Musical Musings

I'm sitting here in my furnace of a room typing this. The heat really is stifling tonight! Everyone knows the Irish weather is unpredictable at the best of times, but this summer has been particularly wet and rainy. Now all of a sudden we seem to be in the midst of a heatwave! I'm not sure I like it. My idea of perfect weather is sunshine and a cool breeze - not humidity. I like to be able to sleep at night! As long as it doesn't rain, I'm happy. Typical Irish attitude all the same. When it's cold and raining, we moan. When it's hot and humid, we moan even more!

Anyway, this is going to be a musically-motivated post. I saw this on another blog and thought I'd rob - ahem, borrow - it for mine. Just because I fancy a bit of a ramble about music. So here goes:

Your favourite song:
Probably the hardest question of all for a music lover. I'll never be completely satisfied with my choice no matter what answer I give, but I'm going to go for Something by The Beatles, purely and simply because it's The Beatles. You can't get much better than that. Also, George Harrison is my favourite Beatle.

Your least favourite song:
Again, this is a tough one, because there's no shortage of songs that irritate me! The one that comes to mind is I Will Always Love You by Whitney Houston. Nothing against her or anything, I just hate that damn song! And absolutely everybody thinks they can sing it, which makes it even worse.

A song that makes you happy:
An absolute classic here - I'm The Urban Spaceman by the Bonzo Dog Doo-Dah Band. It's hard not to smile when you're listening to them, and this one always makes me cheerful. Nerd alert: did you know it was produced by Paul McCartney, under the pseudonym Apollo C. Vermouth?

A song that makes you sad:
For this I have to go with Johnny Cash's version of the Nine Inch Nails song, Hurt. It has that effect on everyone I know who has listened to it. It's one of the most emotional performances of a song that I have ever heard.

A song that reminds you of someone:
Whenever I hear Europe's The Final Countdown, I can't help but think of a childhood friend of mine who passed away last year. Even though I personally am not a fan of the song, it makes me smile nowadays because I can always picture her singing it.

A song that reminds you of somewhere:
There's a song called Hometown by a British wartime double act called Flanagan and Allen (you might know them for their song Underneath The Arches), and it makes me think of Dublin even though the guys themselves were Londoners. My own favourite double act, Morecambe and Wise, covered this song among others on their tribute album to Flanagan and Allen.

A song that reminds you of a certain event:
More Beatles here - Hey Jude. Whenever I hear it now, I am instantly transported back to those magical Paul McCartney gigs I attended. Spine-tingling stuff.

A song you know all the words to:
I could mention practically any song I love, but I'll give Queen's Bohemian Rhapsody a mention because I could probably sing it in my sleep (incredibly badly, I might add) and that includes all the harmony lines!

A song you can dance to:
I'm a terrible dancer, but I can't help myself when I hear Bruce Springsteen's Dancing In The Dark. I think we all magically transform into Courteney Cox when it comes on.

A song that makes you fall asleep:
I find classical music incredibly soothing, so that would be my best bet. Anything else would just distract me. I'll choose one of my favourite pieces of music of all time, the beautiful Romance from The Gadfly by Dmitri Shostakovich.

A song from your favourite band:
Everyone knows Alice Cooper is my main man, so I'd pick Stolen Prayer from my favourite album of his, The Last Temptation. 

A song from a band you hate:
I detest Guns N' Roses and I think Sweet Child O' Mine is horribly overrated. There, I said it.

A song that is a guilty pleasure:
I always say that if you like something, why feel guilty about it? But I suppose for this I would pick that Jay-Z song Empire State Of Mind. That is so far removed from anything I usually like, but it's a well-crafted song. That doesn't mean I'd listen to anything else of his though!

A song that no-one would expect you to love:
Hungary's Eurovision entry from this year, Sound Of Our Hearts by Compact Disco. A genuinely good pop song and catchy as hell! Why that didn't win I'll never know.

A song that describes you:
Maybe not the whole song, but one line in particular from Tom Petty's Crawling Back To You sums me up completely: "Most things I worry about never happen anyway."

A song you used to love but now hate:
Don't Stop Believin' by Journey, a band I genuinely like. I'll never really hate the song, but Glee kind of spoiled it for me.

A song that you hear often on the radio:
That massively over-played Adele song, Someone Like You. It was our 6th year graduation song and I got heartily sick of it.

A song you wish you heard on the radio:
I hear most of my favourites on Planet Rock, so I can't think of one to be honest.

A song from your favourite album:
That would be The Who's Quadrophenia, the soundtrack to my teenage years. I will go for the amazing Love, Reign O'er Me.

A song you listen to when you’re angry:
Banana Republic by the Boomtown Rats, because it really works if you're pissed off with politicians or the state of the nation!

A song you listen to when you’re happy:
The perfect happy song, Bring Me Sunshine by my beloved Morecambe and Wise. And you have to do the skip dance when it ends!

A song you listen to when you’re sad:
I'm not sure why, it's just a great song that I find a little bit melancholy. Cat's In The Cradle by Harry Chapin. Though I must say I actually prefer Ugly Kid Joe's version. Speaking of which, I'll be seeing Ugly Kid Joe live in London in October, supporting Alice Cooper.

A song that you want to play at your wedding:
It's not exactly one you can dance to, but Love by John Lennon. Simple, beautiful and effective.

A song that you want to play at your funeral:
There is only one choice, and that is the Monty Python gang's Always Look On The Bright Side Of Life. Get them laughing in the aisles!

A song that makes you laugh:
Alice Cooper's wonderfully titled Disco Bloodbath Boogie Fever.

A song that you can play on an instrument:
I play guitar, and I'm quite proud of my rendition of Fade To Black by Metallica.

A song that you wish you could play:
I would love to be able to play Classical Gas proficiently, but alas I can't.

A song that makes you feel guilty:
That's a tough one. I don't think I can really pick one.

A song from your childhood:
Ah, nostalgia! I have to go for Parklife by Blur. We had the album on tape and it would always be played around the house. Phil Daniels is so cool! "I feed the pigeons, I sometimes feed the sparrows too, it gives me a sense of enormous well-being!"

Your favourite song this time last year:
From hearing it on Planet Rock so much, it was Lies Of The Beautiful People by Sixx:AM.