Elke passed this ridiculously hard meme onto me. It's very nearly impossible to answer. I mean, really, I could blog the rest of my life on just this meme alone. But I have to buy eggs tomorrow, so I'll go with the short answers.
Top Five Lyrics that Move Your Heart:
Oh, gosh. I don’t know. There’s so many. Definitely something from Lloyd Cole. Either from Lost Weekend:
I was a King Bee with a head full of attitude
An ashtray heart on my sleeve, wounded knees
And my one love song was a tattoo upon my palm
That you wrote upon me when you took my hand
Or, Undressed:
The coolest thing I ever saw
You were sitting there
Smoking my cigarettes
You were naked on the bare stone floor
You looked at me to say, “Don’t guess…”
I was only watching
Yes, I love you more undressed…
And then there’s Billy Bragg, with his wonderful:
Here we are in our summer years
Living on ice cream and chocolate kisses
Would the leaves all fall from the trees
If I were your old man
And you was my misses?
I always got a kick out of the Crash Test Dummys I Think I'll Just Disappear Now:
Well, alright, I’ll just mosey to the bathroom
You flew by like a summer vacation…
And you left me with TV movies
And a messy kitchen…
There’s so many more. Where to start? Where to end? The entire first Reivers album. Everything Bruce Springsteen wrote in the 1990’s. And all the Umpa Lumpa songs.
Do I only get one more? Then I’ll go with this from Graham Parker:
My long stem rose
I know you won’t last too long
You’ll shed your clothes
Your pedals fall and then you’re gone
In another garden, growing so sweetly
In an endless summer, forgetting about me
Wondering where you are, who knows?
In another bed, I suppose
Lying like a long stem rose…
Top 5 Instrumentals:
Theme From A Summer Place
The Brandenburg Concertos
The 1812 Overture
Do I need two more? Jesus.
The themes from Raiders of the Lost Ark and The Pink Panther.
Top 5 Live Musical Experiences:
Lou Reed in some opera house in Baltimore playing New York from note one to the end. Caught a guitar pick, too.
Nick Lowe and His Cowboy Outfit opening for Elvis Costello and the Attractions in Forest Hills, New York in 1984. We were the first people to ever hear “I Hope You’re Happy Now”, which was brand new. Though he played it like a Dylan song.
The Feelies opening for R.E.M. at the Spectrum. The Feelies were the better band.
John Wesley Harding, backed by the Attractions, playing down on the river in Philadelphia sometime around ’91 or so. The skies opened up and lightning kept striking all around the crowd. The city finally shut the show down, on account of the danger, all the while John was standing at the microphone, with about a million amps of electricity hooked up to him, saying “Hey, hey, I’ll play in this!”
And probably again Elvis Costello and his Spinning Song Book tour in 1989. Live, alone, with an acoustic guitar, and big spinning wheel of songs, and guys dressed up in some kind of furry wolf outfits running through the audience grabbing terrified and lucky people to come up on stage.
Nick Lowe opened for that one, too. And for the encore, they came out together and played Nick’s great Peace, Love, and Understanding.
Top Five Artists You Think More People Should Listen To:
Elvis Costello.
Graham Parker.
Billy Bragg.
Marshall Crenshaw.
John Hiatt.
Top Five Albums You Must Hear From Start to Finish:
Billy Bragg’s Worker’s Playtime.
Elvis Costello’s first five albums.
Bob Dylan’s Blonde On Blonde.
Bruce Springsteen’s Lucky Town.
John Hiatt’s Bring the Family
Top Five Musical S/Heroes:
Young Lou Reed.
John Croslin.
Elvis Costello.
Bruce Springsteen.
And Joe Strummer, RIP.
And who to pass it on to? I should pass it onto the Meme Queen, but I won't. How about Karen, who's kind of a literary type. She's pretty interesting. And Rob, because when you're talking music, you need to talk to Rob. And Cookie, of course. Because, if I'm going to be her house husband, I've got to know what kind of music she listens to.
This would take me hours(or days) to do. I can't even think of my favorite bands most days.
Posted by: Margaret | May 23, 2005 at 12:14 AM
You say it's hard, and then you make it look so easy.
Oh, and thank you for the tunes. If you want to keep blogging lyrics, go right ahead! I'll gladly buy eggs for you. Hey, I'll even throw in a gallon of milk, a case of Rolling Rock, and some snottily European chocolate!
Posted by: Elkit | May 23, 2005 at 02:04 AM
And all the Umpa Lumpa songs??? Yeah, those rock! They're right up there with Graham Parker and Bruce.
Posted by: cookie | May 23, 2005 at 10:13 AM
Alright Ricky, here ya go. I didn't give this a whole lot of thought, but you know, if you're my house husband, I'll gladly let you listen to anything you want. Even Constipated-sounding 80's Blue Jean Bruce Springsteen. Just change the oil in my lawn-mower and I'm all yours.
Top Five Lyrics that Move Your Heart:
Dance, Drink, Screw, 'cuz there's nothing else to do - William Shatner and Joe Jackson
The weather is here I wish you were beautiful.
My thoughts aren't too clear but don't run away
My girlfriend's a bore, my job is too dutiful
Hell, nobody's perfect would you like to play - Jimmy Buffet
I beg to dream and differ from the hallow lies - Green Day
Judge not, Before you judge yourself
Judge Not, If you're not ready for judgement
The boat of life is rocking, And you may stumble too
So while you talk about me someone else is judging you - Bob Marley
And the best love song ever:
She's my darlin', my daisy, cross eyed, she's crazy.
Knock-kneed, bow-legged and she's mine, all mine.
Well her teeth are all false, got her teeth in epson salts
She's my freckled faced Liza Jane - Split Lip Rayfield
Top 5 Instrumentals:
I don't really like instrumentals, but that tequila song that Pee Wee Herman does is
kind of fun, and of course the theme song to NPR always gives me goosebumps.
Top 5 Live Musical Experiences:
Arlo Guthrie at Liberty Hall in Lawrence, KS, circa 1994
Some old blues singer on his 80th birthday on the street in Memphis, circa 1993
Making up and singing our own silly lyrics to well-known tunes with my friends in elementary school
When my friend, David Enoch, sporting a beehive hairdo got up and sang Okie From Miscogee in Lawrence, KS with Chuck Meade before BR549, circa 1993
Jamming with my ex-boyfriend's three year old son. He played the drums, I played the harmonica, circa 2001
Top Two Artists You Think More People Should Listen To:
Split Lip Rayfield - I love these guys
The Weary Boys - their version of Dixie will bring tears to your eyes
Posted by: cookie | May 23, 2005 at 04:08 PM