French tune, English lyrics -- how about "My Way"? ("And now, the end is near, and so I face the final curtain.") Many versions to choose from, starting with Frank Sinatra and Sid Vicious.

Another Sinatra song with some similarities is It Was A Very Good Year.

Another one: Now I'm Easy, by Eric Bogle.

The first two that come to mind, which I hope will be played at my funeral:

And When I Die -- Laura Nyro
When I Go -- Dave Carter & Tracy Grammer

STOP EARWORMING ME, WEIRD AL!!

I haven't listened to anything from the Weird Al album because I don't think I've heard any of the songs he's parodying.

ION, I downloaded the new Sia album the other day. I love her previous albums, but the first time I listened to 1000 Forms of Fear I just thought it was OK. But the second time I listened to it I loved every song.

It's weird--some songs I love the first time I hear them, some the second or third time, and sometimes it can take up to eight-ish listens to love. I read something a while ago that much of the pleasure our brains get from listening to music comes from our brains anticipating what's coming next in a song and then being right. So maybe songs with more complex melodies, rhythms and chord-progressions take more listens to appreciate because it takes more listens for the brain to "learn" them?

I think most of the songs I love on first listen are ones with catchy riffs and/or melodies, which maybe tend to be simpler?

Thoughts?

Question for a Wednesday morning: What songs never get old?

Just now, "Sugar, Sugar" played on the radio. And I was thinking, I've been hearing that song for more than 40 years, at least 2,000 times, 3,000 times, maybe more -- I lost count long ago. And I never get tired of it, it never gets old.

Another song in that category: "Love Is Blue." Again, I can't remember a time when I didn't know it. But I could still happily listen to it all day.

What songs do other people just never get tired of?

What songs do other people just never get tired of?

While I got fully sated on Tom Waits music while researching the book, certain of his songs are always welcome including "Swordfishtrombones," "Cold Cold Night" and "Alice."

Looking through my Radio Schmaydio playlists (which I play all the time in the car), these songs have never lost their charm despite dozens (probably hundreds) of plays:

See Line Woman - Nina Simone
California Dreamin' - Bobby Womack (a great slinky soul cover)
That's How Much I Need Your Love - Chuck Prophet
Dark Rapture - Count Basie
Make Me Yours - Bettye Swan (soul nugget)
Six Months In A Leaky Boat - Split Enz
Stupidly Happy - XTC
California Sex Lawyer - Fountains of Wayne
1952 Vincent Black Lightning - Del McCoury Band
Spanish Stroll - Mink Deville
Skylark - Jackie Paris

Rather random scurry through my playlists, but those songs have been very durable.

My list would include:

Amii Stewart - Knock On Wood
Abba - S.O.S.
Jona Lewie - Louise (my favourite song of the early 80s, and still much fun)
Spandau Ballet - True (and to a lesser extent, Through The Barricades)
An extensive bunch of Beatles songs, especially the run from Help! to Sgt Pepper.

Six Months In A Leaky Boat - Split Enz

I only put this on my iPhone a couple of months ago. Odd, since I'm hardly short of Split Enz tracks.

On the New Zealand theme, I would like to call attention to the musical stylings of one Gin Wigmore, for example:

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(The last song has been used in a Heineken commercial tie-in to Skyfall. Another of her songs, Kill Of tThe Night, was used for Alfa Romeo in Australia.)

In terms of "hey, these songs have been out for decades and decades and they still rock" and not "I could listen to these songs that just came out yesterday/the week before and they don't get old" would be many songs by The Police, Led Zep's "When the Levy Breaks" ( I want to have baby's with the base line/drum beat).

I've found, once I got into it, that Alt-J can bear repeated listening for hours a day and weeks on end. I think I listened to it solely for months without boredom, and still find myself enraptured. Except for My Matilda. That one drags and earworms me horrifically.

For my childhood first loves, Sting/The Police and Marc Cohn still hold strong. I'm actually curious to find out more about Sting's musical (Broadway show?). He put me off when he went classical, but Soul Cages haunts me to this day as an album and a piece of storytelling and pseudo biography. Which may be more of a Natter topic?

I also listened to the Grease soundtrack last week for the first time in a long time, and it holds up beautifully. When the movie came out, I thought of "There Are Worse Things I Could Do" as a fine song but not one of my favorites. Now, it's amazing. I think it's one of those songs that you can only appreciate after getting some life experience.

And "Summer Nights" is another one for the "never gets old" list.