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'll Never Fall... to I'm A Rover (Live)

Day 748, Session 130:
When/Where: Monday July 7th - Enjoying the living room AC before a walleye dinner.
First song: I'll Never Fall In Love Again by Elvis Costello
Last full song: I'm A Rover (Live) by Great Big Sea
Progress: 2090-2098 of 5984
Total Songs Heard: 1645

And we're back...

New computer is up and running with as many scavenged parts as I could manage. (That's right, I went right back in and started tinkering with the new machine. The lesson here? I am probably a moron.)

What is it about June? Last June a combination of work turmoil and basement flooding sucked my will to live. This June iTunes and my broken computer conspired to make what should have been a simple operation into something akin to removing to "bread basket" piece from the game of Operation. (I was awful at that game btw, I have a terribly unsteady hand under pressure.)

So where were we?

I'll Never Fall In Love Again - Elvis Costello

Actual line from the song:

What do you get when you kiss a girl? You get enough germs to catch pneumonia.

Here's an idea... if you're with a girl who seems to have a heavy upper respiratory infection, perhaps you shouldn't be using so much tongue. Just because you were trading tonsils a little too deeply with a lunger, don't assume you should completely give up on love. It can't really be that hard. I had mono my senior year of high school and managed to not transfer it on to my girlfriend.

I'll See You In My Dreams - Giant

I think I've mentioned this before, but I'm fascinated by the whole process of dreaming. When I was a kid I had the idea that you could only see specific people in your dreams if they were actually dreaming about you as well. So your dreams would be a big psychic chat room where you could hold a conversation with someone you know while falling from a very tall building or while trying to figure out why they hadn't told you about the test you were about to take that you had completely forgotten about.

Obviously once I started dreaming about supermodels this theory was shot to hell.

I'm A Rover - Great Big Sea

The Great Big Sea tune I'm A Rover reminds me of the time just before the wife and I started dating. We were in the habit of stopping by the others house after our respective nights out to check in and say hi. (Seriously, we would just chat a bit and then go home.) If someone was still out, we would leave a note on the pillow letting the other know we stopped by. (Yes, we were very cute.) This worked out fine until one night I stopped by very drunk tired. I wrote the note and then thought I would rest my eyes for just a second...

Four hours later I woke up still alone in her room. I blearily stumbled out of the house and made the 250 foot walk back to my place, without seeing The Wife or waking her roommates. My first thought was, "Phew, I got a way with it!" My second thought, "Shit, she didn't come home last night!"

Turns out, neither was the case. The Wife had come home and found me passed out sleeping peacefully in her bed. She left me there and went downstairs and slept on her sofa. Lucky for me she wasn't mad.

Happy Slurpee day everybody.

from Elbow Room to ELT

Day 390, Session 80:
When/Where: Tuesday July 17th - On the train and walking along Belmont and on the bus from work to home.
First song: Elbow Room by Sue Manchester
Last full song: ELT by Wilco
Progress: 1128-1142 of 5200
Total Songs Heard: 937

Hey now. Let's hear it for progress. After a 169 day lay-off it's time to get moving again. Since we were last together I'm going to estimate that I've added about 500 songs... a few new releases by old favorites (both B.L.A.M. releases from BNL,) several old releases that were found during the great flood cleanup (I haven't heard Little Earthquakes by Tori Amos since freshman year) and some fantastic new discoveries (say hello to The Avett Brothers.)

Also since my last listen, iTunes has again changed the way they treat the alphabet as far as song titles go. "A" now apparently comes before numbers which would change the whole title of the blog. Bah, I wish they'd just make up their mind. Or here's a crazy idea... let the user choose how they want alphabetical order settings to work (for example, I want "M" before "G"... fuck you G!) and then let them keep it that way. Wankers.

One I got past the iTunes garbage plugging back into the music was great. I've spent so much time with various podcasts in my ear that getting the complete musical experience (instead of just public radio types talking) was refreshing. That sense of refreshment lasted all of one song. Then, about 15 seconds into The Beatles doing Eleanor Rigby, refreshment turned to befuddlement.

I thought either my iPod, my headphones, or my head was broken. Everything sounded normal until they got to the start of the first verse. Then, all of the sudden, for reasons I can't explain, as Paul starts the verse the vocals cut out of my left ear and come up exclusively in my right. This lasted until the chorus, when voices returned to both ears, but different vocal parts came from each side. It was like The Beatles were standing around me singing the song, which was cool but also disorienting. Paul was always on my right no matter which way I turned.

Here, take a listen for yourself (headphones recommended for full effect):

Eleanor Rigby - The Beatles

So I guess my question is was it recorded this way on purpose, or do I just have a bum copy of "1?" (the greatest hits compilation) I don't suppose anyone out there has a copy of "Revolver" that can determine whether it sounds that way on the original album? Or if someone could at least listen to their copy of "1" to see if it does the same thing. Thanks.

Regardless, it was a good day. Music made the commute (which clocked in at almost an hour today, yuck) fly. I should try this more often.

Vegas Baby!

Well Hello! Just got back from a few days in Vegas, hence the lack of posting. There will be an update this evening after work. Thanks for stopping by.

Also,

Dear Apple,

If you're going to make a change to way the default sort works in the iTunes 7.1 release, you should probably also include a way for the user to go back to the old way without having to edit the name of every single song that starts with the word "the."

Thanks,
Disgruntled Blogject Guy