“These are the days of our lives…”

October 2009-March 2010“…the days take care of everything…” –elvis costelloA day-by-day song chronicle: Moving mix

01. September 28: “50 Lashes” – Floating Action
“When it’s too late to sell my gold/Too late to be in control…”

02. September 29: “Madame Shocking” – The Silent Years
“Some of my trash might be somebody’s treasures…”

03. October 1: “The Architect” – dEUS
Thanks to Roxane and her superb musical taste, reminds me of long drives all over Sweden

04. October 2: “She’s Got You High” – Mumm-Ra
Watched 500 Days of Summer… thought a lot about the bitterness of one-sided love

05. October 3: “Hero” – Regina Spektor
I don’t care for Regina Spektor much, but somehow this song held some appeal at the moment I chose it; “And we’re trying to be faithful but we’re cheatin’, cheatin’, cheatin’”

06. October 7: “Colin-Maillard” – Jean-Louis Murat
The endless effect of the French

07. October 8: “Walking on a Dream” – Empire of the Sun
And PF reappears

08. October 9: “We’re Going to Miss You” – James
“Forgiveness is fine/forgiveness divine/revenge is more human”

09. October 15: “Utterly Bewildering” – Diving with Andy
Wishing I were a therapist; the enduring influence of Bruno

10. October 17: “When We Were Still Friends” – Herman Düne
Feeling deeply depressed, decidedly sad. Final goodbye to N. and trying to reveal real feelings to B. “And soon I will just be rain on your parade.”

11. October 19: “So Light is Her Footfall” – Air
“In the mist of dawn she’s already gone/and I miss her/she’s all alone… and I miss her”

12. October 20: “Can’t Stop Thinking About You” – Martin Sexton
Watching Brotherhood and this song hit me – not my normal style. “Loving you was like loving a house on fire”

13. October 21: “First of the Gang to Die” – Zee Avi
Malaysian musician introduced at former colleague Dennis’s dinner party; he did not realize it is a Morrissey song (Morrissey version included on Halloween 2009 mix). Again a Bruno reminder.

14. October 22: “When” – Lisa Ekdahl
Getting through hard days at work when Arnfinn and Janne still shared my office; Arnfinn listened to this a lot.

15. October 26: “Kiss Them for Me” – Siouxsie and the Banshees
Happy birthday, Tara. Just liked the sound of this song and the nostalgia it evokes (even though the time period from which it came is none too happy a memory)

16. November 9: “Don’t Talk, Just Kiss” – The Wedding Present
Good advice: Don’t ask, just do

17. November 17: “Fat Slut” – Tori Amos
“Go stick it in somewhere, I’m sick of hearing it”. Self-explanatory

18. November 18: “Your Dirty Answer” – Kristin Hersh
“Blowing the meat flute”; “When I get my act together, I will join the Air Force” – “Sex is your best friend/what’s your dirty answer?”

19. November 19: “Heaven Can Wait” – Charlotte Gainsbourg with Beck
Thanks to Aurélien; “She’s hiding on a battleship of baggage and bones”

20. November 20: “Tammie” – The Dø
Bruno does it again. Makes one little suggestion and suddenly it’s on the list. “Well, you’re not my type anyway…”

21. November 21/22: “Requiem pour un con” – Martin Solveig
PF appears again; can’t resist an interpretation of Serge Gainsbourg

22. November 24: “On a Slow Night” – Metric
Thanks to Aurélien and jealousy! “Tell me what did that salesman do to you?”

23. November 25: “All the Mines” – The Curse of the Company
Another thanks to Aurélien – fighting for recognition

24. November 30: “Για Σένα” – Giannis Koursioumis
Georgios – who sometimes surprises me

25. December 1: “Coast of Carolina” – Telekinesis
Just love the sound; Seattle band Telekinesis!

26. December 2: “Quick” – Kristin Hersh
Cancer song; “Nostalgic flowers wind their way around your core/til you peer into the moment/the danger clear and present/can’t keep your eyes shut anymore…”

27. December 4: “How It Ends” – DeVotchKa
Aurélien, trying to make presence felt; at first I did not like this song at all but it grew on me. “And you already know/Yeah, you already know how this will end”

28. December 5: “Blue & Green” – The Little Hands of Asphalt
Random discovery; power of indecision: “Are you always gonna change your mind?”

29. December 6: “Excuses, Excuses” – Lacrosse
Another random discovery; perfect excuses, excuses, excuses

30. December 7: “Shiny Happy People” – The Fatima Mansions
Thanks to Naomi for introducing me to this song back in 1995. “You look like the type/who likes to suck a big pipe.”

31. December 8: “Flooding” – Kristin Hersh
Overdose on Kristin Hersh; “Like melting you shrugged off the clothes of your life…”

32. December 9: “Blood Bank” – Bon Iver
Discovered this reading Carrie Brownstein’s Monitor Mix blog; song has an inherent pleasantness to its story

33. December 10: “Tokyo” — Telekinesis
Love the sound. And miss Tokyo sometimes.

34. December 11: “IRM” – Charlotte Gainsbourg
Just love the sound.

35. December 12: “Inside Out” – The Mighty Lemon Drops
Like a page ripped out of the book of junior-high life. Sometimes I really miss my friend Terra and who we were then.

36. December 15: “Let’s Get Out of This Country” – Camera Obscura
As I go toward my Swedish future. Realizing that some actions are nothing more than throwing a dog a bone (infrequent contact and only for one reason)

37. December 17: “Lloyd I’m Ready to Be Heartbroken” – Camera Obscura
Started out on repeat in the elation of moving and ended up a refrain of feeling not heartbroken but used

38. December 19: “To Lay Me Down” – Cowboy Junkies
Feeling sadness, the pain of repeating the same stupid patterns I have always repeated, longing for something else

I am invisible. “’They don’t know what they are missing.’ ‘On the contrary, they had it, tried it out and just don’t want it.’”

39. December 31: “Power + Light” – 50 Foot Wave
“At the wet end of a good soaking…” A song that seemingly goes on forever but constantly proves its worth. (One of my favorite songs ever.)

40. January 1: “Bulletproof” – La Roux
I heard this on a tv show, hated it but then found that it seeped into me and I like the idea of being bulletproof.

41. January 2: “15 août” – Benjamin Biolay
A and B recommended this at the same time. They live parallel lives. One the jealous husband, the other the lover.

42. January 3: “Whore” – Low
How I relate…

43. January 5: “Loveheart” – Merz
Thanks to Catherine

44. January 10: “Raw Sugar” – Metric
“Sort of wonder why/no one said a word/don’t you like it on the sly?/don’t you like it til it hurts?/have I been on your mind/what’s a voice without a song/something in your head/you’ve been fighting all along”

45. January 15: “Will Never Marry” – Morrissey
Roxane always reminds me of excellent Morrissey songs, which in turn make me think of Bruno

46. January 19: “Hit and Run Love” – Kate and Anna McGarrigle
RIP Kate; “Now the good doctor smiles/but I’m coming apart/And he scratches his head/And studies my chart/”She’s alive but she’s dead”/And the ivy grows around my heart” (Sorry, cannot find a good link.)

47. January 28: “Chaiyya Chaiyya Bollywood Joint” – Sapna Awasthi and Sukwinder Singh
Thanks to a random recommendation from a random guy online, this song has been stuck in my head for weeks

48. January 31: “Black Room” – Jun Mayuzumi
Japanese stuff from the 60s!

49. February 1: “There are Birds” – The Ruby Suns
Another Aurélien-inspired gem

50. February 3: “There is a Light that Never Goes Out” – The Smiths
I got this song stuck in my head for much of the duration of a sales seminar I had to attend – one sales guy from Japan mentioned taking a double-decker bus from Oslo to the seminar location, and it was all over for me.

51. February 4: “Jaime’s Song” – The Aislers Set
“You get who you play for/and not who you wait for…”

52. February 6: “Warwick Avenue” – Duffy
Thanks to colleagues who are big fans, such as Annette (who has been like the sun in my sky and the candles in my menorah! Haha) and a guy Annette initially believed has “high morals” (hmm). Memories of the sales seminar and all the vague connotations of “supporting sales”.

53. February 7: “Islands” – The xx
“I am yours now/so now I don’t ever have to leave/I’ve been found now/So now I never explore…”

54. February 8: “Does He Love You?” – Rilo Kiley
“A married man, he visits me, I receive his letters in the mail twice a week…” Started listening to Rilo Kiley thanks to Shaina; this song has particular applicability. Yay, J and A. “And your husband will never leave you/He will never leave you for me…”

55. February 9: “Laughing with a Mouth of Blood” – St Vincent
“I can’t see the future/but I know it’s got big plans for me”

56. February 10: “Above the Sunrise” – The Fastbacks
High school memories, puts me directly back to that awkwardness. Does it ever really go away?

57. February 18: “Infinity” – The xx
My very last day staying in Oslo. “I can’t give it up/to someone else’s touch/because I care too much…”

Or the whole thing at once. Minus non-Spotify tracks, that is.