Radapod

I am no different than most bloggers... I write to entertain myself, and I hope that others will find me 3% amusing.  Fortunately, Facebook and Twitter (tweet tweet!) have created different outlets so we can collect our thoughts and immediately post these short flashes of brain farts.  I guess this is why I lost interest in my own blog for an entire year.  What started as an outlet to spit out the daily inner dialogue I have with myself turned into... well... nothing.  Facebook is a nonstop stream that tends to my ADD-ness.  But tonight is a new night, and I have been bombarded with obligations.  Obviously, I need to veer to an alternate route and rest my brain.  This, my friends, is how I relax: blogging.  AKA, spewing analyses that continually muffle my mind.  I don't really want to discuss my ventures in rock stardom, or the current state of music... nor do I want to play my usual game of "connect the dots" between songs and artists.  I don't want to talk politics, or music theory, or Ryan Adams.  Rather, I want to analyze that one thing that dumbfounds me on a daily basis: "Top 25 Most Played."  I want to know... does this playlist define me?  Radapod (what a clever name for my iPod) tells me that in the past however many years of owning this specific iPod (I have a mega classic that has over 8,000 songs), I have listened to 25 songs more than any other 7,975.  Does Radapod lie?  Is Radapod trying to tell me something?  Let's find out.  Here are my top 5 songs.

1)  Goldfrapp - A&E

Great.  My most played song is about a woman who is yearning for a lover... so she pops some pills and ends up in the emergency room.  While the story itself isn't autobiographical, the song was apparently written after Alison Goldfrapp spent an afternoon being pumped up with drugs in the ER (or A&E, if you are British).  I don't think this song does justice to my personality.  I actually listen to this song because, well, damn... do you hear that voice?  It's so painfully beautiful.  And Alison's pronunciation of "pastel."  I can listen to that again.  The music itself is a perfect blend of the folk-electro trend-pop trend that you can thank Suzanne Vega for originating.  I understand, this is debatable.  And maybe this is my most played because it's short enough that I hit repeat immediately after.  Every time.  

To think, I don't even get to watch the leaf men dancing when I listen to it on my iPod...

2)  Band of Skulls - Fires

Did you know that I've been wanting you?  

Yes, you can analyze me for this song.  I listen to it because of some very specific lines.  Oh wait, it's pretty much all of them.  I like driving around and singing this song, starting with the very first line:

"Baby, darling, dollface, honey; Now I don't mean to cause you worry...."  all the way to "Don't you know what the time is? It's the fall of rock n' roll, that's what the news said."

This is a much better song about love.  I'll bring the water baby, cuz we're fires in the night!  I'm not going to end up in the emergency room, popping pills.  Life is too short.. so let's rock out.  

After listening to this, I always want to respond with some Stones:

3) Santa Ana Winds - Cold War Kids

Last year, I may or may not have went to the EMP Pop Music Conference at UCLA.  I made a specific trip to the Getty just to take a picture in honor of this song: 

"Take the elevator to the Getty's highest place..."

(please ignore that it says "elevator to shuttle."  this elevator took me to the highest place.  I promise.)

I like rock songs that incorporate the piano.  Enough said.

4) Frightened Rabbit - The Loneliness And The Scream

Is it me that is trying to prove my existence, or can we argue that my iPod is trying to prove it has an existence of its own?  I believe it was one of my earlier posts in which I discussed  this song in depth because of my love for clapping.  While I do love this original video that I posted, there's nothing quite like this sweaty, clapping mess of Scottish men reacting to the crowd's claps:  

I am not surprised that this is in my top 5.  Sometimes, I just need to bang my head up and down and clap.  I like to do this when I am in my car - but parked, so as to not run into another car.

5) Florence + The Machine - Swimming

Hands down, this song (of the top 5) has the most meaning.  Does Radapod understand my being?  Yes.  She and I have been together for quite awhile.  But if there was to be one song on the "Top 25 Most Played" that most defines me, I'd have to argue that this, lyrically, is the song.  

Have you ever been depressed?  Have you ever been in that deep hole... been sinking... been in a rut?  Have you ever forgotten who you were?  "Your songs remind me of swimming."  I hear these "songs" as the metaphor that reminds the narrator of that person she was. Midway through, the singer hears that note that lets her realize who she is.  It's so glorious.  It's so true to life.  You can be sinking, and one day out of the blue, you hear that one note that reminds you, "Well hell, I know how to swim!"  And bam!  Just like riding a bike... or remembering that chorus you had forgotten.  Pretty much, any metaphor to music is going to be a winner in my books.  

This song is also excellent for pancakes and sprinkles.  

Did I mention that I love this song?