100 Favorite Songs: 61-65

Dear Past Kelsy,

What a great selection of songs. You have great taste!

Love,
Future Kelsy

61. “Movin’ Out (Anthony’s Song)” by Billy Joel (1977)

ack ACK ACK ACK!!!! Right?


This just looks fun.

62. “Bullet With Butterfly Wings” by The Smashing Pumpkins (1995)

The drums and bassline on this song--great.


Is there anything cooler than a female bassist?

63. “We Work the Black Seam” by Sting (1985)

This song is strangely addictive with its blend of social consciousness and inaccurate science.


A fun practice/live version.

64. “Sunday Bloody Sunday” by U2 (1983)

Also known as the only U2 song I like. It's pretty powerful stuff, helped by the fact that Bono hadn't become the pretentious message-bearer he's become today.


The black and white style makes this even more timeless.

65. “God Only Knows” by The Beach Boys (1966)

The Beach Boys not singing about surfing is my favorite. When they use their powers of sweet harmonies for a gorgeous singles like this, perfection.


Mmmm, lip synching.

100 Favorite Songs: 11-15

Listy list face.

11. “Miami 2017 (See the Lights Go Out On Broadway)” by Billy Joel (1976)

I've rarely been a good sleeper, so I tend to listen to music in bed to distract me into relaxing my brain. "Miami 2017" was a guaranteed relaxer my sophomore year of high school. I'd usually space out somewhere in the upbeat middle and realize I was tired enough to sleep at the beautiful piano outro, causing me to turn off my CD player, take off my headphones, and fall asleep.


Not to say this song is soporific. It's lovely.

12. "Blood" by The Middle East (2009)

This is the newest song on this list, but I think my love of it will endure. It was one of those songs I instantly loved. The music is sad and hopeful and gives life the lyrical portrait of a family.


Love this video, too.

13. "Birdhouse in Your Soul" by They Might Be Giants (1990)

It's just so catchy, and once you learn all the bizarre lyrics, you can't not sing along.


The one song My 99.5 FM overplayed that I liked.

14. “Don’t Stop Me Now” by Queen (1979)

I think I've featured this song multiple times on this blog, but can you ever get sick of this song? Ever?


Also, this song is part of the best scene in Shaun of the Dead.

15. “Swallow” by The Wailin’ Jennys (2006)

Canadian bluegrass. Awesome. I'm mostly in love with brief Wailin' Jennys member Annabell Chvostek's voice in this song. I love a lady with rich low voice.

Also known as one of the few songs I can play on guitar.

25 Days of Christmas Music: She's Right On Time

This music video is ridiculous, but I always find Billy Joel's love songs heart-warming in their originality. 1982's "She's Right On Time":

The Audacity of Rock: Part 15

Out of place at the discotech.

I adore disco: it's super white, but kind of funky in the baseline, with a lot of quick guitar riffs. Can't beat it. Anyway, what's even better than just disco itself, is disco played by a band/performer that probably shouldn't be playing disco. The ridiculousness of the musical genre is amplified to a new state of awesome that makes me love it even more.

"The Stranger" by Billy Joel (1977)

This song is completely ridiculous. According to the wiki it's very Freudian (the stranger is the id? whatever), but all I know is that it certainly starts out lovely and jazzy and then out of nowhere disco! I don't think anything else Billy Joel wrote is quite this funky and/or cynical, and I find that hilarious.

Enjoy him performing "The Stranger" live in 1977 (if that's him whistling live, impressive):



"Paralyzer" by Finger Eleven (2007)

Finger Eleven is one of those bands that I could find out are actually singing Christian rock, and I wouldn't be surprised. They play polite pseudo-hardrock that isn't particularly good, but not bad enough to hurt my soul. This is just to say the "Paralyzer" is kind of a surprise--a good surprise because I kind of love this song*, but a surprise nonetheless.

Just enjoy the funky beat and guitar riffs. Then try to forget that this is by the same band who did this.



Questions to ponder:
1. Can disco make a comeback? Please? At least white people can dance to it.
2. Is anything quite as charming and jarring as disco coming from an unexpected source?


*My liking the song even survived being one of my roommates' ring tones. That's tough to do, because people called her a lot.

Medley of the day: Moving Out

I'm moving out of the apartment complex I've been at for two years. The last year absolutely sucked, which probably was partly my fault. My roommate I'd lived with my freshman and sophomore year and loved got engaged last summer and left me for good in October, leaving me somewhat friendless. I knew a couple of my roommates from before, but it wasn't the same. Who was I going to watch Bollywood movies or midnight clean the kitchen with? I almost moved, but decided even semi-friends was better than no friends.

Now, I'm officially moving, and in celebration, a medley of moving songs.

First up is the Beatles' "She's Leaving home". This one is about a girl leaving home to have fun, thus abandoning her parents. It's a beautiful melody with haunting back-up vocals by John.



This second one is "Going to California" by Led Zeppelin. It's a rather wistful song about heartbreak and moving on.



This next one is kind of loosely related to the theme, but I love it. It's a 2003 clip from Nashville Star featuring the adorable Miranda Lambert who has a gorgeous voice. She wrote "Greyhound Bound for Nowhere" with her dad (how awesomely country is that?). It's about leaving a relationship with a married man, but she's moving, so I count it as legit.



Last, one my absolute favorite Billy Joel songs, "Movin' Out (Anthony's Song)". Tell me it's not the most fun ever to sing along to all the "ack-ack-acK-aCK-ACK!"s. Also, "He works at Mister Cacciatore's down on Sullivan Street".


Yeah, this is just some guy playing it on his turntable.