Desert Island Selections
Recently, my friend Robert of The Radish asked several music bloggers to select a single "desert island song" that is available on Rhapsody. Robert's article appears at both FIQL.com and BlogCritics. Here's my original response to Robert's question:
Suddenly I became very cerebral about the selection process. Do I choose a song that has an emotional connection for me, a reminder of past experiences to draw upon? Or a musical masterpiece that would never get old no matter how many times I heard it? Maybe a song with words that lend themselves to endless interpretation. An exquisite vocal performance. A really long song, so I wouldn't have to hear it so many times...decisions, decisions.
I narrowed it down to 30 or 40 candidates, of course excluding my #1 all-time desert island song due to it not being on Rhapsody ("Blackbird" by The Beatles.)
Some of the finalists, according to the above categories, were as follows:
Emotional connection: "A Murder of One" - Counting Crows
Musical masterpiece: "Sad Eyes" - Josh Rouse (it's so new, but I can't believe how it carefully builds into an epic of a song. It's delicate and emotionally powerful at the same time. Extraordinary.)
Lyrical wonder: "Sinner" - Neil Finn (just abstract enough to keep me interested)
Amazing vocals: "Rain" - Patty Griffin (wow. just, wow.)
Long song: I don't really like long songs, so that's out.
After much deliberation, taking all of the above into consideration, I have chosen:
"The Scientist" - Coldplay
It combines all of my criteria in a way that is transcendent. This song will stand on its own two feet forever. Absolutely timeless, perfectly executed, the right balance of restraint and grandeur. I'll never, ever be tired of this song.
My Own Desert Island Playlist
Suddenly I became very cerebral about the selection process. Do I choose a song that has an emotional connection for me, a reminder of past experiences to draw upon? Or a musical masterpiece that would never get old no matter how many times I heard it? Maybe a song with words that lend themselves to endless interpretation. An exquisite vocal performance. A really long song, so I wouldn't have to hear it so many times...decisions, decisions.
I narrowed it down to 30 or 40 candidates, of course excluding my #1 all-time desert island song due to it not being on Rhapsody ("Blackbird" by The Beatles.)
Some of the finalists, according to the above categories, were as follows:
Emotional connection: "A Murder of One" - Counting Crows
Musical masterpiece: "Sad Eyes" - Josh Rouse (it's so new, but I can't believe how it carefully builds into an epic of a song. It's delicate and emotionally powerful at the same time. Extraordinary.)
Lyrical wonder: "Sinner" - Neil Finn (just abstract enough to keep me interested)
Amazing vocals: "Rain" - Patty Griffin (wow. just, wow.)
Long song: I don't really like long songs, so that's out.
After much deliberation, taking all of the above into consideration, I have chosen:
"The Scientist" - Coldplay
It combines all of my criteria in a way that is transcendent. This song will stand on its own two feet forever. Absolutely timeless, perfectly executed, the right balance of restraint and grandeur. I'll never, ever be tired of this song.
My Own Desert Island Playlist
posted by Amanda @ 1:20 PM
4 Comments:
At Thu Apr 14, 03:48:00 PM EDT,
J Shifty said…
Hi Amanda,
Thanks for the welcome and link! I'm glad to find a few Rhapsody blogs that are both active and contain creative commentary and interesting playlists.
Cheers.
At Thu Apr 14, 08:25:00 PM EDT,
Robert Burke said…
Great post Amanda, thanks for doing this! Would you add a link to this post in the comments of the original Desert Island post on the Radish?
At Fri Apr 15, 03:54:00 AM EDT,
Anonymous said…
"The Scientist" is one of the greatest songs ever. Of course that's just my opinion, I could be wrong.
At Tue Apr 19, 02:23:00 AM EDT,
Anonymous said…
Good list. I never did get the second ColdPlay, great song.
There were many great songs on the first Crows CD. Speaking of XPN...the first time I ever heard them was live on the World Cafe. David did a show devoted to Crows, he had the Counting Crows and Sheryl Crowe as live guests on the same show. They were both new artists at the time!
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