The Ipod Shuffle Post

Here are the ten songs that showed up when I put my ipod on "Shuffle" this morning.

1. Once in Royal David's City -- Mary Chapin Carpenter. I was excited to see that Mary Chapin Carpenter had a Christmas album out; I've already listened to it a few times, even though it is only November 8. I love MCC; however, I admit that some of her songs tend to be a bit slow and ponderous. Almost all of the Christmas songs fall into this category; it's not a very upbeat album. Can't go wrong with her lovely voice, though. My favorite is "Children, Go Where I Send Thee."

2. Pity the Child -- Chess. Chess is an '80s rock opera about...chess. I was very much into Broadway musicals when I was in college--Chess, Phantom, Les Mis, Miss Saigon -- all those classics. It's weird when one of the songs comes up on shuffle, though; out of context, I readily admit that there's a high cheese factor going on.

3. Nightswimming -- REM. My very very favorite REM song. Listening to REM always makes me think of my and Chris's date, which was, in fact, twelve years from next Monday. We went to an REM concert. We held hands. We fell in love. Aw.

4. That Teenage Feeling -- Neko Case. Neko Case describes herself as "country noir." She has a great voice and I love her lyrics; she can paint a picture with just a few words. Example from her song "Margaret and Pauline": "One left a cashmere sweater on a train, the other lost three fingers at a cannery." Sums up precisely how different two girls can be.

5. The Nightmare -- Woman in White. The Woman in White is the latest, I believe, musical from Andrew Lloyd Weber. It wasn't terribly successful, but I had to check it out because it's based on one of my favorite Victorian novels. The music is not quite as catchy as the musicals of the 80s and 90s (see 2, above), but it's very atmospheric.

6. Big Tall Man -- Liz Phair. REM reminds me of our first date, Liz Phair makes me think of our honeymoon, when Chris and I listened to this album (whitechocolatespaceegg) all the way to Washington, DC, and sang "Polyester Bride" to each other on the Metro. This song also has the great line "I wanna be cool, tall, vulnerable, and luscious; I would have it all if I only had this much." Don't you feel that way, sometimes? (Unless, of course, you are all those things already, and know better.)

7. I'm On My Way -- The Proclaimers. Uh huh, uh huh, uh huh, uh huh.

8. Down Down Baby -- Laurie Berkner. Laurie Berkner is kids' music that doesn't make me want to stick a fork in my ear. Mallory spent a long weekend, when she was about 2.5, asking to hear the "tinker dat" song, and she was so frustrated when we couldn't figure out what she meant. Finally it dawned on us that she meant Berkner's song "We are the dinosaurs," which has the line "Whaddya think of that?" Tinker dat. Phoebe calls the song "March." Every time we get in the car there is an argument over whether we're going to listen to "March" or Hannah Montana.

9. While My Guitar Gently Weeps -- The Beatles. It's the Beatles, what can I say?

10. Here I Am -- Mary Chapin Carpenter. MCC again. I actually suggested to Chris that we name our first born Mallory Chapin. He actually agreed, one day when I was moaning about being hugely pregnant. I thought better of it, but that's how much I like her music.