Tag: songs

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Fun with the iTunes “search box”

Here’s a fun little exercise you can do in iTunes:

  1. In iTunes, click on your music library in the sidebar.
  2. Turn on shuffle, ensure that you have “By Songs” selected in the Shuffle menu (which is in Controls in the main menu)
  3. Type the first word that comes to mind in the search box
  4. Play one of the songs that is displayed
  5. Pick a new word or name from the currently playing song, type that word into the search box
  6. Listen
  7. When song changes, repeat 5

Note that in step 5 that you must pick a word that will include the currently playing song or iTunes will get confused and stop playing after the song is over. Obviously, having a large music library (23847 songs for me) and lots of metadata helps make the game interesting.

Continue reading “Fun with the iTunes “search box””

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Best of 2008: Songs

    Top 5 Songs of 2008

  1. Killing the Blues by Robert Plant and Alison Krauss: “Leaves are falling, just like embers, in colors red and gold they set us on fire.” The opening lines to this song touch my soul but I’m not sure why. Maybe it’s because of the beautiful imagery or maybe it’s a reminder of the even finer chorus to come. More likely it’s the wondrous way that Robert Plant and Alison Krauss blend their voices. Of course, it’s all of those and more. Accompanied by a sublime slide guitar and a restrained rhythm section, Plant and Krauss turn this John Prine song into their very own.
  2. Last Month of the Year by the Blind Boys of Alabama: This song epitomizes everything I love about the Blind Boys: a jumping rhythm section, call & response vocals, great singing and the unique sound that only the Blind Boys can deliver. If you’ve never heard them, check out their appearance on Austin City Limits if you get a chance. There is nobody like the Blind Boys of Alabama.
  3. Little Wing by The Jimi Hendrix Experience: Although I’d heard Jimi’s original version of this song (from Axis: Bold As Love), I never grew to love it until I heard Stevie Ray Vaughn‘s instrumental cover a few years ago. Last year I discovered that the Jimi Hendrix Experience Box Set has two different versions of “Little Wing.” My favorite has to be the sublime live version which reminds me greatly of the SRV cover.
  4. Stewball by Peter, Paul and Mary: I first heard this song when I was a teenager in the 80’s. It appeared on the legendary “Hangman Album” by Mason Proffit. While that version is good, it only begins to hint at the beauty of this version by Peter, Paul and Mary. In the PP&M canon, this song is right up there with “Puff the Magic Dragon” and “500 Miles”. You can find it on their third album, In The Wind, or on one of several greatest hits compilations.
  5. Da Da Da by Trio: Fifteen years before Volkswagen used it in their 1997 ad campaign, my old friend Arnie Walthoff introduced me to this strange song. In a music landscape dominated by MTV, Prince, Michael Jackson and Huey Lewis, it was a revelation to my teenage ears. Shortly after I arrived at Wartburg College a few years later, I stumbled upon a reel of tape at our college radio station with this song and other German pop songs. I played it on my radio show announcing it only as a cool song for which I did not know the artist. Within minutes several people called in to tell me that the artist in question was German band, Trio. It took until this year before I was finally able to lay my hands on the CD but it was well worth the wait.

Click the song titles to hear a sample of the song in the iTunes Music Store. You can get iTunes here.

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Best of 2007: Songs

    Top 5 Songs of 2007   

  1. Remember the Name by Fort Minor: “This is ten percent luck, twenty percent skill, Fifteen percent concentrated power of will.” So begins the swaggering second single from The Rising Tied, the side project album from Linkin Park band member, Mike Shinoda. The lyrics are crafted so well that you can’t help but chant them to yourself even after the song is over. The fact that the rapping is very old school (i.e. easy to understand) also endears it to me. Oh and the video is fun, too.
  2. Put Your Records On by Corinne Bailey Rae: From the moment I first saw her perform this song on Saturday Night Live, I loved the exuberance and joy, both in her delivery and in the song itself. The lyrics evoke a warm summer day from your childhood while the song plants a gentle dance groove in your body. Corinne’s inflections and phrasing is near perfect without seeming contrived, even during the “diva moments” that so many female singers these days over-dramatize. This song is going to be on my future playlists for a long time to come.
  3. Points of Authority/99 Problems by Jay Z and Linkin Park: What do you get when you “mashup” songs by a mediocre rock band and a highly acclaimed but sometimes mediocre rapper? A hard-rocking, rabble-rousing polemic that has a metallic edge and street smarts. I quoted the refrain, “99 problems and a bitch ain’t one,” many times to Tina last year whenever she had to deal with a particular bitch. The lyrics make this inappropriate for some situations but ideal among adults of a specific vintage.
  4. I’d Love To Change The World by Ten Years After: Alvin Lee‘s take on the hippie revolution that never came to pass still sounds fresh 37 years later. Frantic and insistent during the verses, Lee lays back and relaxes for the chorus: “I’d love to change the world, but I don’t know what to do. So I’ll leave it up to you.” Although the song doesn’t give you much of his famous electric guitar, the frenetic acoustic guitar strumming more than makes up for it.
  5. Thick as a Brick by Jethro Tull: I know it’s cheating a little bit to include this entire album as a “song”, but Tull’s intention was that it should be heard as a continuous work. I used the “Join Tracks” feature in iTunes to turn the two songs on the CD (called simply “Side 1” and “Side 2”) into one. Although the 45-minute length might be intimidating, the song never meanders and revisits common themes often enough to keep your attention. The lyrics are a musical retelling of a poem written by the fictional character, “Little Milton“. “I really don’t mind if you sit this one out. My words but a whisper, your deafness a SHOUT,” begins the first of many verses that peek in and out between the musical change-ups and not-too-extended jams. Although it’s not necessary to appreciate the song, the newspaper covered album cover provides a lot of background to the story and is fun to read as you listen to the album.

Click the song titles to hear a sample of the song in the iTunes Music Store. You can get iTunes here.

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Best of 2006: Songs

    Top 5 Songs of 2006 

  1. Hallelujah by Jeff Buckley: Truly one of the most uplifting songs ever written, Buckley took it to new heights in his 1994 cover of the Leonard Cohen classic. As I blogged earlier this year, I really like the way the lyrics in the first verse reference the chord progression. Hear it on the iTunes Music Store.
  2. Fett’s Vette by mc chris: This song introduced me to the nerdcore genre – how perfect is that? Written from the viewpoint of Boba Fette, this song is a buffet of Star Wars name-dropping. Too cool. You can hear it in this episode of a podcast I listen to often.
  3. Turn It Again by Red Hot Chili Peppers: A good pair of headphones; a warm, dark room and my iPod with this song on it. Close your eyes and get lost in John Frusciante’s guitar magic. The short sample on iTMS doesn’t do this six minute masterpiece justice.
  4. This Beat Goes On/Switchin’ To Glide by The Kings: Nothing summarizes my entire college experience quite like this song. Their 1980 album, The Kings Are Here is hard to find on CD, but this song is on several compilations including Sedated In The Eighties, Volume 5. iTMS only has a lame live version, but it may bring back the memories for you.
  5. Mull Of Kintyre by Paul McCartney & Wings: Famous among McCartney fans as one of the few songs that were never released on album, this song resonates with the Scottish countryside about which Paul was writing. I couldn’t find the original online, but I did find a version by Wings’ guitarist Denny Laine (the song’s co-writer).