Then came the Beatles, and it was Good.

My mom and I listened to the Beatles' remastered Revolver (stereo) this morning. We're huge Beatles geeks. We debated which album best represented when the Beatles' sound began to change. I think Revolver shows the complete revolution they made... but she thinks earlier. Rubber Soul, perhaps? And which song is more perfect-- "And Your Bird Can Sing" or "Here, There, and Everywhere"? Every time a song came on we had a conversation that went like this:

Me: I really like this song.
Mom: Me too! It's a really good song.

or

Me: This is a perfect song.
Mom: Yes, this is really one of [Paul/John/George]'s best songs.

It's like saying "amen" after a prayer. Everything in my family is about the Beatles to the point of ridiculousness. When I was little and we skipped going to mass, my mom would play "Hey Jude" and "Let it Be" and say that it was good enough. My mom got a new puzzle last week. She said, "It'll give us something to do at Christmas besides look at the snow." It's a white album puzzle-- 500 white pieces. Only in my family.

iMemoriam

Last week, I lost a good friend of mine: Veatrix, my iPod. She presented Wednesday morning with a sad iPod face and never woke up.

Veatrix was a first generation 20 GB color iPod that I adopted from my dad, who won her in some promotional event at work and doesn't have my emotional musical needs. I was a freshman in college then and only used an iPod to amuse me during the 20 minute walk to and from my dorm. I filled her with the entire Beatles catalog and a few Rolling Stones songs. At first I scoffed at the students who were attached to their portable music player as if it was a pacifier, but I soon accepted the easy, codependent lifestyle Veatrix offered me.

While I dragged myself around campus, depressed and cold and considering transferring to another school, Veatrix soothed my weathered nerves and warmed me inside while my ears blackened with frostbite. Veatrix outsang the my peers' obnoxious pseudointellectual debates while I studied in campus coffee shops, and she and I developed a clever eavesdropping scheme to catch up on the most interesting gossip. By the end of college, I relied heavily on Veatrix to completely drown out reality.

Veatrix was my best friend. She chattered to me during long car rides and nerve-wracking graduate school interview trips. She was a salve to the irritation I developed on my bus commutes to and from the UNC campus. When I put her on shuffle, she always played the songs I wanted to hear, even defying randomness to inject extra Wilco into the mix when I needed it most. Veatrix knew me better than Pandora ever could. In the spirit of hyperbole, I'll admit to you that the man who invented iPods is the only man I'll ever love. (That might not be true, but hell, this is a eulogy, not the encyclopedia!)

This past week without Veatrix has been one of the most boring and irritating weeks of my life. For each shoe-squeak step that I take to the bus stop, I miss the upbeat melodies Veatrix might have played me. For every paper I pull off PubMed, it hurts to wonder what musical accompaniment Veatrix might choose. Each un-soundtracked workout brings a stinging tear to my eye. Each obnoxious bus conversation I overhear makes me miss her, miss her.

Oh Veatrix. I'll never replace you in my heart, but of course you must understand that I immediately replaced you in my life. Mama's gotta keep her sanity, baby. I got my new iPod nano, jet black, today... and it is obscenely cool. I named it Veatriix. See how the "i" doubles as a roman numeral? Can you even stand how clever I am? I know, sometimes it's just unbelievable.

I miss you Veatrix, but now that your music lives in on a newer model, I guess my heart will go on.

Happiness is a warm turntable

The religious period of my life ended when I stopped believing in Santa Claus... since then, the closest I come to recapturing that feeling of trust and wonderment in a higher being is when I listen to good music. The Beatles spent six years building the foundation for everything I worship (and on the seventh year they rested, or maybe they were getting high). Maybe I don't get any moral direction from rock'n'roll music, but I'm clever enough to decide if I want to be good or bad all by myself. (I usually decide to be bad, because I don't really mind coming back as a lower life form... an insect, lab rat, or socialite). Sometimes a song will come on at a moment so apt that I know there is some all-knowing musician watching over me. Hence:

This morning, while I was recovering from a horrendous migraine and some breakup and family death-induced depression, I reached into the back of my car to find a new CD. When I moved here, I had only packed a few mix CDs and a few albums stolen from my mother (she only really listens to Paul McCartney so she won't miss them). I pulled out the Beatles' LOVE album and a copy of Yankee Hotel Foxtrot slid out from behind it.

My face looked like like this: WTF!?!?!?!??!?! if you can imagine that as a facial expression. My eyes were Ws and my nose was the T and my mouth was saying FUCK FUCK FUCK! It would look like a face, believe me:

W W
T

FUCK
FUCK
FUCK

YHF is one of my all time favorite albums, and I thought I had lost it years ago when I moved to college. How the fuck it ever got into the sleeve with LOVE is beyond me. I need this fucking album so much right now.

Thanks for looking out for me, incorporeal musical spirit of Jeff Tweedy! I love you. Sorry for saying 'fuck' so much.

Albums good enough to pay for

Last night I watched an hour of VH1's weekly top video countdown and remembered why I gave up on pop music in 7th grade. By the way, as you may have predicted, the new single by the Fray sounds exactly like the previous singles by the Fray. Thus, I would like to provide you with a list of albums worth buying.

• TV on the Radio, Dear Science
• The Rolling Stones, Let it Bleed
• Wilco, Sky Blue Sky
• Fleet Foxes, Fleet Foxes
• David Bowie, Ziggy Stardust
• Fastball, Keep Your Wig On (and I'm looking forward to Little White Lies in April; go pre-order it)
• Beach Boys, Pet Sounds
• The Beatles, Revolver (and Abbey Road, White Album, Sgt. Pepper, Let It Be... Naked)
• Uncle Tupelo, Anodyne (or at least all the Tweedy tracks)
• Voxtrot, Mothers Daughters Sister and Wives
• John Lennon, John Lennon/Plastic Ono Band
• Wilco, Yankee Hotel Foxtrot (I know I put Wilco on here twice, but I don't know how people can exist without both albums)