05 November 2007

Paint it black

I've had Paint it black stuck in my head for about 3 days now. I heard it on the radio Friday, and it has been with me ever since.

I love this song. I don't even know what half of the words are, but I love the music. It's a great, catchy, sexy melody. It's minor in key (harmonic, I think?), which I've always preferred to major keys, for the most part. And there's a sitar. You can't go wrong with sitar/rock fusion. (Hello, George Harrison).

I was watching the afore-linked live clip of the song from the '60s. And DAMN if Mick Jagger just isn't hot-to-trot what with his shagtastic hair, gleaming eyes, and big lips. I mean...this is nothing new...everyone knows he has "IT"...whatever that elusive "IT" is that gives people star quality. "IT" is one of the major reasons the Stones are still around.

So, since starting this blog entry, I've been listening to Paint it black, over and over, whilst going back and forth between blog, emailing, facebook and youtube. (ADD, much?) Do you ever have songs you listen to over and over? Or that you could listen to over and over again? Complete albums, perhaps? I used to do this a lot more frequently than I do know. Mostly, it's just time constraints, not anything else, which keep me from repeatedly listening to something in particular. Sometimes it's the lyrics which speak to me; sometimes just the harmony or melody; other times both...but no matter what it is, I find myself compelled to keep listening. Like, there's a jog in my brain that just can't get enough (Satisfaction, natch) To listen...to soak...to drown (metaphorically speaking, of course) in the sounds emanating from my speakers.

Other songs which have drawn me in like this at one point or another in the last 20 or so years:

Barber: Adagio for stings (performed by voices)
Cake's cover of I will survive
Peter Gabriel: In your eyes
Coldplay: Politik
Simon & Garfunkel: Bridge Over Troubled Water
Radiohead: Creep
The Beatles: Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band (the entire album)
Salsa Fresca (the entire album)
Chopin: Nocturnes...all of them as a set
Una furtiva lagrima from L'Elisir d'amore
Buena Vista Social Club: Dos Gardenias para ti
Cesaria Evora: Beijo roubado
Janis Joplin: Piece of my heart
U2: With or Without You and Love Rescue Me
R.E.M.: Shiny Happy People (Oh yeah - this was on a cassette tape. Loved it as a kid.)
Bobby Day: Rockin' Robin (Also on cassette)
Meditation from Thais
Big Bopper: Chantilly Lace
Bei mir bist du schoen from the Swing Kids soundtrack
Billie Holiday: Strange Fruit
Blues Traveler: Hook
INXS: Kick (the whole album)
Barbara Streisand: A Christmas Album (I know, I know....)
Juanes: La Camisa Negra
Marc Anthony: No me conoces
Aerosmith: Dream on
Steve Miller Band: Joker
Amalia Rodriguez: Com Que Voz

So, this list is longer than I anticipated it would be...but I just kept thinking of definitive songs...there are more, I'm sure, but I'll be up all night if I don't stop somewhere . .

1 comment:

math jedi said...

do you happen to have an mp3 of bei mir bist du schoen lying around? I love that song, and I hadn't heard it in years until I started swing dancing again.

And what does it mean in English anyway?