Yesterday I mentioned a playlist I made based on my month-long foray into Europe last summer. The basic idea was that I kept track of all the songs I got stuck in my head on the trip, since I didn't bring an iPod or anything. Today I'll tell the stories of a few of these songs (the more interesting ones at least). The complete playlist (in approximate chronological order of getting-stuck-in-head) is at the end.
1) Killing in the Name Of - Rage Against the Machine - I got this stuck in my head thanks to a cover band at the "North American bar" in Nice. I went to the bar with some people I met at the hostel, and it was a pretty mixed crowd - a Swede, an Aussie, a Canuck, a Yank (named Randall... OF COURSE the American was named Randall), and a Norwegian. Even though it sounds lame, it was actually a lot of fun. Also, I'm pretty sure the Aussie dude brought back a girl to our hostel room where 8 people were sleeping. I say pretty sure because I arrived before him and only half-saw the girl leaving in a sleepy haze in the morning. In any case, that's gotta take balls.
2) Theme from Indiana Jones - this was in yesterday's entry, but I'll re-iterate. I got it stuck in my head on a train from Nice to Genoa because some American kids were watching one of the Indiana Jones movies on a little portable DVD player instead of marveling at the beautiful Cote d'Azure. (by the way, I know for a fact they were American, New Jerseyan to be specific, I'm not just jumping to conclusions here.) Okay, okay, I watched a little too from my seat.
3) American Boy - Estelle feat. Kanye. I got this song stuck in my head in the small Italian Alps town Trento because it was playing in the breakfast room in my hostel in the morning. I had actually never heard the song before (I think it had just come out), but it's so catchy that it stuck. I don't particularly like the song, which is generally not the case with songs that get stuck in my head, so I wasn't too happy. To make matters worse, that was the day I had one and only one task: to climb a mountain. Meaning I had very little contact with civilization (I only encountered one other hiker all day). Meaning it was very difficult to get out of my head. It did eventually depart from my brainwaves, but I stopped at a mountain town for a drink around 4PM, and guess what song was playing. Yeah.
(By the way, this day was one of the best days of the trip and I wrote a great journal entry about it including the story of an Italian lady who spoke no English desperately trying to warn me about "serpenti". I will probably post the journal entry as a blog entry someday.)
4) Robot Hell Song from Futurama - the story behind this song getting stuck in my head is completely uninteresting, but I wanted to mention it because the song is SO GOOD. An unbelievably arranged musical-type song with brilliant lyrics, extremely catchy music, hilarious animation and a fantastic performance by Dan Castellaneta as the Robot Devil. Everything about that song is amazing. Man. You really should watch the full episode (it's one of the best Futurama episodes). but here's an extremely low-quality version of the song.
5) Overture to the Barber of Seville - my mom had encouraged me to try to attend some operas while in Italy - I mean, duh, but more specifically she recommended checking out some outdoor summer operas because they're often cheaper and more intimate than going to the huge opera houses. I went to 2, the first being The Barber of Seville in Florence. Even if you know nothing about classical music, you know this overture. Skip to 2:06. Funny story about the event - at one point some clone-looking girls had to leave in the middle of the opera because one of them was too drunk. They made a huge racket walking down the temporary aluminum grandstand type thing in their heels and pissed a lot of people off, though I enjoyed it.
6) Autumn Leaves - another Florence based entry. I saw this amazing gypsy band in a public square in Florence, and they played a great version of Autumn Leaves. That's not particularly interesting, but it was watching that band that I ran into two good high school friends, Grace and Amy! We were mutually aware we were in Europe at the same time, and planned to meet up in Rome, but didn't know that Florence would overlap as well. It was fantastic.
Complete approximately chronological list:
Don't Speak - No Doubt
A Wolf at the Door - Radiohead
Myxomatosis - Radiohead
Hide and Seek - Joshua Redman
Blue Bossa (no artist in particular, the one on my playlist is Dexter Gordon)
They Can't Take That Away From Me (no artist in particular, the one on the playlist is Louis Armstrong and Ella Fitzgerald)
The Way - Fastball
Out of My Head - Fastball
Johanna (from Sweeney Todd)
My Friends (from Sweeney Todd)
Pretty Women (from Sweeney Todd)
The Four Seasons (couldn't remember which movement) - Antonio Vivaldi
Killing in the Name Of - Rage Against the Machine
Theme from Indiana Jones
Take Me Out - Franz Ferdinand
Spain - Chick Corea
Barbie Girl - Aqua
Sunday Morning - No Doubt
American Boy - Estelle feat. Kanye West
Robot Hell Song from Futurama
One Jump Ahead (from Aladdin)
Over the Rainbow (from The Wizard of Oz)
Short Skirt/Long Jacket - Cake
Overture to The Barber of Seville
When Doves Cry - Prince
Symphony no. 40, 1st Movement - Mozart
New - No Doubt
Play That Funky Music - Wild Cherry
Don't Worry, Be Happy - Bobby McFerrin
Frank Sinatra - Cake
Autumn Leaves (no artist in particular, the one on my playlist is Bill Evans)
Pirelli's Miracle Elixir (from Sweeney Todd)
The Contest (from Sweeney Todd)
The Story of the Kalendar Prince (from Scheherezade) - Rimsky-Korsakov
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