The last radical discontinuity in my iTunes data occured on August 8th last year, when I last transferred to a new hardware platform. So, now I have one year’s worth of music-listening data to examine.

14,952 tracks. 12,990 of them have been played, but fewer than 5,000 have been played more than twice; only 1,620 more than five times. The data could, and indeed should, be sliced and diced in all sorts of ways. Maybe I will use it for SQL practice, but not, I think, today.

Here are my top twenty most played tracks (in iTunes) from that period. Music played on other systems and in other media are of course not counted. The first thing I notice about the difference between this list and the last time I did something similar is that the individual play count numbers are much lower: I’m listening to a greater range of music than before, and even top favourites don’t get aired that often. The most played track from the last year has only been played once every sixteen and a half days.

Only three of this twenty figured in the list I posted three and a half years ago – fewer than I would have expected. But the new arrivals are not, for the most part, new releases, or even music that’s new to me. They are nearly all old favourites which have been incorporated into the digital music collection in the intervening time – notably two tracks that are vinyl rips of music which has never been released on CD at this point.

Goodnight Moon – Shivaree (I Oughta Give You A Shot In The Head For Making Me Live In This Dump, 1999) [22 plays]

From the Kill Bill soundtrack. This track now shares the place in my affections which used to be exclusively occupied by Lydia Lunch’s version of Spooky, from Queen of Siam (1979).

Children Crying – The Congos (Heart Of The Congos, 1977) [19]

Arguably the best track from arguably the best roots reggae album ever recorded.

Diamond In My Crown – Emmylou Harris (The Ballad of Sally Rose, 1985) [19]

A stand-out track, co-written by Emmylou and Chris Kennerley, from a mid-80s album that even some diehard Emmylou fans aren’t aware of. She hasn’t often written her own material over the years. She really should.

When The Swallows Come Back To Capistrano – The Ink Spots (Best Of The Ink Spots, 1940) [19]

The track being from 1940, of course, not the Best-of. They didn’t have those, then. I don’t think I heard this track until years after I’d heard Slim Gaillard’s When McVouty Comes Back To Capistrano, so I never understood the reference. Come to think of it, I still don’t know where Capistrano actually is. Not that it matters.

Blue Eyes Crying In The Rain – Willie Nelson (Red Headed Stranger, 1975) [18]

Willie absolutely at the top of his game.

Gulf Coast Highway – Kate Rusby (Intuition, 1996) [17]

Kate Rusby has included one or two off-beat cover versions on each of her albums; this version of the Nanci Griffith song comes from a mid-90s folk revival compilation album which I have never seen, and never heard any of the other tracks. It showed up on AudioGalaxy, years ago, and it was a bugger to identify, at the time. The original is rather lovely, but it never made me cry; this one did.

Why Not Smile – R.E.M. (Up, 1998) [17]

if I was to combine the play count of this with the play count of the Oxford American version (from the Out of Time compilation) it would lead this list by some considerable distance. Still not sure which version I like best; if I was, one or other version would have been demoted by now, and they’re both getting played.

In Germany Before The War – Randy Newman (Little Criminals, 1977) [17]

Beatiful. Beautifully sad and strange, and nostalgic, and ominous. Just beautiful.

Jenny – Richard Thompson (Daring Adventures, 1986) [17]

This is far from being my favourite Richard Thompson track. I doubt it’s even in my top ten, so why it ranks so high in this list is a bit of a mystery. Maybe the machine itself is fond of it, rather like the predilection the last machine seemed to have for De La Soul…

I’m Still In Love With You – Steve Earle & The Del McCoury Band, feat. Iris DeMent (The Mountain, 1998) [17]

A very traditional country duet, and positively blinding.

So Quiet In Here – Van Morrison (Enlightenment, 1990) [17]

Not by any means a great Van album, but there were four great tracks, and this one just happens to be the most played of those. I’ve recently been nudged into considering the rest of the album again, after Dylan played one of the other tracks – not one of the four, that is – on his radio show…

Tears Are in Your Eyes – Yo La Tengo (And Then Nothing Turned Itself Inside-Out, 2000) [17]

YLT in full Velvet Underground slow jam mode, and quite definitely my favourite of the tracks of theirs that I know well. But then again, there’s a whole bunch of entire albums I haven’t checked out yet, so that may change…

The Long Road – Eddie Vedder With Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan (Dead Man Walking OST, 1995) [16]

Still going strong, this highlight from the generally excellent Dead Man Walking soundtrack. Its a great favourite when it comes time for making CD compiulations for people I don’t know particularly well.

Corrina, Corrina – Freddy Fender (Tex-Mex Fiesta, 1961) [16]

Spanish language version of the blues standard, and one of the songs that makes me want to learn Spanish, purely for the pleasure of singing in the language. The date is an educated guess.

Geneve – John Otway & Wild Willy Barrett (John Otway & Wild Willy Barrett, 1977) [16]

First heard this on Peel, back in the day, and it was stunning. For years and years I didn’t have a copy even on tape, and when I finally tracked it down again, just over a year ago, it was most gratifying to hear that it was still stunning. One of the great unsung Rock Ballad performances, this…

Soft – Lemon Jelly (Soft Rock 7″ single, 2001) [16]

Lemon Jelly’s first record, a hit-and-run operation which has never been re-released, presumably because of the huge and un-cleared sample of Chicago’s If You Leave Me Now. It was all down-hill from here, as it turned out, for Lemon Jelly. The first album was great-ish, though it hasn’t worn especially well. The second was okay, and the third, well the third album totally sucked from the word go.

Pretty Good Day – Loudon Wainwright III (Social Studies, 1999) [16]

a great one for the acoustic guitar and singer repertoire. Simple and devastating.

Tribulation (version) – Marcia Griffiths (Tribulation 12″ single, 1981) [16]

Never released on CD to my knowledge. Great tune, understated production by Bunny Wailer. One of the highlights of the dying days of the Jamaican Golden Age…

Promises – Randy Travis (Old 8×10, 1988) [16]

Self-pitying country lament, stark, acoustic arrangement. You know you want it.

No Na Mamo – Taj Mahal (Sacred Island, 1997) [16]

Delicious Hawaiian seduction piece. I’ve no idea what the words mean. He could be singing about waste disposal for all I know – but I doubt it.

Only one track from this century. Hmmm…