palace of winds

Only a wee bit late (not that you future readers will know exactly how late, through the magic of backdating — thanks WordPress!), I’ve finished consolidating my list of songs from 2008. These are my new-to-me finds, the ones I was listening to the most throughout the year, the songs that capture this time for me. It’s weird (and wonderful) listening back on them, especially the earlier ones. There are a handful that I still like, still bop around to, but they’ll probably always remind me of a period in time that was pretty damn painful. Still, life is life. I have a choice, and I choose happy. I learned that lesson a long time ago. On that overly philosophical note…

• “Breakable,” Ingrid Michaelson
• “With You,” Chris Brown
• “Shake Down,” Akon
• “Piece of Me,” Britney Spears
• “Horse to Water,” REM
• “She’s Electric,” Oasis
• “Hanging Tree,” Counting Crows
• “Cowboys,” Counting Crows
• “Independent,” Webbie
• “The Lighting,” Five Times August
• “Do It Again,” Five Times August
• “Citizen of the Planet,” Alanis Morissette
• “Torch,” Alanis Morissette
• (really: Flavors of Entanglement, Alanis Morissette)
• Vida La Vida, Coldplay – “Cemeteries of London,” “Viva La Vida,”
• Maui songs, none of whose names I can now remember
• “Love Remains the Same,” Gavin Rossdale
• “Little Tornado,” Aimee Mann
• “Sweet and Low,” Augustana
• “Still Alive,” Jonathan Coulton (from Portal)

Putting this together, I was trying to keep it down to one-cd size (I think I came sort of close maybe?), but I don’t think my 2008 list is really complete without “Life in Technicolor” (from Vida La Vida). It’s the first song on the album, so there were countless mornings when it was the first thing to break the silence in the office. I have music on all day but it’s background noise, and it’s actually a huge effort for me to actively listen to it. Because it was first, though, “Life in Technicolor” got listened to a lot.