I’ve been listening to Bruce Springsteen’s Born to Run a lot recently, and the song Jungleland is the one that has stuck with me the most. I love the way the different melodies and instruments are weaved together, and the urgency of Springsteen’s voice as he delivers it. Unfortunately it’s too complicated for me to sing without a score, but I catch myself humming snatches of melodies.
What is your favorite Springsteen song?
- Rike Horstmann
Recently I asked a group of seventeen-year-olds whether any of them had ever heard of Tom Petty. They just stared at me. (more…)
This is one of the songs about which I can’t really explain why they stick to my brain the way they do. It’s incredibly ’80s in the almost negligent way it’s presented. I still haven’t figured out what it’s about. I don’t know any other songs by Tanita Tikaram. (more…)
Times Square is not an earworm for me in the sense that I sing it myself all day long, instead I press the “repeat button” and listen to it five times in a row or more.
I discovered Marianne Faithfull as a performer in the 1990s through a track sung on a compilation of Kurt Weill songs. The first album of hers that I bought was Vagabond Ways. I quickly acquired more of her albums, old and new ones. The contrast between her 1960s and her present voice continues to fascinate me. I was lucky enough to listen to her live in Munich some years ago, and wow does she have stage presence!
Do you like Marianne Faithfull? What is your favorite song by her?
- Rike Horstmann
The song title that got me started on this topic is not even real, it’s fictional: In Marcia Muller’s Sharon McCone mysteries, Sharon’s brother-in-law Ricky Savage is a country star, and his first big hit in the novels is called Cobwebs in the Attic of My Mind. (more…)
Can classical music provide earworms? For me, it can. I end up humming or whistling the melody for days, which can be awkward, as there’s usually a much larger range of tones to be covered, and the melodies tend to be much more complicated than those of the average pop song. (more…)
Right now I am in a phase of listening to soundtracks of musicals more than any other sort of music. Chicago is probably the CD I’ve listened to most recently, closely followed by Evita. I listen while I work at the PC, so I need to close the door to my study so that no-one is bothered by my singing along!
What is your favorite musical? Do you buy the CD when you like a musical? And do you sing the songs, too?
- Rike Horstmann
The first song ever I picked from a soundtrack and which remains a favorite to this day is Don’t You (Forget About Me) by the Simple Minds. (more…)
Recently I had occasion to go through my old CDs, and zoomed in on my Peter Gabriel CDs. I used to listen to him a lot almost 20 years ago. (more…)
