A genus of between 151 and 350 species of mosses

Sleepy, dreamy, and with the best name ever. Stuck in my head since the weekend.

(The title is from Wikipedia entry on the first word of...)

"Sphagnum Esplanade" - The Shins

And my superfreaky memories...

...are gone without a trace.

But the earworm remains.

Ahhhh Superfreaky Memories... only one of the best songs ever. It has found its way on to many an ancient mix cd that I have made. I not-so-recently let go of my beloved truck (my first vehicle, had it from age 17, paid for it myself and everything *sniff* memories *tear*), and I had to clean it out. Then I had to sift through the assorted decade+ of crap that had been floating around in it forever. I found quite a a number of old cds (obviously my truck only had a tape player, but there are workarounds). Anyhoozle, so I've been listening to a lot of my old cds and reminiscing. I am a huge fan of a good mix tape/cd/playlist and I am always thinking of posting some here. Maybe someday.

 But for now, please enjoy this favorite of mine.

This reminds me of being a lot younger, the wonders of the internet (and getting my brother to let me use napster on his computer and leaving it running all night) and the sheer joy of music discovery. Discovering things I liked. Liked by myself, without input from others.
Like cool warm mellow indie dreampop. (And some elegant strings.)

"Superfreaky Memories" - Luna

By starlight I know you, as lovely as a wish granted true

In addition to the delightful/insidious Muppet mahna mahna song (thanks to a coworker), this is my current earworm. There is something so beautiful (and terrible / sad / perfect) about this song. It is one of my favorites.

I have been super broken up about the failing health situation of my beloved cat, Alfie, and so I have been in the music-mood of wanting the soft, sad, more wallow-appropriate and/or soothing melancholy that I can dig out of my playlist. Billy obliges. Bless him.

"By Starlight" - The Smashing Pumpkins

One of my music husbands

STUCK IN MY HEAD
I LOVE YOU ROBERT SMITH

Not in Love - Crystal Castles ft. Robert Smith (video is meh, though nicely reminiscent of memories, I guess...)

Fade into you, Lord of the Universe?

Two disparate songs have been stuck in my head all week, I thought that I could maybe drive them out with an eclectic playlist that I blasted at Thursday night happy hour (small but successful), and various iterations of other playlists, and even my old standby lots-of-Dylan, and yet they remain. Earworms are stubborn that way. I had to spend this morning at a funeral, and despite sitting through that (it was for a rather great lady, much beloved by many), and all the solemnity of that, and yet the songs are still rattling around in my brain. Realllllly worked their way in.
(Side note for future reference: for my funeral I want it to be lots of drinking and dancing and not just a sad people sitting around. Sad people dancing awkwardly would be preferred.)


Firstly:
"Fade Into You" - Mazzy Star - love the B&W of this video, it's just so fitting and moody and you can't really see much of anything, which matches the "fade" notion of the song.





And now for something completely different.

"Adon Olam" - Uzi Chitman - Adon Olam is a traditional Jewish prayer that can be sung/chanted in an endless number of ways, but the late Uzi Chitman composed this strikingly beautiful melody for the first couple stanzas in the 70s for a festival. From that, he became a popular and beloved singer/songwriter/composer and TV personality. He appeared in Israeli kids songs videos (just lost like an hour or so trying to find bits on YT, oohhh the cheezinesss, they were so terrible, but then so are most low budget kids videos, I guess) that my parents got for us when we were young to bolster our Hebrew skillz, which means I've maybe been a little bit in love with him for a long time. I find this arrangement to be just amazing - still very expansive and respectfully worshipful, but so unique, with fast bits and changes between styles. I think it makes it both more folksy and more modern than a staid traditional hymn-type version. All in that lovely 70s folk rock kinda style that I love so dearly, which is probably why it works so well for me. If I think of the words to this (admittedly rarely), I can only think of the words with this particular melody.

The video below is of people watching what I'm guessing is some kind of a memorial video of Uzi (he is the floppy haired one) along with Oded Ben-Hur. (Here's also a link to a higher quality audio version of him singing it set to space/star pics is there if you'd rather just listen/like better audio.)




And I guess that's worked out to be fairly fitting for the day I've turned out to have. Anyone been struggling with any particularly strong earworms lately? What were your songs of this past week?

Earworm: Heartbreak Beat

Cat woke me up too early. In process of clearing out my bedroom to make room for a new bigger bed.
Not sure why this is pounding in my head this morning as I sit around and sift through papers but this is it... Luckily it is a great song.

The video is classic 80s. Crank it up.

Earworm: She & Him

In The Sun - She & Him - It's just so sunny and happy. Though the video is just a touch too sweet, maybe? I still like it. I'm a sucker for dancing and cute clothes. So adorable.

Hard to be soft, tough to be tender

To set the scene, today has been too long, and it's cold and rainy and the wind is like freakkkky right now... It's just one of those terrible November days, and my lights keep flickering, if my power goes out I will be very sad. Did I mention the insane winds buffeting the house? Despite this, and my tiredness, and despite a rather depressing text message exchange with a friend (remind me to stay single), I am actually feeling rather upbeat.

Current song stuck in my head - "Help I'm Alive" - Metric:



They are just so good.

Earworm: 1997 comes a'callin

For some reason, this song has been stuck in my head. Luckily, I actually like this song, and I remember loving it when I first heard it on the radio back in the day.

I have this theory, descriptively entitled "get 'em young" - I think a lot of things imprint on us quite young - e.g. when did I first see Star Wars (young) and how long did I think Harrison Ford was the hottest thing ever (a long time)... and the same applies for music, of course. I was raised by parents with a classical musical only policy, so I started exploring my own tastes in music later... so while music is important in most teenagers life/self-identity-formation, for me it was doubly or trebly so, because I had a lot to catch up on, and a lot to discover. I started with classic rock, and moved on from there.  So 90s radio rock will always have a special place in my heart. I'm sure lots of other people in my generation who were teenagers in 90s have the same feelings about a lot of songs, even the one-hit wonders like this. Sometime around then the internet was also getting big, and from there I discovered even more amazing music, older, deeper tracks, the wide world of streaming college radio stations and indie music... etc. But the music on the radio then (I listened to a lot of 91X back then, LOL, shoutout, San Diego!) definitely imprinted on my heart. I think a lot of songs we listen to in our early teens stick with us; and carry the emotional weight of those years, whether they are actually good songs or not (consider then, what kids now will carry around with them! Miley? Bieber? *shudder*).

I actually think this song holds up quite well. The video - I think it almost might have to be filed under 'trying too hard' - while I really like the silent movie vibe, the sign posts are a little heavy-handed!  But overall, I do still like it, it's an interesting attempt, and who doesn't love a girl making a good choice in the end?


"Your Woman - White Town" -


White Town - Your Woman
Uploaded by djoik. - Music videos, artist interviews, concerts and more.


I realized I don't think I've ever listened to any other song by this guy, so I looked for another video - here is the video for another one "Undressed - White Town" - I like the song, but it's nowhere near as catchy. The video I find similar to the other one - tight focus on very few characters. Very literal interpretation!

Earworm: Nightingale

I like it when the song repeating in my head is actually a good song. Sadly, as I have no control over the matter, it doesn't happen as often as one might hope. And it's a gorgeous, dark, broody song, which I guess is fitting since I had a textbook case of the Mondays today.

"Nightingale" - Rocco DeLuca & The Burden: I love this song. It is perfect.

The man can wail. Plus, he plays a dobro (and as we have learned from my beloved Magnetic Fields, a dobro sounds "like a mountain range in love"). He also has a lovely distinctive voice which I enjoy...Note: it has been called "shrill" LOL. (My love for whiney voiced men may well be the theme of a future post.)

I couldn't find a video for it, but this is a performance:

Or if you want - a slightly more intimate, stripped-down version from an interview.

Fact: this song is so great, that it even made me forgive him for the terrible video that got made for "Colorful" - not the one of him walking at the beach, but the hot naked model one that got played a lot on VH1 back in the day. Which just irritated me to no end, like, way to have a song about a 'colorful' person illustrated by the most generic, personality-lacking thing possible: a naked model upon whom one projects actual pictures of oneself. Not that I in any way believe that videos should be just literal interpretations. I just think it's a cheap way to make a video get played. This could actually be part of a whole separate post about how sometimes a not-so-great video really drags down a really good song, taints it, as it were. Now when I hear this song, I almost always still think of the video, and am mildly annoyed - and it's been YEARS since this came out.


You may also know him because they're on Kiefer Sutherland's record label and he promotes their stuff. In fact the video I found for "Save Yourself" has "24" clips in it, I guess it was used in their 24: Redemption movie.



And, bonus earworm - when I was looking at the above video, along the side with the other suggested videos, right under videos from Audioslave and The Fray and above Bloodhound Gang (seriously YouTube?) was the lovely and infectious "Silver Lining" - Rilo Kiley (one of my all-time favorite bands). This video is incredibly adorable, very cutesy and sweetly sad. Enjoy:

Earworm: "Send Me an Angel"

Likely to be a common theme for future posts: "that song that's stuck in my head." Today's gem: Send Me an Angel - Real Life.

I really should pick something more auspicious for a first real post, but it's late and I still need to pack my lunch for work tomorrow, and this song has been melting my brain all day.

An 80s hit with a delightful super cheesy epic fantasy thing going on... and I love how ugly the guy is (it warms my soul).