The Ole iPod Shuffle

I'm working at Starbucks right now and listening to my iPod. I have 4,391 songs on it and it's on shuffle, so anything can pop up. I'm going to list some of the songs—good and bad—as they do.

I'll update this list throughout the afternoon. The most recent songs will be at the bottom.

• Head Over Heels / The Go-Go's
• I Wanna Be With You / Mandy Moore - I love this song—does that make me a dork?
• You're The First, The Last, My Everything / Barry White - I dream of the day a man will sing this to me.
• Easier / Grizzly Bear - Such talented musicians.
• Circle / Edie Brickell & The New Bohemians - Reminds me of college. Particularly of a boy I dated named Ollie.
• Forever / Ben Harper - Love this song.
• Happy Valentine's Day / Outkast
• Love Is All Around / R.E.M. - I keep meaning to do a post about how much I love R.E.M. To save myself the trouble, my top five favorite R.E.M. songs are Strange Currencies, Belong, Let Me In, Nightswimming, You Are The Everything, and Find The River. (I know, that's six.)
• Come Pick me Up / Ryan Adams - I've written about my love for Mr. Adams on this blog before. This song is one of my top ten faves of his. (Sometimes I don't think "shuffle" is as random as we think.) I used to sing this to Nora when she would cry as a baby, except I'd change the words to, "Come pick me up, take me out, love me up, steal all my kisses."
• I Can / Nas - I wrote about this song on my old website! I know every word. (Again, I don't think "shuffle" is as random as we think.) The video makes me cry.
  
• La Boheme: Si, Mi Chiamo Mimi (Atto I) / Maria Callas
• Slide / The Goo Goo Dolls - What happened to these guys? Where did they go?
• She Will Be Loved / Maroon 5 - I couldn't listen to this song for a while because it reminded me of a painful time in my life. Every time it would come on, I'd go to the next song. It was a way I avoided dealing with the unpleasant feelings that came along with listening to it. But recently I started not hitting "next" on every song that did this to me. I know it's silly, but I feel a little bit stronger when each one ends. Like, I felt all those feelings music can conjure up—bad ones, in this case—and I survived.
• Forever Your Girl / Paula Abdul - I sing this song to Beverly sometimes. In fact, I'm thinking of making a music video for it with the two of us. (Elvis will sit in the background of it by himself with thought bubbles saying, "You two are so gay.") She's forever my girl and I'm forever her girl.
• Language of the Kiss / Indigo Girls - I love gay people. I know being gay is not as big of a deal today as it was in the past, but I still think it takes tremendous courage to come out and I admire those who do.

NOTE: Four more Ryan Adams songs have come on since "Come Pick Me Up." I listen to him all the time and the play count on his songs are high, which is why I don't think "shuffle" is as random as we think. I mean, out of 4,391 songs, five of the 30 or so songs I've listened to have been by Ryan Adams. Can anyone confirm my suspicions? How does "shuffle" work?

• Gloria / Laura Branigan - I need to tell my mom to download this song; she'd like it. When she got her iPod, she said she wanted to download songs that she can workout to. When I asked her what they were, she said, "The Rocky theme and that song from Flashdance."
• X.Y.U. / Smashing Pumpkins - Along with my gal Liz Phair, one of my favorite bands to come out of Chicago.
  
• Not Ready To Make Nice / Dixie Chicks - Omg, I just realized something: I'm a Dixie Chick. I mean, I ripped on Bush and lost blog readers because of it.

  "I'm not ready to make nice! I'm not ready to back down! I'm still mad as hell and I don't have time to go round and round and round! It's too late to make it right and I probably wouldn't if I could. 'Cause I'm mad as hell and I can't bring myself to do what it is you think I should!"

(I want bangs now.)

• Together Again / Janet Jackson
• Leaving On A Jet Plane / Peter, Paul & Mary
• Blue Morning, Blue Day / Foreigner
• Wild Horses / Rolling Stones
• Hot Child In The City / Nick Gilder - I swear this song was in Fast Times at Ridgemont High. Can anyone confirm this? Because it's not on the soundtrack.
• Going Back To Cali / LL Cool J
• Better Dayz / 2Pac
  
• Secret Garden / Bruce Springsteen

  "I was just about to tell you that I love him. I do! I love him and I don't care what you think. I love him for the man he used to be and I love him for the man he almost is. I love him, Laurel—I love him!" — Renee Zellweger in one of my favorite movies ever, Jerry Maguire
  

• Beautiful Loser / Bob Seger
• Memories Of You / Ryan Adams - This is a live recording of an unreleased song of his that's so amazing. (Oh, and note: At least four more Ryan Adams songs have come on since the last one, but I didn't list them.)
• Breathe Me / Sia - It's Sia! Sia!
• Step By Step (Junior Vasquez Mix) / Whitney Houston - Man... before she started smokin' crack, my gal Whitney sure could bring it. I have big hopes for her comeback album.
• Yele / Wyclef Jean - This is one of my favorite songs.
• Shake Your Groove Thing / Peaches & Herb - This is not one of my favorite songs.
• Hard to Starboard / James Horner/Sissel - From "Titanic." How do you not cry when you hear a song from this movie?

"It's been 84 years. I can still smell the fresh paint. The china had never been used. The sheets had never been slept in. Titanic was called the ship of dreams... and it was, it really was."


• I Want You To Want Me / Cheap Trick - I remember rollerskating to this song when I was little. (Another Chicago band.)
  
• New Shoes / Paolo Nutini - I think this song should start playing when you open a copy of Save Karyn, like a musical greeting card.
  

"Hey, I put some new shoes on and suddenly everything is right. I said, hey, I put some new shoes on and everybody's smiling—it's so inviting. I'm short on money but long on time, slowly strolling in the sweet sunshine. And I'm running late but I don't need an excuse, 'cause I'm wearing my brand new shoes."

• Desert Sunrise / Brett Dennen - I've been listening to him since 2004. I LOVE HIM.
• Paradise City / Guns N' Roses - This song makes me wanna give someone a lap dance.
  
• Run, Baby, Run / Sheryl Crow - I think the first Sheryl Crow album is still my favorite, especially with this song and "I Shall Believe."
  
• Brass in Pocket / The Pretenders - Whenever you are feeling down, you must listen to this song; it's one of my top ten favorites.
• I'll Close My Eyes / Dinah Shore - Sooooo romantic! From "The Bridges of Madison County" soundtrack.
  
• It Must Be Love / Rickie Lee Jones - Listen to the version of this song on the "Naked Songs" album. It's amazing.
  
• I Am Woman / Helen Reddy

Okay, I'm disenchanted with the whole iPod "shuffle" thing. I mean with all the Ryan Adams songs and then "Step By Step" and now "I Am Woman" (two songs I've listened to a million times and even wrote about in Save Karyn)? It's so obviously not random.

I'm done.