Thirty* Day Song Challenge

So as most of you know, I’m doing the Thirty* Day Song Challenge.  I use an asterisk because the challenge was originally for thirty days but sine July has thirty-one, I added an additional day and challenge (this is me, in typical fashion, modifying rules ;) )

Five days in, and Dave Coon had the brilliant idea of putting this challenge in blog format.  Normally, after posting a blog I don’t go back to edit it, so we’ll see how well this works editing and adding to it each day.  If things get screwy (i.e., font and formatting don’t stay consistent), I’ll end up scrapping the blog.  But for now, here we go...

Day 1 - Your favorite song:

“Hallelujah” - I love this song by just about any artist, but I especially like Jason Castro's version.

(For the record, Jeffrey Gutt's version is a close second):

Day 2 - Your least favorite song:

"Somewhere over the rainbow" - anyone's version. I know a lot of people love this classic song, but I've always hated it and groan whenever a contestant on a singing competition covers it. And honestly, I was never a huge fan of this movie either *ducks*

 Day 3 – A song that makes you happy:

"Sad Man's Tongue" by Volbeat. When a friend introduced me to this band, it was with this song. I was instantly obsessed, and later got to see them in concert. I love Volbeat, and this song makes me feel happy (especially when I'm driving down the freeway and it's playing LOUD) lol!

Day 4 – A song that makes you sad:

“See You Again” - by Wiz Khalifa (ft. Charlie Puth).  I never saw any of the Furious movies or any movie that I can recall, with Paul Walker in it.  But every time I hear this song or see this video, it really gets me.

Day 5 - A song that reminds you of someone:

“Dakota” by Stereophonics.  Just because.

Day 6 - A song that reminds you of somewhere:
"Loch Lomond" by Runrig.  There are only two songs that come to mind that remind me of a specific place.  One was “meh.”  The other, this one, makes me smile.  Such a beautiful area, Loch Lomond, I can’t wait to go back next summer :)

Day 7 - A song that reminds you of a certain event:

“Stop Your Crying” by Bob Mould.  I’m not going to go into details, but there was a period where I remembered who I was, re-asserted my independence and listened to this song over and over super loud and super a lot and felt it to my core.  Basically, I was obsessed with this song, and I never looked back.

 Day 8 - A song that you know all the words to:

“Sorry” by Buckcherry.  I probably know all the lyrics to many songs, but this was the first one that came to mind.  I really love this song, and I’ve sang it all the way through at a few Buckcherry concerts.  

Day 9 - A song that you can dance to.   

First, define “dance” ;)  “When she begins” by Social Distortion.  This is probably my favorite Social D song, and I have “danced” to it at many of their concerts. 

Day 10 - A song that helps you fall asleep:

“Fell Asleep” – Big Big Train.  I don’t remember where I first heard of these guys, but somehow I stumbled across this song. I like the lyrics and the song is pretty mellow and soothing.

Day 11 - A song from your favorite band:

“Ramona” – The Ramones.  In case anyone ever wondered where my other persona came from…

Day 12 - A song from a band you hate:

“Every Breath You Take” by The Police.  I could have picked any song here and it wouldn't have mattered.  This is not going to be on the side of popular opinion - sorry (*not really*) but I always hated this band. And I never liked Sting's solo singing either.  There's just always been something about his voice that rubbed me the wrong way.

(Having said that, I do like this song, when someone else sings it :D )

Day 13 - A song that is a guilty pleasure

“Best Song Ever”  - One Direction (don’t judge :P)  

Day 14 - A song that no one would expect you to love:

“Thrift Shop” by Macklemore & Ryan Lewis.  I’m not sure if this is a song no one would expect me to love, since I *think* it’s common knowledge that I do like hip hop and some rap.  But when my daughter and niece used to consider this song “their jam” they’d sing it often, and I kind of got hooked on it.

Day 15 - a song that describes you:

“Boss of Me” by They Might Be Giants.  I thought about this one for a while, trying to find one end-all, be-all song that describes me.  How do you pick only one song?  (It did occur to me, however, that "pick one song that you feel describes me" would be a fun stand-alone FB status game ;)  Anyway, back to me picking the song for myself....several ran through my head but in the end, I decided I had to go with my catch-phrase because, well… you know :P

Day 16 - A song that you used to love but now hate:

“Cinema” – by Skrillex. This one was tricky because I either have always liked a song, or I never liked it to begin with.  I really couldn’t come up with any that exactly fit this category.  So, while I don’t ‘hate’ this song, I’m more or less (mostly) over it.

Day 17 - A song that you hear often on the radio: 

“Menouthis” by E.S. Posthumus.  My son got me into cinematic and orchestral music (just like he did with metal – lol!).  But I literally never listen to the radio.  I do, however, currently have forty-eight channels that are on shuffle all day long on Pandora, and this song seems to get rotated through quite a bit.  At least, I always notice every time it comes on.  And fortunately, I love this song :)

So I'm a little behind because I'm on vacation and wi-fi is sketchy, so I'm going to post two in a row to catch up:

Day 18 - A song that you wish you heard on the radio:

"Duality" by Slipknot.  Again, I never listen to the radio, but I don’t think metal gets the airplay that it should.  So, it would be awesome if this song was played, because I love this song (and the video is kinda rad).





Day 19 - A song from your favorite album:

"From Eden" – Hozier, from his self-titled album.  This is one of my favorite songs from the album, but I also love "Take Me to Church" and honestly, every song on the album.  The first song I ever heard from him was "Like Some People Do" that was featured on SYTYCD.   All these songs, and this man's voice, just take me someplace else.  I don't know how else to describe it, but whenever I listen to this album, it moves me.

Day 20 - A song that you listen to when you’re angry:
“Die MFer Die” by Dope  *WARNING*  Don’t listen to this if you get offended easily.  It’s an angry song and riddled with F-bombs.  But when I'm really pissed off it's a great song that gets me all fired up and after listening to it on repeat for a while, the aggression gets released and I'm in a better mood ;)

I'm back from vacation and catching up (btw, it took me FOUR  hours to drive what should have taken ninety minutes, at 2:30 in the afternoon - why wasn't everyone at work??  Bay Area traffic is stupid).  Anyway....

Day 21 - A song that you listen to when you’re happy:

“Keelhauled” by Alestorm.  There are just so many elements to this song that I love, it appeals to the rebel pirate in me :D

 Day 22 - A song that you listen to when you’re sad:

“Toward the Sun” by Thirst.  This was a local band (the band dispersed a long time ago and the lead singer, Mike Comfort, is now recording solo).  Both solo and with Thirst, his is a voice that I love, especially his ballads and love songs.  I could have easily used this one for Day 15 (a song that defines me).  This song really resonates and just cuts through my heart.  

 http://picosong.com/gQiM/

Day 23- A song that you want to play at your wedding:

“Thinking Out Loud” – Ed Sheeran.  For no other reason than this.song.makes.me.melt *sighs*  

Day 24 - A song that you want to play at your funeral:

I had to think a little about this one, and the more I thought about it, the more I began compiling a playlist. Of course, the Ramones song ‘Pet Cemetery’ came to mind (“I don’t want to be buried in a pet cemetery”) as well as The Toy Dolls’ “No Particular Place to Go” because, well that's just funny.  “I’ll Fly Away” (the Flatfoot 56 version) is another contender, as well as “The Departed” by Sully Erna (because his voice is kind of out of this world), “Castles in the Air” by the Hoodoo Gurus because I’ve loved that song for years, and one of my all-time favorite songs “Into the Mystic” by Van Morrison.  Then I was thisclose to choosing “Fade Away” by Black Stone Cherry because the lyrics speak to me and it’s a song I’ve been obsessing over lately.  (btw, I haven’t included links to these songs since I’m only ‘supposed’ to pick one song, so in my head I haven’t really cheated, even though the songs are readily available on Youtube, should anyone be so inclined).

Anyway, one song – I’m picking “Drift Away” by Uncle Kracker because I get lost in this song whenever I hear it.  It kind of calms the restlessness in my heart.  That, and when I do drift away, I’m taking my tunes with me :P 

Day 25 - A song that makes you laugh:

“Muppet N.A.M.B.L.A.”  – Leftover Crack ft. The Distillers

“Why are there so many songs about rainbows and who gives a f*ck anyway” – brilliant!  This song cracks me up whenever I hear it. lol!

Day 26 - A song that you can play on an instrument:

“Storytime” by Nightwish.  Well, I cannot play any instrument (though I’ve always wished I could play the piano.  Funny, considering I’ve bought my son two and while he excels at it, I never did get around to learning it myself).  Anyway, I didn’t want to let a day go by without posting a song, so I’m going with this one.  “IF” I could play an instrument, I’d like it to be any featured here because let’s face it, this song is just epic.  It’s one of my Top Three Nightwish Songs (and these guys are AMAZING live, btw).   

Day 27 - A song that you wish you could play:

“Für Elise” by Beethoven.  So I've mentioned in previous days that certain songs make me melt.  This one trumps them all and has been my favorite classical piece for as long as I can remember.  Play this song for me on piano, and you will have my heart.  Though if I could just learn it myself, I'd be set ;)  

Day 28 - A song that makes you feel guilty:

Yeah….I got nothing for this prompt.  While there are songs that are a guilty pleasure, there are no songs that make me feel guilty.  This prompt is dumb – lol!  So, instead I’m making today “random song day.”  I put my iTunes on DJ Mix and am posting a video to the first song that came up, which happens to be “California Love” by Tupac ft. Dr. Dre.  I’m not too surprised this is the first song that came up – it’s one of my favorites on my iPod, and I listen to it quite a bit :)

Day 29 - A song from your childhood:
Well, from my childhood, it would have to be this 'song' - the theme to Speed Racer - lol! I watched this show every day as a kid (and as an adult I still watch it, having recorded the episodes onto VHS fifteen(ish) years ago, which allowed my kids to grow up with this show as well).  So I always smile whenever I hear this song.

Taking this prompt one step farther, I'm also including a song from my youth - "A Million Miles Away" by The Plimsouls.  Their album Everywhere at Once was THE go-to album of my best friend and I during our multiple road trips to L.A. and back during the 80s.  Sure, there were tons of other albums and bands we listened to, but if there was one definitive album for us, it was this one.

Day 30:  My favorite song from this time last year:
"Lay Me Down" by Sam Smith.  Sam's album In the Lonely Hour almost made it as my favorite album earlier this month except it has two songs that bug the crap out of me.  However, the rest of the songs move me to no end.  I was obsessed with this song in particular, and still am today; it's haunting and plaintive and beautiful, and I feel it down to my soul.

Day 31*  The original challenge was for thirty days, but since July has thirty-one, I added my own prompt to today, which is “Favorite Road Trip Song.”  I have various “Fave’ comp cds that I burn for trips (some songs are included in this blog), but one song that is always on the cd is “Kickstart My Heart” by Mötley Crüe.  It’ a song that always gets me to turn up the radio louder than it already is, and one that stays on repeat for longer than I care to admit.  Damn, listening to this song now I’m thinking, all I need is a long open road before me ;)

And that's it for the song challenge.  There are so many other favorite songs of mine, and genres that I didn't get a chance to share, but maybe someday there will be another challenge ;)

Peace out ~