Monday, October 24, 2005

Tuesday Totally Predictable Twenty-Five

So, I totally dropped the ball on the Friday Random Ten. Sorry.

To make up for it, I'll do this instead...here are the songs on my iPod/iTunes 25 Most Played playlist. It's not very exciting...I should warn you.

1. Ice Cream--The New Young Pony Club
I imagine that this is number 1 because I play it in my car A LOT. It just fits my car really well...if that makes any sense. I love this song. It's probably my favorite song of the past year, so it makes sense that it's #1.

2. They'll Soon Discover--The Shins
OK, this one I don't understand quite as well. I mean, I like it. But I just don't think that I play it that often. It's from the SpongeBob Squarepants movie soundtrack. I mostly like it because you hear seagulls at the beginning. I really like seagulls. This is probably the most unapologetically happy song you're going to find on the list.

3. Such Great Heights--Iron & Wine
Great cover off of the Garden State soundtrack. It makes you want to fall in love. Perhaps with Zach Braff.

4. Callin' Out--Lyrics Born
Yup. The Adrien Brody Diet Coke commercial song. This also sounds great in my car. And since I spend so much time in my car driving to work, or home from work, or from work to work, it makes sense that it's on the list.

5. Hey--Pixies
My favorite Pixies song. Mostly because I like guitars and the word "whores."

6. Such Great Heights--The Postal Service
Yes, I do really love this song. It's probably my second-favorite love song. This original version also makes you want to fall in love. And dance. But not necessarily in that order.

7. We Will Become Silhouettes--The Shins
Another Postal Service cover. I love it. Maybe more than the original. When James Mercer sings that he's got "a cupboard with cans of food, filtered water and pictures of you" and he's "not coming out until this is all over," you know he means business.

8. Ghost White Flowers--The Tease
This wins my award for sexiest song that contains the words "antibiotics" and "mother." The song is hot. But I don't know why. Here's the fluxblog post where I originally downloaded the song...unfortunately, you can't access the download site anymore, but you can read about it. If anyone wants a copy of it, let me know. Maybe if you're nice to me, I will make you a lovely mixed cd featuring this awesome, awesome song.

9. Where Is My Mind?--Pixies
More Pixies. There doesn't need to be a reason.

10. Bloodletting--Concrete Blonde
"I've got the ways and means to New Orleans..." Well, not anymore...but it's a nice thought. I love this song because it was the first song we heard our good friends Insanetuary play during their very first gig, at the Rock N Bowl in New Orleans. Lovely memories, those.

11. Angel--Ellis
This song is definitely a definitive Flamingo song. If you have never heard it, listen to it on MySpace.

12. New Slang (live)--The Shins (featuring Iron & Wine)
I like this live version better than the studio version. One of my favorite songs.

13. Divorce Song--Liz Phair
OK...so this one occasionally goes on repeat when I've gotten my heart broken. That's all. Also, I like to sing along with Liz in the car.

14. Fuck and Run--Liz Phair
Yeah...um...it's not too surprising that this one showed up next, because it usually winds up in a playlist that consists of Divorce Song and Fuck and Run alternating over and over. and over. and over. and over.

15. Title and Registration--Death Cab for Cutie
Another "I'm so heart-broken" favorite of mine. Good lord, this list is getting depressing.

16. Reach--Freshwater Collins
When I got the new Freshwater Collins CD like a month ago, I played it over and over and over for a long period of time. So it's no surprise if my favorites wind up on this list.

17. Televised Breakdown--Freshwater Collins
See? Told you.

18. I La La Love You--Pixies
Another favorite. Simple, but fabulous. This makes me happy.

19. Lost Along the Way--Freshwater Collins
Yup. Them again.

20. Power Changing Hands--Freshwater Collins
Like I said...I listened to the cd A LOT.

21. Here Comes Your Man--Pixies
Do you see now why this post is called Tuesday Totally Predictable Twenty-Five? I once got a mixed cd, and this was the first song. That was awesome.

22. Princes and Princesses--Ellis
I'm not a lesbian, but I sing like one in my car sometimes. Ellis says she wrote this song after a period in her life when she repeatedly made the mistake of dating straight women. Yet, as a straight women who strictly dates straight men, I still identify with the struggle against the pressures of societal gender roles. I'm a very non-traditional person. I cannot count the number of times in the past 3 years that I have been driving in my car and felt just the slightest twinge (or a big fucking twinge) of sympathetic bitterness as she sings:

"And I’ll date other people, and you’ll find serenity,
And maybe we’ll meet in the middle, in this wonderful fantasy
But really time will pass, and all will be good
You’ll marry somebody special and build a house in your parents' neighborhood
I don’t begrudge you this sort of thing,
I guess I just don’t want to be the center of all your suffering
So I’ll be on my way to my own dream land
where the princes and the princesses both know where they stand."

That's brilliant, I think. You can listen to at least part of it here.

23. Housedown--Freshwater Collins
I mostly like that in this playlist, Ellis' serene and subtle bitterness is followed up with Chris from FWC growling "I'm gonna burn your house down, for the way you put me out." Perfect.

24. Lonely Holiday--Old 97s
I'm actually surprised that more Old 97s songs didn't wind up on here. But now that I think about it, I usually listen to those on the original cds in my car. And my iPod is smart....but not that smart. But I'm glad that this song made it, because it is also a definitively Flamingo song. This song is very, very me. Download it here.

25. Nothing Better--The Postal Service
OK...another heart-break song from Ben Gibbard. Except this one has a beat you can almost dance to. Which is kind of a fitting way to end the playlist, I think.

There you have it. More information on my listening habits than you've ever wanted to know! Fun, huh?

2 Comments:

Blogger jenny said...

speaking for me, you can't possibly give more info on your listening habits than i want, cos i'm all about listening habits. ;)
you rock.

October 25, 2005 7:30 AM  
Blogger Ian McGibboney said...

Listening to "Ice Cream" in any vehicle automatically puts me in your Beetle.

The rest of your picks remind me of the Hootie album Cracked Rear View: a party early on, followed by some really deep and sometimes sad songs. I'm totally on your level with that.

October 25, 2005 1:13 PM  

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