Tintinnabulant

So you know that game where you put your iTunes on shuffle and it use it as a virtual divining stick (eg. My relationship is clearly symbolized by the song -click- “All You Need is Love” by the Beatles–wow, it must have ESP!). I have invented my own: Lisa’s Shufflepod Review. Ten songs, no matter how embarrassing, ten opinions. Go!

1. “Fit as a Fiddle and Ready for Love” Singin’ in the Rain Motion Picture Soundtrack - One of the few musicals I actually enjoy (You really can’t go wrong with Gene Kelly), Singin’ in the Rain contains some excellent ditties. Like this one. Two thumbs up.

2. “Bye, Bye Love” Simon & Garfunkel – I really liked this song during my 60s phase, now, not so much. S&G have done better. I must admit, though, I rather like the sardonic peppiness with which this song discusses heartbreak.

3. “A Whole New World” Aladdin Motion Picture Soundtrack – Now, I love Disney almost as much as I love Sesame Street, but I’ve never liked this song, and I’m not really sure why. I just don’t find it that believable.

4. “Boureé [from Suite No. 3 in C Major for Unaccompanied Cello]” Yo-yo Ma – Yo-yo Ma is the man! I mean, I remember seeing him on Mr. Roger’s Neighborhood. And cello is just a spiffy instrument. Good stuff, methinks.

5. “Ex-lion-tamer” Wire – I like the guitar in this song. Makes me want to rock out.

6. “Ripple” Grateful Dead – I’ll admit it. I have secret aspirations to be a hippie. Or a surfer. Or a hobo who rides the rails. Now grab your lighter and sway with me.

7. “The Other Side” Brendan James – This song is rather Maroon 5-esque, but I rather like the plaintive coming-of-age lyrics.

8. “Maplebees” The Acorn – I am quickly and shamelessly falling in love with this band.

think of me
I know you’ll always feed
the buoy that’s out to sea
guiding me to your deep deep deep

think of me
gaslights and silver streams
shadows and arteries
that bleed from your heart back to me

With lyrics like that, how can you not offer them your eternal devotion?

9. “Throwaway Style” The Exploding Hearts – My first response: AHH, I LOVE THIS SONG! Gives me the same kind of happy-go-lucky smile as The White Stripes.

10. “Norwegian March (from Lyric Suite, Op. 54)” Grieg, performed by the London Philharmonic Orchestra – Every so often, I go through an “I’m more cultured than your pet rock” phase in which I force feed the passengers in my car the stolid yet peaceful voice of the classical radio announcer. Somehow, I believe songs like this will increase my appeal as an intellectual–and before you knock it, tell me you’ve never cited some arcane composition in everyday conversation to make your friends feel inferior. That’s right; I thought so. To successfully complete the effect, I suggest you also purchase a pair of wire-rimmed glasses and speak with a slightly nasal inflection.

And finally, for your reading pleasure, some rather excellent musically-minded quips:

Hell is full of musical amateurs. -George Bernard Shaw

Take a music bath once or twice a week for a few seasons, and you will find that it is to the soul what the water bath is to the body. -Oliver Wendell Holmes

If music be the food of love, play on;
Give me excess of it, that, surfeiting,
The appetite may sicken, and so die.
That strain again! it had a dying fall:
O, it came o’er my ear like the sweet sound
That breathes upon a bank of violets,
Stealing and giving odour!
William Shakespeare, “Twelfth Night”, Act 1 scene 1

Good music is good music, and everything else can go to hell. -Dave Matthews

Lisa M.