So what are *your* "desert island discs" then? (http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b006qnmr)
I love music so limiting myself to 8, as the programme requires, was difficult. Also, I've found my tastes are mercurial so these are what I'd pick at the moment, though I did try to choose them for meaning as well.
1. "Fresh Aire V (To the Moon)" by Mannheim Steamroller - I might as well start off by breaking the format of the show. This is not an individual piece but an entire album. A childhood friend introduced me to Mannheim Steamroller, and this is still my favourite album of theirs. Based on famous astronmer Johannes Kepler's dream of a trip to the Moon and meeting the creatures living there, it sums up my youthful enthusiasm for science and technology and the wonder with which I held the world for many years. I remember being about kindergarten age and deciding that I wanted to be a scientist and then later choosing engineering. I found that I'm more of a humanities or social science person, but I'm still interested in them as I want to take up Studies of Science and Technology (STS) as a post-graduate. If I must choose a track for you to listen to, and I must, how about "Escape from the Atmosphere" (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rh-dNBzRMeA)? You can also hear the storm that interrupts Kepler's dream (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DNNXhVkAF84).
2. "Moonlight Sonata" by Ludwig van Beethoven - Leaping from the quasi-classical to the actual Classical. Actually, I just mean the first movement, "Adagio sostenuto", of Beethoven's Piano Sonata No. 14. This movement is a beautiful and quiet piece of piano music that I find incredibly romantic and transporting. It has an incredible calming effect on my sometimes very noisy, jumbled mind. It also makes me kind of wish I could play the piano. (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vQVeaIHWWck)
3. "Life in a Northern Town" by Dream Academy - Though this song was one that came out as I started to suffer from the depression which has dogged me all my adult life, it also seemed appropriate for the West Virginia of my teenagehood as it suffered from the decline of the industrial economy which the state depended upon at that time. Listening to this song over and over was part of the process of me deciding to leave the state I grew up in. It's gained relevance again as I start the process of moving to live in an old industrial town in the North West of England. It also doesn't hurt that it has a woman in the band as a singer. (original music video - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8YablrXxFCc)
4. "How Soon Is Now?" by The Smiths - I was late to CDs and my first purchase was The Smith's "Hatful of Hollow", an UK import at that time, almost entirely because it had this song on it. It very much captures how I felt once I admitted to myself that I was trans (even if I did like women and not men as the medical literature said I should) but didn't know what to really do about it, all alone, shy, crying all the time, basically incredibly depressed and even worried about disappointing my dad ("Heir", indeed!). The lyrics felt like they were exactly what I was saying to the world, a world devoid of hope. (Funnily enough, the song "Please Please Let Me Get What I Want" was written at the same time by the same writer, and it summed up how I felt whenever I thought things might be going better.) Perhaps most fun to me was and is the oscillating guitar that bounces between the left and right stereo channels. I was also somewhat amused when it was used in the movie "The Craft" and as the theme for the US TV show "Charmed". (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F3pVP9YJwXg)
5. "Moments in Love" by The Art of Noise - While I adore a lot of songs by Art of Noise this has to be my favourite from them. I loved the group's use of sampling and while this song doesn't showcase this as much as others it has an incredible sensuality to it. It's like a synthpop forerunner of trance, but then I know nothing about music. I won't subject you to the over 10 minute original (although you can find it at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ux3u31SAeEM). The music video for the single release version is perhaps unmatched in weirdness (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RIcmIhOesaI).
6. "It's a Sin" by The Pet Shop Boys - People who know me now may be surprised that I was raised and active religiously in a rather traditional way up until I hit high school and started attending Unitarian services in a (Reform) synagogue which sometimes saw the Rabbi among the people there. But it wasn't until I started dealing with being trans that I really split with the faith of my mothers. While my upbringing did not include a lot of emphasis on sin, I did listen to this song a lot and find it expresses my feelings of guilt over not only leaving that faith but also the various mistakes I've made, the wrongs I've done against people, as well as the fact that a lot of things I enjoy, including just being myself as a trans woman and a lesbian let alone any actions, are considered sins by a lot of people. I'm still religious these days but it's my own personal religion, a form of paganism, that I don't share with others. Nowadays I also enjoy my sins. ;) (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y7I5UaB7mx4)
7. "Leather" by Tori Amos - I was tempted to just say all of her "Little Earthquakes" album because I also love "Precious Things" (with the wonderful lines "So you can make me cum / That doesn't make you Jesus" as well as the reference to "fascist panties"), the title track, "Silent All These Years", and of course "Crucify". But "Leather" contrasts nicely with "It's a Sin" if you take it playfully like I do. Besides, I can't help but take Tori at her word and see her when she talks about standing naked before me, let alone in her leather. *innocent whistling* ;) (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XskuR_3a_Ao)
8. "Iowa (Travelling III)" by Dar Williams - I've not had any songs by any of the so-called "typical lesbian" performers I love (eg, ani difranco, kd lang) so I thought I'd end with one who is not lesbian but created that lesbian hit of the 90's "As Cool As I Am". This song isn't as well known, but the lyrics draw me more as I relate to the awkwardness of being a lesbian. "I've never had a way with women" could definitely have come out of my lips. But I'm working on it. Dar also wrote the song "When I Was a Boy" about the strictures of gender and the good-natured "The Christians and the Pagans". You really should check her out. (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tqHgZhLLTc0)
