Ring Of Fire

It's been a while since Laura has serenaded the blogosphere. Luckily for each of you, I caught her on video last night singing along with one of her favorite songs. I'm not very good at filming her all stealth-like, and she figured out pretty quickly what I was doing. So be sure to imagine her belting it out much more enthusiastically than she is here, since she felt "shy" once I started filming. Without further ado, Laura chaneling Johnny Cash.

Laura, Music Connoisseur

The Army Man was very sweet and recently bought me an iPod adapter for my new car, which means I can once again listen to my iPod while I drive. The only downside to this is that Laura, being the modern child she is, knows all about the iPod and the fact that I can deliver certain songs on demand. She doesn't have to wait for the entire tape (what's that Mommy?) to loop back around like I did as a child. She doesn't have to fumble with multiple CDs if she wants to jump directly from Tears For Fears to Gloria Estefan (yes, those were my first 2 CDs, thank you very much).

So on the way to school this morning, as Laura called out the songs, I realized not only does she know what an iPod is, but she also has surprising taste in music. I know kids her age are limited to what their parents listen to, but I feel I listen to a pretty good variety of music, so she has a lot to pick from. So I present to you, Laura's favorite songs of the moment. These are required listening basically every day:

Ring of Fire by Johnny Cash
Single Ladies (Put A Ring On It) by Beyonce
Snow (Hey Oh) by Red Hot Chili Peppers

She particularly loves Single Ladies and gets quite jazzed up when it comes on, singing along to the beginning part. I can see her, one day telling an unlucky ex-boyfriend, "If you liked it, you should have put a ring on it". I have to admit, I kind of like that idea.

I know I'm not the only one with a child who enjoys grown up songs. What surprising songs do your kids like?

She & Him

As promised on Saturday, I will now tell you all about She & Him.

Did you see the movie Elf? Remember the gorgeous young lady in the movie, the one singing “Baby It’s Cold Outside”? Did you say to yourself, “Dang, that girl can sing and I would pay good money to listen to her do so”?

Well if you did, then you got your wish with She & Him. Zooey Deschanel paired with M. Ward to create She & Him, and released their debut album (Volume One) in 2008. I can’t really describe their style-iTunes lists them as alternative. Their songs are beautiful, moving, and sometimes goofy. They even feature their remakes of “Swing Low Sweet Chariot” and “You Really Got A Hold On Me” on their album. Zooey’s voice is beyond beautiful and I am particularly in love with “Sentimental Heart”-sad yet lovely.

Their website describes their approach to music thusly: a boy and girl choir hell-bent making music the old-fashioned way: by hand - and with as few machines as humanly possible. I’d say that sounds about right. Give them a listen; you won’t regret it. My two favorites are Sentimental Heart and Sweet Darlin’. And I have to thank Kim for nudging me in their direction.

I was going to include a little player with some of their songs, but it drives me crazy that it starts playing the second you come to my blog. Instead I will just provide you with a link to a site where you can listen for free, should you so choose!

Click here to listen.

Claire and Her iPod: A List

Okay, so I’m a pathetic copycat. I was reading one of my favorite blogs yesterday and she was playing a really cute little game that I am going to do too. But don’t worry, I’ll give provide a link to her blog, so you can all go read her blog instead of mine, since she is just so witty. You’ll probably see me mention her from time to time, since I have nothing better to do that read her blog and copy her ideas. But my copycatting is beside the point. On to the game!

The object of the game is to turn on your iPod (or iTunes on your computer), put it on random, and list the first 5 songs that come on. Then you explain (or defend) why on earth those particular songs are even on your iPod, and if you ever dare to subject your ears to them. I have to say that I’m very nervous. What if one of the Army Man’s weird songs come on, and I write about it and say that it’s his, I swear, please don’t judge me, but nobody believes me? I’ll be an outcast forever. More likely though, is that the embarrassing music will be mine and I will have no defense.

Here we go!

1. Mama Can’t Buy You Love by Elton John. Phew, we’re off to a good start. We all know how much I love Elton John. This isn’t my favorite of his songs, but it’s certainly not his worst. I don’t remember this song from when I listened to Elton John as a child, so this is one I came to love as adult. It’s actually a pretty good one.

2. Big Iron by Marty Robbins. I had to laugh when this song came on. I’m certainly not embarrassed by it, but it’s rather amusing that I haven’t listened to this song in ages and it comes on today when I’m writing my list. According to Wikipedia, Marty Robbins was “one of the most popular and successful American country and western singers of his era”. His era being the 60’s, if that gives you any idea of what his songs sounded like. His is the only country music on my 2,030 song iPod. Listening to this song is like watching an old Western. It has an actual plot. There’s a handsome Arizona Ranger and a bad guy named Texas Red. Plus it’s really catchy and reminds me of my parents. What more can a girl ask for in a song?

3. She Came In Through The Bathroom Window by The Beatles. Well, I guess this just disproves the Army Man’s theory that I don’t listen to the Beatles anymore. I wondered to myself if one of their songs would come on-as a young teenager, they were essentially the only music I listened to. I LOVED them. I probably would have been screaming and fainting at their concerts had I not been born in 1979. But oddly enough, as I got older, I got a little tired of them. Not sure how to explain it-maybe I had listened to a lifetime’s worth of their music in a 6 year stretch? But this song brings back good memories for me. Abbey Road was always my favorite album. The songs were so goofy, but not weird and creepy like some other ones I can name. On my CD (this was before iPods, sonny), this song would always segue right into Golden Slumbers which was another one of my favorites from the album. I am actually inspired to listen to this album again once I finish this list!

4. Come As You Are by Nirvana. I’m curious who bought this song on iTunes, me or the Army Man. I was the perfect age when Nirvana came out, yet I never listened to them. I didn’t approve of them at all, since I was listening to artists like Billy Joel and Marty Robbins, and looking down on my peers who would listen to such trash as Nirvana and Green Day. I thought they were horribly inappropriate, but I suppose I probably thought that since I knew my parents wouldn’t want me listening to them. So I discovered Nirvana when I was a bit older, maybe late high school. I enjoyed them, but never to the extent of many people my age. My favorite of their songs is “All Apologies”-a very quiet, sad song. Green Day though- I can’t tell you how mad I am that I ignored them for so long.

5. Black Water by the Doobie Brothers. This is probably one of the Army Man’s songs, but I’ll take ownership of it as well. I like the Doobie Brothers and this is actually one of my favorite songs from them. I DO like to hear some funky Dixie land every now and again, thank you very much. I can’t remember when I first started listening to them, probably back in high school when I was discovering classic rock and bemoaning the fact that I lived in the 90’s.

So that’s my list. And to shake things up a bit, I’m going to list my 5 top played songs on my iTunes on my computer. This will probably be more embarrassing that the other list.

1. Good Time Girl by Nancy Sinatra (LOVE this song)

2. Danny’s Song by Loggins & Messina (Seriously. I have no explanation. I understand if you stop reading my blog immediately. But for whatever reason, this song is really touching to me. The line “Even though we ain’t got money, I’m so in love with you honey, and everything will bring a chain of looooooove” just really gets me. It reminds me of when we were first married.)

3. Sentimental Heart by She & Him (I love this song. Thank you Kim, for telling me about them. I’ll write more on my blog one day about this group. Love. Them.)

4. Keeping the Faith by Billy Joel (My favorite Billy Joel song. It also has one of my favorite lines ever from a song: “Ain’t it wonderful to be alive when the rock-n-roll plays?” True that. Also, what is with singers using the word “ain’t”?)

5. Old Days by Chicago (I think this is my favorite Chicago song. I love Chicago. The city and the group.)

So what are your 5 random songs on your iPod? Do this post on your blog or leave your list in the comment area. Don’t be shy!

The Worst Song In The World, Volume 2

When I was driving a few days ago, I heard a song that I haven’t heard in a while, a song that turns my stomach every time I hear it, a song so vile that I nearly crashed my car. And being the good blogger that I am, I said to myself-this is good content for my blog! See, I’m always thinking of you, my dear readers. So without further ado, the song that almost caused me to crash the poor Jetta:

“Baby I Love Your Way” by Peter Frampton

Gag. Seriously Peter? This is the best you could come up with?

And while I’m insulting songs, I might as well go ahead and insult the song that I know is going to make a lot of people mad. Heck, I may even be disowned by the Army Man’s mom (since I’m pretty sure she really likes this song). But I have to get it off my chest. I don’t think anyone but the Army Man knows this secret.

I hate “Brown Eyed Girl” by Van Morrison.

Sorry. Please don’t be too harsh with all of the insults against my obviously poor taste in music.

PS. If you missed my other valuable opinions on music, you can read about them here.

What Exactly Is A “White Bread World”?

Speaking of awesome music, I’d like to talk about how much I love Billy Joel. I love Billy Joel and I’m proud of it, and will write it for the entire world to read. I bet if you think about it for a few minutes, you’ll realize you love him too. For me, it’s a mix of loving his music (which I do!), and nostalgia. My mom listened to him when I was a child and so many of his songs have wonderful memories for me. I remember listening to the tape of Storm Front while riding around with my family in our old Volkswagen van. I remember trying to memorize all the words to “We Didn’t Start the Fire” (and I'm sure several of my readers will join me in reminiscing about the project in 8th grade in which we each had to research a verse from that song). I remember being touched by “Piano Man” as a child, before I was really even old enough to understand the emotions in that song. And when I hear “The Longest Time”, I always think about one of my dearest friends and all the times we sang that song in his car (you know who you are!).

One of the best things about Billy Joel's music is getting to share it with my daughter. It gives me such joy to watch her enjoying the music of my childhood. And I also happen to find it hysterical listening to my four year old sing about a "white bread world". So here's Laura, and her rendition of "Uptown Girl".

And The Worst Song in the World Is...

I was out running today and listening to the Army Man's iPod when the song "Sultans of Swing" by Dire Straits came on. As I listened, I thought about how much I love that song. And how much the Army Man loves that song. And how I know we must be at least kind of meant for each other by how much we both love that song. The music is just phenomenal. The song ends gloriously. There's nothing bad about the song. NOTHING.

And then I remembered a few weeks back reading a random person's blog in which she professed her extreme hatred for that wonderful song. On and on she went about how awful "Sultans of Swing" is and how there is nothing good about it. I practically tripped right there in the middle of the street, that's how distraught I was at the memory of those hateful words. But I thought, to be fair, there are a couple of songs that I can't STAND that surely some weirdo out there must love. And I'll try not to judge them too harshly if they do love one of the stupidest songs in the world.

So if you're out there, reading, and you happen to like "Bennie and The Jets" by Elton John, or "(Sittin' On) The Dock of the Bay" by Otis Redding, that's okay. I'm happy that you like those songs. But don't ever play them within 50 feet of me. I can't be held responsible for how I may react.

And to be fair, I do like basically every other Elton John song there is. So I'm not completely oblivious to awesomeness.