03 May 2007

Can you handle all my Snow Patrol?

"This is slightly off-topic, but since I discovered Amy Winehouse and Snow Patrol through reading your site on a daily basis, I've wanted to ask you for a while what the Top 25 most played songs on your iPod are. I need to expand my musical horizons, and even though we don't know each other, I know I'll trust your taste in music just like I do your taste in fashion."

Oooh, my own celebrity playlist! Finally, I've arrived!


And S, asking to what musical backdrop I live my life is in no way "off-topic." Music, like clothing, speaks volumes about a person. Perhaps even more so given the private nature of the you-iPod relationship. Unlike the divisions we're forced to make between our weekend and weekday wardrobes, our day and evening eye makeup routines and our DC-appropriate and NYC-appropriate going-out dresses, with music, there are no such boundaries. Even on the Monday morning when I'm about to deliver the biggest brief of my career, I have every right to listen to Marilyn Manson's "The Beautiful People" followed by Air Supply's "Making Love Out of Nothing at All," Jack Johnson's "Banana Pancakes" and Amy Winehouse's "Rehab." The clothing equivalent thereof, which I imagine to be something along the lines of a latex bondage harness, a pink linen dress shirt (unbuttoned, natch), a pair of Tevas and visible nipple piercings, however...yeah, not so much.

And since you cleverly requested the most played and not my favorite songs, I have no choice but to bare my soul and give you 15 (let's be honest, all 25 would bore people to death) pieces of information of which I am not even presently aware and had you not asked, I probably wouldn't ever have been aware. Because of the way your phrased your question, unfortunately for me I can't take any liberties to show off how oh-so-multifaceted my tastes are - i.e. how oh-so-multifaceted I am - by peppering my list with equal parts Handel's 'Water Music,'** Teddy Wilson's 'Keystone Transcriptions,' Modest Mouse's early work and Marie Laforette's introspective ballads. No, I gotta just take a deep breath, swallow my pretension, click on the it-doesn't-lie "25 Most Played" iMix and share with you the songs I really like, not the songs I want you to think I like.

Without further ado, here are the 15 songs with the most mileage on my well-worn baby Nano:

15. SexyBack (Justin Timberlake - 188 plays)

14. Ooh la la (Goldfrapp - 190 plays)

13. Boston (Augustana - 195 plays)

12. Closer (Joshua Radin - 198 plays)*

11. Better together (Jack Johnson - 214 plays)

10. Promiscuous (Nelly Furtado featuring Timbaland - 215 plays)*

9. Secret Heart (Feist - 216 plays)*

8. This year's love (David Gray - 224 plays)

7. Waiting for my real life to begin (Colin Hay - 232 plays)

6. Chasing cars (Snow Patrol - 236 plays)

5. SOS (Rihanna - 265 plays)

4. Irreplaceable (Beyoncé - 275 plays)

3. Fidelity (Regina Spektor - 279 plays)*

2. Reason why (Rachael Yamagata - 285 plays)

1. You could be happy (Snow Patrol - 301 plays)

*tracks your editrix would never have guessed would be in her top 15
**FYI: Handel's 'Water Music' II & III in D/G No. 4 Rigaudon and No. 5 Lentement came in at #24 and #25, respectively

9 comments:

Anonymous said...

I love Snow Patrol, but 533 times??? Girl, you crazy. If you weren't depressed before you discovered them, you must be now!

Anonymous said...

Um, sweetie, Irreplaceable only came out 6 or 7 months ago...how have you racked up so many plays??? Training mixes?

Anonymous said...

i was singing along to Reason Why on the drive to work just this morning! (5 times, i think.)

"but you only wanted me the way you wanted me..."

Johanna said...

Wow, etcetera, you honed in on the one line that just...yeah, it gets me every time.

Rachael speaks the truth, doesn't she? "Ode to..." is another one of hers that takes some fighting-back-the-tears muster.

Anonymous said...

I love the mix of dance, punky alternative and sad breakup music! You're just like the rest of us!

But that *is* a hell of a lot of Snow Patrol...

Anonymous said...

Thank you! Thank you! Thank you!

So fast too! I haven't heard of half the artists, but now I have something more interesting to do during my lunch break than just surf the web looking at clothes I can't afford.

Love your site and love the way you write!

thanks again,
S

Anonymous said...

Cool songs... great list ... but why those headphones in your pic?

Johanna said...

belle-

I wear those headphones because I've found that style is the only style that'll stay on my head during long runs. The iPod buds fall right out - plus, they hurt my ears. I guess you've found the one area in which I place primacy on practicality, not style!

Anonymous said...

I just listened to your number one song. It's depressing as all hell. 301 times? Really? I need to take you out for a steak dinner and a comedy, girl.

What has DC done to you??