Waiting for Gouda

So I was perusing all the songs in my iPod the other day when I noticed that there were a fair number of songs that I had apparently never listened to.  I decided that this just wouldn’t do.  What is the point of the ripping and the transferring (never the pirating, mateys… I don’t do that) if all the little empee-threes just sit there.

(The spelling in that last phrase was inspired by Star Wars droids.  Some of you know what I’m talking about.)

I couldn’t allow this to continue.  Not only were there songs that I hadn’t heard, but there were an awful lot of songs that I had only listened to once in the last year.  Good songs!  Songs I loved, sitting neglected while the little imp inside the machine that picks the random songs (sorry, but that’s what I imagine) has pelted me repeatedly with all of the lesser Marilyn Manson songs.

So I decided to embark on a most thorough journey through my tunes.  A journey without Journey, actually, which I guess is a good thing.  I’m listening to every single song on myPod in alphabetical order… by song title.  No skipping.

I’ve been at it all week, and I’m well into the B’s now, and have a few observations.  Cue your inner Andy Rooney voice:

- Some songs that I theoretically like are hard to get through.   Keane?  Really?  What the hell are you guys doing here?

- iTunes is smart enough to alphabetize songs that start with the word “A” (as in “A Day in the Life”) or “The” by the second word in the title.  My iPod is not as smart, so there is a little bit of futzing around when switching from one to the other.  (I use the iTunes while at my desk at work so the Pod can charge.)  I don’t know why this would be, but I must be vigilant that no song gets skipped.  That would violate the spirit of the thing.

- A lot of songs start with the same words.  Yesterday afternoon, I plowed through the “Backs”:

- Back 2 Good (Matchbox 20)
- Back in the USSR (Beatles)
- Back in Your Head (Tegan & Sara)
- Back Off Bitch (G’N'R)
- Back to the Life (Spoon)
- Back to the Sea (Futureheads)
- Back to the Start (Razorlight)
- Back Together (Citizen Cope)
- Back Up Offa Me (Talib Kweli)
- Backdrifts (Radiohead)

I’m really looking forward to the list of songs that start with “I” or “You”.  Songwriters are an egomaniacal lot, on average.

- As you can see, a session of this listening method provides a weird mix of completely different musical stylings that might all have similar motifs.  For example, the desire to get back to somewhere or something.  Nostalgia, perhaps.

- Listening to the live version of a song immediately after hearing the studio version isn’t as interesting as you might think.  Remixes even less so.

Well, I gotta go. Songs that start with “Big” are about to roll through.  And I’m really psyched for segue from “Big Man with a Gun” (Nine Inch Nails) into “Big Rock Candy Mountain” (O Brother soundtrack).  Should be huge.