Music Meme

So Dorian asked me to participate in the music meme. Here goes:

1. Total amount of music files on your computer:

I've got 30 gigs on the laptop, and an uncounted number of DVDs and CDs with MP3s that I've cleared off the computer. I'm planning to get a removable hard drive next week, so I'll have much more room for music and pictures pretty soon.

2. The last CD you bought was:

God, I'm not sure of the order. I think the last time out I bought used CD singles by George Michael ("As") and Belle and Sebastian ("I'm a Cuckoo" and "Step Into My Office, Baby" -- love their latest album). Before that, I'm pretty sure it was the original Broadway cast album of THE FROGS. It's the first new Sondheim show to hit Broadway in ages, and it stars Nathan Lane. Overall, I'm enjoying listening to it on my iPod. Before that, I think it was the Bee Gee's 2-CD greatest hits, which I got for the five-hour drive home the last time I visited my parents.

3. What is the song you last listened to before reading this message?

I just watched American Idol, does that count? The last song that I listened to on the laptop was by the Finn Brothers (you remember, Neil and Tim Finn, who were in Crowded House together? Their new album is fantastic, like all of their stuff. I've been a big fan since the "Woodface" album.)

4. Write down 5 songs you often listen to or that mean a lot to you.
I go through phases. Here's what I'm thinking of right now:

-- "We Tell The Story" from the cast recording of Once On This Island.

Life is why we tell the story
Pain is why we tell the story
Love is why we tell the story
Grief is why we tell the story
Hope is why we tell the story
Faith is why we tell the story
You are why we tell the story:

If you listen very hard you'll hear her call us
To come and share with her our laughter
And our tears
And as mysteries and miracles befall us
Through the years...
We tell the story!

So I hope that you will tell this tale tomorrow
It will help your heart remember and relive
It will help you feel the anger and the sorrow
And forgive...

For out of what we live and we believe
Our lives become the stories that we weave

-- "Cemetery Gates" by the Smiths. I was never that into the Smiths or Morrissey, but I've recently rediscovered him, and I'm starting to really appreciate his wry humor. Anyone who can write lines such as "Now I know how Joan of Arc felt" and "Caligula would have blushed" is a genius. "Cemetery Gates" has the classic "Keats and Yeats are on our side, but Wilde is on mine". The boyfriend and I have been playing Morrissey's new album constantly, although neither of us has forgiven Jesus.

-- "Firefly" by American Music Club. AMC is one of those bands that I discovered via used CDs. Two summers ago (god!), I played this song over and over again while I was alone on the windward side of Oahu. The song is about the transitory nature of love ("here and gone, firefly"), which I was feeling pretty strongly at that point in the relationship that I was in.

-- "This Love" by Maroon 5; this is dumb, but I heard it more than once when I was visiting Rome last summer, and it somehow eased the homesickness just a bit. One time I was waiting for my order at a McDonalds -- the only place to get ice in your drink, which is crucial in August. Anyway, the song was on the radio. The girl behind the counter sang along but stopped when she saw me standing there. I started to sing along too, and I received a big smile and a bit more of the song from her. I'd say something about the power of song or the reach of American pop culture, but I don't want to make it into something bigger than it was.

-- "Wouldn't It Be Nice" by the Beach Boys, because when I hear it I'm six years old again, being driven to Dairy Queen in my mom's old Ford Falcon station wagon with the windows down because the air conditioner never worked and it was so damned hot in Illinois in the summer. Plus, the song makes me think of that time that Bobby fell in love with LuAnn's make-up dummy head on King of the Hill.

5. Who are you going to pass this stick to? (3 persons) and why?

I'll ask Ron, because we share some of the same taste in music, and I'd like to see what he has to say; Andy, because I have no idea what kind of music he listens to; Sparky, because he liked Los Amigos Invisibles before anyone else that I know.