the Dalaverse

musesfool is running a poll on the Greatest (Classic) Rock Song of All Time, and I literally sat here for ten minutes and stared at it before I could click on. And this is after going through and discounting the ones I don't consider classic rock and/or pure rock. Because the ones left? Damn, man, what the hell am I suppose to do? I attempted to be objective, because for example, "Like A Rolling Stone" is one of my favorite songs ever, but it isn't my greatest rock song.

In the end, I went with "Gimme Shelter," not because it's better on its own terms than the others, but because for me, it's the easiest to define as the greatest rock song. The Rolling Stones are, in my opinion, the greatest rock band on the planet, even though U2 is my personal favorite artist of all time and I listen to many of the others on the list more often than the Stones.

But, yeah, I really just...gahhh MUSIC. I don't understand people who are not fans -- who can't rattle off a list of twenty favorite artists, songs, and albums off the top of their heads, who go through an entire day without cracking a single CD case (or MP3 file, or cassette case or record player if you want to get old school), who don't use up all their radio station presets, who don't have to have that radio playing every single second they're in the car. (If you are one of these people, I'm sorry if I've offended you, but I'd like to know how you get through the week). I will go ahead and quote some lines from "Almost Famous":


"Music -- you know, true music, not just rock and roll, it chooses you, you know -- it lives in your car, or alone listening to your headphones, with the vast scenic bridges and angelic choirs in your brain..."

"And if you ever get lonely, you can just go to the record store and visit your friends."

"Listen to it, listen to Marvin Gaye -- a song like "What's Happening Brother," there is a single 'woo' at the end of the second verse -- you know that 'woo,' that single 'woo'?"
"I know that woo. Yeah, that -- 'woo!' 'Woo'!"
"Yeah, that's what you remember, man! It's the little things, the silly things, the mistakes -- there's only one of 'em, and it makes the song. It's what you leave out, yeah, that's rock and roll -- what you leave out."

"So, Russell, what do you love about music?"
"To begin with...everything."


That movie says a lot of things I want to say about music -- about any music you love, not just rock. Anita putting on "America" and saying, "This song explains why I'm leaving him to become a stewardess." Which, you know, on one hand sounds absolutely ridiculous -- but it's true. To me, the 'current music' part of the header is more indicative of a person's mental state/perspective/mood at any given moment than the actual 'current mood' description. Right now, I don't feel happy or sad or angry or scared -- I feel like Chelsea Morning. I feel like Lithium. I feel like I Walk the Line. I feel like Eleanor Rigby. I feel like At the Zoo. I feel like Laid. I feel like Freebird. I feel like Somewhere Over the Rainbow. I feel like Land of a Thousand Dances. I feel like Moon River. I feel like the Jeff Buckley version of Hallelujah, or the Cohen original, or the Rufus Wainwright cover -- and none of those mean the same thing. And I put links to lyrics in there because the lyrics are important, but they're not everything. It's the lyrics and the melody and the vocals and the guitar and the drums and the bass and the piano and the mandolin and the bongos and the electric violin and the COW BELL for God's sake -- that single 'woo,' that one moment or combination of moments that makes a song a great song -- the way it sounds and the way it feels, which is both subjective and something you can experience with millions of other people regardless of, well, anything, even language in some cases.


*blink* I swear I didn't mean to go on like this. But then it turned into a project, and now I have to get to class.