My 15 Albums

Have you heard of this? It's a facebook trend where you write a note listing 15 albums that "will stick with you" or that  "changed your life." My Aunt Janet tagged me in her facebook note, but I thought it would be more fun to share my list here.

The only constraint is that you have to write the list fast, in no longer than 15 minutes. My self-imposed constraint is that I have to pick albums that are personally important to me, that carry a lot of emotional weight with me, not just really excellent and obscure albums that make me sound cooler than I really am.  ;)

So here it goes!

1. This Fire, Paula Cole--Great music for dealing with 14-year-old feminist-ish anti-establishment rage. And (let's be honest) 26-year-old feminist anti-establishment angst. I still listen to it!
2. Jagged Little Pill, Alanis Morisette--Could any female who grew up in the 1990s *not* include this in her list? I feel like I grew up with this one.
3. Blood on the Tracks, Bob Dylan--I'm pretty sure I listened to this every night of my freshman year of college. This is my official Favorite Album of All Time.
4. Astral Weeks, Van Morisson--Something about Van Morisson makes me feel more okay with life. It also reminds me of driving to Lawrence in my dad's truck.
5. Stunt, Barenaked Ladies--I listened to this album non-stop between the ages of 14 and 16. Don't judge me--"Light Up My Room" is amazing.
6. Moulin Rouge Soundtrack--I learned a lot about classic pop music from this soundtrack. If you want to judge me, see above. Also, how cute is Ewan McGregor?
7. Want One, Rufus Wainwright--I bought this album because I thought the cover was pretty, and I was completely enchanted. It holds up to zillions and zillions of listens, and it's still my favorite Wainwright album.
8. Everybody, Ingrid Michaelson--I started listening to Ingrid Michaelson really recently. Every song is awesome *and* useful.
9. Nashville Skyline, Bob Dylan--Connected to summertime and old boyfriends. 'Nuff said.
10. Dawson's Creek Soundtrack--Hey, I promised honesty, didn't I? I really liked a lot of the songs on this album. Thank goodness for cross promotion and The CW.
11. I Am a Bird Now, Antony and the Johnsons--Heart-wrenching. Antony goes after death and gender. Reminds me of KJHK and driving home in the rain.
12. Portions for Foxes, Rilo Kiley--I probably listened to this on the way to class every single day during my first year of grad school. Up-tempo and super-dark.
13. Bat Out of Hell, Meat Loaf--I can sing you every single song on this album word for word. Just ask.  ;)
14. O, Damien Rice--Another college favorite. Pretty, melancholy tunes. Good for rainy days and dorm rooms.
15. Car Wheels on a Gravel Road, Lucinda Williams--I like all of Williams's albums, but this is the one I've listened to the most. Every single song kills.

Runners Up*

• ???, Steve Miller Band--I listened to a couple of old Steve Miller Band albums when I was in junior high about a million times, but I can't remember their names for the life of me. But they made me happy.
• Sky Blue Sky, Wilco--This didn't make the list because I'm passionately in love with about three songs on this album, but the rest are only okay. Those three carry a lot of weight, though!
• A Love Supreme, John Coltrane--This is the only jazz album I've ever loved. It makes my brain feel all buzzy and profound.

*Is this cheating? If so, it's pretty fortunate that I do not care.

Ten Poems

There's been a trend circulating on Facebook where you make a list of ten poems that have "stayed with you." They have to be the first ten poems that come to mind, and you can't take more than ten minutes to compile your list. Here's mine, with annotations.

[Note: I'm aware that this reads like a suggested reading list for a poetry appreciation course from the 1950s (mostly white male Romantics and Modernists). This means that either a) I have fantastic taste and am drawn only to the time-tested classics, or b) I've been thoroughly indoctrinated to love canonical verse as written by The Man. You tell me.]

1. Walt Whitman, "Song of Myself" (Reading this feels better than reading scripture, and I almost always cry when I read the last section.)
   
2. John Keats, "Ode to a Nightingale" (Another tear jerker. Something about the way Keats buzzes back and forth between fecundity and death, beauty and its trasience--gah!)
   
3. Robert Frost, "Choose Something Like a Star" (This poem literally gets stuck in my head. I love how he tinkers with voice and concludes with a message that sounds like your scolding Aunt Melinda when she's really on fire.)
   
4. Wallace Stevens, "The Snow Man" (I've meditated on this poem more than any other. It haunted me for a few years.)
   
5. T. S. Eliot, "The Hollow Men" (The first poem I read in high school that made me think that poetry was the best thing ever. Here we go round the prickly pear!)
   
6. T. S. Eliot, "Preludes" (One of the most musically perfect poems I've ever heard. Eliot is able to imply so much with a hint and an image that this poem is a wonder to me.)
   
7. Robert Frost, "A Prayer in Spring" (Frost presents raw fear in the guise of a prayer of thanks. I love how Frost can write a line of verse that says one thing and means another entirely.
   
8. John Donne, "Song: Go and Catch a Falling Star" (I picked this poem for its humor and surprise, but I could have chosen any of Donne's. I love him for the way he twists my brain into frightful and compelling knots, blending sex, religion, death, love, and humor together in only a few lines.)
   
9. Elizabeth Bishop, "The Art of Losing" (The form is beautiful and breezy and belies the pain that explodes out of the last line. So damn subtle and good.)
   
10. Ted Kooser, "December 25" (This is one of those poems I love because I identify with its plot and emotion so completely. Of course worry would be a squirrel!)