Rants and Ramblings: random commentary about culture, media, politics, technology and whatnot.

father's tunes

For Mother’s Day 2005, my siblings and I gave our mom an iPod Mini pre-loaded with special playlists from each of us. Since my dad got an iPod of his own not too long afterward, I can’t exactly duplicate the gift, but I still like the idea of the personalized playlist. I spent some time last week going through my music library and trying to assemble a collection of both songs that I know he likes and new songs that I hope he might enjoy.

It could be a success, or it could be an outright failure. There’s a bit of pressure inherent in creating a playlist for someone: What if you’ve pegged their tastes completely wrong? What does that say — to you or to them — about how well you really know them?

Hopefully I’m overthinking this. (Maybe I can blame the paranoia on having read an essay on this very subject last weekend in Sarah Vowell’s Take the Cannoli.)

Some of the songs on the list are a bit of a gamble — Rob’s taking bets that Adam Duritz’s yelp at the end of Counting Crows’ “Rain King” will drive him nuts, and, in retrospect, I’m a bit iffy on the Belle and Sebastian — but I’m hoping that he finds at least a few things to like in there. I tried to make sure the playlist offers a good mix of straightforward pop/rock with memorable choruses.

The playlist:

1. “Sparky’s Dream” by Teenage Fanclub
2. ”Time of Our Lives” by Bonnie Raitt
3. ”Rain King” by Counting Crows
4. ”Daydream Believer” by The Monkees
5. ”If She Wants Me” by Belle and Sebastian
6. ”These Are Days” by 10,000 Maniacs
7. ”Answering Bell” by Ryan Adams
8. ”Learning to Fly” by Tom Petty and The Heartbreakers
9. ”Let Me Go” by Cake
10. “Picture Book” by The Kinks
11. ”Wish I” by Jem
12. “Penny Lane” by The Beatles
13. “(What’s So Funny ‘Bout) Peace, Love and Understanding” by Elvis Costello and The Attractions
14. ”Iggy and Angus” by Sloan
15. ”Winter” by Teenage Fanclub
16. ”Great Divide” by Bruce Hornsby
17. ”They’ll Soon Discover” by The Shins
18. ”Here’s Where the Story Ends” by The Sundays
19. ”Ooh La La” by Faces
20. ”Everybody Wants to Rule the World” by Tears for Fears
21. ”Bright Side of the Road” by Van Morrison

(Music links go to the iTunes Music Store.)

Happy Father’s Day!