Year: 2003 Length: 7:55 An epic Death Cab For Cutie song. A whopping 7 minutes and 55 seconds. Use either stereo headphones or a good sound system when you listen to this the first time. Do it indoors without distractions, either. The lyrics set a tone for the rest of this song, a song that conjures up images of an artist slowly filling in the white canvas with deep somber colors and eventually covering up the foundation.
Origin/Composer: Arr. Baz Luhrman, songs by The Beatles, Dolly Parton, Desmond Child, Brian Eno, Phil Collins, U2, David Bowie, (et al?) Year: 2001 Nicole Kidman, Ewan McGregor, and Jamie Allen perform this crazy medley of the catch-phrases of a dozen love songs, complete with half a dozen key changes and harmonious duets. I wrote a scandalous hyper-risqué rewording of the lyrics for Admit Weekend 2006, but it was never performed since there was too much censorable material in there, especially for freshmen. It was basically Gaieties squared. If you’re interested, ask me for the lyrics…If I had a guilty pleasure, I guess attempting to sing this song would be my most egregious one.
Year: 1867 Note: The actual original German title is “An der schönen blauen Donau” (“On the Beautiful Blue Danube”). The Viennese Ball is on Friday. Let’s get psyched, and there’s no better song for it than this waltz. (This was also the song used for the opening waltz at the Viennese Ball this year).
Origin/Composer: Michael Sterling/Lil Jon/Ludacris/Usher Year: 2004 Wow. That was a crazy weekend. Grove Progressive, a friend’s birthday party, and our “Barn ‘Aight”-themed Bar Night. All of these have happened before, so I feel like a song highliting lovers and friends and how they’re “doing it again” is so appropriate.
Origin/Composer: Metallica / Michael Kamen, from the album S&M Year: 2001 It’s ear-splittingly loud San Francisco Symphony. It’s classy Metallica. It’s…S&M! A playful reference to sadomachistic sex, the album S&M is an amazing fusion of one of the most respected and skilled symphonies in the world and one of the most skilled rock bands in the last two decades. All the classical parts were composed by legendary composer and conductor Michael Kamen, and conducted by him as well. The combination may seem crazy, but hear it once, and you will find that it is amazingly harmonious and musically complex.
Origin/Composer: Elisa Year: 2005 Why lie? Yes, I’ve been extremely tardy in updating my songs of the week. This week’s songs of the week are being updated on the ridiculously late date of April 1, 2007. And…APRIL FOOLS!! No, just kidding. On February 18th, weeks after this song was supposed to go up, I went to the Harmonics 15th anniversary reunion show, and it was probably the best a cappella show I’ve ever witnessed. One of the basses, Jon Pilat, had a beat-boxing and bass voice that was indistinguishable from real drums or bass guitars. Their songs “Human” by Seal and “The Memory Remains” by Metallica also had amazing arrangements. The Harmonics are great recorded, but you need to see [more . . .]
Year: 2006 Ski trip! Check out the guitar intro in this song. It’s pretty slickety amazing. This is one of my favorite tracks off of Stadium Arcadium, the Jupiter disc, or maybe even both discs in the album. I started practicing the intro guitar part soon after I heard it for the first time, but put that on hiatus as my quarter increased in difficulty and workload. About halfway into the quarter, my next-door neighbor rushed into my room proclaiming how wonderful he thought this solo was and proceeded to play the song on repeat a few dozen times and practicing it for the next few days. He’s a great guitar player, but usually, hearing the same song a few [more . . .]
Year: 2006 I wasn’t sure if I liked the new Snow Patrol album, “Eyes Open,” when it first came out. I loved “Final Straw” a lot, so in comparison, “Eyes Open” just didn’t have that edgy power that “Final Straw” did. If Final Straw were a group of snow campers lost in the wilderness commiserating around a bright bonfire, then “Eyes Open” would be those same campers after they were rescued and cleaned up and dressed in clean, ironed and starched shirts, giving an interview under hot stage lights about their experiences. I’ve finally decided that I do like the album. A lot. If another random band came out with this album, I wouldn’t even have this internal struggle in [more . . .]
Year: 1972 Happy New Year! Let’s start the new year with some Steely Dan. I really didn’t appreciate Steely Dan for a long time. It wasn’t until I joined quiz bowl and Jase took over the captainship that I started to really like them. It was a long process. He started playing it whenever we were on the van for a meet, which was about once a week. After two or three hours of Steely Dan, I had to like it, or risk losing my sanity. A few more hours, and I’d learn to love it. Jase, what have you done? Steely Dan’s songs are mostly quite bitter and angsty and have obscure references. This is a song that has [more . . .]
Origin/Composer: John Williams / Leroy Anderson Year: 1985 I actually first heard this song when I was at Disney World Orlando during the holidays many years ago. It played almost non-stop and the tune was extremely catchy. I didn’t know the name, but I discovered it a few years later. This is my favorite version, played by the incomparable Boston Pops under the conduction of John Williams in an arrangement he wrote. To top it all off, when I was visiting Chicago and went ice skating at Millennium Park with Jessica, this song came on over the loudspeakers as the Zambonis came and we took a long walk around the park.