Always
Matt Dusk

Matt Dusk is my I-feel-lazy music. Two Shots was a fantastic album which I always put on late at night, preferably with a shot of Bailey's in hand. Nonetheless alcohol is not really necessary to appreciate the lounge feel of Dusk's music. It just put you in the right mood for it all *grin*

Bach: Concerto for two violins
Itzhak Perlman and Issac Stern

I have to pay some tribute to my love for classical music, and I suppose this one is as good as any. Itzhak Perlman and Issac Stern are among my best-loved violinists, the other being Jascha Heifetz. For the non-classically inclined folks, Perlman played Scent of a Woman: Tango and Schindler's List theme, both of which killed me. The solo violin is still my favourite Western instrument to listen to (it's a hard draw between the Chinese zither and the violin for all time favourite) - the lilts are so fantastically emotive. I only wish more people listen to classical music. Not the new age instrumental crap - but the good stuff.

Candle in the window
Linda Eder

The song gives me goosebumps. I can't really describe it. But considering that this was up against the Mormon Tabernacle's Carol of the Bells, which I LOVE, Eric Clapton's Change the World, which also killed me, Natalie Merchant's Children Go where I send Thee, which haunts me, Bob Carlisle's Christmas Shoes, which is like my all time favourite contemporary (ie within the last 100 years) Christmas song ever, Frank Sinatra, Judy Garland and Julie Andrew's versions of Come Rain or Come Shine (all of whom I worshipped!), Jason Danieley and Marin Mazzie's Contrapuntal Berlin - you could say, it has to be nothing short of a marvellous lament.

Forget it. I have decided that anyone reading this should listen to Christmas Shoes too. It's a tad cheesy when I am rational, but it makes me weepy.

Down in the River to Pray
Allison Krauss

This is my tribute to my blue-grass phase. Fine, I admit, I had a cheesy I LOVE COUNTRY phase, and I still have shades of it. Allison Krauss is one of the better contemporary singers and she together with her band, Union Station, plays some of the best harmonisatioon pieces ever. I know this is cheating, but I don't really want to put two pieces within the same meme: so here's Allison's Whisky Lullaby with Brad Paisley. Sad song too. Sob. I love my catharsis, what can I say?

El Tango de Roxanne
Moulin Rouge OST

You have no idea how difficult it is to do this meme justly. I was very tempted to put Charlotte Church and Billy Gilman's Elysium as a nod to my opera and operette's phase - but somehow I doubt I'll find someone who will love the song as much as I do. Sigh. I also had the choice of Lea Salonga's Even if (which went out because the lyrics needed improvement), Frank Sinatra's East of the Moon, various versions of Edelweiss, Audra Mcdonald's Everything Beautiful... So I settled on a pop tango piece that I LOVE dancing to. This version is miles better than George Michael's version. I love the musical bridge where Ewan Mcgregor sang:

His eyes upon your face,
His hand upon your hand,
His lips caress your skin,
It's more than I can stand!

It makes for very nice tango rolls. As in tango moves.

Fall in Love - Ko Ni Ochite
Olivia Ong

This is a nod to my Japanese music phase. I love the song - and don't tell me how cheesy the song is. The original version is by Akiko Kobayashi, but Olivia's version throws in the jazz beat and an English verse. Olivia's voice is a tad too airy for my liking but she does justice to this Japanese number. Akiko's version is doubtlessly better.

But baring my need to give a broad treatment to all music I like, these would have made the cut too:

Julia Murney's Fancy I love this song, not just for the lyrics but for the raw energy behind it. It was one of two songs which had made me fall in love with Julia Murney.

Julie Andrews' Feed the Birds I heard this song as a very young child and it was my lullaby for the longest time, which explains why I love this song quite so much. I always did find this a very poignant song, especially this bit:

All around the cathedral the saints and apostles
Look down as she sells her wares
Although you can't see it,
You know they are smiling
Each time someone shows that he cares

It stands in my playlist as a reminder of the days when strangers could be nice to one another (don't ask me how my brain made the connection) and always: giving reaps more so much more rewards than receiving. Music with a moral.

Marc Broussard's French Cafe I obviously gave up trying to select songs. This is my favourite song by Marc Broussard, right next to Jeremiah's Prayer. This is his jazz piece, infused with the Bayou soul that is more his style. He came from my I-Need-new-male-vocalists-on-my-playlist phase. I love the imagery in this song, sitting on the sidewalks in a French cafe in Paris, sipping on a glass of wine and doodling on the napkins, wondering where the love of my life is.

The Cure's Friday I'm in Love This is a perk-me-up song! Nuff said. Obviously came from my younger, I can take to jumping up and down phase.

I don't care if Monday's black
Tuesday, Wednesday - heart attack
Thursday, never looking back
It's Friday, I'm in love

Sounds like my life, haha. If you are snagging this song, be warned, the band playing is *coughs* more than cheesy.

Garden of Graves
Rua

My Celtic phase which went on for YEARS. The tune in this song is hauntingly beautiful - no pun untended. My love for this song is so overwhelming I discarded the rest of my 'G' list without much thought. By this point I have spent 2 hours on this meme which could have been spent on my fic. Sigh.

Another difficult letter. Argh. I don't think I ever have easy choices. I chose this one only because Kingston Trio has some of the best harmonisation ever. I can only sing harmony so for the longest time a couple of friends and I played and sang this song to death. Again no pun intended. And of course since I am at them, I simply have to add their version of the fabulous war-time song: Where have all the flowers gone?, which I believe was first made into a popular number by country group Peter, Paul and Mary.

But just for listening pleasure, here's Josh Kelley's Home to Me. It's an acoustic piece by the man who should be better known for his gravelly voice and fantastic song writing than his marriage to Katherine Hiegl.

And of course, it's not my fault there are so many good songs, but here's Herbie Hancock with Annie Lennox on Hush, Hush, Hush. Annie Lennox's voice is not for everyone - I only like her after she did Gollum's Song (so I am an LOTR freak), and Herbie is at times a complete sell-out as a jazz pianist. This is an interesting song, with very beautiful arrangement, even if I feel like killing the cymbals sometimes.

This just came on and demanded to be put on record. Michael Ball's Hushabye Mountain, which will make for a fabulous lullaby too. Stacey Kent has a wonderful cover but this is after all Michael Ball - he who is Marius-incarnate.

Ill Wind
Patti Lupone

'I' is impossible. I have 743 SONGS. To save myself the grief, I went for the last song I've heard that starts with an 'I' and brilliant it's Patti Lupone. Unfortunately this was one of the songs she chose to slur more in rather than belt. I assure you she does not always sing like this - but she's in a major emo overdrive for this song. I love Patti Lupone because she is fantastically, marvellously versatile. When she sang Berlin, good gosh, my heart could give out, Heat wave remains one my favourite albums of all time. Even if she loves musical arrangements too much I think - too much instrumental and not enough of her singing!

Johann
Bernadette Peters

From one brilliant singer to another. Bernadette Peters is another excellent, versatile singer. She reminds me a tad of Kristin Chenoweth - ditzy and completely bimbotic when they speak but they sing, you get blown away, Here, she demonstrates more classical training. She's nearly 50 when she's singing this, mind you. Not that she looks all that much her age. How many people can claim to be succeeded by Julie Andrews?! She was Victoria in Victor/Victoria before Dame Andrews took it over. I think. Hmmm.

Kryptonite
Three Doors Down

This is obviously a tribute to yet another music phase, the pop-rock phase. I love this song when it first rode the airwaves in 2000 and arguably, 3 Doors Down did not manage to record another single quite like this one since. This is the acoustic cover, live version of this song as opposed to the more grungy one on their album, making it more palatable to non-rock followers, which accurately describes me now. Damn, now I have to put in a Matchbox Twenty song somewhere.

Other songs that I must include are: Bob Dylan's Knocking on Heaven's Door: For the longest time, I couldn't tell Bob Dylan apart from Eric Clapton in my mind's musical jukebox because of this song. I knew Eric Clapton covered this song - but the version I always hear in my head's Dylan's. This is a live recording of the song again.

Al Somma's A Kiss to build a Dream on: Trust my taste in male vocals *grin* . Al Somma is little known but has a voice that quite approximates Frank Sinatra's and that is high praise.

The Lady down the Hall
Nancy LaMott

Nancy LaMott is one of the most soulful voices in the jazz caberet circuit I have ever known - and some times she makes her songs so beautifully tragic you wonder if she was mourning her own short life. She was 42 when she was first diagnosed with cancer, but she was so adamant on pushing through on her commitments, she went on working after the operation. At 44 she was diagnosed with yet another cancer, but this time putting off treatment proved to be fatal. Her album "Listen to my heart" remains one of the most, as I struggle to find another word for "haunting", evocative albums in my jazz music collection - she knew she was dying when she recorded those songs. The edge of desperation was highly palpable. This is one of the songs from that album. And I can't sully that one with more 'L' songs even though I badly want to. Sigh.

Mona Lisa
Double Take

Julia Murney's Misery and Happiness would have made the list, but I thought I'd share the lesser knowns. I adore the arrangement in this piece, even though the vocals aren't the best I have in my list. (They still aren't too bad.) Double Take is a duo that does the circuits in Malaysia I think. The female singer is Filipino though. This is the only group I have who does Malay jazz.

While on the subject of lesser knowns, here's Susannah McCorkle's My Foolish Heart. McCorkle is not entirely an unknown in jazz circles - in fact the dark timbre of her voice is pretty well-known, but she has never quite made mainstream. I obviously like them depressed, because she was depressed most of the time and eventually committed suicide at the age of 55.

Nine Million Bicycles in Beijin
Katie Melua

This was the song that made half the world over fall in love with the voice that is Katie Melua. Some folks love the way she enunciated 'Beijing'. I am more in love with the melody. Mike Batt wrote this song and he wrote several others for Katie Melua. Before this, his other famous muse was Art Garfunkel. If you have never heard this song, listen to it NOW.

The other song in my 'N' list that deserves much love is Jason Danieley and Marin Mazzie's The Natural Order of Things, Marin Mazzie is the bigger name in Broadway but I am more enamoured of her husband. I LOVE JASON DANEIELY. Both of them have voices of much win, but in this particular song, their harmonisation actually works. (It does not always.)

Oklahoma
Billy Gilman

My favourite song by Billy Gilman EVER. Billy Gilman's a sensation when he first released One Voice, when he was 11 I think. Buck toothed and all when he sang at the Grammy's for best country album. His voice has since broken and his songwriters are quite as good as his early days, but he is still good. This song though eptomises the love that is Billy Gilman. This is a kid singing this - and you wonder where he got all his emoting genes from. Wonderful intonations. And more Gilman love must follow: My time on earth and God is Alive and well. Definitely among my favourite songs from him.

Prayer of the Children
Kurt Bestor

There are so many 'P' songs again, but this is one song which speaks for my own beliefs. I don't what it is about Mormons, but they do hamornisations wonderfully. This is the song written during the collapse of the former Yugoslovakia. The lyrics, the lyrics.....

Can you hear the prayer of the children on bended knee, in the shadow of an unknown room?
Empty eyes with no more tears to cry turning heavenward toward the light.
Cryin' Jesus help me to see the mornin' light of one more day,
but if I should die before I wake, I pray my soul to take.

To quote Bestor: "Those children didn't hate anybody," he said. "They didn't care about who owned the land, or who had the power or the money. These are adult neuroses. They just wanted to have a mom and dad and a place to play."

Just another affirmation of my faith, this is my favourite hymn of all time: Prodigal Son. The melody, the words, the conviction in the song. Even if you do not share my faith, share my love for this piece anyway. Ignore the nonsensical drum beat. I don't have a better version, all the pity.

Que reste-t-il de nos amours
Stacey Kent

Few songs start with Q after all, and I don't quite want to use Quando, Quando Quando or Quizas, Quizas, Quizas, even though I love dancing to those pieces. Stacey Kent - whose voice was high on my vocal-love list until broadway came along.

Rainy Night in Georgia
Brook Benton

Ray Charles has a cover, but I LOVE Benton's version best. This is my rainy day, I-feel-depressed song. I don't even have to bother with surfing through the R list. The song is written by Tony Joe White, who is still recording this genre of music. His songs and corroborations are often more famous than he is, pity that. He wrote Polk Salad Sadie, which was sung and made famous by Elvis Presley - pioneering a sub-genre of music. (as I give a music lesson). They call this branch of music Swamp rock - rock with a hint of blues, a touch of Cajun and the image of the bayou. Another way of saying, music out of Louisana if you ask me.

The Sky is Crying
Stevie Ray Vaughan

Blues-rock! This is a tad different from swamp rock - it's the guitars I swear, grin. I know Vaughan more as the guitarist than teh singer. But yes, another nod in a different direction. Drats this is three hours and counting.

Otherwise, there are:

1. Eva Cassidy's Song Bird. I Love Eva's voice. My favourite singers have a tendency to die weither from depression-induced suicide or cancer. She died from cancer. If the song is familiar to you, it might be because it was on the Love Actually OST. The one movie where everyone but me seemed to have watched.

2. Ralph Mctell's Street of London. Sad, sad, sad, song but rather heartening in a strange way, Moral of the story: be grateful for what you do have. I prefer McTell's version to Whitaker's. Incdentally if it is not obvious by now, I am deleiberately steering clear of the broadway show tunes.

Tears in Heaven
Eric Clapton

Enough said. It's another sad song naturally, written for the child he lost. My music meme does come across as very depressive doesn't it?

Unsuspecting Hearts
Emily Skinner and Alice Ripley

There are so many songs by them I'll like to put in here, but this fits, because my other 'U' song to make the list would have been Bernadetter Peters' Unexpected Song, and I already havce Peters in 'J'. Ironically of all their songs, I probably don't like this one as much. *twiddle thumbs*

Violet for your furs
Frank Sinatra

I needed Sinatra somewhere and voila! I love this song actually. It's one of the rare old ones without a cheesy orchestration. You can tell I am running out of steam, because it is now 3.5 hours and I still have 5,000 words to go. Besides, words cannot adequately describe the voice that is Sinatra's.

When in rome
Clare Teal I love the lyrics of this song and Clare Teal is another jazz vocal I love. Special mention: Brobdingnagian Bard's Wild Mountain Thyme. BB does some of the funniest songs on folklore and Tolkien's Middle Earthm which naturally puts them on my favourite list. They are not Celtic though, despite their brand of music - they are Americans. This is one of the old folk songs I actually heard a long time ago as a child from some unknown source, and had loved the tune for the longest time.

Xi Qing
Jay Chou I am a huge Jay Chou fan and he must come in somewhere. It helps of course, because there is no song in my X's list that isn't Chinese. I love this particularly acoustic song - I am not certain if I can translate it properly. It basically speaks of a carefree date spent with someone special.

You are not alone
Michael Jackson

Before he went round the bend, MJ wrote some of the best songs I have heard on the airwaves, a fact that is often overlooked, i.e. he actually writes his own songs. He also had the most amazing riffs in his voice. It is such a pity that his personal life has taken the shine off his insurmountable talent. I honestly hope that the comeback he is planning comes off - already the re-release of Thriller has made huge waves.

Zing! Went the strings of my heart
Judy Garland

I have resisted Judy Garland through 25 letters because her song is the only one I know that'll fit the 'Z' category. English song that is. I adore Judy Garland - I love her to bits. I only just bought her Live at Carnegie Hall album, albeit through my nose, but it was worth every single cent. She has the perennial youth in her voice that most singers could kill for. I have Shu Mei to thank for exposure to Judy. At age 14 I used to hang around at her place, listening to record after record of Judy Garland, because Shu Mei was a huge huge fan. While she has outgrown Judy Garland, my love has only grown. Still I owe her a musical debt. This was reportedly the song Judy sang for her audition at MGM - ie the song that started it all. The song was written by James Hanley for a now forgotten film, Class Act.