I realized that I haven’t written about music yet. I do not intend for this to be a music blog, but, music being a central part of my life—one I get to share with family, friends, and students, I should come up with a way of getting to write about it here.
Enter the Sunday shuffle.
A friend recently accused me of getting esoteric, so I decided to go whole hog. One way of reading runes is to “throw” three runes and do a past, present, and future reading. There are as many ways of reading runes as there are crazy people pretending to be rune-reading, thought-healing, super-prophets.
Enter the iPod shuffle feature.
On any given Sunday, starting today, I may call upon the iPod oracle to cast a reading. It’s important to remember that the three throws/tracks are a package deal; they only make meaning considered together; a theme must be seen before reading each track individually. The first track explains the past: where you are coming from; the second track interprets the present: what’s going on now; the third track predicts the future.
Here goes the first throw:
Track #1: “That Teenage Feeling” by Neko Case [from Fox Confessor Brings the Flood]
And nothing comforts me the same
As my brave friend who says,
"I don't care if forever never comes
'Cause I'm holding out for that teenage feeling
I'm holding out for that teenage feeling"
As my brave friend who says,
"I don't care if forever never comes
'Cause I'm holding out for that teenage feeling
I'm holding out for that teenage feeling"
Track #2: “Living of Love” by The Avett Brothers [from Emotionalism]
Say yes we live uncertainty
And disappointments have to be
And everyday we might be facing more
And yes we live in desperate times
But fading words and shaking rhymes
There’s only one thing here worth hoping for
With Lucifer beneath you and God above
If either one of them asks you what your living of
Say love, say for me love
And disappointments have to be
And everyday we might be facing more
And yes we live in desperate times
But fading words and shaking rhymes
There’s only one thing here worth hoping for
With Lucifer beneath you and God above
If either one of them asks you what your living of
Say love, say for me love
Track #3: “Better Things” by The Kinks [from Come Dancing With The Kinks]
It’s really good to see you rocking out
And having fun, Living like you just begun.
Accept your life and what it brings.
I hope tomorrow you’ll find better things.
I know tomorrow you’ll find better things.
And having fun, Living like you just begun.
Accept your life and what it brings.
I hope tomorrow you’ll find better things.
I know tomorrow you’ll find better things.
___________________________
Well, I can’t help/hope but think this is a good omen—a good first throw. It seems the theme is set by track two, by those brothers who write/sing of little else: love. Going backwards from there to Ms. Neko Case, spins her often bitter but not hopeless ballad toward hopefulness. When I met my wife I was no teenager, but I started to feel like one as we got closer and closer to one another and decided to drop the just friends. That was a dozen years ago.
As far as the brothers Avett are concerned, they have been the house band around our place for a year or so. We have grown to love their sappiness, but we prefer it with a healthy dose of banjo. Mr. iPod picked a good one to stand for today.
That leads us to track the last: an old standby, The Kinks. “Better Things” is not one of my favorite Kinks’ tunes, but the message of hope and happiness works great as a predictor of futures as far as I’m concerned. Ray Davies is now 65 and still “rocking out”. I hope that I and mine will be too, and music like this (truly “pop” music, that is) never goes out of style.
___________________________
I decided to add a fourth track. One that wasn’t selected but that is on the iPod right now and is on my mind this weekend. That song is: “However Many takes it Takes” by Vandaveer [from Grace and Speed].
Well, step outside into the sun
Let it dry your eyes and run
Around, feel the warm underneath your skin
The clouds will soon move in again
You can't expect to always win
You've got to take it as it comes
The marching bands and beating drums
Play familiar songs for the alum
We've all got scars, but we don't like to show them
Sometimes it's better to be strong
We all got to be moving on
You've got to walk a million miles
Ah honey, go walk 'em with a smile
Past, present, or future, that’s a damn good song.
Let it dry your eyes and run
Around, feel the warm underneath your skin
The clouds will soon move in again
You can't expect to always win
You've got to take it as it comes
The marching bands and beating drums
Play familiar songs for the alum
We've all got scars, but we don't like to show them
Sometimes it's better to be strong
We all got to be moving on
You've got to walk a million miles
Ah honey, go walk 'em with a smile
Past, present, or future, that’s a damn good song.
[If my Lala embeds are wrong, sorry, and if you don't have a free Lala account, get one.
This is precisely the sort of thing I would love to do, but would end up embarassing myself terribly when my mischievous iPod would choose something that's awesomely bad. I'm glad to see you do it though, and I'm glad you added the fourth song, because it immediately spoke volumes to me. I might have to go find that one.
ReplyDeleteNever be ashamed of the iPod playlist. Embrace the songs that embrace you.
ReplyDelete