Songs That Remind Me of Someone

...someones? I'm not sure which is appropriate here, but then again, I didn't get my degree in English for a reason. Sorry I've been a slacker with my challenges lately, but moving and wrecking cars have taken over my life. And for the record, it was only one car...and the bumper of another.

So for songs that remind me of peoples, this is what I've come up with:

"Poison"- Alice Cooper

"I Will Always Love You"- Whitney Houston

"Short People"- Randy Newman

"Light Up My Room"- Barenaked Ladies

"Yellow"- Coldplay

You can all take guesses as to who I think about when I hear these songs. The answers might surprise you.

Favorite Songs in Another Language

This is such an exciting challenge since there are a lot of songs in other languages that I like and would like to share. It's actually been rather difficult to narrow them down and not repeat songs I've already used.

So here's what I came up:

"Oceano"- Josh Groban

"Kaja Kaja Goo"- Polysics (warning: this is a strange video)

"Shangri-La"- angela

"Lucia di Lammermoor"- written by Gaetano Donizetti (the link is to its feature in The Fifth Element since I love this version.)

"Rewrite"- Asian Kung Fu Generation (this is my favorite foreign band)

Songs I Can Dance To

I think this was last week's challenge, but the mighty Alex hasn't posted one since, so I'm not sure. Either way, I'm late. Here is a list of songs that I can shake my groove thing to:

"Dancing Queen"- ABBA (you're surprised aren't you?)

"Electric Boogie"- Marcia Griffith (I love these cheesy line dances)

"Toxic"- Britney Spears

"My Maria"- Brooks and Dunn

"Asterisk"- Orange Range (the Monster and I dance to this song every time we watch Bleach)

We'll see what this challenge ends up being. I hoping its as easy as this one was.

Favorite Songs By Bands that are Disbanded/Dead

Sorry I'm a little late with this one, this last week kind of got away from me... and this topic was an easy one too! I'm just going to dive into it.

Judge me all you want, I really do miss and love these groups/people:

"Wannabe"- Spice Girls

"Taxi"- Harry Chapin (I originally had a different group for this slot, but they were part of a musical so I decided to change it up a bit)

"I am the Walrus"- The Beatles

"Bye Bye Bye"- NSYNC (there's lots of songs I could put here, I just chose the first one that came to mind)

"Sweet Cherry Wine"- Tommy James and the Shondells

Favorite Hidden Tracks

The hard part about this challenge? If there are hidden tracks that I like, I can't remember them. This week required a lot of googling to jog my memory, because I know that I have albums with hidden tracks that I really like, but I can never remember the titles of songs (even the ones not hidden). I think I have a pretty good list, but I'm sure I'll come across some I'll wish I had used in place of some of these. Oh well.

These are in no particular order.

"Next to You" by The Offspring (off their Greatest Hits album)

"Silence is a Scary Sound" by McFly (a UK band that Hope and I fell in love with when we were in Ireland. This is off Motion in the Ocean)

"Dirty Little Secret" by Bon Jovi and Jennifer Nettles from Sugarland (can I just say that Jon Bon Jovi is one of those men who could make me forget my marriage vows. He's yummy. I love him. This is off Have a Nice Day)

"Thank You For the Music" from the Mamma Mia! soundtrack (from the movie. This isn't my favorite Abba song, but I love Abba and my goal is to include them as much as possible in this challenge.)

"Mameshiba" by Yoko Kanno ( from Into Another World. This one I cheated on. I couldn't think of a fifth song so I found a list of hidden tracks and listened to a bunch of them. I really like Yoko Kanno and this song, so it made the list. Hopefully I won't have to do much cheating in the future.)

Anyway, the hubs and I just finished an M. Night Shyamalan marathon (minus The Last Airbender since that movie was just plain terrible) and I am pleased to announce that I have been able to sleep peacefully every night since. Maybe this means I'm ready to see movies like Insidious or Paranormal Activity? Yeah, I don't think so either.

Songs that Make Me Feel Guilty

This week's song challenge is just that, challenging. I've really had to think about what makes me feel guilty in the first place, which is hard. Not that I'm free from guilt, but it's something I don't really like to dwell on... or maybe I just forgive myself too easily? Either way, this challenge was hard, but I think I've finally got a list together. I can only think if three, but I think that's ok. Here they are:

"Whiskey Lullaby" by Brad Paisley and Alison Krauss

"If I Die Young" by The Band Perry

"La Chanson de Craonne", which is a French song that came out during WWI. Here's what it says in English (this isn't a very good translation, but you'll get the gist):

When at the end of eight days, the r' pos finished,

One r' will take the trenches,

Our place is so useful

That without us one takes the pile.

But it is well finished, one has enough of it,

Personn' does not want to go any more,

And the quite large heart, comm' in a sob

One says good-bye to the civ' batches.

Even without drum, even without trumpet,

One from goes away there high while lowering the head.

[Refrain:]

Good-bye life, good-bye love,

Good-bye all women.

It is well finished, it is for always,

Of this infamous war.

It is in Craonne, on the plate,

That one must leave his skin

Because we all are condemned

It is us sacrificed!

Eight days of trenches, eight days of suffering,

However one with the hope

That this evening will come the r' raises

[Find more Lyrics one http://mp3lyrics.org/flzi]

That we wait without truce.

Suddenly, in the night and silence,

One sees somebody who advances,

It is an officer of hunters to foot,

Who comes to replace us.

Gently in the shade, under the rain which falls

The small hunters will seek their tombs.

[with the Refrain]

They is unhappy to see on large the boul' vards

All these large which makes their fair;

So for them the life is pink,

For us it is not the mêm' thing.

Instead of hiding, all these embusqués,

F' stripe to better go up to the trenches

For défendr' their goods, because we do not have anything,

Us autr' S, the pauvr' S purotins.

All the comrades are buried there,

For défendr' goods of these Sirs.

[with the Refrain]

Those which have the dough, these r' will come,

Because it is for them that one bursts.

But they is finished, because the soldiers

All will be put in strike.

This ruffle your turn, Sirs the large ones,

To go up on the plate,

Because if you want the war,

Pay it your skin!

A New Challenge?

Ok, so I know that I haven't finished my last challenge, but I am going to start a new one that, thankfully, is only once-a-week and one that I'm hoping I can keep up with. I have every intention of picking up on the previous challenge once I am able to find the next picture I want to use. (The problem with packing and moving? Everything you need is in a box you can't find.)

So the new challenge has to do with Songs. I love music- every kind, and almost every genre- and I absolutely believe that music is food for the soul. I know that sounds super corny, but I really do believe it. I cannot imagine a world without music. So I am even more excited about this challenge than the last (but I swear I will get the last one done. Eventually.) So here's where it's coming from:

My husband has a group of friends who call themselves "The Badgers" (there is a backstory to that name, but I'm not going to share it-- I'm not sure I even remember it and it's not my story to tell.) Anyway, these badgers are some of the most creative, kind, and loving people I know* and when they come up with an idea, it's usually a pretty good one. So anyway, Alex came up with this specific weekly challenge, so I'm going to copy her FB note and maybe one of my very few readers will take the challenge up themselves and it will become a new internet phenomenon.

I've noticed the '30 Day Song Challenge' floating around recently, and the first time I saw it, I thought, "Fuck. I can't pick one song. Ever. How can I make this something I want to do?"

And then....

I started writing my own categories, thinking about songs that mean a lot to me, songs I wish I could share with my friends and ended up with 52. I've written them down, sealed them and will be picking one at random for the next year.

Monday I'll pick a new category and post vids every friday with 5 relevant songs. My personal challenge is not to repeat any songs.

I'm posting it here because it's easy to access, I'd really like any of you who are interested to play along with me. =)

This is Week 1, category chosen at random...

Songs you know all the words to.

So here we go. These songs are in no particular order, just list as I remember.

DRESS, Buck-Tick

Ventura Highway, America

You Get What You Give, New Radicals

Come What May, The Moulin Rouge version (Ewan McGregor and Nicole Kidman)

Barbie Girl, Aqua (yeah, that's right. I even had a dance a friend and I choreographed in middle school. We were awesome.)

Ok, week 1 is complete! Maybe I'll find my pictures somewhere so I can post the picture that always makes me laugh. There are actually a lot that I could post, but there is one that I have to post because it's hilarious, and will always be hilarious. Anyway, I'm going to listen to the lecture going on right now. This is why I don't use my lappy to take notes.

*sappy much?