#4 - Certain Songs

They get so scratched into our souls.

Ain't that the truth.

I like a lot of songs. Some of them I have liked immediately, the first time I heard them. Me and Mia by Ted Leo is one of these. So is pretty much every Death Cab song. Other songs take me awhile. Maybe I think they're okay at first or maybe I don't like them at all, but eventually they grow on me. And these songs are the ones that I eventually become obsessed with. I enjoy them more and more every time I hear them until it becomes a craving. There is something about that music and those lyrics, or maybe it is just one tiny little chord change or an extra little "Woo!" after a line, that makes you need to hear it over and over.

A list* of some of my certain songs:
Twisted - Joni Mitchell
Pretty much any song off of Court and Spark could go here, but this one held special appeal for my nine-year-old mind. I listened over and over and knew every word by heart.

Oh they used to laugh at me
When I refused to ride
On all those double decker buses
All because there was no driver on the top

I Hear the Bells - Mike Doughty
The guitar is so simple, and the lyrics so great. I'm seeking girls/In sales and marketing/Let's go make out/Up in the balcony. What does that even mean? Also, bonus points for being featured it one of my favorite Veronica Mars scenes of all time.

Soft Rock Star - Metric
I like Metric, I do, but I would like them a lot better if they had more songs like this. And I didn't ever know what EH was singing until a couple months ago.


Breathe Me - Sia
You know that feeling when it is cold and you are tired or sad and you would give almost anything just to curl up in bed and go to sleep ot get a warm hug from someone you trust? This song is that feeling.

The District Sleeps Alone Tonight - The Postal Service
I had this CD and ignored it for a long time, until I was on the bus to Calgary with nothing good to read and a long road ahead of me. I pu tit in my discman and didn't take it out for three months.

Girl in the War - Josh Ritter
It's. Just. So. Sad. And pretty. I can't listen to it now without thinking of walking across Holy Rosary park on my way downtown and 7:30 in the morning. It sounds like wet grass.

Omaha - Counting Crows
All the verses of this song are really similar and it's really easy to get mixed up while singing along. One night I couldn't sleep and I must've listened to this 15 times, over and over 'til I got it perfect.

And most recently:

Set The Fire To The Third Bar - Snow Patrol
Snow Patrol is good and all, but it is Martha Wainwright on background vocals that makes this song. I would kill for a voice like that.

Nick Hornby has a collection of essays about his favorite songs and in it he talks about this feeling and how it eventually goes away. He thinks this happens when you 'solve' the song. It stops holding any mystery and the novelty fades. You, the listener, have sucked it dry. I see what he's saying. Most of these songs don't have the same effect on me they once did. But the reverse is also true. I had to solve the song at least partway before I could really enjoy it.









*by no means complete, and not in any kind of order