Mix it up

"I know people for whom music is just background noise. They don't listen to it. They just consume it. These people have never made a mix-tape for anyone. These people are not my friends. These people have no soul."

- Love Is A Mix-Tape; Rob Sheffield

I've written before about the first time I ever made a mix tape. Everything about it was right: the delight of finding new music and trying to take it all in, the very real awareness, and not implied, of bootlegging because of the restrictions back home, the heightened sense of needing to achieve perfection because of the scarcity of cassette tapes, necessitating the need to sacrifice an existing one. It was exhilarating and challenging and I was hooked.

***

"The mix tape is a list of quotations, a poetic form, in fact: the cento is a poem made up of lines pulled from other poems. The new poet collects and remixes. Similarly an operation of taste, it is also cousin to the curious passion of the obsessive collector. Unable to express himself in 'pure' art, the collector finds himself in obsessive acquisition. Collecting is strangely hot and cold, passionate and calculating."

- Mix Tape: The Art of Cassette Culture; Matias Viegener (edited by Thurston Moore)

I started listening differently to music after that first mix tape. Always, somewhere in the back of my mind, there was a separate train of thought that listened to, and appraised, music--especially songs--separate of its own merit and as part of a bigger possibility. I'd now subconsciously start to cross reference artists and their songs for their compatibility, for their divisiveness. It was as if I was hosting different parties of songs and trying to decide who to invite, based on the party's theme: a quiet Sunday dinner? A rambunctious cocktail party? Candlelit small tables by the river? Who could come? Who would come? How would they be seated? And how would the party turn out?

***

"To me, making a tape is like writing a letter — there's a lot of erasing and rethinking and starting again. A good compilation tape, like breaking up, is hard to do. You've got to kick off with a corker, to hold the attention (I started with "Got to Get You Off My Mind", but then realized that she might not get any further than track one, side one if I delivered what she wanted straightaway, so I buried it in the middle of side two), and then you've got to up it a notch, or cool it a notch, and you can't have white music and black music together, unless the white music sounds like black music, and you can't have two tracks by the same artist side by side, unless you've done the whole thing in pairs and...oh, there are loads of rules."

- High Fidelity; Nick Hornby

I adhere to some of the better known rules of the game, and I have some of my own, which have seen changes over the years. (Up until a few years ago, every single mix I ever made contained a Queen song. Somewhere along the way, it became an either/or situation with songs by Elliott Smith. This year? I tried to do neither and see where that would take me.) I don't slice and dice the choices very much, though; for me, a mix happens or it doesn't. Similarly, I almost never listen to a mix all the way through, even in sample mode (i.e. playing the beginning or end snippet of a song to see how it flows). Maybe because that first mix was made for me, and not someone else, I've always continued to feel that way, even when I have a definite theme or person in mind. I still like to be a little surprised by my own creation.

***

"I do recognize that not everyone feels as bound by the implicit playlist-exchange code of conduct as I do. That's why the code is probably implicit only to me.

She must not understand. Greater even than my desire for her to consider me [...] is my desire--no, my need--to hear, in great detail, her every single thought about each single song, each artist, each lyric: Which songs did she like, and why? Which ones has she listened to most and which ones does she find herself skipping over automatically? The order of the songs, did she notice the flow? Admire the transitions? Feel my beating heart inserted into each track?

Or am I asking too much?"

- Naomi And Ely's No Kiss List; Rachel Cohen & David Levithan

My speciality is personal themes--that is, any theme but always, somewhere in the back, there is a 'someone' in mind. Even when doing large mix exchanges, there is still that sense of sending it to someone. Mostly because I think a person's music choices, and then especially a mix, is a calling card of sorts. An invitation, however subtle, to take a little peek into them. Of course, when you issue an invitation like that, you're not content with someone just stopping by, spending a little while, and then moving on without a word. You want some sort of guarantee that you didn't just waste your time entertaining them at your very own, personal expense.

So you wait. You hope. And when you hear back, you mostly feign nonchalance and pretend to almost miss it, to preserve some sense of dignity. Because sometimes you won't hear back.

There are rules, you see.

***

"I thought you had a rule never to use the same song twice."
"Not if the mix has a completely different theme and recipient."

- Memories Of A Teenage Amnesiac; Gabrielle Zevin

I noticed over the last few months a reluctance in me to finish a lot of the mixes I'd started. Usually, I am good for one or two every couple of months; the past 12 months, quota fell far shorter of that. It seemed that every time I'd decide on a song or a certain arrangement or theme, I'd get a sense of deja vu. It took a while (I'm not always quick on the uptake for everything!) to realize that this space had become, in my mind, a little mix project of its own, albeit with a lack of [deliberate] desire to share. Even so, and despite the little to no feedback solicitation, I couldn't easily shake a sense of been there, done that. It seemed too much of a challenge to have different perspectives for the same view.

Too much of a challenge. I'm hooked again.

***

This mix came about in the best way possible: prompted by another mix, some late night exchanges, and reactions to events in a very particular point in time. When it's effortless, that's the best.

Isn't that the truth.

Back Chat Mix

POW 122408 - Fa la la la la

We don't go all out in celebrating Christmas like a lot of people I know, because, quite frankly, that level of commitment scares me--I mean, I don't care if you want to celebrate to your hearts' delight, but Christmas themed soap and toilet paper is just...no, not for us. We do a lot of the traditional stuff, though, just with our own personal twist. For example, we definitely like decorating the tree ; that is something the kid is very fond of, but apparently the goal is to constantly rearrange the decorations (and yours truly is the one getting ordered about to do so). We hang up stockings but fill them with things that we already have and mix them up, so it turns into a sorting game of who does this belong to, which of course the kid gets to play. We do the cookies and milk deal, too, on Christmas Eve, but not for Santa. I mean, we don't pretend we are leaving them for Santa and then eat them while the kid sleeps; we have cookies and milk for dinner.

We definitely don't do Santa and not because I have a heart three sizes too small and am being tyrannical about having the kid believe in magic. No, it's because the lesson of "stranger danger" has firmly taken root in the kid and he does not want to be anywhere near Santa and he certainly wants no part of accepting anything that old fat strange man in the red suit has to offer.

***

Another thing we do is play Christmas music, of course. Thanks to parents who insisted my sister and I celebrate Christmas and know about all its ins and outs (more than people who, you know, who are Christians so to speak and actually have reason to celebrate it), as well as several years of school assemblies and pageants in England, not to mention Christmas masses attended (again at insistence of parents), I have more knowledge of Christmas carols and hymns and songs than I think any one human should. Chances are I, at the very least, know the tune of every blessed one, if not a good portion of the words as well.

My favorite hymn one has always been the one below. It's not hard to see why; first of all, it is written in the A minor key, one of my favorites, and second of all, it has the word Satan in it, which seems rather, well, naughty for a Christmas hymn.

L. always says he has no favorites. I suspect the ten years he spent as an altar boy (ages 8-18), handling Polish mass (especially during Christmas) has left him too scarred to really enjoy anything that could be traced back to those times. (Those 10 years had two benefits: they got him out of class at different times, for special somethings or anothers, and they made an atheist out of him, which worked in his favor when it came to us getting together.) I told him just to pick one that came to mind first, last night, and he picked 'We Three Kings', because that was what was playing (cover by Sting.) And, as it happens, there is a cover that, well, covers both so here you go (the kid did not quite endorse this, but that's because he'd rather sing a mashed up version of Jingle Bells and Frosty the Snowman, both of which he learned at school.)

God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen/We Three Kings - Barenaked Ladies with Sarah Mclachlan



Oh, wait, the kid really likes this one (actually we all do) which gets a lot of airplay on XPN during the kids' hour come the holidays.

The Christians and The Pagans - Dar Williams



***

Actually, we're mostly playing the same four CDs over and over-- two of which are L's, one which is mine, and the last is mine as well, but the kid has taken to calling it his CD, so we'll go with that. I hope the imeem playlist plays all the songs in their entirety and not cut them off. In any case, the songs are from the albums Christmas Grass (Various Artists); Go Tell It on the Mountain (Blind Boys of Alabama); Christmas Cheer (The Boxmasters); and A Very Special Christmas 3 (Various Artists).

Christmas Sampler 2008

****

Tomorrow we'll watch A Christmas Story or, rather, have it on in the background all day, if TNT plays it commercial free for 24 hours like the past couple of years. Although I suspect we will have to watch a couple of the kid's favorite scenes from the Christmas movies he is willing sit down and watch. The scenes he really likes best have music in them, and after having been asked to play them specifically every other days for the last six weeks, I hope he'll give us a break!

Hot Chocolate! - Tom Hanks (from the movie The Polar Express)



Baby It's Cold Outside - Zoey Deschanel and Will Ferrell (from the movie Elf)

Basement Treasures - Redux

Finally got the playlist for this uploaded, with a couple of slight changes as noted in the description: I do not have a digital version of the original Stamping Ground, that includes Moondog's quote in his own voice at the beginning, so I had to improvise. Also, my digital copy of Quite Rightly So will not upload for love or money, so I had to hack a live version I found online and upload that.

Otherwise, enjoy!


Basement Treasures

MSB BD

Since he lives with me, L. pretty much gets to hear or get CD mixes from me, and is exposed to pretty much most of what I listen to, frequently. So, for the last ten years, for his birthday, rather than getting a CD mix (which is what I used to do before) I 'give' him a song that I deem his, and which I won't use on a mix until the year is up. It's up to him to play it as often or not.

(This, by the way, is not an easy feat, since I tend to almost vomit new songs I discover--or old ones I rediscover--in my anxious desire to have him hear it. So, usually the song is something I find in the last couple of months leading up to his birthday. The split, also, for current songs (anything after 2000) versus anything noncurrent (er, before 2000, obviously) is 6-4, in favor of noncurrent.)

I also get him two or three CDs that I know he will like; i.e. artists, genres that are to his liking, and not always (but usually) mine. I'm pretty happy with this year's choices. (And, for the first time, they're digital downloads of the CDs. I know, welcome to the 21st century.)

***

Here is his single song for 2008:

Bruises - Chairlift



The selection below is from the three CDs I bought him: Live and Unplugged, by Jeff Daniels (yes, that Jeff Daniels. It's a pretty decent CD, although there a couple of songs that could be considered non PC, especially one by the big is beautiful supporters, so you've been warned); the new one from Matthew Sweet (he's sort of to L. what Elliott Smith is to me); and a reissue of an old one from Jimmy Buffet, when he still had more of a Nashville influence and less of a "jolly mon" one.


Youll Always Be Older Than Me

It's a mad, mad world

This will be short and sweet (well, relative to me).

I loved Madness from the first single I ever heard from them (and still the one I love best).

I totally thought Suggs was the cutest bad boy ever.

I definitely did my best to imitate their jerking moves and the Cheshire Cat like grin/grimace, as I listened to their songs. I practiced in front of the mirror, not caring that I was providing my sister with plenty of fodder to make fun of me for hours on end afterwards.

Here is a little playlist (top four favorites), followed by a few of their videos for songs not on the playlist (love the little intros they'd do; check out their other ones for the songs on the playlist), and finally the original version of one of their biggest hits, which is just lovely.



Driving In My Car - Madness
(Check out the cameo by Fun Boy Three!)



Our House - Madness



House Of Fun - Madness



It Must Be Love - Labi Siffre (the original)
(Labi Siffre has a cameo on the the Madness video for the cover

Give us a break indeed

I admit, I am superstitious. Come on, you canNOT be from the middle east and not be; after all, we perfected the concept of the evil eye. And, of course, there's the whole idea of signs. Signs, signs, everywhere signs.

(Don't worry, I am not about to break out that song.)

On a whim, I went looking for the CD we made for our wedding, because I wanted to upload a traditional Persian song--specifically, one from Shiraz--up to imeem for a possible future post. It hasn't escaped my attention that for all my talk about music, I've yet to say anything about the vast and varied choices from my own culture. However, that was not meant to be, at least not for tonight.

What I ended up finding was my (so I thought) long lost Limpopo CD, Give Us a Break, which I had purchased 13 years ago in that wonderful little CD store I'd mentioned in a post a while back, back in West Hartford. I admit, I didn't look too hard for it, or rather too long, when I misplaced it, because the CD seems to have a had charmed life of its own, ever since I bought it, getting lost at times when things were not going well (my denial of entry back to the US after I got my H1-B approval, but needed to exit and get a reentry visa for a new I-94, which had me in limbo in the UK for 12 days) and then turning up when I least expected it, usually before something good happened (deciding to go on an overseas trip with L. later that year, anyway, with a to hell with it attitude about reentry, and then getting a multiple entry visa, which was unheard of with an H1-B, back in the day. As an aside, he offered to get married before we left on the trip--and this is before we were officially dating. Hah.)

I am going to listen to this entire CD tonight, now that I finally can hear all the songs again after so long, and I am totally taking it as a sign that something good finally this way comes.

Oh, fine, the whole CD is now available for download on Amazon...which it wasn't six months ago, by the way. I know, I checked. Still, the magic isn't in having the songs available whenever; it's having them turn up when I need them. Well, I'll be nice and have two or three available for your listening pleasure; you can buy the rest yourself. Warning: some of the songs on the CD, and especially these selections, may cause you to dance a bit like a dervish. (Or is that just me? Seriously, this is awesome twirling music.)

BFF BD

V.'s been my best friend longer than anyone else. He and I have been through a lot together and have seen each other at our very best and our very worst. Apart from my immediate family (L., parents, my sister), he is the only other person that I would trust to have my best interest at heart, with no ulterior motive, and because of that, he is the only--and I mean the only--other person other, than said immediate family (including the kid and K., of course) that I love. Given my almost feudal tendencies when it comes to love and people, that's saying a helluva lot.

I suppose, given the law of probabilities, not to mention the twists and turns of life and etc. , it is quite possible that we will not be best friends until the end of days. I don't think, if that were to come to pass, that I would ever have another best friend like him, even if I did go on to have others.

Playlist - All About Me edition: part one

My father is right. I would do well to stay away from political debates, because I get too emotionally involved and feel personally responsible for addressing every fallacy I know of for a fact. Every year that passes, I understand more and more why he was so adamant about getting me out at all costs...it probably had as much to do with his own peace of mind as it did for mine. Poor guy. What a nightmare it must've been, watching me grow up in that environment, always waiting for the shoe to drop. Heh.

(I have to say, though, nothing can work out my pent up anger and aggression, though, like a decent, or even half decent debate. Redirection is very easy to do when engaged in political debate mode.)

***

So, since personal and social issues have had me pretty much wound up tighter than, err, the tightest spring coil (it's the end of a long day; give me a break on the metaphors), I've been holding on to my train of thoughts as best as I can, to stop from explosively snapping, and so have been running various permutations of different playlists through my head, as a calming measure so to speak. Figured with all the introspective deliberations going on in my head (HAH! As if there has been any other kind, really!), I'd think about what a playlist that's "just me" would look like. Say, for example, if I were standing in a street corner and handing out a mixed CD to endorse me, versus a pamphlet or reading from a canned speech.

So here it is. I figured initially I'd go with 15-18 songs, roughly about what fits on a commercial CD to a homemade one, and see where it takes me. Then I bumped it up to 21 songs, because I've been able to get that many on a CD. Then I figured, well, as long as this is about me, why not go for 36 to match my age? It is a playlist, after all. As I started doing that many, though, it got unwieldy, so it was back to original 15-18.

So I thought the next logical step was to break it up into a few, simple (very few, lest I get carried away, again) themed playlists. I started to get hung up on themes, though, as well (I am the queen of tangential thought, after all), so I decided to get started at least on the simplest and most obvious theme of all: L'amour.

Of course, like any good mix CD/playlist, careful thought was given to the order of songs--never underestimate delivery no matter how interesting the substance.

Update the final: This is it, this is the list, I am not touching again, or rearranging. Now to see if I can upload everything to imeem sometime this year to make it available there.
1- Nothing Compares 2 U - Me First and the Gimme Gimmes
This song (a) immediately draws attention to the fact that I love covers (b)starts off the mix with exactly the right tempo and message (c) is my favorite of all the MFatGG covers--despite them all sounding the same after a while, this still stands out.

2- Funky Ceili - Black 47
You try and stay sad when this plays, I dare you.

3- Hey Julie - Fountains of Wayne
FoW songs lend themselves well to this theme, and this one seemed appropriate as a follow-up to the previous one, especially with the personalization using the name of the object of affection and all.

4- Waltz #2 - Elliott Smith
Yes, it's possibly his best known song, outside of Miss Misery, and potentially predictable, yes? Well, I'm going with a live version, for one thing and for another, his songs can never be predictable.

5- Untouchable Face - Ani DiFranco
Seriously, this is possibly the best breakup song ever.

6- Helena - My Chemical Romance
And people say nothing good ever comes out of New Jersey.

7- Good - Better Than Ezra
I had to debate over this and one from Gin Blossoms, which would have fitted just as well...ultimately went with this one for this lineup.

8- It's Not About Love - Fiona Apple
Watch the video for this. It will give you an even deeper appreciation for the brilliance of the song.

9- Stay - Oingo Boingo
When people start mocking the 80s, just point them over here.

10- Swing of Things - a-ha

Okay, okay, so I cheated and added one more. Consider this the Easter egg. I couldn't very well talk about the 80s and just overlook Morton, could I now?

11- She's Electric - Oasis
I don't care if half the world thinks they're Beatles knockoffs. Nor am I so far gone as to think they are the second coming. Just do as I do and enjoy them for what they are.

12- Dyslexic Heart - Paul Westerberg
Cute. Very cute. For the record, I greatly preferred 'Singles' to 'Reality Bites'.

13- Ruby Soho - Rancid
Brilliant. I think they may have had a hit with this when it first came out, but I'm not sure; I got their CD years ago based on a recommendation from a lovely little independent CD store in West Hartford that unfortunately had to close down after about a year and half.

14 - Chelsea Dagger - The Fratellis
How do I love this group? Let me count the number of times they appear on any list I make...

15 - Killerqueen - Queen

I have a rule about mixes that I'm trying to extend to playlists: must include one Queen song.

16- Quite Rightly So - Procol Harum

See notes on Basement Treasures

17- Wait Up For Me - Waltons

I have no idea where to find this song; the only copy I have--or had, since I suspect the kid has tossed it behind the piano and/or entertainment center) was on a huH magazine CD compilation.

18- Just A Moment of Weakness - Bif Naked

You bet I wanted to be Bif Naked in an alternate life.

19- Song For The Dumped - Ben Folds Five
I'm debating whether I mean for this to be the commercial (studio) version or the very excellent, live bootleg version with 'lost verse' that I have, which is different than all the other versions I know of for the song. I guess the former, since tempo wise it fits better.

20- I Will - The Beatles

A great song from an ever greater album.

21- Ugly On The Outside - The Judybats
This is one of my favorite songs to come out of my college years, and I have my friend J. to thank for it. We ended up using so many of the little phrases in the song as shorthand when talking about--what else?--love; for example, [s/he doesn't] even like the way I sing became synonymous with indicating reciprocity by an object of our affection.

Bonus Track (Hidden) I Will Be Hating You For Christmas- Everclear
Taking a song that perfectly ended their own album to end this one just as perfectly.

Playlist - Sleeping Beauty edition

As part of a some minor retail therapy yesterday, which included three long sleeved T-shirts from the [as usual] boys' department (thankfully, despite my horrible diet combined with almost complete lack of running these past few months, and thus subsequent weight gain, I can still shop there. The patterns and colors there are always far more to my liking than either juniors or regular female department), as well as replacement earbuds suitable for running (see: lack of running mentioned before and my serious desire to get back on track, so to speak), and a copy of the soundtrack to Nick and Norah's Infinite Playlist. I'd been sampling the songs on amazon (and youtube, of course) and had already purchased the Vampire Weekend song, but I really wanted the CD because I wanted to listen to the whole thing end to end and also because--and this is all in my head, I admit--I still think music sounds better played off CD (and in turn, best off an LP) than through a digital file. Maybe because I tend to listen to digital music only on an MP3 player or my laptop, via ear buds, but I tend to listen to actual CDs in the car and/or in the house and I get a more visceral surround sound experience.

(Actually, as much I already had fallen in love with the Vampire Weekend song, I got a whole new level of enjoyment out of it listening to song on the CD and it very much led to my indulging in a little known and spectacularly geeky hobby of mine after what seems like ages, but that's a post for later in the week, I hope).

Of course, now the idea of playlists is even more prevalent in my head than usual, since I am quite often concocting lists for potential mix CDs, either for specific activities or for no good reason other than maybe a decent theme that's occurred to me, in my head anyway.

***

The most often played list I have going for me is the one I listen to last thing as night, when I finally decide I possibly tired enough that I may actually be able to fall asleep. It's officially titled Mission: Insomnia and unofficially referred to as my 2008 Sucks (and that's why I can't sleep) playlist, as I mentioned before. About half the songs are old favorites, many of which have been used on mixes previously, but the rest are new (to me) sings which are, in a way, proving their longevity through their list, as I do update and cull and add to the list with fair regularity.

Here is the list as it stands tonight. Bolded sings are the new to me ones (as in new in the last 6 months).

1- Between the Bar (cover) - Scott Matthews/Holly Miranda
The song is definitely not new but this cover is. It's a bootleg one done by Scott Matthews (the Australian singer, not the British one) and Holly Miranda (of The Jealous Girlfriends and the lesser known Raven Mayhem). I really do not like Elliott Smith covers and this one is not what I would call great, but...something about it, mostly the chorus, is compelling enough that I haven't kicked it off the playlist. It does make me giggle a little inside, because Holly is a bit Elmer Fuddish with her "Rs", which is very obvious in a couple of lines, and Scott can be overly dramatic. Still, it stays.

2- Ghosts - Laura Mayerling
Obviously a new one. I hope she releases an official acoustic version that I can buy, because I do prefer that to the official version.

3- Hallelujah (cover) - Jeff Buckley
As a cover, this is definitely superior to Rufus Wainwright's or John Cale's. I'm sorry to say, though, that the total overplay of the song/various covers, in the last few years, had me completely saturated on it and I added it as an experiment to see if I could stand it being in a regular playlist. Given than I hit skip pretty much every time it comes up for play, I think the answer is no and I'm fairly sure this is not going to be around for much longer.

4- Needle in the Hay - Elliott Smith
I'd somehow forgotten about this much loved song of his until I remembered it for a recent POW selection. I've got the commercial version on the playlist, but I have at least three different live bootleg versions(although I am not sure exactly where two are) that are probably better, as are all live versions of his songs.

5- Sink to the Bottom - Fountains of Wayne
This is the very first FoW song I ever heard and it is still one my very favorites of theirs. I also will unashamedly admit that I heard it when they appeared on The Jenny McCarthy show on MTV, as her musical guests one episode. (As an aside, that show and Aeon Flux were the two shows I remember watching regularly on TV when I was in CT, along with Murder One. It's one of the things that kept me from drinking myself into oblivion on weeknights in that godforsaken, boring state)

6- Disarm (cover) Aimee Miriello
I'd been looking forward to her album, after I'd heard this. Unfortunately, it fell short of my expectation. Nevertheless, this is still one cover I like and intend to keep around for a while.

7- Ottoman - Vampire Weekend
I've already talked about this and I have more to say at length, in an upcoming post, so watch this space.

8- Invisible City - The Wallflowers
While I fully admit I succumbed to the Jakob Dylan/The Wallflowers' madness that engulfed a good number of people and bought their CD in very early '97, I also have to mention that I had, in fact, seen him and his band when they were touring with Toad the Wet Sprocket, and had kept an eye out for their next CD (their first one had already been released). I like this and Josephine best off the Bringing Down the House CD, and so does, incidentally, the kid! Jakob Dylan, by the way, had a solo CD out beginning of summer and I haven't had a chance to listen to it, other than a couple of tracks, but it even on the basis of those two songs, it shows promise.
Or maybe I am doomed to only like two songs off any album he puts out!

9- I'll Say I'm Sorry Now - Shawn Colvin
Here's another song that I came across watching a TV show at a particularly tiring (although NOT boring) point in my life. I had 12 weeks postpartum leave and it so happened that the kid's sleep pattern meant he would be conked out for sure from about 1PM-3PM each day...which coincided with nothing decent on TV except a show called Judging Amy. I ended up watching almost the entire series during those 12 weeks (it just so happened I started watching when they were about halfway through Season 1 and what with two episodes a day, five days a week I, it worked out well. I ended up taping the first 10 or 12 episodes I'd missed once they circled back when I went back to work.) I actually ended up rather liking the series, mostly because of Tyne Daly, whom I used to watch with my mom in Cagney and Lacey, and while the title character was infernally unlikable, the rest of the cast made up for it. (Not to mention the delightful eye candy that is Richard T. Jones.)

10- Elliott Smith - Angeles
The thing that always amazes me about his songs is that I could have listened to them thousands of times (and I probably have), but they never, ever sound stale. Genius.

11- Golden Brown - The Stranglers
As you can see, my love for this song has lasted over a quarter of a century. I think, if pressed to name the song that I'm likely to be another quarter century from now, it's this.

12- Fools in Love - Inara George
And yet another song that cam to me courtesy of a TV show (and, coincidentally, one that I started watching when the kid was born. Huh.) This was from when Grey's Anatomy was a ridiculously fun soap opera and not just ridiculous (i.e. Season Two) and had some amazing music and a music editor who was obviously delighted to highlight these often unknown artists. I used to check out his music blog for the show, where you could feel his enthusiasm for why he picked a particular song or band jump of the page at you, quite regularly, at least up to the point when I stopped watching the show (somewhere in the first two to three weeks of the third season, I think.) I just checked and it looks like the blog died around the same time I stopped watching and they just do a list of the songs and link to itunes, which is rather disappointing. Like the show is, now. (Although a couple of friends are urging me to give it another go this season.)

Okay, I am going to hit publish on this, but I know there are a couple more I am missing--so I'll be back.

Update: Note to self--please use spellcheck. Also, playlist is available; see below: