A 30-day song challenge

John Scalzi did this, putting all the songs in one heap. I'm not going to embed the songs, as he did: just provide links. But here they are.

1. A song you like with a color in the title.
Yes, it's old. So am I.

2. A song you like with a number in the title.
Bloodthirsty folk music.

3. A song the reminds you of summertime.
Epic, graphic, and the first thing that I thought of.

4. A song that reminds you of someone you’d rather forget.
I'd rather not explain this one.

5. A song that needs to be played loud.
My idea of what needs to be played loud is different from other people's.

6. A song that makes you want to dance.
Also has a color (the same color) in the title, but it's here because I once actually did waltz to this song, and it was one of the most lovely terpsichorean experiences I've ever had.

7. A song to drive to.
If I want to drive to music, it has to be as long as the drive. I found it: this is the very same performance from the previous week's Proms that showed up on the BBC's Radio 3 one day in 2005 just as I set out from Chester, where I was staying, to Great Haywood - an hour away - and lasted exactly as long as the drive did. Magical.

8. A song about drugs or alcohol.
Ask me for one of those, you're gonna get this. Sorry.

9. A song that makes you happy.
The guy behind this was a lot less famous when this was released than he is now. Regardless, I have never seen a musical performance more sheerly full of joy.

10. A song that makes you sad.
Of course it's sad! It's about dead cats, isn't it?

11. A song you never get tired of.
Of all the catchy songs this guy has written, I think this one is the catchiest.

12. A song from your pre-teen years.
This was my favorite song by my favorite recording artist when I was eight years old, so help me.

13. A song you like from the 70s.
There is one actual rock band from the 70s that I really like, and this is one of their better songs. By the way, the actual singing doesn't begin until three minutes in. That's three, count 'em, three.

14. A song you’d love to be played at your wedding.
Actually, I made a tape of this writing/composing team's collected love songs to play at our wedding reception. This is one of the most beautiful, though not the most romantic.

15. A song you like that’s a cover by another artist.
"Like," eh? OK. Believe it or not, I had never heard, or even heard of, this quite famous pop song until I picked up a CD with the cover version by this rather unexpected and esoteric - but well-known to me - performer.

16. A song that’s a classic favorite.
"Classic," eh? OK. This one is by the opera composer Jake Heggie. And it's a favorite, thanks also to the lyrics by Gavin Geoffrey Dillard.

17. A song you’d sing a duet with someone on karaoke.
See no. 14: this was also on that tape, and is merely one of the more unusual numbers. I have sung this one with B, not on karaoke but with her at the piano.

18. A song from the year you were born.
After a despairing search through a list of the pop hits of that miserable annum for something I could tolerate, I remembered that this wonderful show was first produced the same year.

19. A song that makes you think about life.
This song pretty much described my life back when it was a current hit. As the saying goes, things get better.

20. A song that has many meanings for you.
I don't know what this song's meanings are (except for the outright riddle, which is pretty obvious), but it certainly has plenty.

21. A song you like with a person’s name in the title.
Boy, is this 40-year-old song ever obsolete. I think the author would like to bury it at the bottom of the Mohole, but once you release a recording it doesn't work that way.

22. A song that moves you forward.
I'm not sure what that means, but I find this tremendously energetic.

23. A song you think everyone should listen to.
That's an awfully forbidding description, but I can say modestly of this song that it's not only a good song, but it has something important to say about the human experience.

24. A song by a band you wish were still together.
This would also require them all to be alive, which I also wish. (I did get a kick out of the wholly amateur video by other people.)

25. A song you like by an artist no longer living.
Well, several we've already had meet this criterion, but how about one by someone I knew personally? Leigh Ann Hussey wrote this, sang it, and played the violin in it too. This is my favorite from her repertoire.

26. A song that makes you want to fall in love.
This album was on my regular playlist at the time I met B.

27. A song that breaks your heart.
I associate this one with being isolated far from home at the age of 11. There was a record player out there, and this was one of the records.

28. A song by an artist whose voice you love.
Of all the great women of folk, it's gotta be Maddy.

29. A song you remember from your childhood.
This was my very first favorite song: we're talking age 3 or 4.

30. A song that reminds you of yourself.
No such animal.