SOTD rules

(I never got around to writing yesterday. Sorry Alex.)

So for the last – wow, goodness – six months, I’ve been posting a Song of the Day on my Facebook. This has been a really fun thing for me, and it has reminded me of how much I like music. I had sort of gotten out of the habit of listening to music for no particular reason, and this pulled me back in and forced me to think about why I like the music I like.

Anyway, I’ve (loosely) imposed a set of rules for myself. I think I’ve broken each of these rules at least once, so really I should be calling them something more like “guidelines,” but I figured they’d make good blog fodder anyway.

First of all, except for the times where I do a themed week, I try not to post two songs by the same artist. I’ve broken this rule for special occasions (like after the Boston bombings, I used a Boston song again, even though I’d used one before). Other than these exceptions, though, the list of repeats is basically a who’s who of my favorite artists; it includes Franz Ferdinand, Jimi Hendrix, Coldplay, Jack Johnson, Nirvana, Imagine Dragons, Led Zeppelin, RHCP, Rush, Foo Fighters, and Kasabian. This is a rule that is going to have to eventually go by the wayside, because there’s only so many artists to pick from. I think I’ll change it from a prohibition to a cooldown – so, once I use an artist, I have to wait so many months before they’re fair game again.

Closely related: With exactly one exception (which was in response to the Sandy Hook tragedy), I have never posted the same song twice. Again, this is a rule that will have to change eventually. I think I’ll set a year limit on specific songs.

Another rule I have (and have flagrantly broken several times) is that when picking lyrics to put in the description box, I don’t pick lyrics from the chorus, nor the opening lyrics. I try to pick lyrics that I find personally meaningful (“Congratulations, you were all alone / Your time will come, if you wait for it / It’s hard; believe me, I’ve tried” – see, look, that one’s partly from the chorus; I’m such a rule-breaker) or particularly clever (“Shoot your mouth if you know where you’re aiming / Don’t forget to pick up what you sow / Talking trash to the garbage around you”).

There’s no good way to end this post so I’m just going to abruptly stop writing.