from If I Had $1,000,000 to If I Had...

Day 874, Session 145:
When/Where: Monday November 17th - Afternoon chorefest: car/Jewel/home
First song: If I Had $1,000,000 by Barenaked Ladies
Last full song: If I Had A Rocket Launcher by Bruce Cockburn
Progress: 2133-2141 of 6069
Total Songs Heard: 1868

First of all, once again, F you iTunes. I won't bore you with the details of exactly why it happened, but when I started iTunes this morning, I had to rebuild my iTunes library. Just like the last time, after the initial rebuild, I had to re-rebuild the library because iTunes couldn't find over 1000 songs. I can understand why it would miss those songs since they were hidden away... in the iTunes folder. It's not a huge deal, except for the part where a big part of doing this project right means being able to track stats. Now all the stats are f-ed.

Anyway...
9 tracks, but only 4 different songs today. Started with 3 versions of If I Had $1,000,000. This is the song that launched my fandom of BNL. I had never heard of Barenaked Ladies (despite my affinity for scantily clad women) before my freshman year in college. 2nd semester Joey and I got a radio show and BNL showed up on our playlist. We were hooked immediately.

That started a whirlwind affair with BNL that saw me attend something like 8 shows in the space of 18 months. Of course this was also pre-One Week which meant you could go to a BNL show and actually get to be close to the band and do fun things like throw mac and cheese at the stage when they sang the "we wouldn't have to eat Kraft Dinner" line. I still love the guys today, but it hasn't been the same since their shows moved from mid-sized clubs into full-sized arenas.

If I Had $1,000,000 is also my "go to" karaoke song. The down side is you need someone to sing it with you, so I've occasionally ended up singing it with complete randoms. The upside is when you have someone who knows the song as well as you do, it's always a crowd pleaser. Kaylor and I have gotten compliments from strangers after our rendition.

If I had $1,000,000 I'd buy something nice for the wife, then we'd take a fun vacation. I'd bank the rest and attempt to live off the interest. After building up a few years of interest I'd probably buy a new place to live. I like where I live now, but if I could buy a really nice new condo or single family place that'd be even better. The new place would have a game room and I would buy an Addam's Family pinball machine and a pool table for that room.

I'm guessing everyone here is familiar with the song, so instead of the Gordon version here is live version from a 2004 Philly concert:

If I Had $1,000,00 - Barenaked Ladies

The 2nd song (actually the 4th, 5th, 6th, and 7th) heard was If I Had A Boat. It's a Lyle Lovett song, but the Lyle Lovett version is the last one I actually heard. I first found the Dave Matthews Band thanks to Napster in 2000, then the Eddie From Ohio and Jimmy Buffett covers. It's one of those songs that speaks to me for some reason. I think it's my chronic urge to get away from things.

If I really had a boat, I'm sure I'd have no idea what to actually do with it. I'm don't think I would take it out onto the ocean. Knowing me I'd sink the thing 1st time out. If I'm going to sink a boat I'd rather do it in a nice recreational lake. So I guess that means I don't really want to get away from things, I just want to be somewhere I can float and drink a beer. The pony would be a nice though. I could rent it out for kids parties and finally have a source of income. That is assuming of course that you make more money renting a pony out than you spend on the costs of pony upkeep. This may be a losing proposition all around.

If I Had A Boat - Lyle Lovett
If I Had A Boat - Eddie From Ohio
If I Had A Boat - Jimmy Buffett
If I Had A Boat - Dave Matthews Band

So if you had $1,000,000 and/or a boat (and pony,) what would you do?

from I Know to I Live With It Every Day

Day 828, Session 139:
When/Where: Thursday September 25th (Happy birthday sister!) - Driving around.
First song: I Know by Fiona Apple
Last full song: I Live With It Every Day by Barenaked Ladies
Progress: 2155-2158 of 6100
Total Songs Heard: 1770

Only heard 4 songs as I took the iPod on my afternoon chores run but neglected to bring headphones so I could only listen in the car. I know, I'm dumb.

I was pleased to find the version of I Like It, I Love It I have is not based on the craptacular country song that ruined football highlights for an football season a few years ago.

I Like It, I Love It - Lyrics Born

As a result of my cop story, I forgot to mention two other great songs that should have been mentioned in the last post. It's actually 2 versions of one great song.

I Hope That I Don't Fall In Love With You is what I imagine my life would be like were I not already married. Lots of nights spent out at bars, falling in love from across the room, and then not doing anything about it. The bonus goodness here is it was the 10,000 Maniacs version of the song, which was on a tribute cd, that first introduced me to the music of Tom Waits.

If you've never listened to Tom Waits, I can't recommend his early stuff strongly enough. I'd start with Closing Time, a bottle of your spirit of choice, and a dimly lit room. I know it might sound like a depressing set up but it's actually that comforting sort of melancholy; the kind that gives you chance to sit back and let old, tired, pent up badness seep out.

I Hope That I Don't Fall In Love With You - 10,000 Maniacs
I Hope That I Don't Fall In Love With You - Tom Waits

from Home Soon to Hopelessly Devoted

Day 672, Session 124:
When/Where: Tuesday April 22nd - Mopping the kitchen floor - ah glamorous life (someone please give me a job!)
First song: Home Soon by Oh Susanna
Last full song: Hopelessly Devoted To You by Clem Snide
Progress: 1983-1996 of 5889
Total Songs Heard: 1588

Three versions of Homeward Bound today, two proper Simon and Garfunkel versions and one off the cuff concert version from Fruvous. Hearing these songs got me to realizing that this particular musical treasure has absolutely no application to my life whatsoever.

When I was growing up, my Dad (at approximately the same age I am now) was going out of town all the time for work. He spent days upon days working and driving around Nowhere, West Virginia and Middle Of, Kentucky. Actually I believe he used to go to Hazard. Every time he got back from Hazard I asked him if he saw the Dukes. He never did (probably because the Dukes were in Hazzard, Georgia, not Hazard, Kentucky.)

Back when she was an engineer, the wife spent a lot of time on the road, mostly in Florida.

Even my professional student friends take extended trips away from home to exotic places like Antarctica and Rwanda.

I have been on exactly one business trip in my life. I went to Portland, Oregon and wasn't gone long enough to start thinking about Homeward Bound. I know everyone who does travel for business eventually tires of it, but there's a part of me that is really excited by the idea. So, yeah, if you've got a job to offer me, don't hold back just because it involves travel. I'd even be willing to get a passport.



Two other things I head today that I wanted to share. Being a nerd, I'm a big Weird Al fan, and one of my favorite things he does are his mash-up polkas, so here's one I heard today:

Hooked On Polkas - Weird Al

And being a theater nerd, I suppose I'm contractually obligated to be a fan of "Grease." The movie is ridiculous and I hold a grudge against the stage version based on the time I was on the crew and I almost had my ankle crushed while moving a piece of scenery, but I do like the music well enough. I especially like this cover by Eef Barzelay. He takes all of Olivia Newton John's manufactured Australian-playing-1950's angst and completely blows it out.



One more thing about "Grease." At the end of the movie when Sandy goes from good-girl to bad-ass-leather-girl... am I the only one who finds the transformation totally unattractive? I mean, completely ignoring the "you have to change yourself to get your man" message that it sends, I just find her hotter when she's playing the good girl. Am I the only one? Please use the poll over on the right to tell me whether I'm right, or whether I'm crazy.

from Hey Now! to Hidden #7

Day 651, Session 119:
When/Where: Tuesday April 1st - Running around the neighborhood, literally this time.
First song: Hey Now! by Oasis
Last full song: Hidden #7 This Ape's For You by They Might Be Giants
Progress: 1879-1892 of 5780
Total Songs Heard: 1530

**This entry has been expanded from it's original post, much like my running I went out in this post too fast then got too tired to originally post the whole thing.**

This is not an April Fools joke, I was literally running while listening to these songs. Outside. Wearing actual running shoes. Not being chased by anything. For the first time in,I'm going to say 15 years, I went for a run.

The entire decision to try running again was fueled by a few factors: 1) I'm not exactly what you would call in prime shape and since I have no plans on giving up beer any time soon, I figure I have to try to balance out the drinking somehow. B) I've been unemployed for several months now and since this winter is the worst I've seen since moving to Chicago 7 years ago, that means I've spent A LOT of time inside. Even I'm a little tired of inside. III) When the weather was nice for a few days last week, the wife and I went out on a few walks. Even that little bit of walking was enough to blister up my baby soft feet, which meant I had to buy a new pair of shoes that would allow me to walk around without blisters. I may be older, but I'm sure not old enough yet to buy "walking shoes" which means I bought running shoes. As long as I'm spending money on running shoes, I'm going to try to run in them.

Hey Now! by Oasis - This was playing in the house while I was trying to figure out how the to get the lanyard that attaches to my headphones for "active" purposes to work. I found these lyrics oddly prescient:

I thought that I heard someone say now
There's no time for running away now
Hey now! Hey now!

Feel no shame - cos time's no chain
Feel no shame

So on the one hand, Oasis is telling me that this is no time to run (away now,) so I'm like, "Hey, good idea!" Then immediately after they're saying to feel no shame and, well, one of the reasons I haven't run in a long time is that I'm a little ashamed of how out of shape I'm going to look out there huffing and puffing despite moving at a ridiculously slow pace, so I think, "Well, if I'm supposed to feel no shame, I guess I'll run."

Hey Pretty by Poe - So out I stepped into the world ready to take it on. I walked to the corner to warm up and then started jogging. This lasted all of three steps until my ear buds popped out of my ears. This was undoubtedly a sign that I was not supposed to do this. Knowing that I couldn't run without music, I turned around and started heading back to the house.

Hey Pretty (Drive-by Remix) by Poe - While walking back to the house this song came on. There's not much to say about this particular remix other than it's the radio safe version (which I found while looking up the lyrics, apparently there's a more explicit version out there,) and if someone named Kyrie ever offers me a ride in her BMW coupe I'm going.

Hey Ya by Matt Weddle - After briefly considering just giving up, I changed headphones and pants, it wasn't warm enough for what I was wearing first, and was sent back out the door by a laid back acoustic cover of Hey Ya. I walked about a quarter mile again to warm up again and this time I was ready to go. The nice gentle acousticness kept everything calm. I didn't run too hard or too soft, it seemed just right. And at the end of the quarter mile I transitioned back to walking and was surprised at how good I felt.

Hey Ya by Outkast - Even if I hadn't felt good, Outkast probably would have picked me back up. Suddenly in my ears it was 2004 again. I wasn't even 30 yet! This was going great! Time to start running again!

Hey You by No Doubt - Here's where things started to go downhill. I ran another 1/4 mile at a decent pace (I had gone about a mile at this point running half of it) but towards the end I noticed how heavy my legs felt. Then once it was back to walking time I noticed that where I had been breathing free most of the way, now it felt like someone had put a bar of soap in a sock and then whacked me with it right in the middle of the chest.

The rest of the way I pretty much shut it down. I walked the next 3/4 towards home before taking the last 1/4 mile at a real slow jog. I probably went out a little too hard my first time in 15 years, but all-in-all I was pleased with the experience.