15.2.11

a music thing.

this is a thing i meant to do years ago. i think it's amusing. i may be wrong.
basically, it's meant to create a soundtrack to that biopic movie about your
life in which you're always supposed to know who to cast.
  1. open your music library
  2. put it on shuffle
  3. press play
  4. for every question, type the song that's playing
  5. when you go to a new question, press the next button
  6. don't lie and try to pretend you are cool...
here are my results as a playlist on spotify (just about, check below for notes).

opening credits: oh, well by professor longhair
one could do much worse. i can imagine an
eighties montage style start to a movie with
this tune. incidentally, professor longhair's
band is called the shuffling hungarians.

waking up: what good am i? by tom jones
amazing! a dylan cover from the welshman's
latest album that is all about self-loathing. this
is not going to be a happy movie. sample lyric:
"what good am i? / if i say foolish things / and
i laugh in the face / of what sorrow brings". i
think, perhaps, i'm waking up on a park bench.
that has actually happened.

first day at school: hot thing by prince
erm. a little bit filthy for my schooldays. perhaps
it is a flashback dream bit where i am cooler.

falling in love: yer so bad by tom petty
"oh, yer so bad / best i've ever had". a brilliant song.
i'll leave you to make your own conclusions. suffice it
to say that my show is sort of about heartbreak.

fight song: just the way you are by billy joel
beautiful song. is it really a fight song? i'm gonna have
to question the director's decision here. unless they've
done it all slo-mo and arty. ok. i take it back. that could
be very eloquent. i hope it's a good fight.

breaking up: let's pretend we're bunny rabbits by the magnetic fields
brilliant. ill-advised break up sex. lots of it. sample lyric:
"i can keep it up all night / i can keep it up all day / let's
pretend we're bunny rabbits / until we pass away".

school ball: guess the time by king creosote
this song's only 1:08! i guess i'm not there for long. too busy being
protagonistic, i guess. [NB song not on spotify].

life's ok: asmarina (my asmara) by mulatu astatke
of course everything's ok! there's ethiopian jazz playing! although, if
old mulatu is talking about asmara, he is presumably eritrean. either
way, it's a corking tune. and you should well listen to the rest of the
ethiopiques series of records. [NB this song isn't on spotify, so the play-
list i'm assembling will include an alternate mulatu astatke song].

mental breakdown: my wandering days are over by belle & sebastian
that makes sense. i didn't live anywhere for longer than 18 months
until i was eleven. and then i lived in bangladesh for six years. i imagine
that if i do suffer a catastrophic mental collapse it will have something
to do with a sense of dislocation. but... *sniff*... don't worry about men.

driving: perhaps vampires is a bit strong but... by arctic monkeys
this works. not much to say about that fact. it's an alright song.

flashback: she's the one by the beta band
only one of the best songs ever to soundtrack MY nostalgic flashback.
it already sounds like a hallucinogenic dream sequence. soft focus please,
mr director. let child actor me pout!

getting back together: dave the butcher by tom waits
i can't help thinking that this doesn't augur well for the reconvened
relationship. it's a strange organ instrumental with banging of pots.

wedding: i feel like the mother of world by smog
"god is a word / and the argument ends there". i expect it shan't be a
church service, then. it's a lovely, lilting song that isn't on spotify... so
you should buy it. the album is called 'a river ain't too much to love'.

birth of a child: buenos aires by andrew lloyd webber (from evita)
no.

final battle: bitch by the rolling stones
amazzles. great stuff.

death scene: buddy bradley by adam green
some mid-tempo madness from ex-moldy peach. it's alright. but i'll
be dead so don't mind.

funeral song: if i am a stranger by ryan adams
"if i am a stranger now to you / i will always be". that works doesn't
it? i am a huge adams fan, but it seems to me that his best work is
behind him. at least while he stays happy. BORING.

end credits: cousins by vampire weekend
i think this is the opening credits for 'the kids are alright'. worst bit
of the movie. but not cos of this song. this song is swell.

while making the spotify playlist, i stumbled across this. i think i might
listen to this a lot. peru? really? brilliant.

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