Music, Music, Music

I was pseudo-tageed by Paul to do this meme, so off we go…

“List ten songs that you are currently digging ... it doesn't matter what genre they are from, whether they have words, or even if they're no good, but they must be songs you're really enjoying right now. Post these instructions, the artists, and the ten songs in your blog. Then tag five other people to see what they're listening to.”

1. Teenage Dad on His Estate by Morrissey: Oh, like the first song was really going to be by anyone else; you’re just lucky all 10 aren’t Moz tracks! This is a really interesting tune about a white collar worker, about whom Moz sings: “You defer to the views of the television news / Let someone else do / Your thinking for you. / Yet you still buy a daily newspaper / And you find everything there / But the news. / And still you look down on the teenage dad / On his estate” (estate referring to the equivalent of a British housing project). In the end, the truth comes out: “He’s poor / But he’s happier than you.” It’s a great song.

2. Sit Down by James: The Best of James is in the car rotation. I once noted that this song is probably the most appropriate theme song for Shakespeare’s Sister (definitely more so than the song from which it takes its name), and it also remains one of my favorite songs generally.

3. All These Things That I’ve Done by The Killers: The entire Hot Fuss album has been listened to an outrageous amount of times, with various songs being my favorite at various times. At the moment, I’ve loving this one, which also happens to feature the great line, “I got soul, but I'm not a soldier.”

4. This Is The Last Time by Keane: Every song on Hopes and Fears is better than the last, but this is a particular favorite.

5. Jesusland by Ben Folds: Another one with just great lyrics: “Down the tracks / Beautiful McMansions on a hill / That overlook a highway / With riverboat casinos and you still / Have yet to see a soul / Jesusland.”

6. No One Can Hold a Candle to You by Morrissey: Okay, so he had to start the second half of the list, too. One of his best B-sides ever. The lyrics are here, because I couldn’t resist blogging them.

7. Origin of Love from the Hedwig and the Angry Inch soundtrack: I just watched this movie again recently, and my favorite song (out of a collection of stellar tracks) is Origin of Love, which recounts Aristophanes’ explanation of the origin of love as recounted in Plato’s Symposium, of which I have always been particularly fond.

8. The Ballad of Maxwell Demon from the Velvet Goldmine soundtrack: Another film I watched again not too long ago. This song was written by Craig Wedren of Shudder to Think, one of my favorite bands. It’s a great song in its own right, but also quite an accomplishment as he managed to create a track that sounded like it could have been yanked straight from a 70s-era Bowie album, but nonetheless doesn’t sound blandly derivative of Bowie’s work.

9. Yellow by Coldplay: Parachutes happens to be in the car rotation, too, at the moment, and I love this song, even though it’s overplayed to infinity and used to make me cry when Mr. Shakes and I were stuck 4,000 miles apart.

10. I Like You by Morrissey: Like he wasn’t going to make another appearance. This song pretty much sums up how I feel about everyone who’s dear to me, and, depending on about whom I’m thinking any given day, can be imbued with all sorts of meaningful and/or funny nuance. “No one I ever knew / Or have spoken to resembles you / This is good or bad / All depending on my general mood / Why do you think I let you get away / With the things you say to me? / Could it be I like you?... You’re not right in the head / And nor am I / And this is why / This is why I like you.”

As for tagging 5 people, I won’t, because I always get groans when I tag people. (Yeah, I’m talking to you, Mannion and John Howard.) But, if anyone should want to pick up this meme, please feel free, and send me a link to your list.