The Most-Represented Bands on My iPod

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Yes, I still have my 3rd generation iPod nano. It has a name (iPooh) and it turned ten years old on my birthday this year. I got it in seventh grade. It’s a wee silver iPod nano and I still update it regularly with whatever music I’m listening to the most. Because it’s small, portable, and has remarkable battery powder. And I’m fond of it.

Thankfully I do do iPod culls. Because I do not still listen to the music I listened to in seventh grade (I don’t even want to think about it). There are only about 400 or 500 (or maybe 600) songs on it.

And some bands are much better represented than others. The fact that I keep it full of my most-listened to means that the majority of bands and musicians are represented only once or twice. The following are the most notable exceptions, with five or more tracks, each.

  • Creedence Clearwater Revival, 5
  • Edith Piaf, 5
  • Fleetwood Mac, 5
  • Glass Animals, 5: The problem here is all of the songs sound the same, so does this count as five songs or one? I’m not sure really.
  • Nouvelle Vague, 5
  • Daddy Yankee, 6: The sound of home, for me. I grew up to Gasolina. Whatever that says about my life.
  • Lana del Rey, 6
  • Sia, 6
  • The Beatles, 7
  • David Bowie, 8
  • Simon & Garfunkel, 11
  • The Rolling Stones, 12

Perhaps I’ll do a future post on my most-listened to songs. The problem is that I have a kind of OCD tendency to reset the number of listens. So it might take a little while.

Best!

Playlist: Rocking Out (A Little)

The life of a superstar is all fast cars, drugs and rock and roll, right?
Well, if I were a superstar and could take my pick, it would probably be something more like fast horses, sparkling water… and still rock and roll.

Because rock and roll is pretty great, and probably my preferred genre at the moment. It makes you feel free and like getting up and dancing or just doing anything you feel. Which is a pretty appropriate soundtrack for the curtains closing on summer.

Speaking of rock and roll, the 40th anniversary of Elvis’s death was yesterday, so I was thinking about doing a playlist post for Elvis- but there is one fairly insurmountable stumbling block.

I only listen to Can’t Help Falling in Love. Very short playlist. Continue reading “Playlist: Rocking Out (A Little)”

Playlist: Long Sultry Summer

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The first of my anemone flowers started blooming yesterday, which means summer is drawing to a close. Or more accurately, that the end of summer is drawing to a beginning.

Summer isn’t really saying goodbye until the asters and goldenrod are in full swing.

My plane tickets have been bought- my ticket, really, because as of yet there is no return trip.  A one way trip to Charles de Gaulle.

And I may have watched the last film that I will watch that takes place in my city- the last one before I go. It was Gone Baby Gone.  I love it when films make detours to my hometown to find unsavory people, murder victims, and other desperate characters. My favorite movie trope.
And I’ve decided that Jared Leto and Casey Affleck share a category in my head- creepy and lanky white boy actors who seem to take themselves too artistically seriously and who I don’t want to meet.  Much as I admire Jared Leto’s ability to wear way too much Gucci at once. And much as I admire Casey Affleck’s… nothing really, never mind. Continue reading “Playlist: Long Sultry Summer”

French Covers of English Language Songs

In honor of the French election (cringe), I decided to create a list of French covers of English language songs.  Now, if the French election (another cringe) is the reason I’m scheduling this particular post for this particular day, there is a more general reason that explains why so much French music has been kicking around in my head.
Simple: spring. Warm weather and the promise of summer is always the season when I bust out the sixties French music, the ye ye songs, the music of Francoise Hardy, Sylvie Vartan, and France Gall.
And then I stumbled on a few amazing cover songs, and so this list was born.
(And aside on politics before we get into the clean fun of music: the rising tide of problematic anti-immigrant right-wing nationalism is frightening. There, I’m done. I refer you to John Oliver).

Ahem, what was that? Ah yes, music! Continue reading “French Covers of English Language Songs”