Tuesday, July 29, 2008

Playlist Addition

Did you notice the music playing and the purple player on the right sidebar? I've added a play list to the blog. I've seen these on so many sites and so enjoyed the music provided that today I decided it was time for one of my own.

When picking out songs for this one I wandered through the files on my computer for suggestions. I can't pull from that. The playlist site I used requests that we use only authorized files. So you select from those it can find on its search engine. Some of them are actually posted by the artists or from promotional sites. Where possible I tried to use those. When that, usually very obvious option, wasn't provided I listened for the one which seemed to have the best sound coming through my speakers. I hope you enjoy the songs I've chosen. There's only 10 on the list but it allows for 99, so I'll probably add more.

Something I discovered while working on this was that making a playlist, especially a public one, is a work of art and emotion. You choose songs that affect you in some way hoping that they also affect others. So the choices are very personal. Some bring memories of my childhood, a few are from current artists that I like, and some just make me want to get up and move. The Nat King Cole solo of Unforgettable presented a hard choice. When I considered putting up one that had him singing a duet with his daughter Natalie, because I like the unique historical perspective it provides, it didn't have the quality of sound that his older solo version had. So I went for sound over what may be uniqueness. When I was a child I learned how to play Autumn Leaves on the piano. Somewhere I have guitar chords for it too. It reminds me of my late Aunt Jeanie who taught me how to sing it. Girls who sat along the wall at school dances always identify with Janis Ian's song At Seventeen. I guess the grown up kid in me just plain old loves Ice Cream by Sarah McLachlan. It talks about a lot of my favorite things. Even though he's modern, Michael Buble takes me back to the big band era and my nights spent in a ballroom dance studio learning how to waltz, foxtrot and swing. If any of my choices trigger a feeling or memory please share.

12 comments:

San said...

Good to see you having so much fun with this, Lee.

jsd said...

pretty cool - music is pretty magical.

Lee said...

LOL Yes, San, I have to admit that listening to the whole song "to make sure it's good all the way though" is a lot of fun. It's kind of like putting together your own album. Never did this before. :)

Hugs!

Lee said...

100% Magical, JS. And that spell just seems to keep on building.

Joy!

murat11 said...

Nice mix, Lee: Janis Ian certainly takes me back: my cousin and I were all over her debut album back in '67: she was 16 at the time with "Society's Child." Great song, great album. Ian lives in Nashville now, plays there a lot: my sister's seen her several times.

I think my favorite this go round in Ms Mary Chapin Carpenter.

The art of DJ-ing is truly an art. Put that on your resume, too.

Hilary said...

I like the way you've given a bit of background to each of the songs you've chosen. And I would have commented about 15 minutes earlier but that darn jigsaw puzzle on your page distracted me.. as did the next couple of puzzles.. ;)

Sandi McBride said...

I've wanted a playlist for some time...how hard was it to do? HELP? I love your choices, by the way and the post itself is musical!
hugs
Sandi

Lee said...

Aw, blush, Thank You, Paschal! :) Yes, Ms Ian is awesome! I remember Society's Child too and considered putting that up on the blog also. It is available.

My personal source of pride is 75 Septembers. I heard that done by Peter, Paul, and Mary on their Lifelines album. Can't get that one. But I was able to do a blog search and actually found this version by Cheryl Wheeler. A bit of history on that one. She wrote it for her grandfather's birthday. When I included this it was the first inclusion on the web site's list too. And I caught it just a mere 8 hours after the lady posted it to her blog.

Hah! Now I should go looking for a partying gig? LOL

Peace! & Hug for the kind words!

Lee said...

Hey Hilary! Welcome! Glad to see you here!

Yeah, those puzzles are fun and absorbing aren't they? :) I'll keep putting them up there. They're fun for the brain.

Since you like the background told I guess I should probably do that for the other numbers I added. Thanks for the good suggestion!

I really enjoyed your photos and will come back again!

Joy!
Lee

Lee said...

It was a piece of cake, Sandi! Sure, I'll email you what I did. And it's free.

Glad you liked the music and the post. I had fun putting it together.

Hugs!

Jeni said...

Ah, Otis Redding and that song by him -one of my all-time favorites too!

Lee said...

Mine too! :) Glad to see you again Jeni.

Joy!