Well, just under a year and one week; 60,000 songs played.

…and I hold you close in the back of my mind.
one breaks my body and the other breaks my soul.

I didn't realise that I'd be on a Ryan Adams' kick at this time, but 'La Cienega Just Smiled' is just about my favourite song of his (and one of my favourites of all time) so it's a track worthy of this 'landmark' occasion.

Angsty acoustic tracks with rough vocals make me happy. I think I'll listen to it again.

// La Cienega Just Smiled on Gold

Gender swap (Part 2 of 2)

Space Oddity
and I'm floating in a most peculiar way.
My favourite part of both versions is crescendo of music and the segue into the first chorus. Both are very similar, only Natalie’s is live and so more acoustic and stripped down (much like Belle and Sebastian’s live version). Also, Natalie’s accented vocals give a lovely mysterious and interesting tinge to the lyrics.
(Original by David Bowie)
// Space Oddity, Natalie Merchant.

Come On Eileen*
we are far too young and clever.
Aw man, this has to be one…

Gender swap (Part 1 of 2)

When You Say Nothing At All
the touch of your hand says you'll never leave me.
I admit it, when the Ronan Keating version came out way back when in ’99 I loved it. It’s such sweet, twinkly, inoffensive pop. I prefer Allison’s version to Ronan’s, but really they sound very similar. Also, I can’t believe it’s six years since this song came out – I’m only eighteen, but that makes me feel really fucking old.
(Original by Keith Whitley)
// When You Say Nothing At All, Allison Krauss.

Pieces Of…

Hallelujah
but love is not a victory march, it's a cold and it's a broken hallelujah.

I love the music in k.d. lang’s version so, so much. The piano and the guitar and subtly soaring strings, combined with the vocals – it’s a wonderfully soft but so strong at the same time (I can't be the only thinking 'like toilet roll' right now - can I?).

The version by Arooj & Co. is pretty enough vocally, but emotionless and staid compared to other versions. The guitar accompaniment is… nice, but a bit on the harsh, twangy side.

The Dresden…

Six Of The Moment

I Am A Rock
i have my books and my poetry to protect me. i am shielded in my armour.
‘don't talk of love, but I've heard the words before; it's sleeping in my memory. i won't disturb the slumber of feelings that have died’. Nnnng. I've been listening to this song obsessively for the past month, but that’s a common relationship between me and Paul Simon (and I confess to much preferring the 'Simon' part of Simon & Garfunkel). Misanthropy and melancholy; two of my favourite words, and I especially love songs that…

Except without any mention of ABBA and/or Zappa.

A-Z Of Music.

A - Arctic Monkeys
Definitely my band-of-the-moment. I’m a sucker for slang,Yorkshire accents and smart-arse lyrics, because… well, it’s comfortable and familiar (and The North > The South any day) and it’s bloody good. End of.
Props to: Aimee Mann and Ani DiFranco, brilliant, brilliant songwriters.

B - Belle & Sebastian
My favourite band-that-I-discovered-all-by-myself. Twee, sarcastic, smart, funny lyrics, and with gorgeous backing instruments.
Props to: Bob Dylan and The Beatles (pretty much a given, but I’ve recently rediscovered their utter awesomeness). And what is it with…

In honour of my fifty-five thousand, five hundred and fifty-fifth track played; Under African Skies, Graceland.

The following quote taken from a old Livejournal entry.
_____

I’m sat listening to Paul Simon’s Graceland album and I can barely see the screen because my eyes are welling up. Everything about it’s wonderful – the lyrics, the music, the nostalgia that accompanies it when I’m listening. It renders me speechless and with a hard knot of something in my stomach and throat. There’s something earthy and base in it that pulls at every part of me.

Graceland is one of…

My anal-retentiveness weeps that because of last.fm's upgradey-screwiness, I was unable to note down my fifty-thousandth track. Goddamnit.

Oh well, another year and I'll be able to note my hundred-thousandth. Heh.