In Which Carmen is Curious
Aug. 18th, 2005 01:43 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
xaaraI read an article in the Washington Post today about how iPod playlists are intensely personal and at the same time completely impersonal--any given song can mean any number of things to any number of people. I believe you can learn a great deal about a person by observing the music they listen to. So, in the spirit of the "list what you're listening to now" memes, I'd like to post a slightly different question:
Pick a handful of songs that are meaningful to you and explain why you chose them. Though including a link to an mp3 is optional, it would be nice. :)
I'll start with...
1. L'Italiano by Toto Cutugno: One of my best friends first approached me with this song a few months ago, asking me if I could tell him who the singer was. I started listening to it and was immediately transported back to Italy. It was an intense experience, though now it's mellowed into a song that I listen to when I'm nostalgic.
2. The Guns of Brixton by The Clash: Before this song, my understanding of punk went something like this: So there was this whole music thing around in, like, the 70s and 80s. And it was noisy and involved a lot of hair gel and safety pins. After this song, my understanding of punk went something like this:
Seriously, this was the beginning of my lasting love affair with punk of all shapes, sizes, and time periods.
3. Schism by Tool: I don't like Tool. Really and truly dislike Tool. I think their music strongly resembles the sound of a dryer losing a fight to a lawnmower, and it just doesn't get to me on any level. Except this song. The first time I listened to this, I was curled up under an afghan on the sofa, watching a fierce thunderstorm. No one else was up, and as I watched the storm and listened, I entered this sort of trance where there was nothing except the storm and the music. Now, every time I listen to Schism, I hear the thunder, see the flashes of lightning splitting the sky. It's an amazing feeling. It's an amazing song.
4. Here Comes the Sun by The Beatles: You'd have to have a heart made out of something harder than rock not to like this song. I'll always associate it with moving--it's my constant whenever we pick up and take our things somewhere new. It's always the last song I listen to before I leave, and the first song I listen to when I arrive. The hope that shines through it just has the power to erase all doubt.
5. Chariot by Gavin DeGraw: I will forever associate this song with one of my good friends. Even though we're out of high school and almost certain to drift in and out of touch now that we no longer live blocks from one another, all I have to do is listen to this song and suddenly there he is, smiling at me, saying something snarky and inappropriate and hilarious.
Pick a handful of songs that are meaningful to you and explain why you chose them. Though including a link to an mp3 is optional, it would be nice. :)
I'll start with...
1. L'Italiano by Toto Cutugno: One of my best friends first approached me with this song a few months ago, asking me if I could tell him who the singer was. I started listening to it and was immediately transported back to Italy. It was an intense experience, though now it's mellowed into a song that I listen to when I'm nostalgic.
2. The Guns of Brixton by The Clash: Before this song, my understanding of punk went something like this: So there was this whole music thing around in, like, the 70s and 80s. And it was noisy and involved a lot of hair gel and safety pins. After this song, my understanding of punk went something like this:
Seriously, this was the beginning of my lasting love affair with punk of all shapes, sizes, and time periods.3. Schism by Tool: I don't like Tool. Really and truly dislike Tool. I think their music strongly resembles the sound of a dryer losing a fight to a lawnmower, and it just doesn't get to me on any level. Except this song. The first time I listened to this, I was curled up under an afghan on the sofa, watching a fierce thunderstorm. No one else was up, and as I watched the storm and listened, I entered this sort of trance where there was nothing except the storm and the music. Now, every time I listen to Schism, I hear the thunder, see the flashes of lightning splitting the sky. It's an amazing feeling. It's an amazing song.
4. Here Comes the Sun by The Beatles: You'd have to have a heart made out of something harder than rock not to like this song. I'll always associate it with moving--it's my constant whenever we pick up and take our things somewhere new. It's always the last song I listen to before I leave, and the first song I listen to when I arrive. The hope that shines through it just has the power to erase all doubt.
5. Chariot by Gavin DeGraw: I will forever associate this song with one of my good friends. Even though we're out of high school and almost certain to drift in and out of touch now that we no longer live blocks from one another, all I have to do is listen to this song and suddenly there he is, smiling at me, saying something snarky and inappropriate and hilarious.
