Countdown to 5,000 Songs

My Last.fm page says that I have played 4,990 songs since joining. In celebration of the pending song 5000, I am going to play the next 10 songs right now, and depending on how I feel, say a bit about them and/or post an MP3 of them. For the record, I have my iTunes set to shuffle my entire library, and I will not skip any song, no matter how embarrassing it may be. So here we go, this should be fun!

Song 4,991: The Monkees - Daydream Believer [iTunes]
...and I can see we're off to a good start *rolls eyes*. One of those songs that's been played about three bazillion times on your local oldies radio station (see also: "Brown Eyed Girl", "Magic Carpet Ride"). And how can you not love the multiple key changes at the end? Ah...

Song 4,992: Foo Fighters - Never Talking to You Again (Husker Du cover) [Foo on iTunes]
Got this as a B-Side when The Good, The Bad and the Unknown released a bunch of unreleased Foo songs. Always loved acoustic Foo Fighters, and this one sounds just as good as a Foo song as it does anyone else.

Song 4,993: The Beatles - Let it Be (Naked Version) [buy the CD on Amazon]
Almost certainly on my list of the 10 best Beatles songs ever. Don't know if I like the original or the Let it Be...Naked version better, and there are times when I'm not sure I can tell the difference (just as I finished typing that I got to the guitar solo and lo, I could hear a much more stripped down, raw guitar. Advantage: Naked version (for now)). My high school chorus would do this once or twice in class when we had nothing better to do. The last verse seals the deal every time:

And when the night is cloudy, there is still a light that shines on me
Shine on til tomorrow, Let it be
I wake up to the sounds of music, mother Mary calls to me
Speaking words of wisdom, let it be...

Love it. Love it. Love it.

Song 4,994: Jimmy Eat World - Night Drive [iTunes]
One of the better songs off of Futures, an album that I could never really appreciate, especially now that Chase this Light is on constant rotation on my computer. One of Jim Adkins' best lyrical moments on the whole albums, and one of the few instances where the slower, softer Jimmy actually works out well. I think if I ever do the cliche "take a girl up to a hill overlooking a city" bit, I'd want this song playing. Has the right atmosphere, even when it kicks back into full band at the last 90 seconds or so. Its about as good as the most average songs on the new album, which is still pretty damned good.

Song 4,995: Secondhand Serenade - End [iTunes]
This works out rather nicely, since I got a MySpace bulletin from them encouraging to tell one person about them. Since I'm writing a blog that I assume more than one person reads, I think that mission is accomplished. I did a more thorough write up on Secondhand Serenade last week, go check it out.

This brings up one more thing; if you read this thing, leave a comment at some point just to say what's up. It'd be nice to hear some feedback, even if it's a "you're taste in music sucks". Which I doubt it would be since you're reading this and its a blog dedicated to music. As long as I'm on a tangent here, let the record show that I've been typing live, so if there are any screw ups or if some bits seem shorter than others, that's why. The Foo Fighters song was only 2 minutes long, hence it's shortness. This song is nearly 3 minutes of the line "Don't Let Me Down", among others, so its easy to run out of stuff to say. Awesome harmonies though. So yeah check these guys out.

Song 4,996: Creed - My Sacrifice [iTunes]
There was no way I was getting through 10 songs without something potentially embarrassing coming up. But at any rate, be a man and admit it; you liked Creed back when they were popular too, and jumped ship like everyone else when things got sour. The only difference is I still admit to having all three CDs and listening to them once in awhile. The music wasn't terrible (not compared with some of the other garbage that was making money in 2001), people just hate Scott Stapp. And to some degree with reason.

In a related story, Human Clay was apparently #7 on the list of 10 best-selling albums of the SoundScan era. At #1? Shania Twain's Come On Over. Seriously? Shania Twain is at #1, and people are gonna bitch about Creed? There's something wrong with this picture.

Song 4,997: Staind - Outside [iTunes]
The second, less-appreciated single from what was Staind's first widely popular album. Sadly this isn't the live version where Fred Durst kinda mumbles along and then shouts at the crowd during the guitar break.

This is another band that gets a bad rap for being on the radio in the early '00s. Look; if you found out you could write songs, and one or both of your parents treated you like crap, don't you think you would try to get some getback? Cut Aaron Lewis a break. It's not his fault that a bunch of other bands tried to ride his coattails.

(This is getting increasingly difficult as my dad tries to make his new phone work. Missed the last 30 secs of "Outside" and the first minute of the next song. Pausing now to catch up.)

Song 4,998: Eve 6 - Tongue Tied [iTunes]
And we're back on track. Found out two weeks ago that Eve 6 is among the laundry list of bands that chose to reunite. Normally these guys would qualify on the list of bands that didn't deserve a reunion, but Horrorscope (the second album) was one of my favorite CDs in middle school, so I'm gonna let this one slide. Cool song from the first album, the only one I don't have.

Song 4,999: The Animals - House of the Rising Sun [iTunes]
Another frequenter of the oldies radio stations. Every time it comes on my dad feels the need to point out that there's an organ solo, so yeah...there's an organ solo somewhere in this song. The first verse was also the intro to the U2/Green Day song after Hurricane Katrina "The Saints Are Coming". I wanna say its been used in something else worth noting, some movie or something, but I'm blanking. A thousand points to whoever comes up with what I'm thinking of. Not a terrible song, despite being on oldies radio station (sorry folks, after hearing oldies every time I'm in a car with my father, I have a special place in my heart for such things).

And now...here it comes...I want you to know I'm drumrolling in my head right now...




Song 5,000: Maroon 5 - Not Falling Apart [iTunes]
...
...
...
Wow. That was anticlimactic. I think I've only listened to this song maybe once. One of the misses on the hit-and-miss last album. Of all the good songs on the CD, I had to get this pedestrian one? iTunes has failed me. Listening to it now anyway...it's not so terrible that my ears are bleeding, but there's nothing particularly fun about it. It sounds like an average Maroon 5 song. I don't understand why Rolling Stone gave so much love to this CD when Linkin Park and the Foo Fighters put out so much better work this year. It probably has something to do with the fact that Adam Levine looks like equal parts Justin Timberlake and Bruce Banner. Maybe they were afraid of him going Incredible Hulk or something.

So there you have it. 5,000 songs since November 27, 2006. Below I'm posting songs 1,000 and 2,000, just 'cause I have them listed. I'll be back later.

Song 1,000: Eminem - Lose Yourself [iTunes]
Song 2,000: The Killers - Sam's Town [iTunes]


==TJ==

PS: I did this piece as I heard each song, so you basically got 10 Currently Listening's today, so I'll skip a separate one today.