Counting Down my iTunes Play Count (VANITY)

AC's iTunes Directory | 5/17/2021 | Alberta's Child

[Alberta's Child]

I recently purchased a new computer, and over the last few weeks I've been transferring files from the old one to the new one. While doing this I've been combing through some of these files and checking to ensure that they will work with new versions of various applications I commonly use.

One of the things that caught my eye was the "Play Count" number for each of the MP3 and MP4 files I am moving from one computer to the other. As I went through these tracks on iTunes, I decided to rank them in the order of their play frequency to see if there were any interesting patterns in the number of times I've played them over the years. Then I figured -- based on some of the great conversations I've had over the years with Freepers who are music buffs -- I'd take the Top 50 songs on this list and present them here on a series of FR threads. I'll post them here on a new thread that compiles the growing list one day at a time over the next couple of months. I'll probably only post them on weekdays and may miss a day or two here and there, so it will take at least ten weeks to do this.

One of the things I noticed is that these songs do not necessarily show up in an accurate order of preference for me. Sometimes a song ranks high on the list just because I downloaded it a long time ago, and it's been played more times than others that were downloaded more recently. Other songs have been played more frequently because they’re on multiple playlists I've set up over the years -- Iconic Classic Rock, Hits for the Highway, Country Classics, Best of the 80s, etc. Over a period of years it's also possible that longer songs are less likely to appear higher on the list because they're more likely to get cut off before it plays completely -- when I'm playing them in my vehicle and stopping on a road trip, for example -- and therefore not registering as an additional "Play" in iTunes.

Any insight and commentary would be welcome! Feel free to post items from your own "Favorite Songs" list on these threads. You don't even have to post about your favorite song of all time right now. We have fifty days to go -- so take your time and consider posting one from your digital music collection that roughly corresponds to the list I post here. What's ranked #50 in your list of most frequently played songs on your app with iTunes, Spotify, Amazon, etc.? #45? #40? What is it about that song that makes it stand out to you over many years? This could be an interesting series of threads, for sure.

And to show my gratitude to the FR management for giving us all a forum to post vanity threads like this, I'll be following up this first post by making a contribution for the current quarterly fundraiser. I would encourage everyone on these threads to do the same! :-)

Have fun with this, folks!

[Alberta's Child]

TODAY’S ADDITION TO THE LIST:

#50 -- "Sara" by Fleetwood Mac ... Click Here

This one was a little bit surprising to me. I never considered myself much of a Fleetwood Mac fan, but I always liked this tune. I think their studio albums were exceptionally well produced. I would recommend turning the bass up on this when listening to it; the bass track is excellent.

[Alberta's Child]

Defining lyrics from this one for me:

The night is coming and the starling flew for days,
I'd stay home at night all the time.

[Skywise]

I ripped hundreds of CDs into MP3s years ago (high vbr - 192 minimum 320 max) then linked those to iTunes. (iTunes doesn’t control it but I use it for additional metadata editing and to get it into my iPhone)
One of the things I did was make a smart playlist to collect all the tracks I had NEVER played (roughly 50% of my collection) and then went through and listened and rated them favorites if I liked them to get them back into circulation.

Number one song in my collection (because it’s in my workout playlist)
https://youtu.be/n4AUY-v1nsE

[Alberta's Child]

That's awesome. I love reading the stories behind the songs people listen to frequently.

Good tune, too. I've never heard it before!

[Skywise]

The original was a great game!

[Alas Babylon!]

I made a number of playlists on Youtube from the Billboard Top 100 for each year of the early 70s.

I used the highest audio quality I could find but deliberately avoided live performances, because face it, often those songs do not sound the same as the way we first heard them on the radio. People will make playlists of oldies but use a live performance by the same artist, but decades AFTER the song was recorded.

Elton John, for example, does not sound at all today like he did in the 70s.

Maybe too much “hard” living. And seriously, I love his music, and really don’t care what he does in the privacy of his own bedroom.

[Alberta's Child]

Good point about the age of the performers. Even in their primes, most of these artists sound much worse live than they do in the studio. The studio tracks are simply engineered and produced so well that a live performance can never match it.

Among classic rock bands, I had found that the Allman Brothers, U2 and Rush were probably the ones whose live performances sounded most like their studio tracks. The Allman Brothers' "At Fillmore East" was arguably the best live rock album ever recorded.

[Kommodor]

I’ve done similarly, but I’m not sure what my #50 is. Maybe I’ll check later, just for giggles.

In my case, I have a playlist set up with all of my 4*+ files, and set up so that it only includes about 1/2 of them, based on least recently played. So, that way, I get a rotation of my favorites that cycles around every few months or so.

[Alas Babylon!]

Yeah. The Alman Bros. My favorite is Statesboro Blues, and was released as live.

Love that song.

Your sista Lucille say she wanna go...

And I sure will take her!

[zeugma]

I absolutely despise most 'randomizers' in media applications. They pretty much universally suck, so I ended up 'rolling my own' to generate the playlist.

[Fester Chugabrew]

I have 5K to 6K songs in my iTunes library. Put it on “shuffle” and it will repeat a song after only a few dozen tunes. The tune with the highest play count today is “Mexican Shuffle” by Herb Alpert & The Tijuana Brass (148 plays). “Sara” has 17 plays.

[moviefan8]

I like reading about the singers and the songs they performed. Threads like this make me look them up if I am not familiar with them. Sometimes I download some songs that are mentioned.

I have 38,157 songs now. Crazy. I know.

[SamAdams76]

Excellent idea for a thread series. I look forward to hearing the other 49 most listened to songs in your collection.

As one with over 65,000 tracks in my iTunes collection, it takes only very special songs to get into my Top 50. Unfortunately I stupidly reset the play counts in my library about 8 years ago so I lost all that metadata from the approx. 2002-2014 period. (2002 was when I got my first iPod and first started using iTunes.)

"Sara" is one of my favorite Fleetwood Mac songs and I have multiple versions of it. The main version (from the original "Tusk" album) has 17 plays.

Then I also have multiple live versions as well as an alternate early take (3/10/79) from the Tusk sessions (available on the super deluxe version of "Tusk").

But it didn't even make my Top 100 in most played song.

My #50 song is "Pancho % Lefty" by Emmylou Harris, that has 42 plays. Other versions I have of "Pancho & Lefty" include Willie Nelson & Willie Nelson as well as Townes Van Zandt.

[SamAdams76]

I'll have to let my wife know I'm not the only one in the world obsessed with the Billboard Top 100 charts!

I own the full series of the Joel Whitburn books below (not cheap) and for many years subscribed to Billboard magazine, where I would pore over the charts constantly and follow my favorite songs up and down the charts.

I'm currently on a project (hobby) where I am exploring every song that hit the Billboard Top 100 chart exactly 50 years ago and building playlists around them. So now I'm in May 1971 where songs like "I'll Meet You Halfway" by Partridge Family and "Hot Love" by T Rex were just hitting the charts.

Even though I have many of these songs in my collection already, I'm still discovering nuggets that I missed the first time around. "Nathan Jones" by The Supremes and "Sea Cruise" by Johnny Rivers were just added to my playlists. I don't remember hearing them back in the day but I know a good song when I hear it.

[Alberta's Child]

Very interesting. I never heard that complaint about “randomizers” before.

[Alberta's Child]

Somehow I knew you'd find this thread. LOL.

I'll keep you updated each day I post the next one!

Just listened to "Pancho & Lefty" -- and promptly added it to my download list. Thank you!

[Alberta's Child]

Very interesting. On my old-fashioned iPod the “shuffle” function will run through every song just once, and will stop playing after it plays every song on the device.

[Fester Chugabrew]

Lucky you! It has been a source of frustration that the shuffle feature does not incorporate the corpus of my library. Moreover, it often happens that songs are cut short during play. I use an iTouch.

First World problems.

[Fester Chugabrew]

I know this is TMI, but here is a list of the last 100 tunes to play from my library, including play counts. This is from a home based PC, not a mobile device, with which the shuffle seems deficient:

Tend My Garden — Joe Walsh — 8
Interlude, No. 2 — Earth, Wind & Fire — 21
Blue Sound - Note 3 — Weather Report — 4
Looking Good — George Bedard — 4
Bad Bad Whiskey — VooDoo Brothers — 2
High Plains Drifter — System 7 — 5
Why Georgia — John Mayer — 11
Boozer — John Scofield — 33
How High the Moon (Live) — The Oscar Peterson Trio — 13
Funky Nassau, Pt. 1 — The Beginning Of The End — 44
A Walk In the Black Forest — Mantovani — 31
The Walk — Mayer Hawthorne — 37
Sun Runner — Bob James — 60
Help Me — Joni Mitchell — 14
Words of Love — The Beatles — 7
Ich Steh an Deiner Krippe Hier — Bach-Chor Sieger — 34
Julia — The Beatles — 1
Mmmbop — Hanson — 6
Miserere: 8. Libera me — The Tallis Scholars & Peter Phillips — 2
To the End of the World — Pat Metheny Group — 1
The Headless Horseman — Thurl Ravenscroft — 9
Dust on the Bottle — David Lee Murphy — 7
Goodbye in Her Eyes — Zac Brown Band — 7
Look Who’s Alone Tonight — Robbie Nevil — 2
Magic Carpet Ride — Steppenwolf — 3
Tangerine — Herb Alpert’s Tijuana Brass — 103
Islands in the Stream — The Bee Gees — 8
Episode D’Azur — Pat Metheny Group — 6
Randbop — Uncle Art — 51
Riding With the King — John Hiatt — 3
I’m Gonna Drop You — John Nemeth featuring Junior Watson — 6
I’m Looking Through You — The Beatles — 4
Jigs — Uncle Art — 49
Got To Give It Up, Part 1 [Single Version] — Marvin Gaye — 24
Cross Of Jesus Cross Of Sorrow — Children’s Choirs Of St. Paul Lutheran — 27
Jesus Children of America — Stevie Wonder — 5
Baby Doll — Bessie Smith — 13
Closer — Four80East — 6
Ja-Da — Oscar Peterson — 2
Whoomp! (There It Is) [Radio Edit] — Tag Team — 1
Sabor a Mí — Mariachi Sol de Mexico de Jose Hernandez — 5
Main Theme - “Exodus” — Mantovani — 6
You Cut Me to the Bone — Robben Ford & The Blue Line — 13
Christmas Greeting — Ann Seyboldt — 14
Magic — Pilot — 4
Free Man in Paris — Joni Mitchell — 27
The Magic Song (Bibbidi Bobbidi Boo) — Mary Martin — 6
Ascent — Lyle Mays — 4
[Oboe] Concerto In C Minor: II. Adagio — Alison Balsom & Scottish Ensemble — 11
Tell Me I’m Your Man — Robben Ford & The Blue Line — 6
Victor/Victoria - Finale: The Shady Dame From Seville, Crazy World, You & Me, Le Jazz Hot — Erich Kunzel: Cincinnati Pops Orchestra — 12
I Ain’t Gonna Let You Break My Heart Again — Bonnie Raitt — 9
The Firebird (L’oiseau de feu): I. Introduction — Chicago Symphony Orchestra & Pierre Boulez — 1
Le Nozze Di Figaro (The Marriage of Figaro), K. 492: Overture — London Philharmonic Orchestra & Edward Downes — 12
Ecological Disaster Footage (Psuedo-Science Denial Mix) — iGod — 4
Life In the Fast Lane — Eagles — 2
Been Too Long — Four80East — 23
I’ll Drink to You — Duke Jupiter — 16
Mass in B minor BWV232: Agnus Dei — Alison Balsom — 16
Camelot: I Wonder What the King Is Doing Tonight — Richard Burton — 11
34 Compline — Concordia Publishing House — 7
The One — Catman & The All-Niters — 10
Thinking About Your Love - Short — Skipworth and Turner — 15
Green Book — Steely Dan — 13
For Dancers Only — Ray Anthony and His Orchestra — 4
I’m Going Home — Kim Wilson — 77
All Soldiers — Philip Bailey — 12
Echoes of Love — The Doobie Brothers — 7
Rosemary (Bonus Track) — Herb Alpert & The Tijuana Brass — 1
I Get So Worried — The Mannish Boys — 2
Grill Your Own — Kimberly Allison — 9
Building a Family — Mark Isham — 12
Happy Feelin’ — Earth, Wind & Fire — 5
How About You — Les Brown — 5
And When I Die — Blood, Sweat & Tears — 29
The First Noel — Robert Stanton — 20
Rachael’s Azimuth — Shoshin Orchestra — 8
Eight Days a Week — The Beatles — 8
Build Me Up Buttercup — The Foundations — 3
Walk Like a Man — Frankie Valli & The Four Seasons — 9
This Is No Laughing Matter — Scott Robinson — 2
Careless Love — John Nemeth featuring Junior Watson — 10
Shake Your Body (Down to the Ground) — The Jacksons — 4
The Meaning of Life — Buster — 4
Zebaidir Song With Rebabah — Sudan, 1969 — 10
Missa Papae Marcelli: 4d. Benedictus — The Tallis Scholars & Peter Phillips — 4
When You Say Nothing At All — Ronan Keating — 3
Ma Tovu (Oh How Good) — Michael Levy — 34
O Come, All Ye Faithful — Robert Stanton — 2
Thinking About Your Love - Short — Skipworth and Turner — 15
I’ll Take You There — The Staple Singers — 50
White Christmas — Christopher Hollyday — 14
Your Image — The Moore Brothers — 17
Death Follows Him — Novello, John Quartet — 15
Saint James Infirmary — Slam Stewart — 4
I Am Confessin’ — Louise Tobin — 11
New York Minute — Herbie Hancock — 7
Backstroke — Ronnie Earl — 15
Herzog — Grant Levin Trio — 11
The Remembering / High the Memory — Yes — 12

[Alberta's Child]

That is great -- and no such thing as "TMI" on these threads!

I don't have time now, but I am going to go through that list and play every unfamiliar song if I can find it online.

Thank you!