What I Eat For Dinner, Mostly

With all of the 'Best Of' lists circulating around not only because it is the end of the year but the end of a decade, a pretty rocky one at that, I thought I would give you my very personal list. My criteria for judging each song had nothing to do with what Spin, Rolling Stone, Billboard, friends nor any other source said. I did not look at albums sold, concert tour earnings, or award winners (although I did enjoy going to the MTV Woodie Awards). I simply reviewed my lala.com collection and sorted by sheer number of times I played the song, and picked the top 25.

This is certainly not scientific - I have a large iTunes collection, listen to NPR music and woxy.com, and have a stocked iPod that were not consulted. I also had a slight bias towards keeping a few songs from albums that came out this year over a few older, more played classics; however you will see pre-2009 dates below that I could not bear to remove. Finally, as my last defense, several of these songs come from my 'she goes' playlist that is my favorite chill mix that I play late at night when I am working, writing, a little drunk or in need of comforting background music; it only makes sense that my relaxed mood music finally gets the praise it deserves.

I may very likely follow suit and follow this posting up with another one listing my top songs or albums of 2009, of the decade or go negative with my most hated songs. However, I decided to first give you a more intimate look into my music collection. I feel exposed, and maybe even a little embarrassed, or is that vulnerability? I suppose that is the feeling that anyone gets when sharing their preferences although, music is the throne for personal preference.

Enough of my rant, enjoy! The playlist is free to listen to, at least until Apple decides what to do with their new purchase - lala.com.

KEY: (Song, Artist, Year the album was released, Number of plays I have for the song)

1. Glass, Concrete and Stone, David Byrne - 2004 - 66 plays

2. The House She Lived In, The Veils - 2009 - 51 plays

3. Two, Ryan Adams - 2006 - 46 plays

4. Tightrope, Yeasayer - 2009 - 41 plays

5. Dog Days Are Over, Florence & The Machine - 2009 - 40 plays

6. Jacksonville Skyline, Whiskeytown - 2001 - 39 plays

7. Growing Up Beside You, Paolo Nutini - 2009 - 37 plays

8. Sit Down By The Fire, The Veils - 2009 - 34 plays

9. Sunlight, Harlem Shakes - 2009 - 35 plays

10. Goin' To Acapulco, Jim James, Calexico - 2007 - 33 plays

11. Goods, Mates of State - 2004 - 28 plays

12. Paranoia in B Major, The Avett Brothers - 2007 - 27 plays

13. Skinny Love, Bon Iver - 2008 - 27 plays

14. Whispered Words (Pretty Lies), Dan Auerbach - 2009 - 26 plays

15. Burial, Miike Snow - 2009 - 25 plays

16. Eet, Regina Spektor - 2009 - 23 plays

17. My Girls, Animal Collective - 2009 - 21 plays

18. Boulder to Birmingham, Emmylou Harris and Mark Knopfler (Live) - 2006 - 21 plays

19. Hysteric, Yeah Yeah Yeahs - 2009 - 21 plays

20. Winds Of Change, Fitz and The Tantrums - 2009 - 21 plays

21. Lalita, The Love Language - 2009 - 21 plays

22. Daylight, Matt & Kim - 2009 - 19 plays

23. The Giant of Illinois - 2009 - 18 plays

24. Intro, The xx - 2009 - 14 plays

25. Little Secrets, Passion Pit - 2009 - 11 plays

There are some really great albums expected to come out in 2010, stay tuned!