La la la

[pegkerr]

I know that People Who Know Things say that you shouldn't listen to music via earphones more than an hour a day. This is advice I ignore entirely. I have my earphones on, listening to music every day, all day, while at work. I LOVE music and listen to it all the time. Part of the reason I started was when I had a cubicle mate, it was a simple matter of courtesy. Not only to I listen to music all the time, I frequently listen to songs over and over. And over and over and over. This scratches the same part of my brain that loves to re-read stories many time, too. I just love re-immersing myself in something, whether a story, or a story in a song, set to beautiful music.

The three songs on constant repeat this past week:

The Newry Highwayman (Traditional). I have both the versions by Solas and by Leahy's Luck (you can download the Leahy's Luck .mp3 for free here, or the Boiled in Lead version, if you prefer it.) The words are here. Why I like it: I'm an absolutely sucker for English folk ballads and love listening to them. Great tune, absorbing story, tragic ending. One of the stories I was obsessed with as a kid was Robin Hood--the cheerful rebel who robbed from the rich but left the poor alone. There are echoes of that story here. And it's hard to think badly of the Newry Highwayman for being a thief when he loves his wife so dearly.

The Bravest Man I Ever Knew - Ministry of Magic Great song. Mark's climb on the tenor line raises the hairs on the back of my neck. Again, a tragic story that gets under my skin. I mean, it's about Severus Snape, come on! The lyrics bring tears to my eyes. It's all about choosing the heart of flesh over the heart of stone:

I have given you a name
One that shows you can always change
No matter the way or mistake you've made
And sometimes consequences define your life with hardship
Will goodness be the banner you raise?
Because with his last breath
Severus said
Take it, take it

And it has a great danceable beat. Here's a video of Ministry of Magic doing this in an acoustic set at Portus. Before they do the song, Mark talks a little bit about the challenge of hitting that high note.

Sexyback - Justin Timberlake I first became aware of this song when I ran across this video created by chaeche about Snape using it. (Yeah, it was the first time I'd heard of it. Yeah, I told you I was old. Shut up.) The video is quite cleverly edited, with each quirk of an eyebrow corresponding to emphatic beats in the music, creating a masterpiece of innuendo. Now, the Snarry ship does absolutely nothing whatsoever to float my boat, but (*blushes*) I DO find Alan Rickman to be really hot. Seeing the way this video is edited makes him even hotter. I do like a song that power-taps directly into the libido (mine has been, um, up quite a bit lately), and this song, combined with the video, accomplished it powerfully for me.

Tell me about three songs you've been listening to on constant repeat lately, and why you like them. (And let me know if you like the Sexyback video, too.)

Comments

[heinous_bitca.livejournal.com]

The Dr. Horrible soundtrack.

It is catchy, and stuck in my head, and the only solution is more cowbell to listen to it again and again. Joss&crew have a real gift for addictive musical numbers.

[pegkerr.livejournal.com]

I'm planning on downloading that when I get home tonight.

[sternel.livejournal.com]

Same here. There's that little moment of harmony from the groupies in "So They Say" that just scratches a delicious musical itch.

[dichroic.livejournal.com]

I used to work with a guy from Newry, though he's been in the US about as long as I have (he's a lot older, came here as an adult). He was fairly croggled that I knew a song about his town that he'd never heard of. There are at least three versions of it on my iPod, in fact.

[avengangle.livejournal.com]

The video's OK; I don't like visual stuttering as a rule, but overall it does do an awfully good job of revealing Snape's Sexy. :)

I think you're OK on the headphones as long as you keep them at a moderately low level; those People Who Know, I think, are mostly trying to get to people who listen so loud that everyone can hear what they're hearing.

I've been on a Huey Lewis and the News kick. Yes, I'm old enough to have heard them the first time around, but only barely . . .

[pegkerr.livejournal.com]

Yes, I do try to keep the volume low.

I remember Huey Lewis and the News from the first time around! It's been ages since I listened to them.

[mayakda.livejournal.com]

What kind of earphones do you use -- the button ones that plug into the ear or the bigger ones that cover the ear?
(Just curious)

[pegkerr.livejournal.com]

The button ones.

[mrissa.livejournal.com]

"Mr. Horrible" - They Might Be Giants - is in my head because my friendslist keeps talking about Dr. Horrible, which I haven't seen, so my brain goes for the next best thing.

"La Vie En Rose" - Louis Armstrong - I don't know why this one's in my head. Just lucky, I guess. Louis makes me happy.

"Sweet Dreams are Made of These" - Eurhythmics - reveritas was talking about the Marilyn Manson version, but my brain happily reverts to the original.

[pennswoods.livejournal.com]

Oh, I'm just like you when it comes to listening to the same song or songs on repeat. Here are my three (one not so unique).

1. I absolutely love, love, love The Bravest Man I Ever Knew too. There's something so joyously beautiful in hearing how they've incorporated the voices of all five young men. So much danceable energy and beautiful power in the song. The part that raises the hair on my arms in when Aaron comes in "All these things that tie us close To what matters most We cannot let go." There's something very raw and pure in his voice as well as an element of a lisp that I find very endearing.

2.Praan is also on repeat constantly. It's the song playing to the Where the Hell is Matt? video. This is the song I listen to when I really want to get up and run.

3.Mack the Knife by Bobby Darin. It's got such a swinging beat, and who could possibly not love a song based on a Brechtian character. It also gets me in the mood for a cocktail, which is never a bad thing.

[pegkerr.livejournal.com]

Yes on Praan! I would have listed that if I'd included a fourth song. I don't know if you saw my previous post about the video, which mentioned that the singer happens to go to my daughter Fiona's high school.

[pennswoods.livejournal.com]

Are you kidding? Seriously. Wow!!

I mean, just wow!

[pegkerr.livejournal.com]

Yep!

[pennswoods.livejournal.com]

That is so awesome. And I too can't believe she's 17 - her voice is so knowing and so lush. Praan is such a great arrangement.

[corinnethewise.livejournal.com]

I've been in a very Jonathan Coulton mood so I've been listening to Dance Solterious Johnson Dance, I Feel Fantastic, and Re: Your Brains a lot. This particular obsession is all your fault though :) :) :)

[pegkerr.livejournal.com]

*snicker* Yes, I've had all three of those songs on all day every day repeat in the past!

[http://users.livejournal.com/anam_cara_/]

Last year I convinced my sister to share her Low Millions/Ex-Girlfriends cd with me and listened to that on repeat every day at work. I should really check to see if they've recorded any more cds.

[sternel.livejournal.com]

Regina Spektor's song "The Call" from the new Narnia movie has been in constant rotation since I got the soundtrack a few months ago. I love her voice to begin with, and it's such a beautiful, simple song (that might happen to fall exactly in my range, always a bonus) that also hits a lot of issues/questions that I keep returning to in my own faith. Narnia in generally calls up a lot of these associations for me, but this song encapsulates them all into a beautiful little package.

And of course lately Dr. Horrible, because it's the musical equivalent of crack.

[katakanadian.livejournal.com]

Cochise by Audioslave

Overland Blues (shamisen music) by 吉田兄弟 (Yoshida Kyoudai)

らいおんはーと (Lionheart) by SMAP