I could salute the water by swimming in the deep end
You could salute the grass
It's waving at you
And then we could be a whole
With a W
I'm only a half
With an H
Meredith Louise Miller - Whole

(I stole the photo from Trish's blog - she took it in OKC at Nonna's Purple Bar - they were hand-blown glass with LEDs inside that changed colors. Super cool.)

OK, music... Colleen's recent post, "Soul Food," has me thinking about the music that I like and why I like it. She mentions CDs that she listens to all the way through... I was thinking about some of my favorites.

ifihadahifi by Meredith Louise Miller - I first discovered her when I went to the taping of the NPR radio show, Whad'Ya Know? in Dallas. Must have been 1997. I had never heard of her before but immediately loved her. She performed two songs and Michael Feldman flirted with her a lot. I immediately went to Border's and found ifihadahifi. I still listen to it all the time. Every now and then I would do a Google search for her and I discovered a few years ago that she's not doing music any more. I've recently discovered two people that I know that know her. Ed is friends with her - he went to her wedding and she performed at one of his house concerts when he lived in Huntsville. (He said that "Whole" would be a great opening title song for a movie. I have to agree.) Trish hung out with her back in the day. Weird. Anyway, her lyrics are great - clever and often funny. I love her voice, too. I love the whole CD but my favorites are "Dreams of You and Elvis," "Whole," and "Chapel."

Songs for a Blue Guitar by The Red House Painters - I listen to this a lot while I'm painting or working on creative projects. It's fairly mellow but does have a few screechy guitar solos to wake you up. Mark Kozelek's voice is soft and sort of breathy. For some reason, a couple of songs - "Have You Forgotten," and "All Mixed Up," remind me of A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genuis by Dave Eggers. I really have no idea why.

Smile by The Jayhawks - This is another "painting" CD. The Jawhawks get categorized as "country rock" quite often, and I think they have some of that late 70's Eagles feel. It's just easy to sing along to. I defintely listen to the whole CD, but I love "Smile," "What Led Me To This Town," and "A Break in the Clouds:"

Every time that I see your face
It's like cool, cool water running down my back

You Were Here by Sarah Harmer - I discovered her from a short little review in the paper. After reading it, I looked her up on the internet and listened to snippets of her songs. Shortly after that, I happened to be in Best Buy and I happened to remember her name and found this CD. She writes great lyrics and has a great voice. Some are upbeat and some are more philosophical. "Basement Apartment" is one of my favorite, more upbeat songs. "Coffee Stain" felt a little too personal there for a while:

There's a coffee stain around your eye
Lines that I don't recognize
Everything changed from being OK
the night that you came home so late
I knew by the time on the stove
You were no longer mine alone
I guess we're all just out on loan
Everybody is only their own

Soundtracks and mix CDs - I love soundtracks because they usually feature a variety of music. Some of my favorites are the two Six Feet Under soundtracks, Garden State, Vanilla Sky, The Myth of Fingerprints, High Fidelity, and Big Night (you just can't be sad when you listen to the Big Night soundtrack). Allison makes great mixes. She's given me quite a few great ones - the one I listen to most often is called, "Drawing Mix," and it features Lamb, Morcheeba, and Cheryl Crow.

What are your favorite CDs?