love

[stormsewer]

So, my current time consuming, frivolous, totally irrelevant side project seems to be making themed playlists on my mp3 player. You might not think this would take so much time, but, especially when the plan is to pare them down and order them for hypothetical CD burning, it takes me plenty of time. For instance, I may come up with an initial list of 40, 60, 80, or more songs that seem to fit the bill, and if it's not obvious which ones should be cut, I have to listen to every single track on the list before I can really decide. Then of course I have to listen to whole the playlist once or twice to tweak the order and second guess the song selection. And the thing of it is, while listening, I am ONLY listening (more or less). I can't be doing something that will distract me from paying attention to the mood and lyrics of the song, because then it defeats the whole purpose of the listening exercise. (And of course my dumb mp3 player won't tell me the total run time of the playlists I make, so once I know I'm getting close to target length I have to enter all the tracks into a spreadsheet and use that to work it out. (Which I suppose is better than the old days of pen and paper, but still.)) But I'm sure I'm not the only one who suffers this way for this art. Anyway.

And so, my latest idea for taking up space in the LJ is to start posting some of these mofos here. This kind of started a few months ago [wow. deja vu. i swear i had a dream where i was typing this exact entry. or maybe not. nevermind.], when I made a list of all the songs that had significant Little Wing connotations for me and spent forever arranging them in chronological order, from our first meetings to the bitter end. (I may post that one on here sometime, but it's kinda long. About 60 tracks or so.) I started another which concerns my "rough period" about half a decade ago, but that's got well over a hundred songs in it at the moment and I can't even begin to think about how I'd cut it down. Anyway, since coming back from Southeast Asia I've kind of entered a new little era in playlist making. We'll see how long it lasts, but for now...

The first one I thought of doing, which is probably pretty obvious, was to make a list of my favorite love songs. (I think I started this before I left, but I didn't finish it till I got back.)

There's so many other things I should be doing; I don't know why I insist on doing this...

(By the way, one vague guideline I came up with to make the cutting easier was only one song by any given artist on each list.)


1. "Ava Adore" Smashing Pumpkins [i'll pull your crooked teeth; you'll be perfect just like me "Soma" was my favorite SP love song for quite a while- one of my favorite love songs, period. But in the last few months this little dark horse has taken the lead. This is also my favorite SP video.]
2. "Fell In Love With a Girl" The White Stripes [my left brain knows that all love is fleeting This song just rocks. For the moment, this is the only song on this list that I actually perform myself.]
3. "Complainte de la Butte" by Rufus Wainwright [sous ta caresse je sens une ivresse qui m'anéantit I love this freaking song, especially the lyrics, and since it's technically a cover, I'm allowing Rufus another slot later on.]
4. "I Only Have Eyes For You" The Flamingos [my love must be a kind of blind love Some of the others from this period are really good, too, but this is the only one I actually own and it might well be my favorite, anyway.]
5. "She's An Angel" They Might Be Giants [i don't think she knows i know Words fail me. This song is amazing.]
6. "Punk Rock Girl" The Dead Milkmen [we'll name her minnie pearl As a general rule, this band sucks. But I like the songs sung by the guy who sings this one, and I'm quite in love with this song, in particular.]
7. "Such Great Heights" The Postal Service [the freckles in our eyes are mirror images There's a few other good candidates by them, but this one's my favorite.]
8. "El Scorcho" Weezer [that's just a stupid dream that i won't realize Oh, sigh.]
9. "Come to Me" Björk [it would burst the bubble, break the charm This is one of those that has strong Little Wing connotations for me. There's other Björk songs that deserve to be here, too, but I had to go with this one.]
10. "The Tower of Learning" Rufus Wainwright [tip the eiffel tower with one glance Sometimes I think this is how I (want to) feel about Junko.]
11. "Somebody" Depeche Mode [though things like this make me sick, in a case like this i'll get away with it This song couldn't possibly be left off of any such list, by anyone, anywhere. As far as DM goes, I'm also very fond of "I Feel You" and "One Caress," but they just don't match up to this one.]
12. "Beautiful Freak" Eels [i bet you are flying inside There's tons of great love songs by the Eels. It was hard, but I had to pick this as my favorite. Strong Junko connotations.]
13. "Wond'ring Aloud" Jethro Tull [off toast as the butter runs There was a time when I would listen to this song every night before going to bed. I think this song is how I'd imagine marriage to be, ideally.]
14. "Asleep and Dreaming" Magnetic Fields [i've seen you when your ship came in and when your train was leaving Of course, there are tons of options from Mr. Merritt. But as far as straight up "gosh I love you" love songs go, this one's my favorite of theirs.]
15. "Pale September" Fiona Apple [all my armor falling down This is from one of my favorite albums. This song is pretty similar to the my general experience of falling in love.]
16. "These Days" Love Psychedelico [君となら夢見れる Representing Asia... This is actually something of a breakup song, but the phrase "I love you" shows up enough that it still counts. I love this song.]
17. "You Look So Fine" Garbage [i want to break your heart and give you mine Another near and dear one (pretty much all of these are, though), this one might actually remind me of Kami. Maybe too early to tell, though.]
18. "Love Song" The Cure [whatever words i say, i will always love you This song makes me think of Duchess (and even Little Wing, now that I think of it) in some ways. Even though she and I will probably never speak again, and even though the strongest emotion that this fact inspires in me is a vague annoyance, her role in my life was such that my affection for her will never truly die. This song was also my introduction to the Cure, back when it originally came out. I remember watching the video as a kid. It had a big effect on me.]
19. "Underwater Love" Faith No More [touch me from below; i'll never let you go Over the years this has become one of my favorite Faith No More songs. It's just so... wrong. "Edge of the World" was a strong contender for this spot, but it just couldn't beat out this psychotic little ode.
20. "Sarah" Ween [forever may i love you and forever may you dream It's hard to explain my deep affection for this song. Or maybe I just don't want to explain it. Anyway, this is a surprisingly sweet, sincere, and touching song. Or so it seems to me.]
21. "The Luckiest" Ben Folds [i know that's a strange way to tell you that i know we belong It doesn't get better than this. There's a very short list of songs that have brought tears to my eyes, and there's only one song that brought tears to my eyes the first time I heard it. That would be this one.]

At just over 76 minutes, I'd have to cut one of these to put it on one of the CD-Rs in my possession right now. I guess I'd cut "Tower of Learning," but only because Rufus is already represented.

Thinking about it, I'd have to say that my top five love songs are:

5. "Wond'ring Aloud"
4. "She's An Angel"
3. "Somebody"
2. "Love Song"
1. "The Luckiest"

Honorable mentions to pretty much everything else listed above.