30 Days Of Music. Day 23: A Song You Want Played At Your Wedding

Moving along...

I'm already married. I've had the wedding. I had music there.

But, my wedding day did not go as planned. It was to be an outdoor affair at my sister's house. August 3rd was the date. All weather folks said that was a generally dry time of year, so I planned for it to be. We picked up some tents/canopies to put up just in case, but I honestly thought that the bad luck that follows me throughout most things in my life would spare me on my wedding day.

It didn't.

It rained. Not only did it rain, it poured. Not only did it pour, it came down in sheets. The ceremony was due to start at 6pm on an August evening. The sun was supposed to be shining. Instead it was pitch black out and tornado sirens were going off in the surrounding towns. We held off the ceremony for a while in hopes that it would pass.

It didn't.

We ended up getting married in my sister's garage next to where the bar had been set up.We had a tent extending from the garage that the guests (who managed to make it out in the storm) huddled under.

The first storm ended as soon as the ceremony did. The sun came shooting back out and everyone cheered and it was truly a beautiful moment.

But the next wave of bad weather made it's way in shortly after and it ended up being a very wet night.

But, we're still married and everyone says our wedding will go down as one of the best and most memorable. Our families, who had never really met, really pulled together to keep everything together and the whole event became a joyous celebration.


But, the one thing about the non-beautiful weather outdoor wedding I had wanted that I didn't get that I was really looking forward to, was to have a mix CD of Greg Brown songs playing as guests arrived and mingled outside before the ceremony. I love Greg Brown and the man can write a love song like no one else.

So this is a song that I wanted played at my wedding:

30 Days of Music. Day 22: A Song You Listen To When You're Sad

One day I was sad. This song came shuffling onto my iPod. I had never really listened to it before. It fit my mood perfectly. Now I can only listen to it when I'm sad as that is the feeling it brings out in me.

30 Days of Music. Day 21: A Song You Listen To When You're Happy

We're on the home stretch, people. Unfortunately, the "days" are getting more mundane. It's basically "pick a random song" time.

So, this song - and the album it came from - have been in my car for sunny day driving. I love to take a long drive when it's a beautiful day out and sing loudly to my favorite songs that, well, that make me happy.



This song started out probably at the bottom of the heap as far as which songs I like best on this album. But one day, driving along, I found myself singing to it very loudly and suddenly I loved it.

30 Days of Music. Day 20: A Song You Listen To When You're Angry

I'm only on day 20? I should really step it up. The problem is these "days" are getting a bit tired. I'm not someone who gets angry and frantically throws a "go-to" song on the stereo to air punch to. When I'm angry, I tend to pout in silence. That's just how I roll.

But, I'm sure back in 1994 when I was 15 and thought I was an oh-so-angry girl, I put this song on and stomped my feet around the apartment I lived in.

30 DAys of Music. Day 19: A Song From Your Favorite Album

My favorite album? That is impossible. It changes all the time.

I guess right now, I've been listening to London Calling pretty consistently lately - even declaring it my summer album. So, that being the case, here's my favorite song from that album:

30 Days of Music. Day 18: A Song That You Wish You Heard On The Radio

so tempted to say myself...so tempted to say myself...

But that would be lame, right. I can't really say that I would like to hear myself on the radio. Or can I? Because I would. I know I have been on the radio. I've just never heard it. So, that would be cool.

But,for the sake of this 30 Days of Music thing, I'll go with this:



She does it right. She does it well. And the world would be a better place if people paid more attention to her.

30 Days of Music. Day 17: A Song You Hear Often On the Radio

I'm fortunate to live in a community with a few really good music stations. I don't listen to the radio that often, but when I do, it is more than likely tuned to 89.3 The Current. One of the cool things about The Current is their focus on local music. They even recently created a 24/7 online webstream of all local music.

So my post for this day is this song by local singer/songwriter Jeremy Messersmith:

I hear this song every time I listen to the radio.

30 Days of Music. Day 16: A Song You Used To Love But Now You Hate

Back in 1998 when Lucinda Williams’ Car Wheels on a Gravel Road first came out, I listened to it constantly. I loved it. But it seems as the years have gone on, her voice has become more and more drunken and slurred and, well, it sounds like she is singing while vomiting. Her voice these days has become so grating to me that I can no longer listen to her old stuff, back when her voice was more in the “unique” category.

So, there was a point when I loved the song posted below, but now I can’t listen to it anymore.

30 Days of Music. Day 15: A Song That Describes You

Oh, boy. This was tough. I felt like I really had to think about this one as I didn't want to come across in a certain way. You know, picking "Baby I'm A Star" by Prince or something (totally joking).

So I picked this one, as a lot of it does describe me and lot of it is what I strive to be.

30 Days of Music. Day 14: A Song That No One Would Expect You To Love

This category is very similar to yesterday's topic. So, here's a song that I love that maybe people wouldn't realize I truly love as much as I do.



Great video, too.

30 Days of Music. Day 13: A Song That Is A Guilty Pleasure

I've been stalling on this "day" because I don't have a lot of guilty pleasures. I like what I like - and that includes Britney Spears and Tiffany and songs by American Idol alumni and Skid Row and old school gangsta rap. I could have put any number of songs here that fall into those categories because they are supposed to be guilty pleasures. But, I honestly don't feel guilty about a single one.

So, I searched my brain and came up with:



I picked Jennifer Lopez because she's not really a musical artist in any way. She thinks she is and a lot of people tell her she is, but she's really not. And if you tell almost anyone that you like a J.Lo song, they will give you a really bad look.

And, the thing is, I not only like this Jennifer Lopez song, I like several, yes several, Jennifer Lopez songs.

(but not that song about Ben Affleck)

So there.

30 Days of Music. Day 12: A Song From A Band You Hate

Sharon Jones and the Dap Kings are played way too often around here. I don't understand. Her "soulful" voice seems so put on. The whole act just seems so played out.

The final straw for me with this band is when I heard their atrocious cover of "This Land Is Your Land". Way to suck the entire meaning out of the song. You can listen to it below. But, really, you shouldn't. There are much better things you could do with your time.

30 Days of Music. Day 11: A Song From Your Favorite Band

This one was way too easy.

My favorite song of the moment by my favorite band.



I love this version of this song. It gives me shivers and makes my stomach do flip flops.

And, what would The National be without their drummer? My goodness that guy is insanely good.

30 Days of Music. Day 10: A Song That Makes You Fall Asleep

Back when I was a teenager and had my own room and my own bed, I would listen to music to fall asleep. Throw my most easy listening albums in the CD player and dream away. It got to the point where I needed that background noise in order to fall asleep. And when I did meet someone and live with them and share a room/bed with them, it was difficult to get used to not having music playing when I went to bed.

My go-to album for sleep time was Sarah McLachlan's Solace. It's about as easy listening as you can get without actually listening to WLTE Light FM. There are no crazy electric guitars, no pounding drums. Just some light and airy vocals over massively produced arrangements of strings, acoustic guitars, pianos, and brush stroked drum beats.

This is the first track off of that album.



Hmmm...I think I'm asleep already.

30 Days of Music. Day 9: A Song That You Can Dance To

Not much to say about this one, just that it always gets me moving.

30 Days of Music. Day 8: A Song You Know All Of The Words To

This is a strange category because if I know and like a song, I know all of the words. But, I can’t really just say “all of them”, so I have to pick one.

Friday night I was relaxing at the kitchen table, listening to 89.3 The Current finish up their member drive and celebrating by playing some ridiculous songs. Amongst the ridiculousness, they played “The Humpty Dance” by Digital Underground and I know all of the words to this song.

When this song comes on, I have to sing along. Every terrible misogynistic word. It’s like that episode of South Park where Cartman can’t hear the beginning of “Come Sail Away” without having to finish the whole thing.

Cartman's Mom is Still a Dirty Slut
Tags: SOUTH
PARKmore...

30 Days of Music. Day 7: A Song That Reminds You Of A Certain Event

I am behind on this one. The whole Blogger being down thing really halted any posting momentum I had. But, it's back!

I also had a hard time with this "day". I can think of a ton of songs that remind me of people and places, but I feel like an event needs to be a big thing, like a wedding or funeral or birthday or something.

But, after thinking about it for a while, I thought of this song:

I covered this song the first time I performed by myself on stage at an open mic night. I love Anais. I love this song. And now when I hear it I always remember my first time singing.

Me, singing and playing guitar on stage for the first time at O'Donovans open mic night.

30 Days of Music. Day 6: A Song That Reminds You Of Somewhere

One of my favorite moments while visiting London was sitting at the Roundhouse Pub in Covent Garden. We had just spent the day walking from our hotel in Trafalagar Square to Abbey Road and back. We decided to go get a pint somewhere to relax before getting ready to head out for the night.

The whole day was perfect. The weather was phenomenal. I saw so much that day. I loved every single second of it. By far, one of the Top 5 days of my LIFE. No joke.

Me in total happiness at the Roundhouse Pub.

But my favorite moment of the entire awesome day, happened at this pub. We just wandered in, ordered two pints and just sort of soaked in all that we had experienced that day. Then, to add to the perfection, through the speakers starts the opening chords of “Don’t Look Back in Anger” by Oasis. I love Oasis. I’ve mentioned this before. And I love this song. I’ve even posted this song before. But now this song will always remind me of this moment and I love that.

I just sat there, staring out the window at the streets of London, so incredibly happy to finally be there, sitting in a pub, and listening to Oasis.

30 Days of Music. Day 5: A Song That Reminds You Of Someone

This one was pretty easy.

It was my husband’s 24^th birthday. We were at the Terminal Bar in Minneapolis to see some of our friends’ bands. One band - Expandable Hole Filler, who we did not know but had seen previously, did this great cover of Nick Cave’s “The Ship Song”. So Matt requested that they play it that night, being that it was his birthday. So, they did. And we danced to it. At the Terminal Bar. Picture proof here:

Since then, it has sort of become Our Song. Because of this, I can’t hear it without thinking of Matt.

30 Days of Music. Day 4: A Song That Makes You Sad

This was a hard one. I have, literally, thousands of songs in my music collection that make me sad. Why I choose to surround myself with such depression inducing material, I’ll never understand.

But on the beautiful Saturday that I had (and was the topic of the post before this one) I was hanging out in my living room and “Evaporated” by Ben Folds Five came on. I was having a really good day and was in such a fantastic mood and as soon as this song started, I felt my whole being shift and suddenly my shoulders slumped and I found myself staring wistfully at the floor and I thought: This is a song that makes me sad.

It’s a beautiful song, even though it puts me into a state of depression.



All I could find on YouTube was this live version with a full orchestra.