15 8 / 2012
Six Songs of Me (Part 2)
Cor blimey, Janet Davis has come up with some more questions to be answered by songs. I’m not as happy with these as my Part 1 ones but I’m not one to shirk a blogging challenge so here’s Six Songs of Me (Part 2):
1. What song do you remember best from college/university?
I honestly can’t think of anything for this. I don’t remember there being a “tune” that everyone listened to and for the last two years I was living in my own house so I just listened to what I’d always listened to.
Instead I’ll go back a bit further to sixth form and me and my friend Caroline used to put Belle and Sebastian on the common room stereo before all the straight kids came in.
It would have been the “If You’re Feeling Sinister” (1996) album back then and I’ve picked “Stars of Track and Field”.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XgohBw0hL-k
1a) What song brings back memories of homework?
Again, I just can’t think of anything for this. I’m sure I always did my homework?! One memory I do have is after going to see Blur play at Mile End Stadium in 1995, The Evening Session played songs that went on to be The Great Escape album (1995). I taped those off of the radio and listened to them a lot. I’ve picked “Country House” as it’s just the most recognisable song from that album.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gpuh1WE-RVw
2. What song best evokes your experience of a study or work trip?
Oh dear, I’m not very good at this, I can’t think of anything for a work or study trip but I did spend a month in Germany between school and university and you just couldn’t escape Lou Bega’s “Mambo Number 5” (1999). He is German so I think it was playing there all summer before it reached the UK.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EK_LN3XEcnw
3. Which song is most likely to bring a tear to your eye (or to make you weep copiously)?
I think I answered this in my last Six Songs of Me, “Does not Suffice” (2010) by Joanna Newsom. The story of someone (Joanna?) packing up her belongings and leaving her boyfriend and reflecting on how she just wasn’t enough for him. I have in my mind who I think the boyfriend was (another singer) so I always picture it happening. Joanna is so slight I just want to scoop her up.
4. What is the best song to kickstart your most creative thinking?
Ahhh, Janet, another toughie. Nothing springs to mind so what would I put on now to kickstart creative thinking… something inventive but not too obtrusive, ooh, I know some Super Furry Animals, anything from the Mwng album, “Ymaelodi Ar Ymylon” (2000) by Super Furry Animals. It also reminds me of how much I’d love to be able to speak Welsh.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FdUx2SYOiEk
5. Which song helps you work when you really need to concentrate?
I don’t tend to listen to music when I’m working. Instead I go to iPlayer > Drama > All Drama > Crime and find me a Miss Marple or Lord Peter Wimsey. Sad, I know.
6. When you’re angry, on which song do you want to turn up the volume?
As a rule I’m not generally angry and I honestly can’t think of what I’d play, I don’t think I’d be considering the music. Instead what I’d play if I was really really happy would probably be The Essex Green. I’d probably put on the “Everything is Green” album but I’m going to choose one song from another album “The Last Great Cassiopia” (2003) by The Essex Green.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BlRsXlH9aDQ
7. Which song sums up the person you would like to be?
I’m pretty happy being me but whenever I see Joanna Newsom live I do wish I was just a little bit more like her. It’s impossible to pick a favourite, maybe “‘81” (2010) as it was the year I was born.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mb5Jp_duKNM
The songs:
- “Stars of Track and Field” by Belle and Sebastian
- “Country House” by Blur
- “Mambo Number 5” by Lou Bega
- “Does not Suffice” by Joanna Newsom
- “Ymaelodi Ar Ymylon” by Super Furry Animals
- “The Last Great Cassiopia” by The Essex Green
- “‘81” by Joanna Newsom
