All For You

• Alive and Kicking - Simple Minds : "Stay until your love is alive and kicking"
• All Along the Watchtower - U2 : "All I got is a red guitar, three chords, and the truth." Third blog post; time to rankle some people. Bob Dylan has written a lot of good songs. I like many of them...when somebody else sings them. I can't listen to his voice. It totally ruins all the great songwriting. So, you won't hear him singing any of his songs on my iPod. Now, Bono, there's a singer.
• All Apologies - Nirvana : "I wish I was like you/Easily amused". This one is from the "MTV Unplugged in New York" CD. I like the studio version from "In Utero" better. Which brings me to a list.

Some of my favorite releases that I used to have, but don't now:
Nirvana - In Utero
AC/DC - Back In Black (how I don't have this is truly an enigma)
Squeeze - Singles (Tempted is one of the best songs I don't have on my iPod)
Judas Priest - British Steel

Pearl Jam - 10
Def Leppard - Pyromania
Lisa Loeb & Nine Stories - Tails (I was thinking about this one earlier this week. We had bad weather and the kids' school was cancelled. One of the best songs on this CD is "Snow Day". Other really good songs: "Sandalwood", "Do You Sleep?", and the ubiquitous hit "Stay".)

• All Around - INXS
• All At Once - The Fray : "All at once the crowd begins to say/Sometimes the hardest thing and the right thing are the same." I didn't want to, but we took one of the girls to see The Fray. They were quite good, actually. Eisley opened for them, which was a big plus.
• All At Once - Jack Johnson
• All Because of You - U2 : "I'm not broke but you can see the cracks/You can make me perfect again"
• All Cried Out - Dusty Springfield : Sultry, soulful, 60s songstress. Hard to believe she was a white girl from England.
• All Fall Down - OneRepublic
• All For You - Sister Hazel : "It's hard to say what it is I see in you/Wonder if I'll always be with you/Words can't say and I can't do enough to prove it's all for you"

I try to be a good Dad, but I really blew it this time. Our town has a festival every spring, with various booths and multiple stages. They get a bunch of bands, normally a couple rungs down the ladder or well past their prime (Kool & The Gang, Rick Springfield, Loverboy, Cheap Trick). When Sister Hazel hit it big with "All For You", they got booked for the festival. Our whole family loved the song. So, we went to the festival in the afternoon and planned to stay through their set, which didn't start until 9:30. The girls were young and we'd had a full day in the Texas sun - up in the 90s in late May. When we finally got over to the venue and got settled, Raychel and Lauren were worn out and fell asleep. When Sister Hazel started playing "All For You", my wife said they wanted to hear the song and we should wake them up. I said no, let them sleep. So, we watched the rest of the show, then woke the girls to go home. They were hacked off when they asked if they played "All For You". To this day (over 10 years later), if the song comes on the radio, I don't hear the end of it. "Gee, Dad, I can't believe you didn't wake me up to hear this." At least they got some sleep.

• All Hail the Power of Jesus' Name - Wintley Phipps
• All I See Is You - Dusty Springfield
• All I Want - Toad the Wet Sprocket
• All I Want Is You - U2 : Hmm. A woman who wants diamond rings and strings of pearls. A man who only wants her. I'm blessed to be married to Linda. She doesn't want all that stuff. Or at least that's what she's always said.
  
• All Mixed Up - 311 : "You have to trust your instinct and let go of regret". Gotta love that island groove mixed with a little rap and a smokin' guitar.
• All My Life - Foo Fighters : Provided one of my favorite concert moments ever. There was a huge sheet hanging down with the Foo Fighters logo and tour info. The lights went down. Then they backlit the sheet and you could only see the silhouette of Dave Grohl standing behind it, guitar in hand. He started hitting the three repeating power chords that start this song - stifled at first, as he sings the first verse. Then - BOOM - in perfect synch, the stagelights come up, the sheet rises, and the rest of the band is there. Awesome.
• All Nightmare Long - Metallica : "Luck runs out". Great CD - more about it later.
• All of You - Vertical Horizon
• All Over Again - Triumph : My good friend Scott Kernahan introduced me to Triumph. They were my favorite band in high school. This CD, Surveillance, their last, was far inferior to their prior work. This song is probably the worst they ever did. (Well then, why is it on my iPod? I'm anal retentive, I guess. I like having the whole CD available.)
  
• All Over Me - Drowning Pool
• All Over You - Live : "All over me/All over you" - Like the titles of the last 2 songs. Weird.
• All She Wants Is - Duran Duran
• All Shook Up - Elvis Presley : The King. Far and away my favorite singer until I was about 12.
• All the King's Horses - Triumph : "All the king's horses and all the king's men/Can they ever put the world back together again, before we reach the end?" This is from the CD I just bad-mouthed a second ago. So there's some decent stuff on it.
• All the Right Friends - R.E.M.

Summary:

Listened to 25 songs. Skipped none.

I have 35 songs that start with the word "All" - the first 24 on this post.

Absolute Reality

• About a Girl - Nirvana
• Absolute Reality - The Alarm : "You may have love/You may have hate/You may be the president of the United States"

While watching the inauguration of President Obama earlier this week, I was struck by a sense of deja vu. It seems like we've been here before - like in 1981, when President Reagan took office. Obviously, there are huge differences between the two. Mr. Obama's young, as presidents go; Mr. Reagan was the oldest man to take the oath. Mr. Obama is a liberal Democrat; Mr. Reagan was THE conservative Republican. And, of course, there's race.

But think about the similarities in the circumstances in which they each took office. There's the economy. Our current situation is well-documented. In 1981 we were fighting an all-time high "misery index" - double digit unemployment and inflation. There were lines at gas stations, even though consumers were only allowed to gas up on alternating days. Today, we are fighting wars in Iraq and Afghanistan and are trying to rid the world of terrorists. In 1981, 52 Americans were being held hostage by Iranian terrorists/revolutionaries. Mr. Obama's inauguration was watched by a huge audience estimated at 37.8 million, the most since...Mr. Reagan's in 1981.

The most striking similarity, though, is the almost palpable sense of foreboding of the American people. Let's hope that Mr. Obama can have the same influence as Mr. Reagan did, and return our sense of national pride and confidence.

• Accelerate - R.E.M. : "Where is the rip cord, the trap door the key/Where is the cartoon escape hatch for me?"

Another observation on Mr. Obama's inauguration: he could accomplish many things and be one of the finest presidents in our history, and yet be viewed as a failure. The expectations for him are that high. His book "The Audacity of Hope" and the basis of his campaign (as he deftly avoided any specifics) of hope and change, may wind up in his echoing R.E.M.'s lyrics - "Hope has never been so grating." Many people seem to believe that Mr. Obama's election has or will solve all the world's problems. Case in point: Two of our credit union's borrowers, when faced with repossession this past week, told our staff that we couldn't take their vehicles now that Mr. Obama is president. There's some audacity, not to mention false hope.

Enough politics.

• Aces High - Iron Maiden : "Live to fly/Fly to live/Do or die"

Speaking of a sense of foreboding. This is a song about The Battle of Britain - describing British pilots scrambling to their fighters to engage the planes of the Nazi Luftwaffe. (Hey, that's not politics, it's history.)

• Ache For You - Ben Lee
• Acrobat - U2 : "Don't let the bastards grind you down"
  
• Across the Universe - The Beatles
• Act Naturally - The Beatles

My first encounter with consecutive songs by the same artist. It's hard to imagine two more different. "Across the Universe" is a transcendant John Lennon piece. "Act Naturally" was one of The Beatles' more successful attempts to feature Ringo on vocals. In this case, he does an admirable job on a song written by Buck Owens of Hee-Haw fame.

• Actually It's Darkness - Idlewild : "Why can't you be more cyncial?"
  
• Adding to the Noise - Switchfoot : "If we're adding to the noise/Turn off this song" - It takes some guts to tell that to the listener.
  
• Adrenaline - 12 Stones
• Adrift - Jack Johnson

I'm a big fan of Jack Johnson's. However, the title of this song aptly describes my thoughts on his latest CD. He tosses off his sandals and his cool Hawaiian vibe in favor of protest songs. I don't think this song should be listened to while operating heavy machinery. What a snoozer.

• Afterimage - Rush : "I remember/I feel your presence/I feel the way you would" - A pervasive sense of loss, but a determination to keep going.
  
• Again - Kutless : "I don't deserve this love You give to me"
  
• Again Tonight - John Mellencamp
• Age of Innocence - Iron Maiden
• Agoraphobia - Incubus : "I want to stay inside for good"
  
• Ah! Leah! - Donnie Iris
• Ain't Enough - Army of Anyone : "More than love is needed this time/Love ain't enough" - I couldn't disagree more, but it's a good song.
  
• Ain't Even Done With the Night - John Mellencamp
• Ain't It the Life - Foo Fighters
• Ain't My Bitch - Metallica
• Ain't That Unusual - Goo Goo Dolls
• Ain't Too Proud to Beg - The Temptations
• Aint It Something - Lyle Lovett : Ain't it something, Lyle Lovett was married to Julia Roberts? How did that happen?
  
• The Air Near My Fingers - The White Stripes
• Air Raid - Triumph : The first "instrumental" in my alphabetic journey.
  
• Airportman - R.E.M.
• Airstream - Fastball : "Free/I don't wanna be stuck in the city/With the cars and people downtown/Waiting in a line/Wishing I was far away/Where no one knows my name or my address/It's a place I've never been/When it gets too familiar, I'll be gone" - Sounds like the retirement I'm dreaming of.
  
• Alexander the Great - Iron Maiden
• Alien Shore - Rush : "For you and me race is not a competition/For you and me race is not a definition" - I really like how this song expresses not just a willingness, but a desire to find and embrace the differences between all of us.
  
• Alive Again - Chicago : A tower of sappy lyrics, built on the foundation of driving disco drums and those signature Chicago horns. I don't mean to imply that I dislike the song. In fact, I really like it.

Summary:
Listened to 32 songs. Skipped 2 (live acoustic versions of "Ain't It the Life" and "Airstream").
7 "Ain'ts". 1 instrumental. Too much thinking about politics.

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Now playing: The Alarm - Absolute Reality
via FoxyTunes

Beginnings

I'm starting a little personal journey. I'm going to listen to all the songs on my iPod in alphabetical order. This blog will measure my progress. With any luck, my blogging abilities will also progress along the way. I don't have a solid plan for this, I'm just making it up as I go. Which is the nature of a blog, I suppose.

The Rules:

1. Listen to the songs in alphabetical order.
2. Skip any classical. It's good stuff, but doesn't fit my picture of this project.
3. Skip duplicates of songs. I have multiple versions (live, acoustic) of several songs.
4. Listen to songs I don't even like. (Why are they are on my iPod?)

Why am I doing this?
To work on my writing skills. To keep up (OK, catch up) with technology. To entertain myself.

Topics-
Primarily, I'll list the songs I've listened to since the last blog. I'll point out lyrics I like or find interesting. I might discuss the song, the artist, the album. I'll probably come up with some "top 5" lists. I hope to go off on some tangents - expect some fits of nostalgia.

Listening-
I have a first generation iPod Touch, 16 gig. I listen when I take the dog for a walk, using a pair of Skull Candy ear buds. I have a long commute to work and use an iTrip.

What music I listen to-
Um, it would ruin it if I told you that now, wouldn't it? You'll have to follow along to find out. I'm sure the suspense is killing you.

How often I'll blog-
I have no idea.

How long will it take me?
I don't know. There are 2,936 songs on my iPod. I don't plan on adding any as I do this. (I have already blown through all the iTunes certificates I got for Christmas.)

Challenges-
My own inability to follow through on ideas like this. I might get bored, or decide I'm terrible at this. I might run out of things to say. It's very possible I'll be the only reader. I listen to other stuff, sports radio (3 stations in Dallas) and podcasts. My favorite podcasts:

• Dan Carlin's Common Sense
• Dan Carlin's Hardcore History
• A Way With Words (also a Public Radio Show, but not available over the air everywhere)
• The History of Rome
  

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Now playing: Chicago - Beginnings
via FoxyTunes