Day 16: One of your favorite classical songs
Aaron Copland- Hoedown (from Rodeo)
Full disclosure: I'm not a fan of classical music. I just can't get into it, so when this question came up, I had to think for a while. Then I remembered as a kid I liked the BEEF: IT'S WHATS FOR DINNER! commercials and so I looked it up. I wish I had more of a reason, but that commercial was really good, and I didn't want to spend a lot of time thinking of another song.
BONUS VIDEO!
It's not a commercial I remember and it doesn't have Sam Elliott doing the voice over, but it still brings back some good memories.
Okay, let's move on.
Day 17: A song that you would sing a duet with on karaoke
Aqua- Barbie Girl
Since I already used LFO's Summer Girls, this would be my backup. As shameful as it might be to say this, I can do the vocals for both Lene and the bald headed dude (I'm a fan of them, but its sad enough I know Lene's name don't make me look his name up!). Well, I guess their names are shown on the video, but still. As for the song, its a bit odd. For months I heard other classmates talk about this song, and I never heard it. For some reason I never heard it on the radio. Finally as the popularity of the song died down I finally heard it and got the cassette. I think I got the single, but eventually got the album too. At the time I didn't have a portable CD player, but still a cassette player and besides this song, whenever I would go on school trips I would listen to this and "Peaches" by The United States of America, which I guess I should have picked instead, but oh well. Maybe I'll do this again in a few months and pick different songs. The reason I liked Barbie Girl was because I was really getting into comedy and parody music at the time and enjoyed listening to Dr. Demento as much as I could and felt this would fit right in. I don't think he ever played it, but he should have. A lot of people scoff at Aqua, but that album was pretty good I thought. I still listen to some tracks from it today, including My Oh My, Candyman, and Be A Man. If you never gave it a serious listen, try it some time, I'm sure most of them are on Youtube.
While you are there you can catch an odd remake of this song. German rock band Rammstein decided to cover this song (in German no less), and it is very well worth the listen. I'm not sure how I stumbled upon it, but I usually listen to it once a year if not more. I like many more of their songs too, but this one just makes me laugh.
Day 18: A song from the year you were born
The J. Geils Band- Centerfold
I made this list shortly before I started posting them on here, but after I started posting these, news came out that John Geils, passed away. I was saddened to hear about this, but it had no affect on me choosing this song. What I never knew though is that he wasn't actually the lead singer of the band, he was the guitarist I think. It's still sad though.
So I had plenty of songs to choose from in 1982, why did I choose this song? Well, it was the #1 song the day I was born. In fact it spent 3 weeks at the top of the chart, and was one of the top songs of the year. I recently found a Casey Kasem countdown and listened to it and it actually had tough competition. I've always liked the song, and while I slightly like Freeze Frame better, this one is still a classic.
Day 19: A song that makes you think about life
Big Tent Revival- Choose Life
Maybe I was being too literal when I chose this song since it has Life in the title, but it played a big part of my 20's and it makes me reflect sometimes. I can't remember for sure the first time I heard this but I think it was a church group having a bonfire, and a pastor played this song. I immediately loved it, and unlike a lot of other Christian songs, it had a meaning to me. It was more or less a background anthem for many years to come, and some of my happiest years. Though as I stopped going to church as often (then sadly at all), this song kind of faded away. I think a lot about those times and consider going back to my old church, but I tell myself if I want to go back for the right reasons. Do I want to go back to get closer to God, or do I want to try to recreate those memories that I had with my friends? Until I can definitively answer that, I don't want to commit. Sure I should go back and maybe it can be both, but if I'm going for the wrong reason, it will be a waste of time to everyone, at least the way I see it.
It was amazing I thought of this song so quickly though, as I probably haven't heard in for 5 years and while listening to it again did bring back memories, the song still resonates with me and even if you aren't Christian or even religious, I think it has a good beat. I listened to a lot of Christian music in the 2000's as I once gathered Christian music news stories for a website, and this is easily one of the first ones I remember having some sort of affect on me, much more than just singing along to the words. Maybe its time I listen to this song more often.
Day 20: A song that has many meaning to you
Neil Young- Old Man
Neil Young? Am I really listening to Neil Young? The answer is yes, in the last few years I've become a big fan of his music, and this is one of my favorites. While I don't consider myself an old man just yet, I do consider myself to be in a transition between being an young man, and an old man. I look back and some days I think I haven't accomplished anything, but other days I reflect at all the stuff I have accomplished and think its a lifetime of memories. Then I think about the future and what I have to offer, and think of regrets and things I've done I wish I would change. Other days I don't wish to change a thing. Then I listen to this and think about being lonely and its really sad. Its hard to imagine a song can elicit so many emotions and feelings, but that's what I love about music. Hearing a song one day has no effect on you, and another day it will tear you apart or make you smile. I never thought at age 35 I would be talking about how much I enjoy Neil Young songs. Maybe that does make me an old man, but if it does, oh well. I'll gladly be called old, I've learned to accept it.
So that wraps up this edition of the music challenge, I admit I was all over the map today, and touched on a few things I may have never openly admitted to people before, but it feels good to. The best thing about this challenge and doing it in blog format is being able to discuss the reason I chose these songs, and help you understand my diversity in music. How many people do you know would have a playlist that included Barbie Girl and Neil Young? If I tweeted these with no background you'd think I'm bonkers, but with a little bit of writing, I think you might understand my reasoning for selecting these songs. The next batch is almost as diverse, and ranges to rap, to Christian, to southern rock, to alt country (or something similar). It will be fun writing that one, but for now I will leave you in suspense. Thanks for reading and have a great day!
Ha, good picks. I've got "Barbie Girl" and plenty of Neil Young in my iTunes, for what it's worth. "Centerfold" too.
ReplyDeletePeter Wolf was the lead singer of J. Geils Band. Band comes from my neck of the woods. "Centerfold" has the world record for the word "na" appearing the most times in a song. The way to tell you are old is when you go out places and people start referring to you as "sir".
ReplyDeleteMarc- I didn't know about the world record for Centerfold, that's cool and a bit surprising it still holds it since that seems like every rap song I hear on the radio. As for being old, I had a punk teenager say I was old when I was 23, so there's that. Plus the fact that I just called him a punk teenager doesn't help either.
ReplyDeleteGavin- From your music posts in the past, I think we probably have a lot of music in common.