Friday Random Ten (Again, Finally! Edition)

1. Stand Up (For It) -- Dave Matthews Band
2. Lisa, Listen to Me -- Blood, Sweat and Tears
3. If I Needed Someone -- The Beatles
4. Living Loving Maid (She's Just a Woman) -- Led Zeppelin
5. Firecracker -- Ryan Adams
6. Cello Song -- Nick Drake
7. I Used to Love Him -- Lauryn Hill
8. Everlong -- Foo Fighters
9. Humming (Live) -- Portishead
10. The Great Divide -- Neil Young

This is simply a delightful mix.  I love the combination rock and more mellow songs, like the Nick Drake song.  I really like Nick Drake (though I mostly just listen to his greatest hits album), but I don't think I'm going to shock anyone when I say that it depresses the everyloving hell out of me.  I mean, how can you be happy and listen Nick Drake?  Or is it: how can you listen to Nick Drake and be happy?  I'm never sure if I want to listen to Drake because I'm already unhappy or if Drake makes me unhappy.  Either way, his music is often a revelation to me.  I never can remember how beautiful it is between listens, but then I'm always struck anew by how masterfully wonderful his songs are.  It sort of sneaks up on you.  Unlike, say, Sufjan Stevens, which rather beats you over the head with how amazing it is.

Speaking of amazing, what happened to Lauryn Hill?  I know she's got the new Fugees album coming out, but where the hell was her next great album?  The Miseducation of is possibly historically one of my favorite albums of all time.  I used to pop a copy into my portable CD player in Rome and walk to Bibli, the little bookstore in Trastevere where we could purchase Internet time.  I would walk down into the basement (dark and utilitarian, as compared to the rest of the lushly appointed store and cafe; as compared to the rest of the city) and check my email from the people at home--but not at home.  I savored those walks around Rome alone, and in fact, one of the most poignant experiences I had when I went back to Rome four years later was riding the tram down the street where I used to walk, and just crying from the crushing emotion of being back.  We'd only been in the city for a few hours, preoccupied with taking the train from the airport to the Trastevere train station, and then hopping a tram, all with luggage.  And with S and Shawn, who'd both never been abroad before.  Everything was new and exotic for them, but when that tram turned down the streets I knew, it was overwhelming for me.  I can't explain it, except to say that I wished I was listening to Lauryn Hill.  I could hear Lauryn Hill in my head.  I dream of walking around Rome with an iPod loaded with my music, and re-making it into my city.

That mix above, it'd be a perfect Rome mix.....

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01. She Will Have Her Way - Neil Finn & Friends
02. Power of the Gospel - Ben Harper
03. Slow Like Honey - Fiona Apple
04. Barrel of a Gun - Depeche Mode
05. Like a King/I'll Rise - Ben Harper
06. Song For The Dumped (Japanese Version) - Ben Folds Five
07. Whipping - Pearl Jam
08. Space & Time - The Verve
09. Light Years (Live 03) - Pearl Jam
10. Turn! Turn! Turn! (To Everything There is a Season) - The Byrds