But I Know One Thing...

There are a lot of songs that I love that remind me of specific events or people. Then there are songs that I love so much that I remember the first time I ever heard them.

The first time I ever heard The Mayor of Simpleton by XTC, I was driving home from work - I'd left at about 4:30 and I was going to drive by my parents' house to fetch something before going home. I was in my 1980 Dodge 1/2 ton pickup truck listening to the radio - DC101 - and traffic hadn't gotten into its nightly snarl yet. It was overcast outside and still cool even though spring was a few weeks away and Easter would be at the end of the month.

The Mayor of Simpleton came on the radio and I fell in love with it immediately. Before the song could even stop playing I got off at the exit for Fair Oaks Mall and by the time it was over I'd parked and was running inside to buy the tape. By the time I'd arrived home I'd learned most of the lyrics.

In the song a man tells his love of how he's not very bright but the one thing he know is how much he loves her. It's sweet and romantic without being sappy and that may be what I love best about it. That and the bass line. Colin Moulding plays a bass line in this song that makes me swoon. It makes me wish I could play the bass so I could play this one bass line. I always was a sucker for a melodic bass line and this song has the best.

For nearly twenty years it's one of my all-time favorite songs - a close to a perfect pop song as I've ever heard.

How Can I Say No? She Dresses My Sock Monkey!

Sari has tagged me for a meme. I know. Meme. A filthy word meaning "We're one step away from Blogthings quizzes.". Still this meme has two redeeming factors. First, it's a musical meme and second I can't resist a tagging from a woman who has supplied most of my sock monkey's wardrobe.

And there's a third redeeming factor. I didn't have anything to write about today anyway. It puked rain all day and I knitted. You can't really expand upon that.

List seven songs you are into right now, regardless of what they are. The important thing is that they're songs you're presently enjoying. The tag seven others to find out what they're listening to.

1. Lukey - Great Big Sea Now that's a song that makes me want to jack myself up in a pub and enjoy a pint or two.
2. You're So Vain - Carly Simon From the first rumblings of the bass to the first piano chords she pounds out to the soaring violins at the end, it's a great song. And B used the think the lyrics were "I had some dreams, they were clowns in my pocket, clowns in my pocket...".
3. Take A Bow - Madonna Sari, you and Hilda pick your jaws up off the floor. This song is one of the two Madonna songs I like - the other being La Isla Bonita. After declaring last week that I am no fan of Madonna I went back and listened to this song again and rediscovered why I like it.
4. Born to Run - Bruce Springsteen I heard this song the other day on the radio while I was driving and it instantly put me in a great mood - it brings back good memories. And it reminds me of one of the wittiest moments on The Sopranos - when Tony quizzes Christopher as to why he's late getting to a meeting and without missing a beat Christopher replies " The highway's jammed with broken heroes on a last chance power drive.".
5. Keep The Car Running - Arcade Fire Makes me shake my booty in time with it while I'm chopping vegetables for supper.
6. I Believe In A Thing Called Love - The Darkness This came up on my shuffle two weeks ago and I've been playing it a lot every since. I flail my head around to it while knitting wrapped stitch short row heels. If the heels end up wonky, you'll know why.
7. On The Wings Of A Nightingale - Everly Brothers Sweet, jangly guitars and soaring, impossibly tight harmonies. I love a lot of Everly Brothers but this is one of my favorites of theirs.

Okay, I'm going to wimp out and not tag seven people. Hey! Seven people reading this! Bail me out here and do this meme!

Hoping My Memory Doesn't Fail Me

As much as I protest about the goofiness of memes, I certainly do my share of them. I think I protest in an effort to convince y'all that my arm is practically being twisted to get me to participate. In reality all it really takes is a meme about music, books or movies.

Today it's music. Swiped from Kara.

1. Go to Pop Culture Madness. Click on "pop music" on the left sidebar. Scroll down a bit and find the hits for the year you turned 18 years old.

2. Copy and paste the top 75 songs of that year.

3. Bold the ones you liked; strike the ones you disliked; and italicize the ones you knew but didn’t exactly like or dislike. The ones you don’t know will stay plain text.

I hope I can remember which ones I liked way back in 1980 and not mix them up with ones I liked and later hated.

1. You Shook Me All Night Long - AC/DC
2. Theme From New York New York - Frank Sinatra Worst Sinatra song ever. Ever.
3. Another One Bites The Dust - Queen Not the worst Queen song ever, but close.
4. What I Like About You - Romantics Every time I hear this song I remember flailing around to it in Poseurs on M Street in Georgetown.
5. Funkytown - Lipps Incorporated Disco couldn't die fast enough for me.
6. On The Road Again - Willie Nelson I like maybe two Willie Nelson songs. This isn't one of them.
7. Another Brick In The Wall (part 2) - Pink Floyd This almost became our "class song". Thank goodness us rednecks banded together and picked Free Bird instead.
8. Master Blaster (Jammin) - Stevie Wonder
9. Rapper's Delight - Sugarhill Gang
10. Fame - Irene Cara
11. Ladies Night - Kool and the Gang
12. Take Your Time (Do It Right) - S.O.S. Band
13. He's So Shy - Pointer Sisters
14. Feels Like I'm In Love - Kelly Marie
15. One In A Million You - Larry Graham Took me a minute to remember this song. I was sorry I remembered it.
16. Any Way You Want It - Journey Oh I loved this song! It reminds me of my first love.
17. The Rose - Bette Midler Awwww...what a sentimental favorite!
18. Could I Have This Dance - Anne Murray
19. Off The Wall - Michael Jackson
20. Rock With You - Michael Jackson
21. I Wanna Be Your Lover - Prince I swear, I can't remember this song for the life of me.
22. Upside Down - Diana Ross
23. On The Radio - Donna Summer
24. Volcano - Jimmy Buffet
25. Lady - Kenny Rogers I can't stand Kenny Rogers but the rest of his work is genius compared to this shit.
26. Whip It - Devo
27. Love Stinks - J. Geils Band
28. Cheap Sunglasses - ZZ Top I had many cheap sunglasses mornings during this time of my life.
29. You Better Run - Pat Benatar No memory of this one.
30. Look What You've Done To Me - Boz Scaggs Not his best song but I have fond memories of this song.
31. Hit Me With Your Best Shot - Pat Benatar
32. Misunderstanding - Genesis One of the few Genesis songs I like.
33. Heartbreaker - Pat Benatar
34. This Is It - Kenny Loggins My friends and I would sing along "This is shit!".
35. Cocaine - Eric Clapton
36. You May Be Right - Billy Joel Can't stand this song now.
37. The Long Run - Eagles Another I liked at the time but don't care for now.
38. My Heroes Have Always Been Cowboys - Willie Nelson This isn't one of the Willie Nelson songs I like either.
39. I'm Alright - Kenny Loggins Another that doesn't show up on my likes list any longer.
40. Rock Lobster - B-52s I never tire of this song.
41. Do That To Me One More Time - The Captain and Tenille
42. Call Me - Blondie
43. Love X Love - George Benson
44. Against The Wind - Bob Seger & The Silver Bullet Band
45. I Don't Like Mondays - Boomtown Rats
46. I'm Coming Out - Diana Ross
47. Don't Push It Don't Force It - Leon Haywood
48. Remember (Walking In The Sand) - Aerosmith Can't place this song at all.
49. (Just Like) Starting Over - John Lennon I was so happy that John was back into music.
50. Crazy Little Thing Called Love - Queen One of my fave Queen songs.
51. Dreamer - Supertramp How I hate Supertramp.
52. Hungry Heart - Bruce Springsteen Perfection.
53. It's Still Rock and Roll To Me - Billy Joel Boooorrrring.
54. Turn It On Again - Genesis
55. Special Lady - Ray Goodman and Brown
56. Games Without Frontiers - Peter Gabriel
57. Give Me The Night - George Benson
58. Brass In Pocket - Pretenders Brilliant.
59. The Spirit Of Radio - Rush
60. Train In Vain (Stand By Me) - The Clash Oh I love them.
61. Working My Way Back To You (Forgive Me Girl) - The Spinners
62. Angeline - Allman Brothers Band
63. Alabama Getaway - Grateful Dead
64. All Out Of Love - Air Supply Too much drama for me.
65. The Breaks - Kurtis Blow
66. 99 - Toto
67. Longer - Dan Fogleberg - A really perfect love song.
68. I Got You - Split Enz
69. Don't Misunderstand Me - Rossington Collins Band
70. Dirty Water - The Inmates
71. Cars - Gary Numan Complete crap.
72. Back Of My Hand (I've Got Your Number) - The Jags
73. Say Goodbye To Little Jo - Steve Forbert The only song of his I can remember is Romeo's Tune which I loved.
74. Tired of Toein' The Line - Rocky Burnett
75. Private Idaho - B-52s

More music tomorrow for it is then that we shuffle!