I don't really expect anyone to care which songs get stuck in my head, but if you happened to be looking for a new song to download, these could be good places to start.
*Monte Montgomery on fire. One of the best guitarists alive. Jaw-dropping in person. The blue thing in the middle of the picture is a guitar pick necklace.
So, every once in a while I hear brilliance in a song, and cannot stop thinking about it for days on end. It pervades my thoughts and is a constant soundtrack. This sometimes happens after I've heard a song several times, and sometimes it clicks after the first few chords.
I'm going to go ahead and claim impeccable music taste... but don't we all? There is this strange phenomenon I've noticed:
people my age tend to think that the more unknown the band, and the more of these unknown bands they know, the cooler they are. (In defense of Ian, who probably doesn't know this blog exists: he is so extreme that I totally believe him when he says he likes an artist...even though they might never have sung outside their parents' garage.)
I'm sometimes late to pick up on artists, but I think I'm reasonably open to the abstract while remaining fairly discerning in my taste.
Of the 7 songs I've been moderately obsessed with in recent memory, Patty Griffin has been responsible for the latest two.
Recent ones:
7. Should've Known Better/ Green and Gray- Nickel Creek
These two songs were concomitant. I totally wrote that just to use the word "concomitant". I don't have many opportunities to interject it into daily conversation, ok?
6. Hallelujah- Jeff Buckley
This song becomes an obsession at least once every 15 months or so. It's a classic. The classic (original) version, however, is trash.
5. For the Widows in Paradise, For the Fatherless in Ypsilanti- Sufjan Stevens
4. I Am Trying to Break Your Heart- Wilco
Don't you want to assassin down the avenue? Forget that it refers to a drunken state- it sounds awesome.
3. Shadowfeet- Brooke Fraser
2. Up to the Mountain (MLK song)- Patty Griffin
1. Every Little Bit- Patty Griffin
Most of the songs that I really fall in love with have slightly abstract lyrics (e.g. 7#2, 6, 5, 4, 1). I appreciate that in a song because it reminds me of a good poem- you have to dig through it a bit. In the end, you may or may not understand exactly what the author was talking about, but you will definitely have a personal understanding of the song.
Some of these songs are musically fantastic, or overtly moving (7#1, 2), while another is a song sung by a voice I would have assigned myself had I been calling the shots in heaven (3). The song itself (while great) wouldn't normally fall into the brilliant category, but I really want her voice.
I'm glad God didn't give me a great voice, because if He had I'd probably be sitting on sidewalks with my guitar and singing in coffee shops. There isn't anything wrong with that, but I like my job, and I like having a semi-secure future. (In academia... secure? HA!)
I also tell myself these things to feel better about having a mediocre voice and being stuck in a lab all day.
I'm still in an "Every Little Bit" phase, so luckily the guitar part is easy. Singing like Patty, however, proves not to be. *Sigh*
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**Late addition: Say It to Me Now by Glen Hansard. It's so raw, and so fun to scream along. (From the "Once" soundtrack) Another fantastic voice- the accent helps.