Ten Songs...
Last week, mitchy was propagating a music meme and, ever one to jump on a passing bandwagon, I asked for a letter. She gave me T. I was originally concerned that I wouldn't be able to remember any songs I like, but then I hit on the cunning plan of asking my iPod. Unfortunately my iPod, while very cute and excellent at providing me with music I like to listen to, doesn't know how to alphabetise properly and files song titles beginning with 'The' under T. Realising how much easier this made completing this meme, I threw pedantry to the wind and decided to do the same.
1. Theme from Schindler's List by John Williams and Itzhak Perlman - Not the cheat that it looks like. One of the tracks on the soundtrack album is actually called 'Theme from...' I fell in love with the soundtrack before even seeing the movie and, despite it being quite mournful music, I have always found it quite uplifting. Even more so now as I associate it with the time I got together with silenttex so listening to it always makes me smile.
2. The Nobodies by Marilyn Manson - If I want loud music to shout to, this is what I turn to first. Alienation in a can.
3. The Elements by Tom Lehrer - I'm a big fan of comedic songs and this, "the names of the elements set to a possibly recognisable tune", is an absolute classic. Often people don't recognise the name Tom Lehrer, but they know this song. It's astonishing but it really works, the song scans and rhymes and it's funny. The man is a genius.
4. The Happy Goth by The Divine Comedy - I'm not a big music person, it's mostly lyrics with me (despite the instrumental at the top of the list) and I love the way Neil Hannon writes songs. I quoted him in last week's dispatches, and he features in the list below as well. This is a wonderful happy, cheerful pop song about a goth.
Well her clothes are blacker than the blackest cloth,
And her face is whiter than snows of Hoth,
She wears Dr Martens and a heavy cross,
But on the inside, she's a happy Goth
5. They Can't That Away From Me by George & Ira Gershwin - This covers three key points in my music taste: Gershwin, Sinatra and Robbie Williams. It's one of my favourite Gershwin songs and I have it on my iPod in the classic Sinatra version and also the recording Robbie Williams did with Rupert Everett on his wonderful Swing When You're Winning album.
Then silenttex posted the same meme and, eager soul that I am, I asked for another letter. He gave me E, which I originally thought would be a bit of a toughie until, after consulting with my trusty iPod, I discovered that four of my favourite songs of all time have names beginning with E. Weird...
1. Each Man Kills The Thing He Loves by Gavin Friday - Well the words are actually Oscar Wilde - a portion of The Ballad of Reading Gaol set to music by one of the sexiest men in music, with a voice as sexy as the man. *swoon* Not enough people have heard of Gavin Friday, although in some ways that's a good thing as it means that his gigs are small and intimate, which best suits his music.
2. Eleven Executioners by Momus - One of the few songs I know all the words to off the top of my head. As I said before, I'm a lyrics person and Momus writes some of the best (and the strangest) lyrics in pop. Only man I know to get references to Holbein, Wittgenstein's Tractatus and Spandau Ballet into the same (or indeed any) pop song (in What Will Death Be Like).
The first he kills only the wicked,
The second kills only the good,
The third kills the people more handsome than him,
And the fourth kills the misunderstood.
The fifth kills the women who've left him,
The sixth kills the couldn't care less,
The seventh kills people who fill questionnaires in,
The eighth kills the deeply depressed.
The ninth kills the twentieth century,
And the tenth waits to kill you and me,
The eleventh kills only our fear of the tenth:
The best executioner he!
3. Every You, Every Me by Placebo - My favourite of all Placebo songs. I don't really have anything to say about it other than it's one of my favourite songs by one of my favourite bands. It's like favourite squared.
4. Everybody Knows (Except You) by The Divine Comedy - Told you they'd be back. A Short Album About Love was the first TDC album that I owned and this was the track that really got to me and it remains among my favourite TDC tracks and one of my favourite songs of all time. One of the things I love most about The Divine Comedy is I can sing along to them, I find it impossible to remain depressed after singing along to a happy song and Neil Hannon writes the best happy songs because there's generally a hint of bitterness in there (plus he writes lyrics like: I told the passers by, I made a small boy cry in a love song).
5. Ezekiel 25-17 by Umm... some chap a long time ago - Not a song as such, but it is a track off the Pulp Fiction album and is on my iPod (but is not, I learn from t'internet, actually Ezekiel 25-17). Samuel L. Jackson ranting about vengeance and furious anger. Lovely.
1. Theme from Schindler's List by John Williams and Itzhak Perlman - Not the cheat that it looks like. One of the tracks on the soundtrack album is actually called 'Theme from...' I fell in love with the soundtrack before even seeing the movie and, despite it being quite mournful music, I have always found it quite uplifting. Even more so now as I associate it with the time I got together with silenttex so listening to it always makes me smile.
2. The Nobodies by Marilyn Manson - If I want loud music to shout to, this is what I turn to first. Alienation in a can.
3. The Elements by Tom Lehrer - I'm a big fan of comedic songs and this, "the names of the elements set to a possibly recognisable tune", is an absolute classic. Often people don't recognise the name Tom Lehrer, but they know this song. It's astonishing but it really works, the song scans and rhymes and it's funny. The man is a genius.
4. The Happy Goth by The Divine Comedy - I'm not a big music person, it's mostly lyrics with me (despite the instrumental at the top of the list) and I love the way Neil Hannon writes songs. I quoted him in last week's dispatches, and he features in the list below as well. This is a wonderful happy, cheerful pop song about a goth.
Well her clothes are blacker than the blackest cloth,
And her face is whiter than snows of Hoth,
She wears Dr Martens and a heavy cross,
But on the inside, she's a happy Goth
5. They Can't That Away From Me by George & Ira Gershwin - This covers three key points in my music taste: Gershwin, Sinatra and Robbie Williams. It's one of my favourite Gershwin songs and I have it on my iPod in the classic Sinatra version and also the recording Robbie Williams did with Rupert Everett on his wonderful Swing When You're Winning album.
Then silenttex posted the same meme and, eager soul that I am, I asked for another letter. He gave me E, which I originally thought would be a bit of a toughie until, after consulting with my trusty iPod, I discovered that four of my favourite songs of all time have names beginning with E. Weird...
1. Each Man Kills The Thing He Loves by Gavin Friday - Well the words are actually Oscar Wilde - a portion of The Ballad of Reading Gaol set to music by one of the sexiest men in music, with a voice as sexy as the man. *swoon* Not enough people have heard of Gavin Friday, although in some ways that's a good thing as it means that his gigs are small and intimate, which best suits his music.
2. Eleven Executioners by Momus - One of the few songs I know all the words to off the top of my head. As I said before, I'm a lyrics person and Momus writes some of the best (and the strangest) lyrics in pop. Only man I know to get references to Holbein, Wittgenstein's Tractatus and Spandau Ballet into the same (or indeed any) pop song (in What Will Death Be Like).
The first he kills only the wicked,
The second kills only the good,
The third kills the people more handsome than him,
And the fourth kills the misunderstood.
The fifth kills the women who've left him,
The sixth kills the couldn't care less,
The seventh kills people who fill questionnaires in,
The eighth kills the deeply depressed.
The ninth kills the twentieth century,
And the tenth waits to kill you and me,
The eleventh kills only our fear of the tenth:
The best executioner he!
3. Every You, Every Me by Placebo - My favourite of all Placebo songs. I don't really have anything to say about it other than it's one of my favourite songs by one of my favourite bands. It's like favourite squared.
4. Everybody Knows (Except You) by The Divine Comedy - Told you they'd be back. A Short Album About Love was the first TDC album that I owned and this was the track that really got to me and it remains among my favourite TDC tracks and one of my favourite songs of all time. One of the things I love most about The Divine Comedy is I can sing along to them, I find it impossible to remain depressed after singing along to a happy song and Neil Hannon writes the best happy songs because there's generally a hint of bitterness in there (plus he writes lyrics like: I told the passers by, I made a small boy cry in a love song).
5. Ezekiel 25-17 by Umm... some chap a long time ago - Not a song as such, but it is a track off the Pulp Fiction album and is on my iPod (but is not, I learn from t'internet, actually Ezekiel 25-17). Samuel L. Jackson ranting about vengeance and furious anger. Lovely.