Music Meme: Favorite Song About Death

Oh man, it's the last day of the meme. Now I'll have to find something else to fill this blog with. I may have to go back to writing about actual stuff I'm doing. Which, okay, I do have some things floating around that are worth posting about. Not least of which is this year's super successful Halloweiner.

But for now, we will talk about songs about death. This actually took me the longest to come up with, which is a little weird. Given all the country music I listen to, I know plenty of songs about death and dying and grieving. But my brain kept getting stuck on Warren Zevon's I'll Sleep When I'm Dead, which is barely about death at all.

Once I got past that song, my brain moved on to Whiskey Lullaby, a duet between Brad Paisley and Allison Krauss. I fell in love with her voice all over again the first time I heard this song.

There's LA County, by Lyle Lovett. This song is so upbeat that it took me several listens to realize he was singing about a murder. It definitely seems like a murder he's happy to commit.

And I would be remiss to let this category pass without mentioning Will the Circle Be Unbroken, a staple of road trips for as long as I can remember

And so ends the music meme. If you come across another meme that looks fun, let me know!

Music Meme: Favorite Song About Breaking Up

I really like The Race is On by The Grateful Dead. Something about using the horse race as a metaphor is just so clever. Well, it was clever when I was seven, and I still love it.

I also really like Nickel Creek's Someone More Like You, which is wonderfully bitter and angry. Especially the line

I hope you meet someone your size
So you can see eye to eye
With someone as small as you

Music Meme: Favorite Song About Love

I will always have a soft spot for Warren Zevon's Let Nothing Come Between You.

I'm also a big fan of the Dixie Chicks' Lullaby. It so soft and beautiful.

Music Meme: Favorite Song About Politics

My go-to song for raging about politics is Joe Jackson's Evil Empire. I listened to it non-stop when we declared war on Iraq and Afghanistan. I used it in a class project when we read The Handmaid's Tale. It was written in the 80s, but it remains relevant in today's America.

This video isn't the best editing job I've ever seen, but it was the only one on YouTube.

Music Meme: Favorite Song About Religion

This has to be Emmylou Harris' song, Deeper Well. I heard enough Emmylou Harris in my youth to recognize her voice, but I never really listened to her. It wasn't until I finished college and really started exploring folk music that I burned all of my mom's Emmylou Harris CDs and started listening.

But that's not actually what introduced me to Deeper Well. Joss Whedon references the song in an episode of Angel. After I listened to the commentary for the episode, I found the song in my library and sat down to really listen to the lyrics. They're pretty fantastic.

Music Meme: Favorite Song About Drugs

I have a lot of drug-themed songs in my library. I even have a whole mix CD devoted to this topic, which my mom and I made after my stepmom gave me a very strange and rather belated "Don't Do Drugs" talk. One of my go to songs, which was actually included on that CD thanks to my mom is John Prine's Illegal Smile.

I've also long been a fan of Warren Zevon's Carmelita, probably even before I realized it was about heroin

Then I went to college and was introduced to Afroman's Because I Got High, which got played an awful lot. Listening to it still transports me back to the dorms at school.

Election Round Up

Guys, a lot of really awesome things happened last night. Apart from Obama winning the presidential election and getting four more years in office, there were a lot of great results.

Puerto Rico voted to become the 51st state of America (though it does still need approval from Congress)

New Hampshire became the first state to have an all-female governing body (governor, senate, and house representatives)

Mazie Hirono (Hawaii) become the first Buddhist and the first Asian-American woman in the Senate

Tammy Baldwin (Wisconsin) become the first openly gay senator

Tammy Duckworth (Illinois) became the first disabled woman and first female combat veteran in Congress

Tulsi Gabbard (Hawaii) became the first Hindu elected to Congress

Gay marriage was, for the first time in our nation's history, legalized by popular vote

And, because I'm amused by it
Colorado and Washington both legalized marijuana

It's baby steps, but we're definitely moving forward. I can only hope we get more changes like this in the coming elections until we run out of firsts.

Music Meme: Favorite Story Told in a Song

I'm a sucker for traditional folk songs and the Sweet Polly Oliver trope. My favorite story song, Jack A Roe, encompasses both of these things.

It's about a girl who's fiance, Jack, goes off to war. When she doesn't hear from him, she starts to worry and decides to follow him to war to make sure he's alright. She finds him on the battlefield and ends up saving his life. Then they get married.

But my favorite part about this song is that it turns into a marriage proposal at the end. The final verse is

This couple they got married, so well they did agree
This couple they got married, so why not you and me?

I've always loved that little twist, and I like the way it breaks the fourth wall of the song a bit.

Music Meme: Favorite Instrumental

I'm not generally a big fan of instrumental music. I tend to prefer songs with a plot, and that usually requires lyrics. But there are a few instrumental songs I've come to like over the years. The first is Black Mountain Rag, which was on a CD I listened to constantly growing up. Here's the legendary Doc Watson performing it:

And the second is by Nickel Creek. Most people prefer Smoothie Song, but I've always been partial to Scotch and Chocolate

Music Meme: Favorite One Hit Wonder

Can I pick The Grateful Dead? I mean, technically they only had one hit.

I went and looked up VH1's 100 Greatest One-Hit Wonders to help me answer this question. And I was quickly reminded of such ridiculous songs as The Macarena and Who Let The Dogs Out?. A lot of these artists really didn't deserve a second hit. Which is probably why they never got one.

But there are some songs on the list that I enjoy. Songs like Tainted Love

Come On Eileen

And Eye of the Tiger

I'm not sure I could ever really pick a favorite, though.

Music Meme: Favorite Duet/Collaboration

A few weeks ago, a duet by Mark Knopfler and Emmylou Harris came on my Pandora station, and I literally stopped working and just listened to the song. Their voices and styles fit together so perfectly. Then I discovered that they released an entire album together, and I got even more excited. I still need to buy the album, but here's a couple of songs from it

This Is Us

Romeo and Juliet

Music Meme: A Song You Don't Like By a Band/Artist You Do

I really like Nickel Creek, and I actually own all of their albums. But I can do without The Hand Song, which is a bit too overtly Christian for my tastes.

I don't really have a lot to say on this prompt. Sorry for the short entry

Music Meme: A Song You Like by a Band/Artist You Don't

I mostly don't like Rascal Flatts. They're one of the first country bands I sampled, since my mom owns their first album. But I could barely even make it through the whole CD. Even though I mostly enjoy country pop, they come down a little too far on the pop side of that line. It's as if N*SYNC decided to record a country album.

I can tolerate Rascal Flatts in small doses. They aren't offensive enough to my ears that I switch the station when they come on or anything. I just don't seek out their music.

That all changed with the release of their latest single, Banjo. I cannot get enough of this song. At first I didn't even believe it was the same band, because I enjoyed the song so much. Whether this is a one-time thing, or a sign of a new direction for the band, I'm really happy they produced this song.

Music Meme: The Most-Played Song in Your Music Player

At this point my love of country, and especially pop-country is inescapable. Eight of the top ten most-played songs in my player are by Carrie Underwood. Although that has a lot to do with my iTunes being reset shortly after college, which wiped all the statistics from before that and my discovery of Carrie Underwood around the same time. I basically had her first three albums on repeat for a month.

So the most-played song in my music library (with a whopping 36 plays) is We're Young and Beautiful. It's a fun song that reminds me of summer and young love and just being happy.

The other two artists that managed to break my top ten are The Dixie Chicks, with Long Time Gone

And Christian Kane with Crazy in Love