At a loss for anything dramatic, and worn out from my forum fights about politics. So I will fall back on an old and tried post, looking at the first 5 songs on my iPod when I turn it on.
Bohemian Rhapsody by Queen
Where do you start with this song? I first heard it in High school, and it really astounded me. It is so operatic and amazing. And then when it experienced a resurrection in popularity with the death of Freddie Mercury and Wayne's World I was pretty psyched that all of a sudden everyone else seemed to like the same music as I do. While it is technically a rock song, it is really pretty undefinable, truly a classic song.
Peter Piper by Run-D.M.C
I came a little late to the Run-D.M.C. bandwagon, not really getting into them until the release of the Raising Hell album, which this song was on. I can remember a road trip my sophomore year of college, we basically alternated between this tape and a punk rock mix tape all the way across country to Oberlin Ohio for Thanksgiving. By the end of the trip we had become huge rap fans. The highlight of which was attending the Run-D.M.C./Beastie Boys Together Forever Tour at Red Rocks. This particular song is one of the classic examples of the great interlocking vocals that made early rap great.
Blue Heaven by the Pogues
The Pogues were a unique band, really occupying a solitary niche. A rather odd mix of Irish folk music and Punk Rock. This song is typical, the lyrics are semi-intelligible, sung with a heavy Irish brogue. The tempo is quite fast for a band playing traditional acoustic instruments. I really like their music, and their Greatest Hits album is one of my absolute favorites.
Oh Daddy by Adrian Belew
Now this is a unique song, by a serious niche artist. I got this album from a friend of my mother's when I was staying with him. It was a little too weird for him. And this song is the most Pop like song on the album. I really like the way the lyrics go back and forth like a conversation between a parent and child.
One Toke over the Line by Brewer & Shipley
A classic country rock song, with some rather jarring lyrics. You certainly cannot imagine a song now where an artist would be simultaneously talking about marijuana use at the same time as praying to Jesus. Of of the references to this song that always comes to mind is in the Hunter Thompson classic Fear & Loathing in Las Vegas, where the writer talks about hearing this song and being struck by how absurd it is to be talking about just 1 toke over the line when he is in the middle of an insane drug & booze aided bender.
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