Mandy's Music Challenge

Mandy posted this list "challenge" on her blog, and considering how much free time I have these days, and how long it's been since I posted anything, I'll attempt to fulfill it. (I'll also put in a disclaimer that "favorite" is a very strong word.) (Disclaimer 2: I haven't paid much attention to music in the past couple of years, and have become scarily un-hip; not that I was incredibly hip before....)


* What's a great late night song? The entire Walkie-Talkie album by Air.

* Name 5-10 wistful/bittersweet songs: I May Hate Myself in the Morning (But I'm Gonna Love You Tonight)/Lee Anne Womack
The Dance/Garth Brooks,
Angel of the Morning/Juice Newton,
Late Night Maudlin Street/Morrissey,
Hey That's no Way to say Goodbye/Leonard Cohen,
Mammoth Cave/Holopaw,
Moon River/Henry Mancini,
Everytime/Britney Spears (shut up, it's a really sad song!),
Jonathan David/Belle & Sebastian,
Doll Parts/Hole,
One More Hour/Sleater Kinney (is that 11 songs?)

* The 4 Best Songs Ever Written: Yeah right.

* 3 Current Favorite Songs: The Adventure/Angels & Airwaves, Samson/Regina Spektor, Move Along/All-American Rejects

* Classic Early Evening Drinking Music: Goodbye Yellow Brick Road/Elton John (any of that old Elton John stuff)

* 3 All Time Faves That Never Get Old To You: Billie Jean/Michael Jackson, Happy Together/The Turtles, Can't Take My Eyes off of You/Frankie Valli

* Song You Want (or did) To Play At Your Wedding: Let it Be Me/Willie Nelson

* 4 Records You Really Dug from 2005: Extraordinary Machine/Fiona Apple, Plans/Death Cab for Cutie, There's More Where That Came From/Lee Ann Womack, Confessions on a Dancefloor/Madonna

* Favorite Records From This Year So Far: Dixie Chicks, Regina Spektor, Angels & Airwaves

* Good Angry Songs: Violet/Hole, I'm Waking Up to Us/Belle & Sebastian, Anything by Kelly Clarkson, the entirety of the Dear You record by Jawbreaker

* One of Your Favorite Lyrics: Time provides the rope/But love will tie the slipknot/And I will be the chair you kick away.

* 5 Cover Songs Arguably Better Than the Original: It's My Life/No Doubt, Hazy Shade of Winter/The Bangles, The Bluest Eyes in Texas/Nina Persson, Hurt/Johnny Cash

* Great Dance Song You Maybe Never Realized Was a Great Dance Song Back in the Day:

* Good Albums To Workout To: pop-punk crap

* Good Album to Clean The House To: Easy/Kelly Willis

* Good Dining Music: Anything classical

* Good Album To Have Sex To: Depends what kind of sex you're having! I've been doing it with country music on lately. Mid-tempo stuff.

* A Good Album To Put You In the Mood (that is NOT Sade, Marvin Gaye or Barry White): Again, depends what kind of sex you wanna have.

* Good Album To Sleep To: The last 3 songs of Disintegration by the Cure.

* 5 Good Rock Songs That You Can Dance To: Since U Been Gone/Kelly C., Welcome to the Jungle/Guns 'N Roses, Roots Radical/Rancid,

* Song That Is Too Damn Sad: I See a Darkness/Bonnie Prince Billy

* Great Love Song: Amarillo by Morning/George Strait (It's a love song about life)

* An Album Full of Tenderness: New Skin for the Old Ceremony/Leonard Cohen

* Song To An Ex That Isn't Meanspirited: A Fire I Can't Put Out/George Strait

* Song To An Ex That Is Kinda Meanspirited: Fireman/Jawbreaker

Wow, I just realized both of those songs have to do with fire; that totally wasn't intentional.

* Song to Listen to While in The Country Looking at Stars: Slowdive is good for that. In a really generic way.

* Song to lose your Mind to:

* Song To Cry In Your Pillow to: Good Woman/Cat Power. Also, When You were Mine/Dixie Chicks.

* Songs That Make You Feel Amped and Inspired: Intravenous/Catherine Wheel

* Great Semi-Obscure B-side: You Never Wash up After Yourself/Radiohead, on the "My Iron Lung" E.P.

* Song That Makes You Miss Your Mom: Anything by Mozart

* That's Baby Makin' Music (No, Really): Gross. Why does "baby makin" sound so dirty? Milkshake/Kelis.

* Criminally Underrated Band That Didn't Get Attention and Then Broke Up:

* Best Fuck You I Am a Teenager in Pain Song: Head Like a Hole/Nine Inch Nails

* Feel No Shame: Great Current Pop Songs: Stars are Blind/Paris Hilton, SOS/Rihanna

* Album No One Would Expect You To Love: Anything I put here is probably going to make me look naive. But I'll say Stripped/Christina Aguilera.

* Album No One Would Expect You To Dislike: the last Sleater Kinney, which I didn't dislike, I just wasn't interested.

* Album No One Would Expect You To Really Know: Summerteeth/Wilco

* Emo Album You Actually Like: Anything by Jets to Brazil

* Good, But Overrated Cause Of Indie Revisionism: I have no idea what this means.

* 5 Desert Island Discs off the top of your head (30 sec clock): Disintegration/the Cure, Little Earthquakes/Tori Amos, The Singles 1992-2003/No Doubt, 50 Number 1's/George Strait, Different Class/Pulp

Hmmm.... that's kind of a lame list. but it was off the top of my head.

* 3 Contemporary Artists That Were Your Faves 10 Years Ago: Moby, Courtney Love, Pet Shop Boys

* Music That Makes You Feel Sophisticated: Shostakovich

* Fave Electronic Record You Own: Risotto/Fluke (I think this is the only electronic record I currently own, unless I'm misinterpreting what "electronic" means)

* Fave Hip-Hop Record You Own: Honest to God, I don't think I own a single hip-hop record.

* Hip-Hop Song You Know All the Lyrics Too: I don't know. Shoop?

* Random Album You Loved In High School But Are Afraid To Admit It: I'm not afraid to admit anything. I loved Body Mind Soul by Debbie Gibson. I thought it was sexy. and anything by My Life with the Thrill Kill Kult. I thought it freaked people out.

* Album You May Have Listened To More In Highschool than Any Other Album: Automatic for the People/REM. Or Little Earthquakes. That would be a toss-up.

* If You Could Enter A Wrestling Ring to a Song It Would Be: Bloodclot/Rancid

* Album To Clear A Room With: Speaking of Rancid, that Transplants record.

That's Just the Way it Changes, Like the Shoreline and the Sea

I'm sitting in my now empty apartment, with nothing but a small table and my computer and my stereo, blaring some Leonard Cohen. I love Mr. Cohen. I find his music incredibly depressing, and not in a good way. But still fantastic. During a certain relationship from which I extricated myself about a year ago, there was a lot of Mr. Cohen played when we were together. It was something we both deeply shared. I haven't been able to listen to him in almost a year. The combination of his inherent sadness, and the associations I now have with it, were a little too much. But I'm okay with it now. It's nice to have my friend back, though I'm still a little uneasy around him; still a little guarded.

I'm leaving in about 12 hours. I feel almost like I'm going to be leaving forever, like I'm moving away or something. I guess that's silly. I've been looking forward to it a lot, though with a lot of anxiety and trepidation. Last night, packing up my stuff, I was struck with an incredible sadness and feeling of displacement. I'm pretty thoroughly sick of Austin. I love it, and it's my home, truly, but I need to get out for a bit. I guess I was blindsided a bit by the desperation of this feeling last night. It's funny how when you leave someplace so familiar to you that you could drive its streets with your eyes closed (I don't recommend this, however), when you return, how it feels both the same, and completely alien to you at the same time. I'm already looking forward to returning and sort of wandering aimlessly around my new house, sort of lost, maybe, and not sure what to do with myself, but so grateful to be back and have that luxury again. I don't know if that makes any sense at all. It does to me. The idea of just "disappearing" has always been a little romantic to me as well. Having no one know where you are, just being "gone." of course, everyone knows where I am, but I can sort of fantasize about that.

I spent my hatred every place
On every work on every face
Someone gave me wishes
And I wished for an embrace