My Turn!

Isn't that what Andy Rooney says or something? For some reason, I have a big spike in visitors, and after reading Jerry's post about what particular quest leads people to his blog, I decided to look at my sitemeter. I hardly ever look at it, to be honest, because I want to know exactly who is looking and how much they liked it, and the cheapo free version doesn't really tell you that.

What it does say is that lots of people find my blog by searching for this picture and this one. In all different languages. I probably just doubled my visitors in this very post.

I expect if I just type the words: 'Mom' 'Foreign' 'Double D' 'Pre-teen Son', all of which are words which could conceivably come up in any of my posts, I will bump up my score some more. Let's wait and see.

I thought the Swiss were the biggest chocolate eaters in the world, but no: the Brits have them beat. And that's with me living outside Britain. Oh well, I guess the Swiss are good at other things.

As promised (threatened?), here are my liner notes. If you want a CD and didn't get one, let me know and I'll happily burn for you

Marianne's CD

Track	Artist	Comments
Waterloo Sunset	The Kinks	This is my favorite Kinks song. Somehow it makes me feel nostalgic for a life I haven't lived. And it's nice to have a dirty old river in a song that's not the Mississippi. I wonder whatever happened to Terry and Julie.
So Long, Marianne	Leonard Cohen	My ex-hubbie would sing this song to me, clapped out old hippy that he was – strangely prescient. I like that you can totally tell that Leonard Cohen is Canadian- he definitely says 'aboot'. Did you know he used to date Rebecca de Mornay – talk about an odd couple.
Hunted by a Freak	Mogwai	A Scottish band that has channeled depression and social alienation and twistedness into a beautiful thing, like so many other Scottish bands. It's our greatest national treasure, next to our award winning nutrition habits and whisky.
I Want A Little Sugar In My Bowl	Nina Simone	Forget about milkshakes and humps and licking backs and cracks, this is such a great expression of female sexuality that is tons more erotic. Strange to imagine Nina grew up in this red state.
Sex Dwarf	Soft Cell	A great work-out tune, though the Lakewood Y is sadly lacking in sex dwarves.
So Sad	The Softies	A sweet, wistful song about the decline of love. The perfect soundtrack for self pity. Not that I ever indulge in that.
You're The Best Thing	The Style Council	This song makes me want to fall in love with someone, it's so fucking romantic. I love Paul Weller's voice – it's so distinctive.
Party Fears Two	The Associates	Another Scottish band and one of my favorite songs ever. Completely uncategorizable and completely brilliant.
The Funeral	Band Of Horses	I downloaded this and really like it. It's sad but definitely not sappy. I bet they're awesome live.
The Reaper	HIM	A great cover of a great song. But it does need more cowbell.
Word On A Wing	David Bowie	Station to Station is my favorite Bowie album. And I think this may be my favorite song on it, even though it's about the baby Jesus.
The Windmills Of Your Mind	Dusty Springfield	Singing this is just about akin to singing the phonebook, but Dusty could pull it off. Let me ask you – is the jingle in your pocket or the jingle in your head?
The Nurse	The White Stripes	This song polarizes people – I really like it. I just imagine Meg White being a Nell-like creature on the drums, and that mixed up with the cheery marimba and the paranoid lyrics, just make for a great song.
Cuts Across The Land	The Duke Spirit	I downloaded this on the strength of the name expecting to find something I would hate, but I actually like it a lot. They're from London, and sound old-school in a good way.
Melt Your Heart	Jenny Lewis	A lovely redhead with a lovely voice singing a lovely song about the stupid things we all do.
Black Cab	Jens Lekman	I don't know anything about this artist at all, but I like his voice which has a Jonathan Richman quality to it. I just like this song dammit.
Blunt Picket Fence	Giant Drag	It's hard to believe Giant Drag is just two people. I love the guitar on this./
Marian	Nouvelle Vague	A great cover of Sisters of Mercy. Honestly, I'm not egotistical, I just like this song. Some songs are definitely improved by a bossa nova beat and being sung phonetically by a French chick who has never heard the original.