30 Day Song Challenge Day 30 The End is Here! Desire, Romance & Blood

I've done it. Managed to keep with this meme all the way through. Never done this many blogs in a row. I'm thinking the once a  month with extras will be the way to go (it's where I sit comfortably in the blogging world when added to twitter, facebook and oh yeah, that pesky writing thing I do). Part of the experiment in doing this meme via my blog rather than facebook (keeping the list was another) was to see if I wanted to blog more often. I can see a blog post about where the interwebz fits into my world.

The final choice was for favourite song this time last year. May 2010 was a blur. I was busy working 2 jobs (both regarding teaching/training), juggling a teen in the first of two years of senior (we're in the final year now) and organising an engagement shindig......songs weren't really a priority.

Trawling YouTube by ways of friends posting songs on facebook was more how I came across songs last year.

The result is I'm wrapping with two songs.

The first is a performance by a capella group On the Rocks dong a performance of a Gaga medley with Bad Romance dominating (& it was the song on high play on radios too). I love the movements they do along with the general awesomeness of a bunch of guys pulling off the songs.

The second is another I must've heard a lot and started to enjoy via morning weekend tv music shows. Undisclosed Desires by Muse. Added bonus to a version I found on YouTube (before my son bought a few of the cds) is someone put a composite of Eric Northmen & Sookie Stackhouse from True Blood to the song. A fan of the Sookie Stackhouse books by Charlaine Harris and the HBO tv show (though do not watch/read one expecting the other to be the same).  Personally I think the actors playing Pam and Eric in particular have nailed their characters brilliantly. Some of the others I hold reservations on (& just don't get me started on the fairies....)

So to wrap.......some Eric goodness :-)

30 Day Song Challenge Day 29 Childhood, Puppets & Eurovision

The end is nigh. Today is the penultimate song choice. A song from your childhood. Being chosen and revealed on Mother's Day no less.

I could go with Abba, have memories of one of their albums being the first one I asked to own. Then I thought I could pull out one of the many hippie country folk songs from John Denver, Carole King, Peter, Paul & Mary, The Seekers since that is what I grew up listening to. But since many songs I've chosen are tending to the more obscure or left of field I figure I should keep this going.......

What I didn't realise in this song choice was it was originally a Eurovision song. Honestly, my mother has a lot to answer for *lol* (the fact Abba did Eurovision in no way changes this fact). The song came out before I was born, how on earth I heard it I have no idea. I do remember the small, single song LP record and requesting to have it played (I couldn't use the stereo system - was too young .....) and bop around the lounge room dancing to it. Repeatedly.

Without further ado........here is a classic earworm that can be hard to get out of your head. Puppet on a String sung by Sandie Shaw. Oh, and I managed to find the actual Eurovision performance.....so very different to what is done nowadays.

30 Day Song Challenge Day 28 What's Guilt? No choices made

Today is the hardest one in the list. Again I knew it was coming and again I have no idea what to use. In fact I'm not going to be putting a song up. Different to guilty pleasures (like chocolate) it is mean to be a song that makes me feel guilty. I don't feel guilty when any song plays and I have none that trigger a case of guilts....

Wonder if that's in part due to the fact I live my life eternally feeling guilt (mother's guilt, creative guilt...you know, those "I should be doing something about this/that/whatever" sensation and you're not doing it).

I searched around the interwebz to find songs about guilt - since that was the closest I was going to get but even then I was quite meh over the exercise.

Tomorrow is going to amusing as hell (well, in my brain it is).

30 Day Song Challenge Day 27 Playing Music Harder than it seems

A song I wish I could play. It's taken me most of the day to think on this one (and that is knowing this choice was coming).

I keep coming back to a number of instruments I wish I could play. Owning them or even having the commitment to rent them to practice is the main obstacle to this wish. On the list of instruments I wish to own/play (which I've realised all are used to play Baroque Music).....

oboe

harpsichord

bassoon

Cello

(yeah, there's the cost of a decent sized car right there for you...which is why I've not indulged myself on this desire).

So, I've been spending the day doing mundane tasks like grocery shopping, making jam drops all the while thinking of various pieces of music over the years I've thought would be cool to play. I can think of pieces for each instrument, to play with an orchestra.....harder than it seems to make a choice.

I couldn't find a shorter snapshot version of this one...Toccata and Fugue in D Minor by J.S. Bach. Really love it about the 1 - 2 minute mark.

30 Day Song Challenge Day 26 Playing is No Longer Secret

A song that you can play on an instrument.

Oh this was fun to choose. I was remembering the time in my life I played the flute (essentially until I left school, though I do still pull it out every now and again). My high school had a very ambitious music program with a conductor who thought nothing (or, maybe he gave it some thought), of throwing to the advanced concert band works of a high standard. It was hard and we needed to practice. I wasn't as disciplined as I should've been but perhaps if I had my life would've taken a whole other route (music & ancient civilisations were my big loves.....still are in fact).

Ergo, today's choice. The Marriage of Figaro Overture by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. Undiluted aka rearranged for school students. We played the real deal. I have copies of the 1st, 2nd and 3rd flute parts. Have played them all. I didn't have the piccolo at this point (that would've been around for the Magic Flute the following year). I was 15yrs old/Grade 10 and can remember playing it along with Slavonic Dances by Dvorak.

I hear this piece and immediately my brain goes to playing the notes, mastering the double tonguing technique required, remembering the rests, the different points of starting, harmonies.....

I love playing music. On my wish list of when I have a gazillion dollars I'd love to buy an oboe and learn to play it. In the meantime, I should probably look into getting my flute serviced......

30 Day Song Challenge Day 25 Teens Make Me Laugh

A song that makes you laugh. A couple came to mind, but one stood out. Sort of Dunno Nothin' by Pete Denahy is a look at the day to day conversations one can attempt to have with a teenager. In particular a teenage boy. I have a teenage son and have had days like this. I don't know about girls, I'm sure they can be just as non-communicative towards parents, family or people who aren't part of their inner sanctum. It's a very Australian song. Aussie language and humour in all areas - the lyrics, the delivery, the settings used. Makes me laugh. Hope you get a smile too.

30 Day Song Challenge Day 24 Humour & funerals make an appearance

A song you'd like played at your funeral. I've thought of this on occasion and I have two songs I'd like played. Whether it'd happen is another thing entirely.

One song is What a Wonderful World by Louis Armstrong. I first discovered this song via the Robin Williams movie Good Morning Vietnam. It's also the final song at the end of the TV version of Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy. I'd have this one played first (as you can get weepy).

My son I'm sure would say the next one is an obvious show of my humour but really it's to tell people to get on with their lives and to celebrate life. The song is Don't Worry Be Happy by Bobby McFerrin, an earworm of a song that came out in the late 80s. Added bonus to the video is Robin Williams making an appearance.

Sure be sad, but what I really want at my funeral is for people to celebrate the act of living and the times they had with me. 

30 Day Song Challenge Day 23 Wedding Secrets not revealed

A song to play at my wedding.  However, my wedding is on a schedule for next year. We haven't decided what songs we're going to use yet. Not to mention, my arrival song is going to be a surprise for the groom.

Maybe, after the ceremony next February, I'll do a post about weddings but until then.....I'm going to seal my lips, and take the U.S. fifth and not tell here.

30 Day Song Challenge Day 22 When Chilli is Sad

A song listened to when sad. Sometimes it depends on the cause of sadness, a passing memory, something that is upsetting at the time, being a witness or participant - it all changes the song choice for me. So, I trawled through all my music lists, listened to a few. Then realised one automatically pops into my head - Otherside by Red Hot Chili Peppers. I'd forgotten how much I liked this video too.

The other time this song makes an appearance is when I do my swimming laps - there's a great rhythm in this song that times perfectly with strokes used in swimming up and down a pool. Swimming however does not make me sad. It relaxes me. So, a multipurpose song really.

I use Red Hot Chili Peppers a lot when I'm writing. The music can help me slide into the zone to a point I've no idea how much time has passed by.