how i find the songs

when people ask me how i find the songs that i play, my usual answer: i don't know. from everywhere. i am always on the alert. today, the following happened. and i thought it would be fun to write down the path of my discovery.

1. i am reading a book. it is a passage about junior prom, and Ricky Nelson's Lonesome Town is playing. It is apparently a slow song.
2. i drop everything. i go online and look for Lonesome Town on iTunes. OK, sound interesting. But I don't like Nelson's version, even though it is apparently the original.
3. i go to emusic.com and look for Lonesome Town. i download Nelson's version. But i hate it, because it is a live recording.
4. on emusic.com, i look for other artists' version of the same song. i go through the list, listen to a few of them. i find Clearwater Connection and like its interpretation.
5. i download it, and play it on the loud speaker (the laptop's speakers hide everything).
6. i dance to it. not bad. it IS slow. i can walk to it. i can spin to it. i like the mood.
7. i annotate the song in my itunes library. it is now a candidate alternative song. but, i need others to complement it.
8. i go back to emusic.com. and find other artists who have also recorded Lonesome Town. i find Tineta, a country artist. i listen to all the tracks, looking for i-don't-know-what, until i get to Have You Ever Seen The Rain (by Fogarty). OK. her version is sweet. this may work. i download it. BUT BUT BUT, i also remind myself to look for Fogarty's version, because you never know, and also because i remember from a very long time ago that i liked Fogarty's rendition.
9. now i have two possible candidates in a set.
10. i go back to reading the book.
11. but because i am obsessive, i go back to emusic.com, and download Creedence Clearwater Revival's Chronicle Volume One.
12. i look at the similar artists, and decide to try Nitty Gritty Dirt Band's Welcome to Woody Creek (don't ask me why). i scan every song. nothing turns me on. but, i download Any Love But Our Love, because, who knows, i may like it, i may not.
13. i go back to reading the book.
14. but WAIT! CCR Volume One does not contain Have You Ever Seen The Rain. back to the internet.
15. i find it under Pendulum (40th Anniversary Edition). i download it. oh it is fantastic!
16. at peace (for now). back to reading the book.