spring cleaning

spring cleaning.

i'm obsessed.

and there isn't nearly enough of it to do in my 200 square-foot studio; so it's been spilling over into everything lately.  my office, my car, and, regrettably, my closet.  in a fit of cleaning frenzy, i always underestimate what i actually want/need in my wardrobe.  favoring order and space over clutter, i get rid of jeans, dresses, comfy sweatpants, and shoes; all of which i end up missing desperately after the euphoria of a chaos-free closet fades.  i end up missing my totally impractical purple flats, my favorite high school sweatshirt, and regretting that i ever parted with that questionable cocktail dress.  i could have worn it with those flats.  damn. 

but i digress.

this year, spring cleaning has gone to a new level entirely: college papers, summer resumes, pictures reminiscent of the arrested development mystery photo (in that they're fuzzy, not that they're balls.  just to clarify.), e-mails, and songs. 

i'm spring-cleaning my iTunes.

with that, i present four songs that i have chosen to delete forever.  but not without a bit of a heavy heart.  the songs, and the stories behind them:

1.) "thanks for the memories" (aka thx fr th mmrs)

first of all, i am more than totally embarrassed to admit that this song was ever a part of my collection.  this isn't a cute, oh-can-you-believe-she-still-listens-to-hanson, kind of song.  it's a bad song, sung and performed badly by a deeply annoying chicago band.  however, it will forever be the soundtrack to one of my favorite moments - and, ironically, one of my favorite memories.

my very best friend in the whole world got married last september.  it was a beautiful ceremony - touching, elegant, and with a totally awesome MOH toast to boot :)  for some odd reason, the bride allowed her normally good taste to be taken over by the heat of the moment, or something, and chose this Fall Out Boy tune as the bridal party song.  we did our best to shake it to this totally tuneless, rhythm-less song, but i doubt we had any real success.  it is an impossible task.  so, we stuck to the time-tested tactic of shouting out the words in a big circle while pumping our fists in the air, getting especially proficient during the chorus and awkwardly silent for the rest of it.

2.) one sweet day, mariah carey & boyz II men

sorry, i never told you/all i wanted to saaaaaaaay . . .

i'm already mad at myself for getting rid of this one.  i think that daydream was one of the first CDs i ever purchased.  my friends gina, yvonne, and i used to turn it on as loudly as our parents would let us and dance through all 75 minutes of it in one of our basements, singing every word to every song and incorporating grand hand gestures worthy of a true diva like mariah.  

however, at the age of 22, i am a bit humiliated to admit that i still cry every time i hear this song.  i'm listening to it on youtube right now.  and crying.  tears.  

i have some pride.

3.) linger, the cranberries

when i was 8 or 9, my older cousin ryan told me that this song was about farts ("don't let it burn, don't let it fade/do you have to, do you have to let it linger?" etc. etc.).  this song, i can't listen to without laughing.  and crinkling my nose a little bit.  

4.) sexyback, j.t. 

the house that i lived in last year was fortunate enough to have a few lovers of the downtown dance scene - most especially, that holy of holies, tonic. (which was, more often than not, a post-script to our cosmos with gary at tee-off!) thursday nights, our pregaming ritual usually consisted of a few drinks mixed (or not mixed) in the kitchen, getting opinions on outfits, and listening to a deafening soundtrack of the latest hits.  except that, somehow, this particular song never really made it off the rotation.  it's a feel-good number, to be sure, but one can only take the refrain and mechanized vocals so many times before the song starts to lose all meaning.  and i don't want to get down on justin, so i thought i'd retire this one for a bit.

whew.  that's enough for one night.  

i'm quickly adding all the jay-z i can, though.  counting down the days until april 16th.