act was The Scissor Sisters, and there was just about as much awesome falsetto and pleather as you would think. The Lady herself was amazing. HBO was filming a special that night and so she was really on her A-game. There were several songs that showcased her voice in ways the radio edits of her songs sometimes lack. We lost our voices screaming and singing. It was a great night.
There were several points in the show when people surged to their seat to dance in their seats. Poker Face was one. This was the obvious other.
Bad Romance
Thursday, February 24, 2011
Day 08 – A song that you know all the words to
See, this is where I should have put Happy Together, because I have distinct memories of playing it while driving the last leg of the Colorado-->Illinois trek and singing all the way along. But, no, I already used that one.
It's not too hard to come up with another. I do most if not all of my singing-along in the car, usually when there aren't people there but I'm willing to make exceptions for people who know me well enough to harbor no expectations about the quality of my voice. This one is a Roommate J and Nom de Plume driving staple. She can actually sing, so she gets the high parts while I just mouth along. But I do know all the words, so that's something.
Leaving So Soon
See, this is where I should have put Happy Together, because I have distinct memories of playing it while driving the last leg of the Colorado-->Illinois trek and singing all the way along. But, no, I already used that one.
It's not too hard to come up with another. I do most if not all of my singing-along in the car, usually when there aren't people there but I'm willing to make exceptions for people who know me well enough to harbor no expectations about the quality of my voice. This one is a Roommate J and Nom de Plume driving staple. She can actually sing, so she gets the high parts while I just mouth along. But I do know all the words, so that's something.
Leaving So Soon
Wednesday, February 23, 2011
Day 07 – A song that reminds you of a certain event
This reminds me both of going to see the show, obviously, and also attending the National Equality March on Washington in the Fall of 2009. The cast of Hair was all over that march, and other rallies like it. They're awesome, and so is this song.
The Flesh Failures (Let the Sunshine In)
This reminds me both of going to see the show, obviously, and also attending the National Equality March on Washington in the Fall of 2009. The cast of Hair was all over that march, and other rallies like it. They're awesome, and so is this song.
The Flesh Failures (Let the Sunshine In)
Tuesday, February 22, 2011
Monday, February 21, 2011
Sunday, February 20, 2011
Day 04 – A song that makes you sad
Even songs that make me sad make me a little bit happy. (This has something to do with my theory of why grownups cry more at movies, but that's too long a treatise to sneak in between bouts of thesis.) Obviously, or there would be no reason to listen. I enjoy them, I guess, even while they stab through my chest, grab my heart, squeeze it like an orange, and let go. No wonder I listen to them so often on repeat.
There are a lot of songs like this that I love--some of them will probably pop up later in the remaining days--because for some reason sadness is easier to connect to than happiness. Why else would minor key be so amazing?
So I present to you one of the saddest songs in the world*, and one of the best:
Fantasia on a Theme by Thomas Tallis
*I debated long and hard over whether I should choose this or Adagio for Strings by Samuel Barber (honorable mention!). The Vaughan Williams won out in the end because it has far more play counts on my iTunes, although I do think the Barber is more crushing.
Even songs that make me sad make me a little bit happy. (This has something to do with my theory of why grownups cry more at movies, but that's too long a treatise to sneak in between bouts of thesis.) Obviously, or there would be no reason to listen. I enjoy them, I guess, even while they stab through my chest, grab my heart, squeeze it like an orange, and let go. No wonder I listen to them so often on repeat.
There are a lot of songs like this that I love--some of them will probably pop up later in the remaining days--because for some reason sadness is easier to connect to than happiness. Why else would minor key be so amazing?
So I present to you one of the saddest songs in the world*, and one of the best:
Fantasia on a Theme by Thomas Tallis
*I debated long and hard over whether I should choose this or Adagio for Strings by Samuel Barber (honorable mention!). The Vaughan Williams won out in the end because it has far more play counts on my iTunes, although I do think the Barber is more crushing.
Saturday, February 19, 2011
Friday, February 18, 2011
Day 02 – Your least favorite song
Here's the thing. There are a lot of songs I don't like--hate, even--in this world. Most of them are, admittedly, songs I haven't heard yet. Most of my youth was taken up resenting "Puff the Magic Dragon" for the way it made me blush at the unwanted attention it would focus in my direction in preschool. In this era of Glee covers, however, I have discovered that there is a song that makes my flesh crawl. The best thing the last episode of The Sopranos did was cut it off mid-stream.
Don't Stop Believing
Here's the thing. There are a lot of songs I don't like--hate, even--in this world. Most of them are, admittedly, songs I haven't heard yet. Most of my youth was taken up resenting "Puff the Magic Dragon" for the way it made me blush at the unwanted attention it would focus in my direction in preschool. In this era of Glee covers, however, I have discovered that there is a song that makes my flesh crawl. The best thing the last episode of The Sopranos did was cut it off mid-stream.
Don't Stop Believing
Thursday, February 17, 2011
Two days ago I discussed Justin Bieber with Cornel West. (For the record, I do not like Justin Bieber, but I do like Cornel West.) We were in the car on the way to the prison where I tutor, where Dr. West was going to give a speech to 250-some inmates. The morning was an amazing experience from beginning to end: the car ride--when we (he and I and three other students and our awesome driver F) talked about the Grammys--the meeting with the superintendent and other officials, the speech itself to an awestruck, silent room of men, and the ride back, when we asked follow-up questions. Dr. West started by talking about music, segued into Black History Month, and then moved deeper and deeper into his chosen subject: how to be a better, authentic, human being. I had heard a lot of it in the last lecture of the class I took with him last semester (the lecture that made me cry in class), but of course he had tinkered it a bit to suit his audience and it was all the more powerful because of that. The moment that struck me the most was hardly the most original, but it came when he stopped mid-sentence and asked, "How many of you would take a bullet for your mama? In the heart." Almost everyone raised their hands.
I was reminded of something my grandmother likes to say (in a very different context of very different people): "Say what you will; they really love their mothers."
So perhaps now I've got music on the brain. And perhaps I am doing everything I can to get myself writing and thinking a little each day, in this time of thesis insanity. I am still keeping up on my 211 words a day in 2011 challenge, but for the next 30 days I would like to add this:
Right off the bat, this is incredibly difficult. I don't know if you heard, but my family compiled a list of our top 500 songs of all time and made it public this summer. There are a lot of songs I like--there are a lot of songs that move me to act or think--but there is only one song that has been on my top 25 list longer than the others, and there is only one song my dad had a piano player play for me while I had tea at the Savoy.
Night and Day
I was reminded of something my grandmother likes to say (in a very different context of very different people): "Say what you will; they really love their mothers."
So perhaps now I've got music on the brain. And perhaps I am doing everything I can to get myself writing and thinking a little each day, in this time of thesis insanity. I am still keeping up on my 211 words a day in 2011 challenge, but for the next 30 days I would like to add this:
- Day 01 – Your favorite song
- Day 02 – Your least favorite song
- Day 03 – A song that makes you happy
- Day 04 – A song that makes you sad
- Day 05 – A song that reminds you of someone
- Day 06 – A song that reminds you of somewhere
- Day 07 – A song that reminds you of a certain event
- Day 08 – A song that you know all the words to
- Day 09 – A song that you can dance to
- Day 10 – A song that makes you fall asleep
- Day 11 – A song from your favorite band
- Day 12 – A song from a band you hate
- Day 13 – A song that is a guilty pleasure
- Day 14 – A song that no one would expect you to love
- Day 15 – A song that describes you
- Day 16 – A song that you used to love but now hate
- Day 17 – A song that you hear often on the radio
- Day 18 – A song that you wish you heard on the radio
- Day 19 – A song from your favorite album
- Day 20 – A song that you listen to when you’re angry
- Day 21 – A song that you listen to when you’re happy
- Day 22 – A song that you listen to when you’re sad
- Day 23 – A song that you want to play at your wedding
- Day 24 – A song that you want to play at your funeral
- Day 25 – A song that makes you laugh
- Day 26 – A song that you can play on an instrument
- Day 27 – A song that you wish you could play
- Day 28 – A song that makes you feel guilty
- Day 29 – A song from your childhood
- Day 30 – Your favorite song at this time last year
Right off the bat, this is incredibly difficult. I don't know if you heard, but my family compiled a list of our top 500 songs of all time and made it public this summer. There are a lot of songs I like--there are a lot of songs that move me to act or think--but there is only one song that has been on my top 25 list longer than the others, and there is only one song my dad had a piano player play for me while I had tea at the Savoy.
Night and Day
Saturday, February 5, 2011
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