Wednesday, April 22, 2009

A Simple Prop to Occupy My Time

I'm posting two tree photos tonight, in celebration of Earth Day.

Well, kids. It's just another exhausted Wednesday. A good day, but I've been having some motivational problems. I had a little time to myself for a change, which was good, I just wish I could have spent it lying on my couch watching a movie or something equally relaxing. Maybe this weekend...

Here is a whole row of trees by a lane. I could just hug them all.

Okay, since I'm so lame, I'm going to just post the random playlist my iPod created for me while I was running and leave it at that. Trust me, it's all I'm really good for right now.

"Galway Girl" - Steve Earle. It was just about a year ago that I saw him perform live at the Englert. I think he would be even better to see in some small town bar, playing with a real band.

"Got to Give It up Pt 1"- Marvin Gaye. Even his disco era stuff is awesome.

"The One I Love" - R.E. M.

"Gamma Ray" - Beck. This song is so fun to run to...Or to do anything, really.

"Mama Said Knock You Out" - LL Cool J. Don't call it a comeback!

"Johnny Too Bad" - The Slickers. This is from the soundtrack of the movie The Harder They Come. There was a time in my life when I was delusional enough to think I'd be able to afford graduate school in comparative literature where I would study Latin American and Carribean literature and film. I think I've seen almost every Caribean movie made up to a certain year.

"Raspberry Beret" - Prince. This is one of those songs that takes me right to a particular place and time whenever I hear it: My first day at the salmon restoration site in the California Conservation Corps. in Leggett, Ca. in 1985.

"Come On Eileen" - Dexys Midnight Runners

"Ceremony" - New Order. Better this than "Blue Monday", which is annoyingly overplayed.

"Don't You Just Know It" - Huey "Piano" Smith and the Clowns

Today I was thinking about how I get songs stuck in my head when I don't listen to to music while I run. In the past I was foolish enough to tell people I knew about that problem I have. An ex-boyfriend used to think it was funny to play Ratt's Round and Round, when he saw me getting ready for a run. Have I mentioned to you how grateful I am for my iPod?

9 comments:

rel said...

Churlita,
I love trees!
I think earth Day should be a national holiday...no, an inter-national holiday.
rel

Anonymous said...

Your playlist is very eclectic and interesting. I do have a couple songs by Huey "Piano" Smith.

I celebrated Earth Day yesterday on my blog.

Ananda girl said...

Nice photos. Come on Eileen is one of those songs that just boost my battery and make me want to jump for joy. Maybe I should add it into my MP3 player... which I cannot live without.

A friend calls those songs that get stuck in your head "earworms". It's so appropriate. Some I don't mind, like I Want You Bad,Bad,Bad,Bad by The Offspring. Others, like Bob Dylan's "Everybody Must Get Stoned" make me want to shriek and beat my head against something.

NoRegrets said...

What nice trees you have.

dmarks said...

Now I have that song in my head.

"This one goes out to the one-eye love.... this one goes out to the one-eye, left behind"...

Perhaps a leftover from the soundtrack to the musical adaptation of the "7th Voyage of Sinbad" in which Sinbad falls in love with the cyclops, but is sad because the monster is too big to take away on Sinbad's ship.

laura b. said...

I always love seeing your playlists. You have great great taste in music :-)
I didn't know you were interested in Latin American and Carribean literature! I don't know much about Carribean lit, but Latin American stuff is awesome.

Chance said...

Love the playlist. Luckily, I've never heard the Ratt song, so I'm immune to your earworming.

Churlita said...

REl,

Me too. Trees are wonderful!

AlienCG,

I like that old, early R and B stuff like Huey "piano" Smith a lot.

Ananda,

You should put it on your MP3 player. It's great to work-out too.

Nor,

Why, thank you.

DMarks,

You crack me up. Now I'm always going to hear the song like that. Very funny.

LauraB.,

I bet you'd love Caribbean stuff too. Similar colonization themes. If you haven't read it already, there's a book called the Wide Saragasso Sea by Jean Rhys. It's a take on Jane Eyre, but it's the story of the crazy lady in the house and it's really good.

Chance,

Damn. I'll have to try harder next time. I'm sure there's something I can get stuck in your head. Hmmmm.

Johnny Yen said...

Oh man, I love Marvin Gaye! I posted a couple of years ago about something really strange that happened to me the moment I heard that he'd died.

http://johnnyyen.blogspot.com/2007/04/aint-that-peculiar.html

I love that tune from "The Harder They Come." I first heard UB40's cover of it from "Labor of Love," and checked out the Harder They Come soundtrack at my local library sometime last year and added the original to my itunes.

VH1 had a thing about the greatest one-hit wonders of the '80's-- "Come On Eileen" was #1.

Whenever I hear any New Order, it takes me back to being in my mid twenties, just out of college, hanging in clubs. Happy memories.