Emmalynne: Things that make me happy: part 4: Music

I think almost everyone will tell you how they love music and it's such a huge part of their lives. It's just how we work, I guess. Something we can all relate to in one way or another, be it the words, the melodies, or even the mathematical part of it (yes, someone tried to discuss this with me at length one time, and even though I could appreciate what he was saying I can't say I completely "got" it, I'm more the words/melody side). Did you know there's a branch of psychology dedicated to music and how if affects our behaviors, experiences, interaction... and junk? I guess it makes sense that there should be. But I never figured there was an entire branch dedicated to it.

Without going into boring details, my history with music is pretty sordid. There were some periods I'm still ashamed of. I'm easily influenced by people around me, which may account for it. After several years of drifting, I think I've found my niche. I credit my discovery of the Beatles at the age of 15 for helping me along the way. Of course I always knew who they were. My mom would always play "Birthday" for.. uh.. for our birthdays (that, and the Winnie the Pooh "Birthday Birthday" song) on our little Fisher Price record player. I don't even know what really prompted me to start listening to them later on, but I know around that time the Anthologies, Free as a Bird and Real Love were released. But I must have been into them before, because the first anthology was released on my 16th birthday, and I was incredibly excited about the coincidence. What I do remember is listening to the so called "white album" for what I thought was the first time, and realizing that I already knew the words. I don't know where I heard it, but someone once said the Beatles have become part of our DNA. And I think they're right. I also think they stole this idea from me because I've been saying it for ages. (I LOVE this video! I can't catch them anymore because my Beatles knowledge is slipping, but there are TONS of subtle references to songs and whatnot.)

So let's see, where to go from here? I have some perennial favorites, and some I'll forget about in a few months. I guess this is a bit of a hodgepodge of the two. And this is really only skimming the surface.

On the playlist: Some of these will be mentioned below, but for the one that is not ...

The Engine Driver by the Decemberists -- Completely obsessed with this right now. It's almost as bad as when I was obsessed with Rufus Wainwright's version of "Hallelujah". (interesting bit of trivia, Rufus's version was on the earlier versions of the Shrek soundtrack, but now it's the John Cale version, which I believe is also the one heard in the film. I don't know why it was changed. Rufus' version is better.) (On another side note, the Shrek movies also make me happy. They're awfully cute. And all message-y. And funny. Well, the first 2. The third is kinda lame.)

El Sorcho will always be my favorite Weezer song. We have a bit of a history dating back to when I still taped songs off the radio, and then rediscovering it a few years later. I like Weezer. They make me happy. How can I not sing along... in my car... alone? And I can't think of Weezer without thinking of the 2001 Y100 FEZtival where I saw them. And we learned the Weezer, uh, gang sign.

I have a bit of a girl crush on Regina Spektor. She's a weird one. Maybe a little too weird. So I guess my girl crush is mainly on her music. I just recently bought her Soviet Kitsch CD. Naturally I don't like it as much as Begin to Hope. At least not yet. but isn't that how it works a lot of the time? I've got one of her songs on the playlist there... while I'm not the biggest fan of it, I do LOVE how she sings "...when I would only smoke Marlboro's". When I listen to it in the car I repeat that part over and over. It gives me chills. Anyway, I am loving this song right now:

Guster will always been one of my favorites... even though their newer stuff isn't really doing much for me. They're quirky. I like quirky. My favorite songs change from time to time... right now it's Parachute (on the playlist), but Demons is always a good one. I particularly love the addition of the banjo in this version.

I first heard "Top shelf" by Man Man on YRock on XPN (mentioned previously)... (YRock is the "alternative music" portion of XPN.) Not really my style, but it seemed "right" at the time. And still does. Sometimes you just need something, uh, drastically different, right? They’re from Philly, so how can I not support them? And I hear their live shows totally "shred". They "jam" for a while, then go into Top Shelf. If you can hang in there that long.