Alan tagged me with this meme, so I’m obliged to respond.

  1. Τοtal amount of music files on your computer.
    4308 Songs according to iTunes, totalling 19.77GB.
  2. Last CD you bought was.
    No idea. Can’t remember last time I bought a CD. Last album I bought from iTunes was, I think, Joni Mitchell’s “Song to a Seagull” (which I need to buy again as my laptop’s hard drive failed, and iTunes did a major bad when I tried to resync it with my PC and erased the iPod….hate hate hate hate hate). Either that or The Cure “Seventeen Seconds”. I seem to have a hard time adopting new music, so I’m continuing to re-acquire stuff I listened to years ago on tape and LP. I’m sure that says something terrible about me.
  3. What was the last song you listened to before reading this message?
    According to iTunes it was “sugar hiccup” from the Cocteau Twins “BBC Sessions (disk 1)” release. I really like the Cocteau Twins (despite the fact that they are 1) not twins and 2) neither named Cocteau). Elizabeth Frazer’s voice is fantastic, and I like the nice balance they make between melodic lyricism and ambient “background-ism”. I can listen to my big mix of Cocteau Twins and This Mortal Coil (another 4AD project featuring Frazer, DCD’s Brendan Perry, and other related artists, relax, and get work done.
  4. Write down 5 songs you often listen to that mean a lot to you.
    Ι always hate these questions for some reason. I feel like I have to agonize and pick stuff from a huge list, and I just know I’m going to make the wrong choice.
    Some favorites:

    1. Aaron Copland - Lincoln Portrait. I have this recording from “The Copland Collection (1936-1948)”, but I don’t know who is conducting or performing. Henry Fonda does the narration though, which is pretty cool. Lincoln is by far my favorite president, and this homage captures the eloquence of his words and the nobility of his character wonderfully.
    2. Dougie MacLean - Perthshire Amber. I nurture a semi-secret passion for Celtic music, and I love MacLean’s writing and orchestration. This piece is really wonderful, and the theme from the first and fourth movements is fantastic. If I don’t have the Imperial Death March played at my funeral, it will be this.
    3. Toad the Wet Sprocket - Fly To Heaven. This song speaks quite directly to questions of faith that I struggle with in a way that I totally relate to.
    4. Trip Shakespeare - Snow Days. I discovered Trip Shakespeare way back in 1990, which is one of the best bands you never heard of. The entire “Across the Universe” album is way cool, and “Snow Days” perfectly captures the essence of that rare but wonderful event — a snow day school cancellation. The best line: “Mrs. Braintree, you’re a chilly northern woman. Go home from yonder bus-stop, because there is a treasure on the ground. Mrs. Braintree it is written: “when the snows come over Dixie, all the roads are closed, the stores are loot for vagabonds.”
    5. Ralph Vaughan Williams - Silent Noon (arranged by Ronald E. Kauffman) - Okay I’m cheating here, as this is a song I perform with Measure for Measure, not listen to. Its a great arrangement of a classic art song for men’s chorus, and I think of Alan whenever we sing it. I even wrote the poem for him in an anniversary card (awwww….).
  5. What 3 people are you going to pass this along to and why?
    I don’t know that many people who blog. I’m not gonna pass it along to anyone. So there.