Day 23: A Song You Think Everybody Should Listen To
I’m a big fan of music. If it hasn’t already become abundantly clear. So I think everyone should be listening to music. But a particular song everyone should listen to? Hmm. That’s a toughie. As usual.
I wanna do “Hallelujah”, Jeff Buckley’s version, but that would be cheating. I’ve already used that song. Damnit.
You know what? I’m gonna pick Led Zeppelin’s “Hot Dog”, because fuck it. I love the shit out of that song, and it’s actually one of my favorites of theirs. Maybe the favorite of theirs. Yes, I’m serious. And everybody should listen to it.
I suppose there are myriad ways to interpret today’s challenge. My mind hearkened songs that have been with me most of my life and that are still special to me, having never tired of them. The one that appears at the forefront of my mind is “Somewhere Over the Rainbow”. I suspect most of us that know this song first learned it as children, watching The Wizard of Oz. I have fond memories of watching the movie every October when it came on public television around Halloween. For me, Israel Kamakawiwo’ole’s version rose to the top and remains my favorite. Once this version was introduced to me some years ago, I’ve never been able to appreciate any other version quite the same. Please. Do yourself a favor. And enjoy this treasure:
This next one has been in my life for a fair chunk of it, not necessarily from childhood on. But near enough. “Hallelujah” has been done and redone by so many talented musicians. And though I have a particular fondness for Leonard Cohen, Jeff Buckley created the ultimate version that I absolutely never tire of.
I do believe I’m feeling far too pensive today. So let’s mix it up to another completely different song I associate with childhood and that I have never tired of. I first heard this song the year it came out. 1987, the year I turned 7. I can credit my brother with introducing Beastie Boys into my life. I had no. freakin. clue. what the song meant. But, in one of my only fond memories of elementary school, I remember singing it on the playground and suspecting it must have had something to do with the monkey bars (which I never mastered). I still love these boys. Come on everybody, let’s get fffff….
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