30 Day Song Challenge: Part IV

Ugh... I have been under the weather for the last couple of days. I slept through most of yesterday and most of today. I am feeling a bit better but still plenty blah. But I am able to crank out another set of songs.

Day 17 - A Song That You Hear Often On The Radio

Sharp Dressed Man - ZZ Top

I drive to my dad's for work almost every day and it seems like no matter what the time is I will always hear this song either on the way there or on the way back. It doesn't matter if I leave early or if I am running late. I do think this is ZZ Top's best song so I guess I shouldn't complain!

Day 18 - A Song That You Wish You Heard On The Radio

Waiting for Tonight - Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers

It is no secret that I love Tom Petty. One of his best songs unfortunately never made it on to an album (except for Anthology; a greatest hits album) and therefore never made it to the radio. This song is typical Tom Petty but he also has the Bangles singing the background lyrics. I really think this could have become one of the Tom Petty's top songs if it would have made it to the radio. Oh well, at least I have it on my iPod.

Day 19 - A Song From Your Favorite Album

Dirty Day - U2

I have a lot of favorite albums but the only one that I will listen to as an album is U2's Zooropa. I rarely just play one track from that album. I usually have to play the whole thing. Dirty Day is one of my favorite tracks but I found that this remix (Bitter Kiss Mix) is so much better than the original. This song has nothing to do with the movie Departed. You don't have to watch the video, just listen to the music.

Day 20 - A Song That You Listen To When You’re Angry

Come Out Swinging - The Offspring

At my last job, when I was having a rough day I would play my Offspring playlist. Usually after listening to them I would be in a better mood. I don't know if it was the clever lyrics or the hard guitar riffs but I would end up smiling. Maybe it was because they are one of my favorite bands. This song was usually the first one that I would listen too. If you are going to fight me you better come out swinging!

Day 21 - A Song That You Listen To When You’re Happy

Paperback Writer - Beatles

I don't think there is a particular song that I listen to when I am happy. But when I am in the mood to sing (and that usually means I am in some sort of good mood) I will always crank out some Beatles. And when I play the Beatles, I always play thier awesome album Revolver. I just love this song, maybe it is because I want to be a paperback writer.

When in Doubt... iTune Shuffle!

I am not sure what I want to blog about but I know that I want to blog about something. So when in doubt, I now turn to my iPod for some shuffle action.

I always worry that the songs that come on are ones that I rarely listen too and so I have nothing to say about it. And then there is always the chance that my iPod will pick something that I may not want everyone to know that I own. But I will take the chance.

A few years ago on some of the message boards that I frequent a group of us made a CD club. Once a month we would burn a CD of some of our favorite songs and then send them out in the mail and then we would all review them and we would do this once a month. In that way everyone would have time to receive and review a CD. I loved this and participated in about 4 clubs and I got a TON of music. Some of the music I already had but most of it was completely new. It exposed me to a lot of different groups and genres and music. In some cases I would get all rap, in some cases I got all British music from one of my friends in England. But in almost every case, I found at least one song that I absolutely loved.

In sending these CDs out, you really have to put yourself on the line. The first time I did this I sent out an all Queen mix which met to some interesting reviews. I'll have to share one for a later blog. The last CD group I was in was with a small set of really good friends. I have known these guys on the net for about 10 years and some of them I have had the pleasure of meeting in person. Hopefully I will meet more in the next year or so. What was fun with sharing with friends is that I got to know them better because of the music they shared. I found that the songs I shared meant a lot to me and therefore my friends could see why and appreciate me for who I am. I wish we still did these.

One of my friends (nicknamed Spindle) sent out a CD and put a note in it saying that we should not be ashamed of our music. Because if we are ashamed of our music, we are somewhat ashamed of ourselves. I totally agree even though a few songs on my iPod might make others cringe. :)

I will have to share the CDs that I made and the songs that were on it here on the blog. That little club was a lot of fun and would be very eager to do something like that again.

Now onto some tunes!

Parlay- Hans Zimmer

My dad and I are huge fans of original soundtracks. All we listen to at work is classical music/soundtracks. When we get board we listen to online radio stations and we found a station that plays just music from movies. Every time this song came on we thought it was something from the Man With No Name trilogy but it wasn't. This song comes from Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End. We looked it up and found that Hans Zimmer used music from the Man with No Name trilogy as a homage for this song. We quickly scooped up the song through iTunes.

Time Out For Fun - Devo

Funny that this song would come up. This was my opening song on one of my CDs that I sent out. This song totally takes me back to the 80's and listening to records with my sister. For some unknown reason she bought this album and we used to listen to it endlessly. I remember how excited I was when I found this album on CD many many years ago. This is still one of my favorite tracks on the album and this was the first time I have seen the video. I just love this song and its great message. Make sure you take some Time Out For Fun!

Cinnamon Girl - Susanna Hoffs and Matthew Sweet

Oh man how I love this song! Of course it does help that my favorite Bangle, Susanna Hoffs, is singing this fantastic remake of an old Neil Young song. I just love the driving drums and beautiful harmony of the two. They have put out two albums with a bunch of remakes and they are awesome. If you like older music you definitely should check these out. I couldn't find the original on iTunes but this live version is pretty kick butt.

Scare Easy - Mudcrutch

Mudcrutch was the name of the band that Tom Petty used to be in before he formed the Heartbreakers. A few years ago he reunited them all and they put out an album. Unfortunately youtube will not let me embed the video so you will have to trust me and click on the link and listen to a fantastic song. If you like Tom Petty and his type of music, you will LOVE this.

The next time I do a blog about music, I will blog about my CDs.