30 Days, 30 Songs in One Day

Once again, taking care of this 30 Whatevers thing in one go. All links lead to YouTube. Note: Any and all results are subject to change… in an hour at the least.

1. Your Favorite Song
“Life on Mars?” by David Bowie. Sublime.

2. Your Least Favorite Song
There are so many awful songs out there but “Chestnut Mare” by The Byrds gives me the creeps. Woman as horse is a metaphor that should never, ever be used.

3. A Song That Makes You Happy
“Dead Flowers” by The Rolling Stones. If this comes on my iPod, I find it hard not to sing along—even in public.

4. A Song That Makes You Sad
“Perfect Day” by Lou Reed. It’s not sad at first, but when you think about it, the singer is having a perfect day today, but tomorrow…. And if you’ve seen Trainspotting, it’s even sadder.

5. A Song That Reminds You of Someone
The Eagles’s “Take It Easy,” is my dad’s theme song. If you know him, you get what I mean.

6. A Song That Reminds You of Somewhere
“Beautiful Day” by U2: Paris, 2001. I took a lot of CDs with me that June, but this is the one I’ve come to associate with my foreign exchange trip.

7. A Song That Reminds You of an Event
“Ironic” by Alanis Morissette. It’s not big, but I have a distinct memory of driving home from the movies with my friend Rita and the Lennon twins in her mother’s car singing along to this on the radio. Ah, junior high.

8. A Song That You Know All the Words To
“Consider Yourself” from Oliver! that I had to sing in the 7th grade musical review. Ugh. I feel so uncool now.

9. A Song You Can Dance To
“The Macarena.” I may be dating myself, but at least I don’t know how to do the Hustle.

10. A Song That Makes You Fall Asleep
I don’t usually fall asleep to music, but when I want to mellow out, I listen to “Uncle John’s Band” by the Grateful Dead. And if I really want to mellow out, I listen to live versions when they themselves were extremely “mellow.”

11. A Song From Your Favorite Band
“Hey Jude” by The Beatles, because they are the best band ever.

12. A Song From a Band You Hate
“In Your Eyes” by Peter f-ing Gabriel. Grrrrr….

13. A Song That Is a Guilty Pleasure
“White Lies” by Faculty Lounge, an all-professor (and one dean) band from my undergraduate college. They used to play at this dive bar at the edge of town, and when the libations were flowing (to the crowd and the band) they were great. Sober, they are… a guilty pleasure.

14. A Song No One Would Expect You to Like
“Alejandro” by Lady Gaga. I’m notoriously not a fan of pop and dance music, but she’s an interesting performer, and, for what it is, her music is really good.

15. A Song That Describes You
Ideally, “She Belongs to Me,” but somehow I doubt it. My inner teenager wants me to pick something deep and a little angsty, but I really can’t think of anything appropriate, so I’ll say “Brown Eyed Girl” by Van Morrison.

16. A Song You Used to Love But Now Hate
“My Heart Will Go On” by Celine Dion. If you can remember 1997, you understand why.

17. A Song You Hear Often on the Radio
“I’ve Seen All Good People” by Yes. Classic rock radio seriously needs to cut back on the prog rock.

18. A Song You Wish You Heard on the Radio
“‘Heroes’” by David Bowie. It’s his best, and arguably one of the greatest rock songs of all time, and yet it gets literally no airtime.

19. A Song From Your Favorite Album
“Taxman” from The Beatles’s Revolver. Greatest. Album. Ever.

20. A Song You Listen To When You’re Angry
Green Day’s “American Idiot.” It’s like “Fight the Power” for angry liberal college kids.

21. A Song You Listen to When You’re Happy
I will refrain from commenting on how this isn't different from #3 above, and instead say that whenever I need a song I can turn to full volume and sing along to at the top of my lungs with wild abandon, I turn to Placebo’s cover of “20th Century Boy” from the Velvet Goldmine soundtrack.

22. A Song That You Listen to When You’re Sad
Again, redundant much? Ok, I rarely listen to sad music to bask in the mood of sadness (Why? Why would you do that?), but if I did so, I probably would listen to Bob Dylan’s “A Simple Twist of Fate.”

23. A Song You Want Played at Your Wedding
Normally I’d answer this sarcastically, but I’ll play it straight and say “Love” by John Lennon. It’s a sweet, simple song. Either that, or “Tubthumping.” In the church, of course.

24. A Song You Want Played at Your Funeral
The Rolling Stones’s “You Can't Always Get What You Want.” And then I want a poll taken to see who gets the reference.

25. A Song That Makes you Laugh
“Bob Dylan’s 115th Dream.” So funny it made him laugh on the record.

26. A Song You Can Play on an Instrument
Pachelbel’s Canon in D Major. Clarinet’s best, though I can pick it out on the piano.

27. A Song You Wish You Could Play
The Alla Turca from Mozart’s Piano Sonata No. 11 in A Major. Or “Stairway to Heaven.”

28. A Song That Makes You Feel Guilty
Dylan’s “The Lonesome Death of Hattie Carroll,” because it’s supposed to make you feel guilty. It’s very Brechtian.

29. A Song From Your Childhood
“Girls Just Want to Have Fun” by Cyndi Lauper, though I prefer the Chipettes version.

30. Your Favorite at This Time Last Year
“Rock ’n’ Roll With Me” off Bowie’s Diamond Dogs, because obviously last year was 1974.