Saturday, June 7, 2008

Soundtracking...

Where have all the bloggers gone... (long time passing...) Seriously--you can tell the weather in the States is hot and bright these days because not many of us are inside on the computer! Okay, well, I was, but Nor-Cal has been like a hair-drying pollinator these last few weeks, and as a result I have a sore throat and a stuffed head and the urge to nod off at odd hours...and then wake up and announce my intentions to go do something ambitious like take a walk or wash the dishes, just to get up and do something!

Anyway I kept trying to write, and what I ended up doing was read what I had previously written, and...I'm pleased. I'm pleased. It'll probably suck, but for the moment, I'm all caught up in the 'yeah--it wasn't bad. I may not suck after all...' I'm still not focussed enough to really write--part of it is work. I was 25 questions away from finishing my Junior final when the computers went down on Friday, and I feel...suspended. Part of it is, I'm in the home stretch--and judging from my past behavior, I tend to stop, recap, and think carefully about what I've done before I move on to the last 100/150 or so pages, and that's what I'm doing now. I like what I've written--I want to keep it consistent.

Anyway, enough of that. Last week, when Mate and I got to go out to dinner and see two movies, we went to Macaroni Grill. The Grill has, as a feature, white paper table cloths, and they give out crayons when you walk in. Last week, Mate and I, in a moment of whimsy, wrote a list of songs we'd want played at our 20th wedding anniversary--which will be next year, actually. I was bemoaning the fact that we couldn't rip the table cloth off when Mate whipped out the camera phone and took a picture. Well, I highly doubted we'd be able to read the songs from the picture, but last week? Mate sent me the list. He claims not to be good at the grand romantic gesture, but I think this was a definite 'awwww' *sniff* moment. Anyway, it got me thinking. I tend to soundtrack my life--hence my attachment to my i-pod and it's 2251 songs--and every morning I play 'i-pod tarot' on the way to work. Some songs mean certain things to me. So I thought here, I'd give you certain events in my life, as they are soundtracked.

SONGS FOR CHILDREN
Big T--Jeremy Spoke--Pearl Jam (they were playing this fucking song nonstop the year he was born--and I must have had six Jeremy's in my first set of classes as a teacher. For those of you who know this song, you can see how it might have been a cautionary tale for how NOT to raise your kids.)
The Ice Cream Song--Sarah MacLoughlin (he loved this song as a kid)
Way out over the ocean--Henry Nillson
For Baby--John Denver

Chicken--The Ice Cream Song--Judy Collins
Watch Out for Mr. Stork--Sound track from Dumbo
Lord of the Dance--it's a Methodist hymn, the only thing I took away from church for the family

Cave Troll--I don't want to live on the moon--Ernie
Sunshine on my shoulder--John Denver
ABC/123 --Soundtrack from Stop the World, I Want to Get Off
Snuggly Puppy --Boyton

Ladybug--Sweet Dreams--Patsy Kline
Sunshine on my shoulder--John Denver
Personal Penguin--Boyton
ABC/123


SONGS TO GET ME PUMPED UP FOR SCHOOL
Acrobat--U2
Jeremy--Pearl Jam
No Way Out--Tesla
Night--Bruce Springsteen
At the end of the day--Les Mis
End of the world--R.E.M.
Get in the ring--Guns & Roses
Don't you forget about me--Simple Minds
Dear Prudence--any version
Numb--Linkin Park
High school never ends--Bowling for Soup
Cellblock Tango--Chicago Soundtrack

SONGS FOR BOOKS
For my books, I usually had around six songs running around my head per book. Of course, as soon as the book goes to press, I forget most of them. These are the ones I can remember. When I hear a book song on my i-pod or the radio, I take it as a direct sign from the Goddess that I shouldn't quit writing. Ever.

VULNERABLE
Sweet Child of Mine--either version
Worlds Apart--Bruce Springsteen
One Headlight--Wallflowers

WOUNDED
Clocks--Coldplay
Welcome Home--Til Tuesday
Christmas Day--Dido
Crash--Dave Matthews Band
City by the Bay--Journey

BOUND
Afterglow--INXS
Lifetimes--Sheryl Crowe
Greatest Mistake--Sheryl Crowe
The Fuse--Bruce Springsteen
Secret Garden--Bruce Springsteen
Elope with me miss private... (I forget the artist--but it's on the Juno Soundtrack)

Bitter Moon I & II
Kingdom Come--Coldplay
Hide Your Love Away--Beatles
Tuesday Morning--Melissa Etheridge
Beatles on Buegrass--it's a cd my administrator put out--it's really awesome
Last to Die--Bruce Springsteen
Hands Held High--Linkin Park
Fall of Rain--Les Miserable
The Highwayman--Loreena McKennit
The Mummer's Dance--Loreena McKennit
I Will Follow You Into the Dark--Death Cab For Cutie


Okay--that was fun!! But, seriously--does everybody remember that line from 'Working Girl'? "You want another answer, ask another girl?" Doing these things is sort of like that only different:

"You want another list? Ask another day!"

But for today, I like the look of this...so, my blog question for interactive blogging: in the comments, if you can, give me a soundtrack for something--knitting, kids, traveling--whatever! I'd love to see them!!!

Ciou!

8 comments:

  1. I used to play the Stars and Stripes Forever in my head when I needed to weave fast. And I would sing long folksongs to myself during the tedious process of tieing on a new warp. Then I discovered Books on Tape, and music went by the wayside.

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  2. Husband's favorite soundtrack?
    JoVannes - the one with the whales
    Sondheim musicals
    Any Mandy Pantenkin
    Mine?
    Reading/knitting - Bach
    silly time - Mozart
    Reading - Lorenna MacKennit
    Background - Anything by Ed Ames
    Why, yes, I am older than you. What makes you ask?
    (PS I have played the Boynton on the piano but haven't gotten around to putting in the disc.)

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  3. Music for my girls?
    Elanor
    Total eclipse of the heart (playing when PK was driving home from the hospital and he always called her Bright Eyes)
    Tangled Up Puppet -Harry Chapin
    Emily
    Bridge over Troubled Water
    Bad Reputation-Joan Jett
    Katie
    Pick Me Up-Trout Fishing in America
    Irish Love Lilt (although that one fits all three girls because I sang it to them when they were infants)

    My song for my husband?
    Peter Paul and Mary's Like the First Time

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  4. While I was studying for my finals I had a major case of test anxiety and flunked a couple of tests, then resat them a week later. While I was studying, I listened to the same CDs over and over and over again, until it got to the point of I'd associate certain portions of study to certain artists / CDs.

    A few examples were the Rocky Horror soundtrack, anything by Beethoven and a cool Belgian band called Vaya Con Dios.

    At our wedding we had some great music played. It was a church wedding but it was in Iceland, so very relaxed and the vicar only requested one hymn to be played. This proved to be difficult as Church of England and the Church of Iceland don't really have any music in common.

    So what we ended up with was a brilliant saxophonist (it wasn't Kenny G like at all) and an organist playing a capella versions of: Hallelujah by Leonard Cohen (Jeff Buckley arrangement, LC lyrics as they are slightly less maudlin), Into My Arms by Nick Cave and the hymn was Amazing Grace.

    At the end of each song I caught my mothers eye and we were both thinking the same thing - it's a pity one shouldn't applaud in church! It was supercalifragilisticexpialidocius!

    So those are the songs I associate with other half. And David Gray 'This Years Love'

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  5. Working on it... my present to myself this year was an ipod, which I got on Saturday so I've been busy playing!

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  6. oh some great songs there! Love the list!

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  7. I don't really go for singles, it's more albums, but there are a few that go through my head on a regular basis.
    (bearing in mind I've had no portable music device for about 6 years so most of these are just in my head)

    On my walk to work: Working 9 - 5 by Dolly Parton. (I'm not a huge fan of hers, but I loved the film this came from and I loved this track too...), These boots are made for walking, don't know who by

    I remember my brief A level college career when I hear Sweet Child by Guns n Roses... or the Eurythmics, and pretty much anything by Rush.

    My early twenties were mostly radio days...

    then it was Garbage (all the albums), Republica by Republica... and Steeleye Span and GnR Lose your Illusions both volumes...

    Steeleye Span and GnR go together remarkably well!

    And then my walkman died and it was mostly a radio or television household... until Saturday when I got myself an ipod (still playing with it though).... And I know I've forgotten many many albums above....

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  8. Ack, how could I forget. I'm English an dover 30, therefore I am a fan of Pink Floyd. Childhood and early teens, and twenties, and now....

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