5 Songs on MP3 Shuffle

I read somewhere that you can really tell a lot about a person by the songs that will appear when you hit “shuffle” on their MP3 player. I’ve always wanted to try that. So, doing a shuffle (making no changes just to sound cool, like saying every song is Lori Anderson or Radiohead or Tom Waitts), here are my 5 songs:

“Newgrange” by Clannad

I still love all that romanticized Celtic mysticism and this song sets the stage like no other. Really ethereal and can transport me to the rainy west coast of Ireland. “Is that a horse I see in the distance? It’s Enya riding, wearing a velvet cape and wishing she wrote this song!” (BTW, Clannad are Enya’s siblings)

“That Train Don’t Stop Here” – by Los Lobos

Nice choice! I’ve seen the boys more times in concert than any other artists. This boogie woogie rocker really shows off how they can get a house going. Cesar Rojas has one of the best voices around. “Bartender, another round for my friends…”

“Airegin” by Maynard Ferguson

Ooh, this is one of the newest songs added to my player. This was ripped from my old vinyl record (thanks honey!) since this album wasn’t released on CD. Maynard might be gone, but his stratospheric music still inspires nerdy high school trumpet players around the globe.

“Evil and A Heathen” by Franz Ferdinand

When I saw these Scottish lads 2 years ago, this song ripped a hole in the ceiling of the venue. This studio version only hints at the energy of the live version, but it’s as good as it gets (head-and-shoulders above the rest!). Alex Kapranos is sexy as hell and really drips with charisma on this and every track he sings.

“Kotahitanga / Union “ – by Oceania

This might sound like I did this on purpose, but it really did appear. I posted about this a few weeks ago and am still listening to Oceania. I’m a huge fan of indigenous or roots or global music [whatever you want to call it]. But when you can mash it up, make the sound new, it’s really inspiring.

As Tony Bourdain would say, “What have we learned here?” This is my take on these songs, and whatever they say about me, well, I’m not sure. I’ll leave that for you to decide.