jimsjournal
A musical meme -- 01/28/05


So... I read Bozoette last night and she is playing with a musical meme. This particular meme is one where you answer the questions and then pass it on to three friends. She got it from her friend Pratt (who must be a good person because he and his wife share their home with rabbits). I was somewhat baffled by the questions -- very difficult to answer, is what I thought. In fact, I stuck a comment to that effect in Bozoettes comment page:
I guess I don't listen to music that often... I don't have any music files on my computer (at least not that I put there, I'm sure my son has probably parked a gigabyte or so here for listening to when he uses my computer instead of his machine which has not been behaving well lately) -- I think the last CD I bought for myself was probably the last one Johnny Cash recorded -- the last music I listened to was a Catch22 CD my daughter was playing in her car when we made a supermarket run together before dinner -- and although I could name five songs that mean something special to me, there are not any five songs that I listen to frequently.
So then Bozoette challenged three friends ( Stephanie, Summer-Gale. and Minerae) to answer the questions -- and Stephanie answered them and passed it on to three people... and one of them was me. [And then, after writing this, I went to Summer-Gale's page and discovered she had also challenged me to do these questions!]

Okay... I'm going to have to actually think about this for a bit. While you're waiting for me to think, take a look at Wednesday's snow storm while I'm thinking... This is as a picture of my partially shoveled driveway. I had begun to shovel -- stopped to take a picture -- then went back to shoveling. As you can see I've shoveled the upper end of the driveway, down as far as the end of my car... I still have to go the rest of the way to the street (which is about ten feet past the backend of Jeremy's car). This was around lunch time... the snow had slacked off to not much more than flurries -- in fact, there was only about half an inch of snow to move when I came out to shovel again about ten hours later, after the snow had been stopped for some time.


Okay, I'm finished stalling... now to answer the questions...


What's the total amount of music files on your computer?
As I said in my comment on Bozoette's page, I don't have any music files on my computer. (However, I've just checked and it appears my son has about 1.66 Gigabytes on it -- almost 400 songs.)

What was the last CD you bought?
Johnny Cash -- America IV: The Man Comes Around -- purchased this past February. Well, that was the last formal purchase I made of a new CD. At some point last year (I forget just when) somebody had made a comment on a journal I read that he was planning on doing some world travelling and wanted to sell off lots of stuff, including a whole assortment of CDs and I ended up buying a dozen or so CDs from him....
What was the last song listened to before getting this message?
My impulse is to say that Catch22 CD my daughter was playing in her car yesterday... I did catch some classical music in the car this afternoon on my way home from work but I don't remember what it was. [Yes, I went to the office today -- this is the second time so far this year that I've actually gone to my office instead of working from home. But around eleven o'clock they started doing some drilling or something on the floor above, remodeling for new tenants and after a few minutes I decided to pack up and work from home.]

At one point (1998) I bought a small stereo system that would fit into a cabinet at work so I could play CDs and tapes to listen to on a headset while I worked. Eventually I brought it home because I had stopped using it -- the music was frequently distracting when I was trying to work.

I set up my current home office arrangement this past summer so I've been living with this configuration for about six months. I don't have a stereo in the room. I know I have played CDs on my desktop PC, but usually I just can't listen to music when I'm trying to work. Sometimes I find it too distracting and I turn it off. Other times I realize there is silence and that the CD had ended ten or twenty minutes earlier and I hadn't noticed the music playing nor had I noticed it stopping. I do like to listen to music when I'm working at non-mental activities -- physical activities involving hammers or paintbrushes or screwdrivers -- or running on the treadmill. I'd love to listen to music in the kitchen but I don't have a stereo in there -- I suppose that a boombox would do but it never seems to occur to me to bring one into the room until I'm in the middle of fixing food and I don't want to be bothered to stop what I'm doing and track down equipment and CDs.

That said, I do have a bunch of CDs I enjoy... when I do play music I like to listen to classical (like Vivaldi) and to oldies rock (1950's and pre-Beatles '60s) and also to Simon & Garfunkel, Bob Dylan, Joan Baez, Alanis Morissette, Melissa Etheridge, etc. -- oh, yeah, and of course The Beatles -- and I enjoy a lot of the groups my daughter likes (such as Catch22).

Write down five songs you often listen to or that mean a lot to you.
  • Sweet and Low -- a lullaby that my mother used to sing -- the lyrics are by Tennyson -- I've not heard it sung in years and years and yet in my mind I can hear her singing it.
  • Come Softly to Me -- a do-wop song by the Fleetwoods -- circa 1959 -- picture a group of teenaged guys walking home late on a summer night, singing a capella "Mm dooby do, dahm dahm Dahm do dahm ooby do Dahm dahm, dahm do dahm, ooby do Dahm dahm, dahm do dahm, ooby do Dahm dahm, dahm ooh dahm Mm dooby do Come softly, darling Come softly, darling..." (Full lyrics at end of entry) Ah, to be 16 again...
  • Greenfields -- The Brothers Four -- I fed many coins into a jukebox in the summer of 1961 to play that song..."Once there were greenfields kissed by the sun. Once there were valleys where rivers used to run. Once there were blue skies with white clouds high above.Once they were part of an everlasting love." Full lyrics here (and a link to listen and I am now playing that over a headset and am singing along with it -- you do not want to hear me -- I am worse than terrible -- all musical talent in my family skipped me).
  • The Four Seasons -- Antonio Vivaldi. What can I say -- just beautiful.
  • Almost anything by Simon and Garfunkel -- especially Mrs. Robinson or The Boxer or 59th Street Bridge Song (Feelin' Groovy) or Sounds of Silence or Dangling Conversation or My Little Town or I Am a Rock or Scarborough Fair or Homeward Bound or Bridge over Troubled Water or America or Cecilia or...

Who are you gonna pass this stick to (three persons and why)?
I am going to pass this to Rakku28 because I like a lot of the music she likes (Catch22, for example) and to Liz because I'm betting that she has interesting tastes in music and to Doug because he's even older than I am (*grin*) and he's mentioned songs from time to time and I'm wondering what he would have to say.. (Hope none of you object to having these questions passed to you.)


Lyrics for: Come Softly To Me
 
[Words and Music by The Fleetwoods]
[Gary Troxel, Gretchen Christopher, and Barbara Ellis]

Mm dooby do, dahm dahm
Dahm do dahm ooby do
Dahm dahm, dahm do dahm, ooby do
Dahm dahm, dahm do dahm, ooby do
Dahm dahm, dahm ooh dahm
Mm dooby do

(Come softly, darling)
(Come softly, darling)
(Come softly, darling)
(Come softly, darling)

(Come softly, darling)
(Come to me, sta-ay)
(You're my ob-session)
(For ever and a da-ay)

I want, want you to kno-o-ow
I love, I love you so
Please hold, hold me so tight
All through, all through the night..

(Speak softly, darling)
(Hear what I sa-ay)
(I love you always)
(Always, always)

I've waited, waited so long
For your kisses and your love
Please come, come to me
From up, from up above

(Come softly, darling)
(Come softly, darling)
I need, need you so much
Wanna feel your wa-arm touch

Mm dooby do, dahm dahm
Dahm do dahm ooby do
Dahm dahm, dahm do dahm, ooby do
Dahm dahm, dahm do dahm, ooby do
Dahm dahm, dahm ooh dahm



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