Leezer

 I will probably be deaf in twenty years.  My Mom is hard of hearing and my Dad is quickly behind her.  It’s genetic, and to make matters worse, my parents didn’t attend large arena-concerts in their teens and twenties.  I did.  I also listen to my iPod at nearly full-volume.  So I may as well start saving my money for hearing aids now, because I will definitely need them. Thank God that today, the typical hearing aid is smaller than an egg o’ Silly Putty, which is what my grandmother’s looked like.

On the topic of music, one of my favorite past times is reading the celebrity playlists on iTunes.  There are some “celebrities” whose playlists I won’t bother reading, so utterly convinced am I that I’d have no interest whatsoever in their favorite songs.  (e.g. Kenny Chestny, Snoop Dog, Donald Trump).   And why am I confident you’ll be interested in my list of current favorites?  (That’s a rhetorical question). 

These are the songs I can listen to over and over without getting sick of them:

• Rainy Monday - Shiny Toy Guns.  This band is going to be huge.  This song gives me the same feeling I get when I drive over a hill and become airborne for the tiniest second.   A happy song about unrequited love.  Happy and hopeful at the same time.

• Any song from the Juno soundtrack.  Most of this music reminds me of a simpler time.  Very Simon and Garfunkel (Not “Rhythm of the Saints,” Paul Simon, but 1966 “Scarborough Fair” S&G).  But there’s other flavors in there too.  “Anyone Else But You” is the best.  A very sweet movie, as well.

• Girls in their Summer Clothes, Bruce Springstein.  This is vintage Bruce, probably because he recorded “Radio Days” with the E Street Band.  Girls in their Summer Clothes is a catchy tune, again about unrequited love.  I’m not sure why this is a theme with me.  I don’t have unrequited love. I married my unrequited love. It’s requited.

• Fade Into You - Mazzy Star.  This song is from 1993 when The Cowboy Junkies were popular, and this song has a Misguided Angel/Sweet Jane feeling to it.  I was in law school when Fade Into You was popular, and I still love it.  It reminds me of how idealistic I was then.

• Hey There Delilah - Plain White Tees.  My daughter sings this song in perfect pitch.  My husband plays it on the guitar.  It’s a sweet little song.  I think it was nominated for a grammy but it didn’t win. 

• O Mio Babbina Caro  - this is an aria from a Puccini opera, and I believe it was on the “A Room With A View” soundtrack.   The very end is so pretty it’s made me cry. It reminds me of a bird soaring. 

• Ein’ feste Burg is unser Gott (A Mighty Fortress Is Our God)- Martin Luther.  Did anyone think I would get through an entire post without mentioning him?  This is my favorite hymn, to the extent one can really like hymns.  Luther wrote this in about 1510, and it goes, “A mighty fortress is our God; a bulwark never failing (fay ay ay-ling).  Religion, in those days, had so much military and combat-imagery.  I’m sure this is what God had in mind. Nonetheless, this song reminds me of being little and of being really, really safe.

• Hallelujah - Jeff Buckley.  No, this isn’t a spiritual or religious song. With a title like “Hallelujah” you wouldn’t think you’d hear lyrics like:

Well Your faith was strong but you needed proof
You saw her bathing on the roof
Her beauty and the moonlight overthrew you
she tied you to her kitchen chair
And she broke your throne and she cut your hair
And from your lips she drew the Hallelujah

I have no idea what these lyrics mean.  Unrequited love? It’s a haunting tune, though.

• Romeo and Juliet - The Killers. This is a cover of the Dire Straights song with the same title.  I have a huge crush on Brandon Flowers, though, so I like his version better than Mark Knopfler’s.  Mark Knopfler reminds me of Thurston Howell III (Jim Backus).

I’m always looking for new songs for my iPod.  I’ve downloaded Marine running cadences to run with, which I hear is sort of strange.  But it helps me go into a sort of running-trance.  Any ideas from you?