Hornbyesque

"I once expressed to a friend my desire to be able to erase from my memory all of my favorite songs so that I might have the experience of hearing them again for the first time. It seemed to me that if I listened to a song I loved too often, I ran the risk of wearing it out. I was afraid that eventually it wouldn't move me in quite the same way. I would still want, maybe even need, to hear it, but the level of emotional intensity simply wouldn't be as high. With every listen, I would be looking for the magic and it would be gone. The passion would be traded for a friendly laugh, some small talk, and a pleasant goodbye until I felt like meeting up again. I have come to realize this is not so with the really great songs, the ones that are new every time, the true loves." -- from "On 'Alison'" by AD Hoover

From McSweeney's Internet Tendency: here are some short essays on favorite songs, inspired by Nick Hornby's Songbook (a.k.a. 31 Songs, to the local book-buying public).

I like it when they write about stuff that's kind of cheesy -- say, A-ha's "Take On Me" or that Aladdin song (Disney, not Bowie) -- and still convey how much it meant, and still means, to them, with unembarassed sincerity.