#6

Top 5 most played songs on your iPod in a row. Go!


“This Tornado Loves You” – Neko Case

For this issue of 5SIAR I felt the need to break the rules a little bit for the sake of the theme I’d like to concentrate on. Everyone has a top five song list. Maybe it isn’t the top five of all time, but it is the top five songs with the most plays on your music player of choice. These are the songs that you can’t get out of your head. They mean something to the point of you playing them over and over and never getting sick of them no matter how many times you press “repeat.” The notes and the words burrow into your head and stay there for a good amount of time. Long enough to start making connections to the songs to what may be going on in your life at the time. For me each song represents a scene from my past or present that includes a noun— a person, a place, or a thing.

I wasn’t surprised when I sorted my iPod to find that “This Tornado Loves You” had the most plays. This new track from Neko Case’s Middle Cyclone has taken me over. From the moment I first heard it there hasn’t been a day that I haven’t played it at least once. It was the lyrics that captured me. Neko explains that this person would do anything to find this love in the grim words “I left the motherless fatherless. Their souls dangling inside-out from their mouths, but it’s never enough.” I can relate and so can anyone else that has tried so desperately to have that one love back into your life-- A love that’s worth “smashing every transformer with every trailer” for.

This song also serves as a giver of perspective for me. I don’t necessarily have to continue searching for something or someone I know I can’t obtain, so why persist? I’ll give everyone a fair warning and say that the next four songs are equally has heart wrenching as this one. Brace yourself for the melancholy that is the rest of my top five most played. They are sad, but undeniably empowering.

This Tornado Loves You - Neko ...

“When You Were Mine” – Cyndi Lauper

I know what you’re thinking. “Nick, why is there a Cyndi Lauper song on your iPod? Is there something you’ve been meaning to tell us?” No, there isn’t, but hear me out because I know some of you are a bit stunned at the fact that A: Cyndi Lauper is on my iPod, and B: that it would have the second highest play count. Well for one, it isn’t even a Lauper song; it’s a Prince one. And two, Cyndi does a much better job at portraying the song and what it’s about with her distinguishing voice. It’s almost as if Prince wrote it just for her.

Cyndi lives in that realm bordering obscurity and semi-fame. The 80’s were kind to her with hits from the same album She’s So Unusual including “Girls Just Wanna Have Fun” and the uber prom popular “Time After Time.” But who can forget the timeless classic “The Goonies ‘R Good Enough?” I still can’t believe there are people out there who have never seen that movie. The Goonies is on that list of 80’s movies along with The Breakfast Club and Back To The Future that you have to watch. It’s mandatory. Period.

Simply put—“When You Were Mine” is a jam. It’s the kind of song you can play in any kind of situation and it would be OK to just put it on repeat for a while. Maybe not weddings because of the subject matter, but you catch my drift. The song serves itself well in a bar when you’re piss drunk, not thinking clearly, and need a song to play on the jukebox because you just saw your ex making out with another dude. Do you think Prince ever had to deal with that? I mean, c’mon, he’s fucking Prince!

When You Were Mine - Cyndi Lau...

“Let’s Get Out Of This Country” – Camera Obscura

Infatuation with this song started immediately after hearing it. Hence the third highest play count. I don’t even remember who turned me onto Camera Obscura. It seems so long ago, like back in the days of when Underachievers Please Try Harder came out. Of course back then I wasn’t as savvy to the indie world as I am now so I probably scoffed at it. Fast-forward a few years later to when the album of the same name of this song was released. I was a bit more open minded than I was in my naive past when I thought indie was synonymous with patchouli. Boy, was I wrong. It was the words of the song, and the entire album, that struck a nerve with me. They were sad, but not in an annoying self-deprecating way, and they were inspiring as well.

“What does this city have to offer me? Everyone else thinks it’s the bee’s knees” sings Obscura-ite Tracyanne Campbell to an uplifting chamber pop orchestration of mellow rock riffs and synthesized strings in a song that’s all about grabbing your lover and moving on to another city to escape. I can relate. I think about doing this on a daily basis. Sometimes I just want to kidnap my friends and family and just move away to experience something greater and something more stimulating than my normal day-to-day drag. This song helps to remind myself of that awesome, yet slim possibility.

It’s through Campbell’s wonderfully crafted lyrics that the listener can really get a sense of the insecurities she may have with not only her town, but her own image as well. The line, “We’ll find a cathedral so that you can convince me I am pretty,” sets the tone of old age not necessarily meaning ugly. Everyone reaches a split second point in their life when they look in the mirror and gasp at a gray hair or a wrinkle. No one should ever feel conquered by his or her age though. Certain body parts may be sagging a little, but that doesn’t mean you have to be vain about it. Age brings not only wisdom, but extra beauty as well. This can also be said about the band’s new album My Maudlin Career due out on the 21st of this month. I’ll let it be known now that it’ll most likely be on my top 10 for the year.

Somehow Lala got the order of the songs mixed up. It says "The False Contender" but it's really "Let's Get Out Of This Country."

The False Contender - Camera O...

“Knocked Up” – Kings of Leon

Who died and suddenly made these guys the “kings” of the airwaves? I can’t turn the radio on without hearing “Sex On Fire” or “Use Somebody” at least once as I’m scanning through the stations. They blew up so damned fast out of nowhere with just one hit. I thought something like that was only reserved for the Britneys and Beyonces of our time, but not Kings of Leon. They have paid their dues though; I will give them that. Some people have enjoyed them ever since Youth & Young Manhood, but as for me, I didn’t particularly care for them until Because Of The Times came out and even then I was still skeptical. That is until one night I sat in solitude with a beer and put the album on. It was track one, this song, which got me hooked.

“Knocked Up” is so mellow, even during the heavier portions of it. Almost like the first sip of a good whiskey. It’s smooth, but there’s some bite to it too. Not only did the music of “Knocked Up” make a believer out of me, it was Followill’s line “always mad and usually drunk, but I love her like no other” that hit a soft spot. I kept playing this song just so I can hear him say it again and again. I still do. However, I’m not so sure this band will stand the test of time. I don’t want to think of them as wasting away into pop culture hell with their newly found fame tailing behind them, but the signs are there.

It’s something in my gut. It appeared there after about the 100th time listening to Only By The Night. It was some kind of knot that was telling me, “This will be the last good Kings of Leon album.” I want to have faith, but that knot is holding me back. Maybe I’m just skittish. Everything I love goes away. Great bands (I miss you Hum), great television shows (damn you HBO for canceling Carnivale!), and great food (that sandwich shop down the street from my office with the to die for cheesesteaks needs to come back into my life). But who knows, there’s always that slim chance KoL will pull a rabbit out of their hat and give us another great album similar to that of Because Of The Times.

Knocked Up - Kings Of Leon

“Sounds Better In The Song” – Drive-By Truckers

Mike Cooley wrote, in my opinion, one of the most beautiful songs ever to be written by a human being. I don’t know what to say beyond that. The song leaves me speechless. Even now as I’m writing and listening to the song I can’t think of anything. Everything about it is big. The words, the way the slide guitar kicks you in the balls, the borderline lo-fi vocals, all of it makes it something more than what I’m sure it was intended to be. But aren't all the best songs usually that way? They always sound so simple and effortless, but you know deep down the song could've been one of the hardest ones the person has ever written. So if a song was a pie chart, the creator's soul would probably have the biggest piece of the circle.

Decoration Day is without a doubt my favorite Truckers album. I must give credit to a former roommate and now good friend of mine for turning me onto them. As I stated in the last post on the Emmylou song-- I’ve never been a big fan of country until people started giving me suggestions on what I should listen to. Another favorite is, of course, Lucero. I’m still kicking myself in the ass for not seeing them when they came around a few weeks back.

Go ahead and leave a comment with your current top 5 most played songs. And while you’re at it, and if you haven’t done so already, go here to leave a comment for your random 5 songs in a row. If your list is picked I’ll do a small write up on your songs on Tampa Calling. You might even win a little something too.

Sounds Better In The Song - Dr...