[jacket3ree]

I'm taking Hulk's challenge, and also sincerely hope he is winning his battle against cancer. None of my list is very new and of course I'll listen to more than ten songs in my remaining years and on the five hour flight I have tomorrow, but if I had to put ten and only ten songs on a repeating loop, these are my ten songs:

The Low Spark of High Heeled Boys, Traffic, The Low Spark of High Heeled Boys, Island, 1971.  Introduced on the best mix tape in the history of mix tapes by an oil-field roommate in 1980, this is the one song I need to live. That mix tape was all the entertainment we had after 14-hour days in the Wyoming desert. It was all we needed. Man I wish I had a copy of that tape.

Where to Now Saint Peter?, Elton John, Tumbleweed Connection, UNI, 1970. Taupin and John at their finest. They turn the story of a young Confederate soldier meeting his maker into an amazing pop song. Sure, everyone loves Goodbye Yellow Brick Road and I do too, but I place Captain Fantastic and Tumbleweed above that in my own collection.

Higher Ground, Stevie Wonder, Inner Visions, Tamla, 1973. I love this song and album so much that I lost part of my finger making a frame for it to hang next to my entertainment center. That it can be above Songs in the Key of Life and all others tells you how highly I view this work.

Can't Find My Way Home, Blind Faith, Blind Faith, Polydor, 1969. Still have the original. Once spent an entire evening on Tidal listening to every cover recorded. I guess that Stevie Winwood guy is pretty good, to be on my list twice.

Baltimore, Nina Simone, Baltimore, CTI, 1978. <Reggae beat> Beat up little seagull, on a marble stair....

5446 That's My Number, Toots and the Maytals, Sweet and Dandy, Beverley, 1968. Perhaps unduly influenced by recency bias due to Levis commercials, I can't resist screaming huh-huh-huh-huh when Toots asks me to give it to him four times, regardless of where I am or who else is listening. 

Saint Thomas, Sonny Rollins, Saxophone Colossus, Prestige, 1957. This is the best recording I own. Needle drop song.

Black Sabbath, Black Sabbath, Black Sabbath, Warner Brothers, 1970. So nice, they named it thrice. My assertion of ten year old independence. I mowed our lawn and was not paid for that work, nor given an allowance. "I don't see you paying for groceries." I continued to mow our lawn to eat and started mowing other lawns for pocket money. This pocket money was used to buy records that could be played on Dad's expensive stereo equipment when Dad wasn't home. I rode my bike to Budget Tapes and Records and came home. I walked past my devout Catholic mother in the kitchen. What's that? I showed her the shrink wrapped album cover. She couldn't speak or move. I went downstairs, turned up the volume, and dropped the needle. Oh. My. God.  I'm pretty sure she finally composed herself, grabbed our rotary phone, and dialed an exorcist. 

Tomaso Albinoni Adagio for Strings and Organ in G Minor, Herbert von Karajan and the Berliner Philharmoniker, Deutsche Grammophon, 1984. If this all does end Soylent Green style, this is what I want to be playing.

Haydn Concerto for Trumpet in E Flat, Tine Ting Helseth and the Norwegian Chamber Orchestra, Trumpet Concertos, Simax, 2007. We all have that one thing that went spectacularly well completely out of the blue. In high school I once made third chair. This was my reward. The solo in the third movement. Because....third chair.  Our director had an odd sense of humor. I went out of body and not only didn't blow it, but received a standing o.  Then whomever took over my body that night left, and I was back to the right never to play first parts again. By the way, one of our best trumpet players looked a lot like Tine but brunette. Her name was Julie.

Sorry, this list goes to eleven.

Wish You Were Here, Pink Floyd, Wish You Were Here, Columbia, 1975.  For personal reasons, I can't hear this song without crying. We all need to cry.  So, so you think you can tell Heaven from Hell? Blue skies from pain?

[jacket3ree]

I'm taking Hulk's challenge, and also sincerely hope he is winning his battle against cancer. None of my list is very new and of course I'll listen to more than ten songs in my remaining years and on the five hour flight I have tomorrow, but if I had to put ten and only ten songs on a repeating loop, these are my ten songs:

The Low Spark of High Heeled Boys, Traffic, The Low Spark of High Heeled Boys, Island, 1971.  Introduced on the best mix tape in the history of mix tapes by an oil-field roommate in 1980, this is the one song I need to live. That mix tape was all the entertainment we had after 14-hour days in the Wyoming desert. It was all we needed. Man I wish I had a copy of that tape.

Where to Now Saint Peter?, Elton John, Tumbleweed Connection, UNI, 1970. Taupin and John at their finest. They turn the story of a young Confederate soldier meeting his maker into an amazing pop song. Sure, everyone loves Goodbye Yellow Brick Road and I do too, but I place Captain Fantastic and Tumbleweed above that in my own collection.

Higher Ground, Stevie Wonder, Inner Visions, Tamla, 1973. I love this song and album so much that I lost part of my finger making a frame for it to hang next to my entertainment center. That it can be above Songs in the Key of Life and all others tells you how highly I view this work.

Can't Find My Way Home, Blind Faith, Blind Faith, Polydor, 1969. Still have the original. Once spent an entire evening on Tidal listening to every cover recorded. I guess that Stevie Winwood guy is pretty good, to be on my list twice.

Baltimore, Nina Simone, Baltimore, CTI, 1978. <Reggae beat> Beat up little seagull, on a marble stair....

5446 That's My Number, Toots and the Maytals, Sweet and Dandy, Beverley, 1968. Perhaps unduly influenced by recency bias due to Levis commercials, I can't resist screaming huh-huh-huh-huh when Toots asks me to give it to him four times, regardless of where I am or who else is listening. 

Saint Thomas, Sonny Rollins, Saxophone Colossus, Prestige, 1957. This is the best recording I own. Needle drop song.

Black Sabbath, Black Sabbath, Black Sabbath, Warner Brothers, 1970. So nice, they named it thrice. My assertion of ten year old independence. I mowed our lawn and was not paid for that work, nor given an allowance. "I don't see you paying for groceries." I continued to mow our lawn to eat and started mowing other lawns for pocket money. This pocket money was used to buy records that could be played on Dad's expensive stereo equipment when Dad wasn't home. I rode my bike to Budget Tapes and Records and came home. I walked past my devout Catholic mother in the kitchen. What's that? I showed her the shrink wrapped album cover. She couldn't speak or move. I went downstairs, turned up the volume, and dropped the needle. Oh. My. God.  I'm pretty sure she finally composed herself, grabbed our rotary phone, and dialed an exorcist. 

Tomaso Albinoni Adagio for Strings and Organ in G Minor, Herbert von Karajan and the Berliner Philharmoniker, Deutsche Grammophon, 1984. If this all does end Soylent Green style, this is what I want to be playing.

Haydn Concerto for Trumpet in E Flat, Tine Ting Helseth and the Norwegian Chamber Orchestra, Trumpet Concertos, Simax, 2007. We all have that one thing that went spectacularly well completely out of the blue. In high school I once made third chair. This was my reward. The solo in the third movement. Because....third chair.  Our director had an odd sense of humor. I went out of body and not only didn't blow it, but received a standing o.  Then whomever took over my body that night left, and I was back to the right never to play first parts again. By the way, one of our best trumpet players looked a lot like Tine but brunette. Her name was Julie.

Sorry, this list goes to eleven.

Wish You Were Here, Pink Floyd, Wish You Were Here, Columbia, 1975.  For personal reasons, I can't hear this song without crying. We all need to cry.  So, so you think you can tell Heaven from Hell? Blue skies from pain?