Perfect Song: First Day of Autumn Version

Do you categorize the music you listen to on a seasonal basis? I find that I have strong seasonal associations with certain songs and genres. Sometimes it's based on the content of the song or the general feeling of the music. Other times it's based on the memory associations I have from the first time I listened to a song.

I remember listening to Led Zeppelin in high school in the first months of the school year - staying after school for the theater or speech team when it started to get dark early, going to football games, dreaming about what my perfect school year would be like, writing feverishly in spiral notebooks while listening to my stereo late into the night. Now every fall, I play "Ramble On" (in my opinion, their best song) and it makes me feel positive about those cozy cool long evenings.

Perfect Song: Alt Rock Nostalgia Version

"Here Comes Your Man" - Pixies

One notable observation from my high school reunion is that popular music generally sucked while we were in high school. Since we graduated in 1991, "The Year that Punk Broke," we were already enrolled in college by the time Nirvana and the other great alternative rock bands created their sea change. Nope. For those of us who found the Top 40 crap being churned out during our secondary education there were essentially two choices: R.E.M. (hats off to you) or classic rock. I spent most of high school doing an independent study on the history of rock music and finally pulled myself out of the sixties and seventies in college.

While we were listening to the crappy d.j. at our reunion social event, a friend posed the question: "Pixies were around. Why didn't we listen to them?" I don't have an answer to that except perhaps to note that Chicago's south suburbs have their own insular quality. My husband, who is older than me used his chronological advantage to amass a great vinyl collection and was tuned into this stuff while I was still wearing mall bangs. I have the benefit, then, to rewrite my music-listening history and make myself cooler.

Please enjoy the song that Charlie now refers to as "Here Comes Old Man." I think that's a homage to his father (if he gets to be cooler, I at least get to enjoy being younger).

Perfect Song - End of Summer Version

We listened to Nick Drake's "Northern Sky" when we were driving back from our camping trip last week. This time of year, the light is at such an angle that the sky seems so big, especially in western Minnesota over the broad expanse of the prairie. I think this is my favorite Nick Drake song. It swells like your heart when you fall in love. Listen especially for the piano, which adds a beautiful complicated jazz layer that draws you even deeper into the song.

Perfect Song - Lazy Summer Version

Just a quick post because we're headed out to the beach. I think if Charlie and I had our druthers we would spend every day at the beach for the entire summer. Our favorite places are Lake Johanna and Lake Josephine, both part of the Ramsey County Park system.

Charlie spends hours playing with his sand toys, finding friends on the playground, and pushing buttons on the vending machines. I laze around on our towels, sometimes in the sun, sometimes in the shade, sometimes with a good book, sometimes letting my mind wander. It's so simple and yet feels like such a luxury.

I love this Avett Brothers song because they just nail that feeling with the music and the imagery.

Perfect Song

"Nice Try" by I Am Arrows.

I admit that I first heard this song in a Gap store in New York City. Gap seems to know its market pretty well because I often hear songs I absolutely love when I shop there. It makes me feel slightly like a consumerist tool, but mostly I just enjoy the music (and the clothes). Gap + Shazam app = Perfect Song.

And we all like that, don't we?

Perfect Song

There is nothing I love more than a perfect pop song. Perfect songs are the ones that make you feel like you have pure warm sunshine coarsing through your veins. Every time you hear the song, it's like reliving the feeling of the first time you fell in love. I thought it would be fun to share regularly the songs that cause my heart to leap whenever I listen to them. To start this feature, I have chosen what I feel is the gold standard for all perfect songs: "Here Comes the Sun" by the Beatles.