What goes Up Up Up must come Down Down Down…

My personal blog
(not to be confused with my BAD blog)

So, I was compiling yet another playlist on both my phone and mp3 player (and old school Zune, by the way), and was struck by something. The intent of this list was to have a “hodgepodge” of music if I wasn’t in the mood for something specific. Once I really looked at this list, I realized just how chaotic the selection truly was. I named it “Schizo Mix” due to the widely varying styles represented. Now before anyone gets offended, I’m not disparaging those afflicted with any form of schizophrenia. In fact, to be completely accurate, “multiple personality disorder” would be closest to what my playlist would represent if it was a real person. It’s a common misperception, though, that schizophrenia = multiple personality disorder. It really doesn’t, and I don’t want to perpetuate such a thing. I just liked the way “Schizo Mix” sounded when I thought of it.

Anyway…

The point I’m making here, eventually, is that I have playlists for many different moods and activities. I have a workout playlist full of high energy music (including “jodies”), instrumental playlists for when I’m reading and playlists of various favorite artists. Jimmy Buffett, Johnny Cash and The Pogues are a few that come to mind.

Now my instrumental playlists aren’t just classical music. I don’t want to be distracted by words when I’m reading, so anything that would fit this criterion is fair game. One of my favorite instrumental playlists is a collection of tunes by R. Carlos Nakai. A flautist of Navajo/Ute descent, his music is quite haunting, yet soothing. In fact, one of my projects still to be completed is to create a finished video of our trip to Mesa Verde from back in 2010. His music would be the perfect soundtrack on so many levels. Yes, you read that correctly….2010. And no, I haven’t done it yet. I know, I know.

I consider myself a music fan, and generally enjoy pretty much anything, save a few genres that I just haven’t been able to connect to. Those genres know who they are and I’ll just leave it at that. I emphasize this, as I like to tell people “I have a little of everything from ABBA to ZZ Top.” What I find surprising, though, is how I’ve managed not to hear some really cool songs until I discovered them - usually by accident.

Lemme tell you what I’m referring to…

On season two of American Horror Story (“Asylum”), there was a record that one of the main characters insisted be kept playing in the common room of the asylum. I had to Google it and discovered it was Dominique. I told my sister about it, thinking she would appreciate such a helpful nugget of info since she’s a big music fan too. “Oh yeah, I’ve loved that song for years. I have it on my iPhone.”

Of course she would.

Sigh

Lou Reed’s Perfect Day was just an interesting background on a PlayStation 4 commercial until I dug around and found out what it was. Wait, it came out in 1972 and I’m just now discovering it??

Yeah, I think you can see the pattern here.

A big source of my "new" discoveries, though, comes from YouTube videos where the music is generally just the soundtrack and not the main focus. I discovered some fun scuba themed music by the Barefoot Man while searching for videos on diving in Grand Cayman and Cozumel. I’m glad those who posted the videos typically indicated where the music came from.

Of course, movie soundtracks are an excellent source of my collection. Growing up, one of my favorite gifts from family was a movie soundtrack. I can definitely date myself by saying my first treasured collections were LPs from Jaws, The Towering Inferno and Patton. I’d love to hear from anyone reading this that had to Google “LP” to see what I was referring to. It’s OK, don’t be shy.

Now, not everything is a “new” discovery. Some of my favorites are indeed longtime faves that I’ve listened to for years. All in all, if it took me a while to discover something that’s been out forever, who cares? At least I have it now, right?

So, here’s my “Schizo Mix” playlist, and a brief description of where I discovered them:

• ·        Broke Down by Slaid Cleaves. Thanks to a good friend of mine, Al Rampy, who turned me onto this song.
• ·        Corpus Christi Bay by Johnny Rodriquez: YouTube video posted in one of my Facebook groups. Being from the Corpus Christi area, I really like this one!
• ·         Destiny from the Cirque du Freak soundtrack
• ·        Dominique by Debbie Reynolds. As mentioned above, but this is a different version than what was on the show. This is the English version and has a slightly faster tempo.
• ·         Don’t Forget Your Old Shipmates, artist unknown. I heard this on the movie Master and Commander and looked it up.
• ·         Down Down Down by the Expendables. I heard this as background music on a YouTube video of diving in Belize. This is also on my “Calypso Party” playlist.
• ·     Everybody Knows by Leonard Cohen I first heard this on the movie Pump Up The Volume.
• ·        FSU Warchant by the FSU band. I’ve always liked watching Florida State play football, and naturally their catchy fight song made it on my list.
• ·      Funiculi Funicula by Luciano Pavarotti. I was first introduced to this while working as stage manager on the play Winterset in college.
• ·     Fun Time by Joe Cocker I thank Carnival Cruise Lines for this, as they used it to introduce their comedians.
• ·        Gravity by John Mayer Discovered incidental to some of his other work.
• ·     I’m Forever Blowing Bubbles artist unknown Heard this on the movie Green Street Hooligans. Apparently it’s one of the “fight songs” for the West Ham Football Club.
• ·         In The Summertime by Mungo Jerry Longtime favorite, first heard on a car commercial years ago.
• ·         Jose Cuervo by Shelly West Longtime favorite, and it reminds me of one of my sisters, who shall remain nameless.
• ·      Klavierstűck in F, K.33B by Mozart First heard on the movie Amadeus. It took me forever to track down this specific title, though, as it’s not on the official soundtrack.
• ·         Mr. Bojangles by the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band Longtime favorite, the best version, included here, has the “Uncle Charlie” intro.
• ·         Misty Mountain from The Hobbit soundtrack I knew this would be on one of my lists the instant I heard it.
• ·         Numa Numa by O-Zone A friend of mine, Ashley Grant, turned me onto this high energy song.
• ·         One Time One Night by Los Lobos First heard on the movie Colors.
• ·        Pearly Shells by Burl Ives One of my earliest memories as a child is listening to this as my mom cleaned house. Now if I could just find his version of Kentucky Turkey Buzzard…
• ·         Rocky Raccoon by The Beatles Been a fave for many years.
• ·      Roll On Mississippi by Charley Pride Another longtime favorite, and an easy song to visualize.
• ·         Slow Dancing in a Burning Room by John Mayer First heard on the TV show CSI.
• ·        Under My Skin by Gin Wigmore Thank you, Air New Zealand, for including this on one of your safety videos, and thank you to whoever posted it on YouTube!
• ·         Up Up Up by The Givers First heard on Radio Margaritaville. I bet this blog’s title makes a little more sense now, huh?
• ·         Waiting on the World to Change by John Mayer Another Mayer song heard on the same episode of CSI as the other one mentioned above.
• ·         The Walking Dead Theme artist unknown Yep, from the AMC TV series…
• ·       Waltzing Matilda by Rolf Harris His version is entertaining, and explains some of the song’s background.
• ·        Yeha-Noha by Sacred Spirits First heard on the CD Pure Moods. I fell in love with it the first time I heard it, as I could easily visualize this withered old man sitting by a smoky fire, singing it.

So there you have it, my “Schizo Mix” playlist. This is a good playlist for me when I’m doing repetitive work in the lab and need something to listen to that won’t start boring me. Then again, I guess if something started getting boring, why have it on a list to begin with, right?

Until next time…..

carpe cerevisi