Something different today. No Bipolar, no thesis, no seminar
paper, no conference, no dickhead postdoctoral fellow mouthing off, no slavish
adoration of nice people who pay some attention to me and my work.
It’s all about the music.
I thought I’d talk a little bit about what keeps me going
from one day to the next, the songs you want to crawl inside of and inhabit
that eventually become part of yourself. It’s not an overstatement to say that
music and good television (hell, sometimes even bad television) kept me alive.
I spent most of 2008 and 2009 hanging on for the next great album from artists
and bands I already loved and some from ones I had never heard of, and
seriously – sometimes that was enough to keep me here. Sometimes it was all that was keeping me here, keeping me
breathing.
OK, it’s a little bit about Bipolar.
I don’t think I’m alone in often listening obsessively to
one particular song or album. These all fall into that category. A lot of these
have featured on the Christmas mix CD, or will in the future.
The National – High Violet (album) 2010
I bought this album two and a half years ago and I have
listened to it at least once a week since then. It is heartbreakingly beautiful
and at the moment I’d have to say this band is the one I want most to see live.
For some reason I managed to miss this band right up until this album got some
really good press when it came out, and I can also highly recommend the
wonderful records Alligator and Boxer. You might have caught a song or
two of theirs on various TV shows, mostly ones for which Alex Patsavas is music
supervisor (is it just me or does that not sound like the BEST JOB EVAR?).
Their lyrics somehow manage to hit the bone and yet be completely unexpected.
My choice songs from the album are ‘Runaway’ and ‘Terrible Love’.
Pretenders – Pretenders (album) 1979
This is one of those bands I loved before I knew who they
were. They would come on the radio and my mother would always switch the radio
station once she realised who was on (I later found out it was because they
were the makers of ‘Brass in Pocket’, which my mother objected to because it
was so overtly sexual). Chrissie Hynde has one of my all time favourite voices
of any genre, and I have never seen her live for fear that gorgeous alto isn’t
what it once was. As a teenager I eventually discovered who the band was thanks
to a lyrics search in the early days of the internet and this was one of the
first records I ever bought. Chrissie’s voice aches and somehow manages to convey humour and misery at the same
time. This album’s chockers with hits, the spitting, snarling ‘Precious’, the
bouncy ‘Stop Your Sobbing’ (a cover), ‘Kid’, which is just all kinds of
awesomeness and one of the greatest songs ever written, I think (although I
waited a long time to put it on a mix CD), and the joyous ‘Mystery Achievement’
at the end of the LP. This is an album I especially like to listen to when
things are tricky, and it’s been getting lots of airplay of late.
Patti Smith – ‘Free
Money’ (song) 1975
Oh, how I adore it. I love how it builds to a climax and
Patti just throws it all out there. When I made the first ever mix CD it was a
no brainer that this would be on it.
TV On The Radio – ‘Golden
Age’ (song) 2008
From their stellar third record, this song just makes you
want to dance. Actually, the album is full of songs that make you want to dance
and dance you should. This album is my joint favourite of all time with The
Smiths’ The Queen Is Dead, and this
song is my favourite from the LP. It’s amazing live too. Apparently they’re not
for everyone, but for my money they’re the most innovative band going. This
album really did save my life, both the anticipation and the enjoyment of it.
The Smiths – ‘You
Just Haven’t Earned It Yet, Baby’ (song) 1987
Speaking of The Smiths, they had to come in on this list,
even though the list just could be full of them and them alone. This song was
actually written prior to The World Won’t
Listen’s release in February 1987, but the album is full of B sides and
rejected songs from earlier albums. It’s not my favourite song by this
wonderful band (‘Panic’ and ‘Bigmouth Strikes Again’ take the honours there)
but I picked this song for this post because it’s the song I’ve thought most
about this year as an Honours student. Admittedly it preys upon the complex
created by the voices in my head, but as someone who firmly believes in
rewarding myself when it’s due, this phrase is one I often think about in
trying to get to that point of accomplishment. It’s possible that I just won’t
ever earn it yet (baby), but that’s another post, I think. If there’s a thesis
theme song, this is it.
Also – FUCK YEAH, I AM SEEING MORRISSEY AT CHRISTMAS!
Can – ‘Mother Sky’
(song) 1970
Dance, just dance. This is finally going on the mix CD this
year, sorry to ruin the surprise. I’ve listened to this more than a hundred
times in the last week alone, it’s just easy to lose yourself in it.
Television – ‘Marquee
Moon’ (song) 1977
From the album of the same name, this song is the song above
all other songs. I had never heard of this track until early 2003, when my
favourite DJ abandoned his Thursday night show on the national youth network (due
to a big promotion), called the J Files, which used to focus on a particular
artist or band’s work, although occasionally they did something a little
different. On this, his last show, he had other people who worked at the
station talk about their favourite song, and this was his choice. I went out
and bought the record the next day and basically fell in love. The duelling
guitars are about as good as it gets, and yes, it’s long – but seriously, just
lose yourself in it. I celebrate with this song, I revel in it when miserable,
and last week when I could only feel relief coursing through my veins it was
what I played over and over again. It is superlative in every way.
What songs or albums do you listen to obsessively?
