autographedcat

And here we come to the last song in the 30 day challenge, where we are asked to share a song that reminds us of ourselves. Of all the challenges, this was the easiest song by far to choose. I’ve always said that this was my theme song, and will certainly play over the opening credits of the TV series based on my life, were someone to undertake such a thing. Most people who know me¹ can attest to this.

I loved the song when I first heard it, when it was a hit for Men at Work in 1983. But I really love the acoustic versions that Colin Hay performs these days, and there’s a number of really good performances of it floating around, including this one.

If you’ve ever wanted a peak inside my brain, this song will give you one. Here’s Colin Hay, with “Overkill”.

1. and certainly anyone who’s dated me ↩

Today’s challenge invites us to share a song from an artist whose voice you love. One of my favourite singers growing up was Karen Carpenter. I had all the Carpenters albums, and listened to them endlessly. This is a challenge where the initial selection is easy, but which track to choose. As is often my wont, I’m going for a pretty deep album cut rather than one of the big hits everyone knows.

This song was originally written in 1937, and was a hit for Tommy Dorsey, and later for the Andrews Sisters. But Karen’s wistful, angelic alto and Richard’s sublime arrangement make this a standout track from their 1975 album Horizon. Here’s what I think is the definitive rendition of “I Can Dream, Can’t I?”

Today’s challenge invites us to share a song that makes you want to fall in love. Love songs are, of course, about three quarters of the popular music canon, so one is hardly spoiled for choice. I’m choosing today to share this exquisite number from Bob Dylan’s 1997 album “Time Out Of Mind”. It’s been covered by many people, but I like the sparseness of the original. (I should really learn this one.) Here’s “To Make You Feel My Love”

Today’s challenge invites us to share a song from a band we wish were still together. I don’t recall who it was who first introduced me to Great Big Sea; I think it was Seanan McGuire. But once I found them, I fell in love with their whole sound, and got to see them live four times. They always put on an amazing show, and I’m sorry that I won’t get to see them again, unless they decide to get back together.

So here’s Great Big Sea, with one of my favourite songs of theirs, “Boston and St. John”.

Today’s challenge invites us to sing a song that “moves you forward”. This is another vaguely worded prompt that I’m not sure how to interpret, but there’s certainly a great deal of inspirational and motivational music out there. For instance, there’s this great little number from my friend Ben Wakeman, a wonderful Atlanta area singer-songwriter, which tells us that even when everything around us is awful, we should still get on with getting on with things. That’s certainly a message for our times if I ever heard one, so here’s “Get Your Ass Up Off The Floor”

Today’s challenge invites us to share a song that has many meanings to ourselves, and I have to admit that I’m a bit stumped. There are certainly songs that have different *associations* in my mind. It isn’t so much that the song means a different thing as that it resonates on a different frequency emotionally, depending on the context. I’m not sure that’s entirely what the question is going for, but since that’s all we have to go on, here’s a song that stirs a lot of different emotions in me, depending on who is on my mind when I play it¹. Here’s “Beeswing” by Richard Thompson.

1. The details of which I have no intention of expanding upon here ↩

I was born in 1970, which was a pretty great year for music. The Billboard year-end Top 100 chart would make a pretty killer playlist.

I’m going with a song that reflected the mood of the times, and sadly, which still does. It would require almost no alteration to bring this song into the present. Here’s The Temptations, with “Ball of Confusion”.

Astute readers will (and did) notice that in my haste to make sure I got yesterday’s post up on time, i accidentally skipped a day¹. So here is the entry that was skipped, and tomorrow we’ll be back on track.

This is another hard one to pick a single song. I’m a huge fan of covers², especially covers that do something really interesting and different with a song that transform in a way that feels entirely organic and natural. I mean, I also love covers that are just gimmicks,³, but someone taking a song and really turning it into something personal is always a treat.

So I’m using this entry to share a favourite track from one of my favourite musicians, Richard Thompson. At a 2000 tribute to Joni Mitchell, he performed this rendition of her classic song, “Woodstock”, and it delights me every time I hear it.

1. Amusingly, the song I picked for the out of order challenge would have also been a valid entry here ↩

2. and if you are too, you should subscribe to Brian Ibbott’s significant podcast, “Coverville” ↩

3. such as those produced by Hayseed Dixie, Me First And the Gimme Gimmes, or Richard Cheese ↩

Today’s challenge invites us to share a song we’d love to be played at our wedding. There’s a few songs that come to mind here; songs that were “our songs” early in our relationship, that meant a lot to us. When Larissa and I first got together, I was living in Atlanta and she in New Hampshire, so we spent a lot of time burning up the phone lines at night, and spending about one weekend a month actually together, which is as often as we could manage between finances and other commitments. On one of her first trips down, she gave me a copy of a mix-CD that included this wonderful song, and it quickly became a talisman for us. (I eventually leanred to play it, so that I could sing it to her myself.) Here’s Anne Hills, with “Follow That Road”.

Today’s challenge invites us to share a song from our preteen years.   While one could take this as “anytime before you were a teen”, I’m going to go with the narrower sense of the word meaning “immediately before you were a teen, so roughly between the ages of 10 and 12, which in my case, gives me a range of roughly 1980 – 1983.

In addition, I’m going to pick a song that I was actually fond of at the time, rather than one I discovered later.   Because we didn’t have cable TV in 1981, the only time I ever saw the newfangled music videos everyone was talking about was on an NBC late night program called “Friday Night Videos”, and the songs that featured in its heavy rotation were special to me.  This song, in particular, I remember being especially fond of, every time it would come up.   Something about that wonderfully slinky saxophone and Rindy Ross’s sultry vocals sparked something in my preadolescent imagination, and besides, Quarterflash is an *awesome* band name.  Here’s their 1981 hit single, “Harden My Heart”.