Isis had a post the other day that made me run straight home to review my iTunes library so that I could filch it. The notion is that the perfect pop song is 2 minutes and 42 seconds long.
It turned out that, out of the 4072 tracks I have in iTunes, only 17 of them were exactly 2:42. Of those, five were Christmas songs, and two were kid's music, so I really only had ten.
- "I want to vanish" by Elvis Costello & Anne Sofie von Otter
- "Success" by Elvis Costello & The Attractions
- "Blank Generation" by Richard Hell
- "If Not For You " by Bob Dylan
- "Taya Tan " by Pink Martini
- "The Song Is You" by Frank Sinatra
- "Por Eso (Me Olvido De Ti)" by Brave Combo
- "The Book Of Love" by The Magnetic Fields
- "Hard Time Killing Floor Blues" by Chris Thomas King
- "So Young " by Ron Sexsmith
Since Elvis Costello (né Declan Patrick Aloysius McManus) ended up on my list twice, does that make him the best pop songwriter out there?
Interestingly, I have NO overlap with Isis - though I'm sure I have some of the same songs (and I know I have similar taste in music). There are undoubtably a lot more 2:42 songs on disks in my cellar that have never been burned into iTunes.
9 comments:
I love Elvis Costello. And Frank Sinatra too. I did not know Elvis had a SECOND middle name. Shame on me.
I only have two songs that are exactly that long one classical piece by Strauss and Ten by Pearl Jam. That illustrates the eclectic nature of my iTunes library.
And, now I've got to check!
Ya, I heard about the 2:42 thing on CBC radio, which I bow to most graciously many ridiculous times a day. Thanks for your well wishes.
It could be that your iTunes and my Creative MediaSource library think songs are different lengths, depending on how much deadtime they pick up during the ripping process. My friend Tim and I had some discrepancies in our libraries. But you've got a great mix. I love a world in which Bob Dylan leads to Pink Martini leads to Frank Sinatra leads to Brave Combo leads to Magnetic Fields!
Interesting. Isn't iTunes the best thing ever?
Japanese spam? Yikes.
I also had Success. And two John Lithgow songs, one Pete Himmelman song and one by the Kinks.
Interesting.
So....how old does it make me if I have no iTunes library to check? No iPod, no digital or portable media player at all. Not even a Walkman.
I'm cheap - I sing to myself or listen in the car. I know, I'm pathetic.
And I had NO idea John Lithgow had music we could purchase for our listening pleasure.
hmm... i wonder if any of those artists knew about the 2:42 theory in advance of recording their 2:42 songs?
EC is a pretty phenomenal songwriter, I'd say.
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