Two heads are better than one...

First of all—thank you to Lilly for suggesting this idea. I’ve been staring glumly each day at this blog hoping to read a new entry and each of those days I’m just a little disappointed. I guess ’cause my creative power flows through the idea showers we have together, and when you all are dry so am I. But thanks to Lilly’s idea, I feel invigorated and yearn to write something. So here we go.

(And to Lilly—I also have “Swinging on a Star” on my ’Pod, but only after I saw Bruce Willis sing it in some bad ’80s gangster/heist/musical film. Boy, I wish I could find his cover of it. So obscure.)

Song 1: “4 Minutes” by Madonna ft. Justin Timberlake and Timbaland

I have a love/hate relationship with Madonna. I’ve never loved an artist whose personality is pretentious and obnoxious, who started out as a lacy-gloved-wearing candy pop singer to become a leather-clad siren. I’ll never like Madonna as a person, but I love her music. I LOVE her music. She has a seductive, confident voice and an ear for music. She knows who to work with and what songs suit her (aside from her horrendous remake of “American Pie”), and “4 Minutes” is a great reinvention for her. I’m not a Justin Timberlake fan, but I can’t imagine anyone else’s voice on this track.

This song is great to work out to and I dare you not to try your sexiest strut on the treadmill.

Song 2: “London” by the Smiths

I downloaded this one before going to London for the first time; I found it through I-Tunes by cleverly searching the word “London.” Brilliant, eh? I needed some Brit rock that wasn’t the Beatles or Oasis. When I listen to Morrissey’s melancholy wails and the rapid fire drums, my mind drifts back to that sunny day in London, where I sit atop a double-decker, wind in my hair, as I snap pics of Big Ben and the Thames.

And I love the line “But did you see jealousy in the eyes/Of the ones who had to stay behind?”

Song 3: “Boogie Wonderland” by Earth, Wind & Fire

Any music cred I had with having the Smiths on deck is probably lost because the next random song that came up was by Earth, Wind & Fire (but hey, at least you know I wasn’t skipping the embarrassing tracks). I think this is just a cool song. EW&F don’t get that “disco sucks” vibe that hounds other ’70s artists like ABBA and the Bee Gees—probably because they were discreet. But I don’t doubt that the anti-disco steamroller crushed a few hundred copies of the Boogie Wonderland album. Why do I say they were discreet? Well, “Boogie Wonderland” was their biggest, most popular hit, but can you name any others? It’s easy if you love disco, not so much when it all sounds the same to you.

Why do I have this song on my ’Pod? Watch the scene in Caddyshack where this song is playing and you’ll understand. Maybe. “Wanna make 14 dollars the hard way?”

-Girl on the Corner (who rocks out with her rooster out)