Selah // Something Witty

The morning sun is rising, and I must be travelin' on now.

Date: 10.16.18 -- Day 99 ("30-Day Blogging Challenge ON HIATUS"  -- Day 16)
Music: "Wheel In The Sky" / Journey & "Free Bird" (Cover) / Rufus (Non-funk Rufus) - Lynryd Skynyrd

Prompt -- Share a list of your top 5 favorite songs and tell us why they’re your fave.

The music continues!

This prompt gave me a bit of an existential crisis because it meant that I would have to choose. After reading the prompt last night, I knew this was going to take planning, which also means I was gonna overthink things because that's what I do. I made lists! I paced my living room! I consulted with people! It's really ridiculous. So, after two o'clock this morning rolled around, I decided I'm going to do my Top 5 from the five most recently playlists I've assembled or revised. Five sets of five. Is this cheating? I'm so, so sorry. You've found my kryptonite. I am weak.

I will then preface this by saying that these are in no particular order because that would make me choose and quantify them even more, and I do not possess that kind of will-power as you just read. So here is more information and music than you asked for!

Top 5 Road Trip Songs on the I-5 / 99-N
This particular playlist comes from the brown hills stretch of highway that heads up to San Francisco as well as the flat plains leading to Fresno. I made these two treks often with my mother from the ages of about 8 to 16. There was a good chunk of time where we were making this run daily. She'd pick me up after school, and I would do my homework in the back seat while we rocked out to music on the cassettes we stored in the glove box for such occasions. It's not the most interesting of views, but if we were lucky, the sky would fade into the most beautiful shade of gold I've ever seen.

"Wheel In The Sky" -- Journey

"I'm On Fire  " -- Bruce Springsteen
At night I wake up with the sheets soaking wet
And a freight train running through the middle of my head

"10,000 Miles  " -- Mary Chapin Carpenter
Oh don't you see
That lonesome dove
Sitting on an ivy tree

"Tell Me Why  " -- Wynonna
And it's a real bad sign
I'm walking on a real thin line
A fool in love with a fool that never cared

"One Way Ticket  " -- LeAnn Rhimes
There's a new horizon and the promise of a favorable wind
I'm heading out tonight, traveling light
I'm gonna start all over again

Top 5 Songs About Solace from Film
Films get epic scores. They should. Scores can be the backbone of any decent film, especially if the composer is allowed to branch out a bit. Most of the time, the scores are perfection while the films are not so much. These are songs from scores that touch on the emotion of solace. Defined as comfort or consolation in a time of distress or sadness, solace is an emotion built on layers. Too nuanced, and you've lost the thread. Not nuanced enough or contrived, the audience doesn't engage the way you want. A solid score can do the heavy lifting when it comes to solace and provide a needed context. Sometimes the solace comes from within the film, and sometimes the solace comes in spite of the film. These are some of my favorites because they capture of essence of this complex emotion.

"A Small Measure of Peace  " from "The Last Samurai" -- Hans Zimmer
"On The Nature of Daylight  " from "Arrival" -- Max Richter
"Learning to Forget  " from "Little Women" -- Thomas Newman
"Farewell  " from "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon" -- Tan Dun / Yo-Yo Ma
"Elysium  " from "Gladiator" -- Hans Zimmer / Lisa Gerrard

Top 5 Songs I'd Commit Ocean's-Style Crimes To
In the vein of the Ocean's 11 franchise as well as lovely television shows like "Leverage", I've compiled a playlist of songs of which I would commit high class robbery to. $10,000-a-plate galas. A fine arts museum in broad daylight. A casino or three. The one where everything is going like clockwork and you get a cool moniker after you do the impossible. Here is part of the soundtrack to my cons, grifts, and robberies.

"I Awake  " -- Sarah Blasko
Of this world, and all unseen
No one knows just why we're here

"Sinnerman  " -- Nina Simone
I said rock
What's the matter with you rock?
Don't you see I need you, rock?

"Why did we fire that gun?  " -- Waldeck
This conversation
It strikes me
No need for words
It's all understood

"State of the Art (A.E.I.O.U)  " -- Jim James
We've got out wires all crossed
Our tubes are all tied
And I'm straining to remember
Just what it means to be alive

"That's Alright  " -- Laura Mvula
I will never be what you want and that's alright
I play my own damn tune, I shine like the moon

Top 5 Preludes to A Dystopian Future
Although the tide seems to be ebbing on the prevalence of dystopian novels and films, the impression of such a future, especially in our current times, is still a visceral feeling that seems to linger. When I listen to these particular songs, that's the first thing that pops into my mind. Clicking keyboards, crumbling infrastructure, and various shades of black highlighted in neon blue.

"Everybody Wants To Rule The World  " (Cover) -- Lorde
Acting on your best behaviour
Turn your back on mother nature
Everybody wants to rule the world

"Take It All  " -- Ruelle
Where worlds collide
Blood divides
When darkness falls
Fate calls

"Burn My Shadow  " -- UNKLE featuring Ian Ashbury
I have burned my tomorrows
And I stand inside today
At the edge of the future
And my dreams all fade away

"Head Full of Lies  " -- Georgi Kay
A fatal spin
Beneath your skin
Residue flows within

"I'd Love To Change The World  " -- Jetta
I'd love to change the world
But I don't know what to do
So I'll leave it up to you

Top 5 Road Trip Songs on the I-80 E
This playlist comes from the trips on the road with my father while I was living in the Bay Area and he was working in Owens Valley. When the snow cooperated, we would make the long drive through Stanislaus National Forest. This playlist is also heavily influenced by one of my father's favorite movies, "Elizabethtown". The drive, no matter the season, is beautiful. The last time we did this, the national park was still recovering from a deadly fire. It was bleak. You could still smell the char from the trees. And yet, there was beauty in that too as you could still see the forest trying to come back to life.

"Io (This Time Around)  " -- Helen Stellar
This time around
This love of ours

"Trouble So Hard  " -- Vera Hall
Ooh Lordy, troubles so hard
Don't nobody know my troubles but God

"Come Pick Me Up  " -- Ryan Adams
With the windows clear
And the mannequins eyes
Do they all look like mine

"It'll All Work Out  " -- Tom Petty
Now the wind is high and the rain is heavy
And the water's rising in the levee
Still I think of her when the sun goes down
It never goes away, but it all works out

"Free Byrd" -- Lynyrd Skynyrd

(I provided the scene from "Elizabethtown" instead of the original Lynryd Skynyrd song because this is one of the funniest moments in the movie, and the song does a wonderful job in framing it. You don't really need to know the context of the movie to understand the scene. Just know, like "Titanic", the band played as the whole thing went down. As you do.)