Seven Songs

By kate on June 13th, 2008

Alan tagged me with the following meme:

“List seven songs you are into right now. No matter what the genre, whether they have words, or even if they’re not any good, but they must be songs you’re really enjoying now, shaping your spring. Post these instructions in your blog along with your 7 songs. Then tag 7 other people to see what they’re listening to.”

This turned out to be challenging for me, because these days I tend to let more knowledgeable people (KEXP DJs) and robots (Pandora) select my music for me. But I racked my brain, twisted the rules a bit, and came up with these:

1. “Way Down in the Hole” by Tom Waits. This is the theme song for (the TV show) The Wire, which Steve and I have been devouring all spring. I’m sure that hearing this song will always remind me of this time, in the same way that the Arrested Development theme brings me back to Ruby’s newborn days.

2. “Guadalajara” performed by Mariachi Fiesta Mexcana. Last weekend, we attended the wedding of an old friend who had attended ours. He loved the mariachi band we had so much that it was the only wedding detail he insisted upon. We were thrilled to enjoy a large, live mariachi band in person again, and were their most enthusiastic fans, especially Ruby, who danced to every song. They played (at our request) “Guadalajara,” which we consider “our song” – we loved it in Mexico, and it played at our wedding the moment we kissed. It’s not a traditional love song (it’s about the Guadalajara area), but we like it because it’s robust and upbeat.

3. “Ray of Light” by Madonna. I heard this song at the same wedding, and it brought me right back to our Mongolia trip. We only had a handful of cassettes in our jeep ride around the country, and Ray of Light was one of them. It was replayed countless times, most memorably as I visited Mt. Otontenger, a pretty mountain, in blustery winds. For a few minutes on Saturday night, listening to the soaring joy of this song, I was back there.

4. “Great DJ” by the Ting Tings. After hearing this song on KEXP, I’d get it stuck in my head. One day, the same thing happened to Ruby and I heard her singing “the drums, the drums, the drums.” I was just making her a new mix CD for the car and gave this song the featured spot at track #1. That means we hear it a lot, and I’m still not tired of its frothy poppiness, which surprises me.

5. “De Bolon Pin Pon” by Flaco Jimenez. Ruby has the Latin Playground CD, and has been playing it a lot. All in all, it’s a good CD, but this particular track is the worst earworm I’ve encountered in a long time. I’ve gone so far as to run across the room screaming to skip the track (and keep myself from hearing it). I’m not “really enjoying” this song — the opposite — but it’s part of my spring nonetheless.

6. “Ring of Fire” by Johnny Cash. The final Ruby-influenced song. She heard it one morning on KEXP and just loved it. She mentioned it so much later that day, that I treated her to a video of Cash playing the song. At her insistence, we watched it six times in a row. Even now, weeks later, I sometimes have to fend off her requests for repeated viewing. Repetition aside, I like the song as well as the story behind it.

7. “A Letter from God to Man” by dan le sac vs. Scroobius Pip. Every time this song comes on the radio, my ears perk up and I hear some new lyric I’ve never heard. I love the attitude and the cleverness. I think I’m going to buy some of their music. And how can I resist a guy who nicknamed himself after an Edward Lear poem?

So there you have it. I’ll just say that this list doesn’t showcase my actual taste in music, just what’s been on my mind lately. If you’re interested in what I really like, check out my carefully honed Pandora channel.

Now, I get to tag seven other people… Zach, Meredith, Molly, Andreas, Buzz, Ben, and Joe: you’re it!

Filed under: music

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