I’m going to confess something. Then you’re going to say, “Oh, yeah, I do that too,” and then I’m going to say, “Yeah, well I do that all the time,” and you’ll be all, “To what degree?” and I’ll tell you, and you’ll say, “Whoa.” Quietly and with fear.
I hit the repeat button on my car CD player when there’s a song I like, and I let it repeat until I get to my destination.
(“Oh, yeah, I do that too”…”Yeah, well I do that all the time” … “To what degree?”)
I have listened to nothing but I Live With It Every Day, every day, for the last month. Well, every day I had access to my car. It started two weeks before the cruise.
Sometimes, I would turn off the car, perhaps in the middle of the song, resetting the repeat function, then when I’d get back in I’d hear a few notes of Old Apartment, then jump back.
Going on the cruise and being away from the car CD player didn’t break me of the habit. I got back in the car, the song started up, I hit repeat. (Any trauma associated with people sporting sequoias on stage had no ill effects.)
So it’s been almost two weeks since the cruise. I have progressed from not only loving this song, but to loving individual consonants in this song. Specifically: “The only thing that they can’t take.” (“The guilt that spirals in my wake.” Sigh.)
I took Mom somewhere in the car today, and I was a big girl and switched out the CD. It made me wonder what qualities certain songs have that get me obsessed. Are there themes? Rhythms? I heard that there’s a secret chord? What?
So, I’m going to burn a CD of these songs:
Three songs by Leonard Cohen: Tower Of Song, Take This Waltz, and Closing Time
Closing Time would be followed thematically by Kevin Hearn and Here Come the Chimebell Trains
There would be two Weakerthans songs, Sun In An Empty Room and Civil Twilight. At least, I remember I was once obsessed with Sun In An Empty Room, and I would have heard it again today when I drove home from Mom’s, but I couldn’t get past Civil Twilight.
For most Barenaked Ladies songs, there’s an obvious theme: Running Out Of Ink, This Is Where It Ends, Next Time, War on Drugs – suicidal, much? But then, why Break Your Heart? But that would explain Green Day and St. Jimmy.
There are some lyrically uplifting songs, from Guster – I Hope Tomorrow Is Like Today – and Ben Folds – Still Fighting It
There are relationship songs:
Blondie – Hanging On The Telephone
Liz Phair – Polyester Bride
Pelle Carlsberg – I Love You, You Imbecile
And finally, some unclassifiable songs:
Blondie – The Hardest Part
Cat Empire – Sly
Fountains of Wayne – Strapped For Cash
The big question is: what song do I put first? Because I’ll be listening to it for a month; I’m not exaggerating.
21 responses to “Obsession CD”
I’ll be the contrarian and say, “No, I don’t do that.” My obsessions are pretty lightweight and maybe satisfied by a once or twice a week playing, and usually it’s the entire CD rather than one song. I have this fear of “wearing the song out,” thus rendering it useless. (I rarely listen to the Replacements’ Tim anymore, especially, “Hold My Life,” because it means too much to me. Does that make sense?)
Oh yeah. I do that too. I listened to Bruce Hornsby’s “Hot House” CD for two years. No, really.Now I’m stuck on a round of Simon & Garfunkel and a reallly old Stephen Stills CD, “Manassas”, but I only listen to about four of the songs on a 22-song CD. This has been going on for about two weeks. Early days yet.When my mom was dying, I picked one James Taylor CD and listened to that day and night for six months, because I knew when she died I would never listen to it again. And I haven’t.
I do that at work. To what degree?Co-worker – What is the name of that song you were listening to the other day?Me – What song?Co-Worker – The one you played ALL DAY LONG! OVER AND OVER!Me – Er. Sorry. “Grazin’ in the Grass.”Better yet, I will make a cd of just that song and then I won’t have to worry about hitting the repeat button while I’m driving. Drives my kid nuts.
“I heard that there’s a secret chord/That David played, and it pleased the Lord…”Um yeah, I do that sometimes. The above song is one example. Also, BNL’s song Wrap Your Arms Around Me (check that one out, if you haven’t already).
Augustana – Think I’ll go to Boston. I really just love the piano parts.
Like Kathy, I’ve started down that road but stopped myself for fear of wearing a song out.All the same, in high school I would listen to certain tapes over and over and over again, and now whenever I hear certain songs by Whitney Houston or U2 or Elvis Presley, I am *instantly* transported to a place and a feeling – I remember the weather and the smells and what I was doing.
I don’t tend toward obsession with particular songs, but I do get obsessed with albums and artists. Currently I’m all about Imogen Heap. I have a very good and very accurate musical memory (I actually impressed some college professors when being tested for placement at music camp) so after a few listens I have the songs in my head..and they repeat ALL THE TIME…and not always the whole song. Apparently my head skips.I don’t need no stinkin’ CD or MP3 player.Of course, I have a different problem. I keep thinking certain songs should be on particular soundtrack albums. In fact, I become convinced they are there, but when I check the soundtrack, it ain’t so.Currently, my head is repeating “Headlock”, “Hide and Seek”, “Say Goodnight and Go” and “Rake it In” (which is one of my least favorites, so it’s annoying) among other Heap songs.
Kathy – Can you be a contratian if TasterSpoon agrees with you? Becs – So, four songs on the same CD. There should be some way to program a car CD player so that if you skip a song ten times in a row ir just “forgets” that song. Sherry – Oh, that is genius. Especially since I at first thought, “So she copies the same song 20 times into a playlist and then burns that to a CD?” YES! I thought that! Obviously, you are a genius compared to me.Melissa – “Wrap Your Arms Around Me” kind of creeps me out, like a few other songs on Gordon – I keep thinking, “They were sixteen when they wrote that?”Jenny – I’ll have to listen to that song.TasterSpoon – The weather too? The only song I have like that is “Heart of Glass” – I was ordering pizza at Indiana U.Sherri – I think I ordered an Imogen Heap song off iTunes right before my PC died. I need to do that again. And, I pity you your earwig curse. I have to deliberately listen to songs right before work so they get stuck in my head.
Yeah, but it’s got some of their best harmonizing in it.
Mmm hmmm. Yeah. Thanks, that was fun.
Melissa – words: 90%, music 10%.sgazzetti – Don’t forget. No regrets.
you should visit pandora.com and input all your favorite songs into differetn stations and see what it thinks about your music taste! I love that site, it’s done wonders for my music library.
Rachel – (Hi, Rachel) – That’s a good idea. I have some Yahoo thing like Rhapsody already set up, but I haven’t been there for years.
EarWORM. Earwigs are creepy bugs. Unless that’s what you actually meant. Anyway, words, huh? Probably not a fan of the Toad TWP song, Hold Her Down, then, are you?
Melissa – Toad TWP? Toad the Wet Sprocket? Procket? Anyway, I’ve never heard Hold Her Down, but Is it something like the Beatles You Know My Name, Look Up My Number? If so, no thanks.
OK, no. I don’t do that. Not quite THAT obsessive. But I really like your song list, and although I haven’t heard some of them, I like all those bands, and am now determined to hear them. Once my husband gets off his ass and buys me an iPod for my birthday.
Whoops, yes, S, not P! Anyway, listen to the song and then decide.
Candy – Everyone needs an iPod. I’m a convert.Melissa – Gah! That was awful! I didn’t read all the words, so I suppose I can’t judge.
Kind of a dark subject, huh?
Yeah, I’ve been listening to Break Your Heart for about a month and a half in my car, and running Out of Ink at home for about two weeks. Still not ready for new songs yet. Lol.
ScottieDawg – Yep – Been stuck on Running Out of Ink myself.