Have you ever listened to a single song over and over and over again on a regular basis? I do and I have and I will. I seem to pick a “Song for the Day” that matches my mood and then I let iTunes play that song over and over and over for up to 12 hours at a time.

Is that odd and curious or is it ordinary and expected? I’m currently listening — for the last three hours — to Lou Rawls’ Lou Rawls Live!rendition of the Beatles’ gorgeous song “Golden Slumbers” from his 1973 album “Lou Rawls Live at the Century Plaza.”

Lou jazzes up the lyric a bit — he sings “Once there was a way for you to get back home again” instead of “Once there was a way to get back homeward” — but the energy and emotion and the love of his vocal performance overwhelms that obvious choice to change the lyric.

Lou’s version of “Tobacco Road” opens the album and it is the best rendition of that song in the history of music.

I’ll probably load up that song tomorrow. Or, perhaps, I’ll instead play Joss Stone’s cover of Brian Wilson’s best song ever — “God Only Knows” — from her superb, special edition, of “Mind Body & Soul” album. I suppose I could try to listen to each of those songs together instead of repetitively alone but that would ruin the fun!

The new “Happy Feet” movie has a cover of “Golden Slumbers” from k.d. lang! The song is over-produced, but her silvery voice still manages to shine through at the most important moments. If you haven’t heard Lou Rawls sing — go give your ear a treat right now!

42 Comments

  1. I’ll have to check out Lou Rawls’ songs. I probably have heard them hundreds of times, but don’t realize I already know them.
    I also like the new blog template. It’s nice and clean! (Or, is my browser displaying the blog in a different way?)

  2. Hi Chris!
    Yes, check out some Lou. His live performances are best.
    I was playing around with changing templates last night. I didn’t like how the K2-Lite version wasn’t providing us with as much depth as the standalone “K2-Full” version.
    This new template gives us a cleaner look. Sidebar information is easier to read. You have navigation right above the article to click you back to the latest article while reading on an article. The Search returns are also better. You can page back through more returns than before. I can also more easily change the header image for some freshness and fun.
    I miss not having an edit button for articles with this template but I now have one for comments and that makes it much easier to fix comment errors on-the-fly.

  3. I agree with Chris! I like the new layout. The design is breatheable. Lou Rawls is a fine talent. I grew up in Montana listening to him.

  4. David! Ditto!!
    My extremely tolerant mother almost became a rebel when I started listening “Hello” by Lionel Richie for 1576th. time!
    I was listening the song for three days – constantly!!!
    Even my dog started avoiding me!
    I did it with every song I liked…I still do…the only difference is I have a headphone now!
    Way better than to be beaten up by your neighbors – I guess! 😀

  5. Hi Anne!
    Thanks for the feedback on the new template! There are lots of template choices on WordPress.com but this one seems to fit our needs. Have you tried the search function yet?
    I’m with you on Lou! Montana doesn’t seem like a very “Lou Rawls” sort of state! I bet you stood out a bit there, eh?

  7. It’s good to shake things up. The sidebar content is easier to read and there’s lots of “whitespace” — which is a great thing.
    Here’s something you might find interesting.
    I was speaking with my mom last night and she asked if I had the link to this blog on my ChristopherHedges.com site. She said she always enjoys reading the articles here.
    I put it into my “main menu” on my sidebar to make it easier to find.

  8. Hi Katha!
    Thanks for the good words! The page load speed is also half of what it was with the old K2-Lite template — that means everything here loads twice as fast as before!

  9. Chris —
    I agree. I love white space and I don’t mind at all losing all the grey in the K2 template that framed the content. This template seems to be made for “publications” and it feels and looks that way and I suppose that suits us better for now.
    I love your mother, Chris!
    😀
    Thanks for that nice, big, link in your site’s sidebar!
    Tell your mother we want her to comment more here!

  10. I tried the search. Nice. I like it. You can go back more to see more articles that match the search. I also like only getting a preview of the article instead of the whole thing. I can feel the speed increase. That’s nice too.

  11. Thanks, Anne! I, too, can really feel the page load speed increase when I submit a new comment. Everything sets up much faster. I agree with you on the Search improvements with this template. Good stuff!

  12. Hi Katha!
    Hey, I didn’t see your first comment here in the flurry of action!
    Wow! So you’re a “one song listener” too, eh? Fantastic! How do you explain to others why you play the same song over and over?
    Each time I hear a song over and over again I get a different meaning and shade of intent. It is a fascinating study for me.

  13. I don’t know…it’s very difficult to explain it to others…
    I feel like being soaked in a song – in its lyrics, tune, rhythm, melody…it’s the whole experience!
    People think I am…you know… 😀

  15. Those who think we are nuts will think it forever…
    Why bother?
    If someone doesn’t get it why I am listening to a song over and over and over…
    Then it’s not worth trying to make them understand!
    People usually ask me – “don’t you get bored?”
    I have nothing to offer except a blank look!

  16. Hi Katha!
    Yes, I think we are in the minority here. Most people like a wide-variety of music.
    I also don’t like “shuffle play” music players. I like my music ordered. When it comes to listening to an album when I’m in that rare mood, I want to hear how the artist wanted the songs to follow one another — not how my iPod chooses to mix them up in a shuffle!

  17. I listen to anything that is melodious…I don’t mind shuffling it either…it depends on my mood.
    At the same time I can listen to one song for 1000 times…continuously…if I feel like it!

  20. Katha!
    But people who “find out” about us, and our repetition, always demand an explanation! They won’t go away without one!
    What are we to do?

  21. They will “run away” if you make them listen the same song saying “find out yourself!” 😀
    Jokes apart, I think I try to absorb every bit of it…at the same get absorbed in it too –
    It is like reading something that you like over and over…
    There is no possible explanation!

  23. Yes! We need to find some more with this “obsession”!
    Then it will be normal! 😀

  25. I think what I wanted to say was “majority wins”…regardless of it being normal. At least people will bother less…
    This is interesting because as far as my test result goes I am not an INTJ, I am not “unique” – but I think I need to take the test again!

  30. Hello J.! Love that Avatar!
    I’m taking that as a compliment!
    😀
    Modern music doesn’t really interest me unless it’s something retrospective like the wacky new Tom Waits three CD extravaganza!

  31. David – “Modern music doesn’t really interest me…”
    I suspected as much from this, and your Neil post a couple days back. I don’t care for most “commercial” music. Some of the stuff from back in the day, Neil, Joni, Allbros, etc. still sounds good. If you like all different kinds of tunes, and assuming you don’t have everything already, check out WEVL out of Memphis. It’s all volunteer. It streams. It’s cool IMHO. BTW, the avatar came stock with the Mac (book Pro). Cheers!

  32. David – “Modern music doesn’t really interest me…”
    I suspected as much from this, and your Neil post a couple days back. I don’t care for most “commercial” music. Some of the stuff from back in the day, Neil, Joni, Allbros, etc. still sounds good. If you like all different kinds of tunes, and assuming you don’t have everything already, check out WEVL out of Memphis. It’s all volunteer. It streams. It’s cool IMHO. BTW, the avatar came stock with the Mac (book Pro). Cheers!

  38. Like the new layout – although I have you in my head as *green* not blue. The larger font and layout is much easier to read for my poor old eyes 🙂
    Will check out Lou Rawls

  39. Hi Nicola!
    Hey, on the front page the title hotlinks are green!
    :mrgreen:
    My plan is to try to change the image header each day to give something new and fresh.
    I’m glad you can read the site better! That’s good information to have on hand.

  42. Pingback: The Rhythm of Writing « Boles Blogs

Comments are closed.