Playlist of the Week - 23 Jan 2005

This is the first installment of what I hope will be a weekly feature on the Nateblogg - Playlist of the Week.

As I've mentioned to many of you (and in my last entry), I developed an iTunes dependency over the Christmas Holiday. After putting all the music I own in my iTunes library, I proceeded to 1) Buy music on iTunes compulsively and 2) Craft playlists of songs from my collection. I say "craft" because assembling a good playlist is not akin to throwing darts - the flow of the songs must be given careful consideration, so that, when listened to, the playlist whisks the listener away on an unforgettable musical adventure.

My first playlist is entitled "Waky, Waky, Eggs and Bacy", and is burned onto a CD that I wake up to every morning. I'll list the tracks, and give a short comment on why I selected each one.

1) "Lovely Day", Out of Eden - Upbeat, hip-hop gospel song that begins with the line "When I wake up in the morning Lord/And the sunlight hurts my eyes..." Maybe the most pitch-perfect wake up song I know of, other than "Sex Machine" by James Brown...

2) "Full of Grace", Sarah McLachlan - Ethereal vocals and soothing piano, this track beautifully conveys sympathy to me as I lay in my bed, not wanting to face the consequences of full consciousness yet...

3) "Lady Soul", Charlie Peacock - A soulful track by Charlie Peacock about the virtues of listening to Aretha Franklin in the morning. Great chorus, and as usual with Peacock, some deeper thoughts to ruminate on through the day.

4) "Every Little Thing She Does is Magic", the Police - A song about not having the balls to tell a girl that you're crazy about her. Was a touchstone song for me a few years ago - don't ask me why. This starts the "Love-related" portion of the playlist. I'm taking the approach with Romantic Love that I will think about it a little bit each day, starting in the morning...

5) "You are the Sunshine of my Life", Stevie Wonder - There must be at least one Motown hit in a morning playlist (The Charlie Peacock song above is just a tribute). This song was used in a coffee commercial when I was growing up, so I like to think of it as a subliminable coffee.

6) "Brown Eyed Girl", Van Morrison - Great song. Anytime. Never gets old. Seriously, would there ever be a time when you would say, "You know, I just don't want to hear 'Brown Eyed Girl' right now?" It would be akin to being against Ice Cream or something...

7) "Sometimes By Step", Rich Mullins - Touchstone God Song for the day. One of Rich Mullins's best, where the verses build to a crescendo that is met by the familiar "Step by Step" chorus. The song expresses a commitment to serve and trust God despite our own shortcomings and outright failures. Watching him perform this in concert at UT in 1996 was definitely a "Dusty Moment" for me.

8) "Linus and Lucy", The Vince Guaraldi Trio - This is the "Charlie Brown" song, and for me, it's the "Get your butt out of bed or you'll be late for work" song. It conveys motion, and is eminently danceable. Even so, I usually stay in bed just a little longer...

That's all for now...