Nerdy Thoughts

Taken from The Friday Five

1. What song do you live for at the moment?

Live for feels a little strong but I do have an earworm and find myself listening to Sad Sweetheart of the Rodeo by Harvey Danger repeatedly. I’m not entirely sure why, it may just be the way the singer sounds in my head or maybe I’m just inherently drawn to escapist energy in the story of Edith wanting to run away to a cowboy dream life. I mean, who doesn’t get excited over the lusty men?

2. Is there a band or artist that you attach to a particular memory? What memory is it?

SO MANY. How do I pick just one?? I can’t so I’m doing four:

AC/DC, particularly Thunderstruck. A memory that is attached to this song is sleeping in a tent on our lawn with my older brother. I was very young, I remember I was dozing when the song started and it scared the living shit out of me. I woke up asking my brother if we were having thunder and did we have to go into the house.

Nora Jones, specifically Sunrise with a particularly romantic moment with my ex.

Alanis Morissette, listening to the Jagged Little Pill album for the first time while I was (ironically) in a tent with cousins at 11 or 12 years old. It was my aunt’s tape, my younger cousins weren’t into it but I remember it feeling like a switch in my brain. I always loved music but it felt like I appreciated it in a different way.

The Arkells with my current partner. He introduced me to them, they were often playing in his car when we met up for dates so listening to them bring up memories of our early months.

3. What's the most beautiful song lyric you've ever heard?

So far, the first song that pops in my mind is I’ve loved you before by Melissa Etheridge. The first part always struck me as lovely:

“When I think of how you know me,
No doubts no thinking twice.
When your smile can be so soothing,
A familiar paradise.”

4. If you could choose any band/artist to cover any song, which combination would you pick?

I have no idea, I love covers but they can be so hit or miss sometimes. Also my brain can become weirdly attached to the first version I’ve heard of a song, be it the original or cover which can ruin other versions for me.

5. What's the best concert you've ever attended?

Tough question because they’ve all generally been pretty good so it’s hard to narrow it down to the best. My first instinct is that it’s a tie between seeing the Arkells with my partner or seeing Leonard Cohen with my ex-bff.

The Arkells were playing the George Street Festival and it was a gorgeous night for an outside concert, a good size crowd but not intense and we had lucked out by snagging a great spot early on. The opening acts Repartee & July Talk were new to me at the time and I fell in love with July Talk. It was one of those concerts were all the acts were fantastic and high energy.

As for Leonard Cohen, he was just an amazing performer and surprisingly lively. It was his last tour I believe and even though I was a fan, seeing him perform was a life goal for my former friend so we went big for the best seats we could get and I’m so happy we did. It was such a great night, he sang almost all the songs we were hoping to hear, and I remember we were buzzing with joy afterwards.

One of my goals for 2021 is to listen to at least ten new to me albums. When it comes to music I can be a creature of habit, listening to my favourites on repeat ad nauseam. I watch Todd in the Shadows on youtube and he made a comment about it being less common for folks to listen to a whole album like they used to and I realized that was true for me. Back in ye olde days of CDs I'd at least put an album on and let play, usually leading to discovering a song I liked that I hadn't heard on the radio.

So far I've only listened to two and they've both been musicals so...yeah, really need to branch out a bit more but I have loved the two I've listened to so far and now they're on repeat.

The first is Six: the Musical which is essentially Tudors meets Spice Girls for dance bops and sad stories.


Obviously not 100% historically accurate but I think it's a fun re-telling and 'All you wanna do' is an absolute earworm.

The second is Beetlejuice the musical, a retake on the 80s movie that's quite insightful when it comes to death and still hilarious.


My favourite songs are the 'The whole being dead thing' Parts 1-3. Both have some great animatics on youtube as well.