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30 Day Song Challenge – Week 3 Recap

Here we are again! “LET’S GO LET’S GO LET’S GO LET’S GO” -Matt and Kim

Day 13: You can listen to over and over and over again
“Oceans” by The Format

I love the music. I love the band. It brings back good memories of people I’m incredibly fond of. That about covers it!

(I should note that, though “Oceans” won out right now, it was very closely followed by “Lazaretto” by Jack White, “HandClap” by Fitz and the Tantrums, and “I’m Alright (Theme from Caddyshack)” by Kenny Loggins)

Day 14: You’re surprised you love
“Stronger” by Kanye West

Kanye. West. I wish I didn’t like some of his music as much as I do because I can’t handle how narcissistic he is. HOWEVER. This song is cool and catchy and samples Daft Punk and it’s on my “motivation playlist” (along with Ariana Grande’s “Break Free”, so that’s up there on this list too).

Day 15: Is in your head right this very second
“Mother and Child Reunion” by Paul Simon

A lot of Paul Simon’s songs tend to get stuck in my head, so it was only natural that this is my answer this go-around. I heard this and “You Can Call Me Al” earlier in the week, but “Mother and Child Reunion” was the one that got its little fangs more deeply into my brain this time.

Day 16: Your sibling loved to listen to
“Idioteque” by Radiohead

My younger brother discovered Radiohead when he was in junior high, and became particularly obsessed with some of their more experimental (and borderline nonsensical) stuff. Our whole house became familiar with their Kid A album thanks to him, and “Idioteque” stands out because he listened to it on repeat until he learned all the lyrics. Now all the words are seared into my memory as well. I guess there are worse things!

Day 17: Makes you stop in your tracks
“We’re Going To Be Friends” by The White Stripes

This song always captures my attention and I can’t help but sing along to it. It takes me out of whatever I’m doing or thinking about and lifts my emotions–it’s so sweet and simple, and it takes me back to the first few days of grade school in those Septembers of yesteryear. It’s just wonderful in its loveliness. Also, side note, it’s the theme to the Conan O’Brien Needs a Friend podcast, so I get to hear a portion of it each week. Yayyyy!!

Day 18: Helped influence a decision you made
“Crooked Teeth” by Death Cab for Cutie

“And you can’t find nothing at all 
If there was nothing there all along”

Ouch. This song spoke to me while I was in the middle of deciding whether or not to break up with someone I had been dating long-distance for two years. While I was thinking through that dilemma, “Crooked Teeth” played from some playlist I had, and I remember hearing these lyrics and thinking, crap, Ben Gibbard’s right. It was sad, but it’s what I needed to hear, and it helped me stay confident in the decision I made to proceed with ending the relationship.

Day 19: Has a really good music video
“Can’t Stop” by the Red Hot Chili Peppers

I’m actually not a big fan of Red Hot Chili Peppers, but this is one of my more favorite songs of theirs, and it helps that there’s a sweet music video to go along with it. The flickering lamps are my favorite art pieces used in the video, and they remind me of one of my other favorite music videos (Weezer’s “El Scorcho”). I can just imagine the director and the band playing around with the “props” they were given and having fun with the idea, and so I always enjoy watching this.

Until sometime soon! Can’t believe the challenge is more than half-way over!

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30 Day Song Challenge – Week 2 Recap

Hello, too many days late! Last Thursday through yesterday-ish, I had what I hope was the only bad cold/sinus infection I’ll experience in 2019. So here I am with the Week 2 Song Challenge Recap, with the Week 3 Recap not far behind at all. Let’s not waste any time!

Day 6: Transports you to another place and time
“Drift Away” by Dobie Gray

The place: Midland Dairy in Kearny, New Jersey
The time: throughout the school year, circa 1999-2004

On most days during lunch period, I would visit this great deli/convenience store near school to get a bottle of Coke (in a glass bottle, because I was a class act), some kind of celebrity-centric magazine (to balance out the classiness), and a Snickers ice cream bar (no explanation necessary). I swear that every time I walked into the store, “Drift Away” was playing. I often visited Midland Dairy with my friend Chris during this time, so hearing “Drift Away” reminds me of him too, which is great because Chris is great.

Day 7: Would be the soundtrack to your training montage
“Magic” by B.o.B (feat. Rivers Cuomo)

Let me be perfectly clear: I am a complete sucker for upbeat, gleeful songs ESPECIALLY if they have a whiff of cheese. I love the inherent silliness in music like this, and if the song has any sort of confidence-building message, even if it’s more tongue-in-cheek, you know I am going to add that to my exercise or my “let’s rock this presentation” playlist. And since I’m a little nerdy and odd, the fact that Rivers Cuomo is the one actually singing the words “I’ve got the magic in me” makes it a bit of an anthem for the awkward person who wants to be convinced that they, too, indeed have the magic in them. It’s sincere in a bit of a desperate way, and I adore it.

Day 8: Is really good live (based on your experience)
“Pride (In the Name of Love)” by U2

Typically I prefer smaller venues to arenas when consuming live music–small places require a more stripped-down and music-focused act instead of a multi-media performance, and I confess I like the dinginess and casualness of a bar show versus a concert that’s in the triple digits for one ticket (not to mention it takes like an hour to get out of the parking lot at the end of an arena show, ugh).

The only time I’ve seen U2 is also the only time I’ve been to a huge venue show and afterwards felt like “yeah, I’d like to do that again”. Arena shows are great places for flashier entertainers with costume changes and other bells and whistles and marvels in concert special effects and dancers and other such business. When I saw U2, there was a long stage and a massive screen, but otherwise it was just the band dressing in the same style they’ve been dressing in for decades, and yet they do not get swallowed up in the vastness of the place where they’re performing. Bono is this small dude who somehow manages to be larger than life, leaning on sheer charisma instead of props or other add-on’s. It’s incredible. I was captivated by him, and I literally cried while I sang along with everyone else: “Free at last, they took your life, they could not take your pride!”

Also, I chose to feature this specific video because the footage was shot the day before I saw U2 in the same venue.

Day 9: You can’t help but dance to
“Uptown Funk” by Mark Ronson (feat. Bruno Mars)

This song is too cool for me and I can’t handle how much I want to dance to it. This is the song that got me out on the dance floor during a work party recently, and I’m embarrassed just thinking about how goofy I must’ve looked. But I remember not caring at the time because there was literally nothing I could do about it.

Day 10: You can sing really really well
“When I’m Sixty-Four” by The Beatles

This song is sweet and the melody has a limited range that’s neither too high or too low for me–a goldilocks of a song! I’m not a great or strong singer, but sometimes I can hold a tune. I can hold a tune with this song and so I belt it out when it graces me with its presence on the radio (YES I already told you I listen to the radio!). Not that this is really a song you “belt out” but you know what I mean.

Day 11: You resonate with most right now
“Crossed Wires” by Superchunk


One of the many upsides of my current job is that I do a lot of independent, quiet work which allows me to listen to music throughout my day. Recently I was listening to a playlist on Google Music and the first lines in this song stopped me in my tracks:

I went out and felt the sun on my face
Then a tug on my leg and now I’m
Back in the cave
There’s a moment of peace
That I just can’t re-create

I immediately was like YUP, I get it, and this song gets me.

The imagery here is a boiled down version of what my daily struggle with anxiety looks like. Often I’ll get a glimpse of something hopeful and joyful (e.g. a start of a day, a good feeling, an idea, anything really), and then something else, internally or externally, will almost immediately counter and overcome the feelings of hope and joy, replacing them with despair.

Of course I don’t want to feel despairing, so it’s a constant battle of hope versus hopelessness that takes place in the innermost recesses of my mind. And since it’s rooted so deeply, it comes out in ways that are tough to explain. It takes different forms, including experiencing complicated and contradicting emotions, acting moody and flaky, isolating myself from people altogether, etc. BUT, in the midst of this, even though everything is chaos, there are moments when I do feel the sun on my face, and that brief peace is a gift when I otherwise constantly live in fear that something in my life is going to burst into flames.

If that was too much of a downer for you, I’m not going to apologize, so just watch the music video to feel better (or watch it again if you watched it already).

Day 12: Was #1 the week you were born
“Invisible Touch” by Genesis

Remember when I said the following: “I am a complete sucker for upbeat, gleeful songs ESPECIALLY if they have a whiff of cheese”? Well, perhaps it’s because I was born with a predisposition to loving this type of music! This song! This music video! It’s everything. I couldn’t be prouder of being born during this moment in popular music, ha! Truly though.

Coming soon: Days 13-19 of the 30-Day Song Challenge!

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month challenge: April 2019

Tomorrow is April, folks! Not sure how we got here already, but I’m excited for a fresh new season and the onslaught of Cadbury creme eggs. Aided once again by my Ink + Volt planner, I’ve thought through and settled on a fun way to ease back into month-long challenges in general.

My go-to method of learning about people I don’t know very well is to explore the relatively safe space and colorful world of popular culture with them, asking all kinds of borderline-annoying questions about TV/music/movies/etc. So this challenge features the music portion of this lil habit of mine, and it turns the tables by making myself answer the prompts I so often enjoy using to interrogate prospective lifelong friends.

First, I need to fill out the part of my planner that acts as my oath and covenant for the month:

Second, I need to share my questionnaire! May I present to you, my month-long Song-a-Day challenge prompts….

BEHOLD:

(I know it’s for 31 days, so I’ll probably just answer the last 2 questions on the 30th)

As I mentioned in the planner, I’ll be reporting on my progress at the end of each week with links to my songs–who knows, maybe we can get a decent playlist created as a result of this too!

Feel free to play along at home, and share your answers in the comments. Have fun–and wish me luck!