Don't make me kill you. *yawn*
May 19, 2006 7:34 AM   Subscribe

I’m looking for songs that won’t piss me off at six a.m.

I’m sick of being jolted awake by horrible scary electronic noises, so I’m compiling a musical gradual alarm. Specifically, songs that start soft and simple, gradually build, and end with a roar. So far, I’ve got ‘Hey Jude’ and Ravel’s ‘Bolero’. Content isn’t much of an issue; it’s the slow build that matters. I grovel before the Mefi masses to please suggest some songs.
posted by cdadog to Media & Arts (48 answers total) 9 users marked this as a favorite
 
"Levez Vos Skinny Fists Comme Antennas to Heaven" by Godspeed You! Black Emperor
posted by ed\26h at 7:40 AM on May 19, 2006


The first couple of songs of Broken Social Scene's You Forgot It In People is nice to wake up to. Also, if you're using a computer as your musical alarm, you should be able to find a program that will fade in the music over a specified interval; that way you could use any songs you want.
posted by philscience at 7:41 AM on May 19, 2006


Green Grass and High Tides by the Outlaws. Starts mellow enough and ends powerfully. Long song too so you can lie in bed hoping for a snow day for a few minutes.
posted by JohnnyGunn at 7:42 AM on May 19, 2006


Dvorak's "New World Symphony" is the raison d’être.
posted by Mean Mr. Bucket at 7:42 AM on May 19, 2006


Symphony No. 9, that is.
posted by Mean Mr. Bucket at 7:43 AM on May 19, 2006


Babe I'm Gonna Leave You, by Led Zepplin seems to have been written for this exact purpose.
posted by kosem at 7:45 AM on May 19, 2006


Alive from P.O.D. ?
posted by rinkjustice at 7:45 AM on May 19, 2006


Slint "Washer"
Kinski "Semaphore"
posted by saladin at 7:45 AM on May 19, 2006


I used this for years [773k mp3] (That's Yusef "Cat Stevens" Islam btw)
posted by m@ at 7:59 AM on May 19, 2006


Anything by Explosions in the Sky.
posted by oh pollo! at 8:00 AM on May 19, 2006


MacArthur Park
posted by Meatbomb at 8:01 AM on May 19, 2006


bowl of oranges by bright eyes!
posted by nitsuj at 8:05 AM on May 19, 2006


It's been incredibly pleasant being woken by Lion's Mane by Iron & Wine by the past year or so, but it doesn't really build.
posted by blueshammer at 8:13 AM on May 19, 2006


Sonny and Cher's "I Got You Babe" :P. Seriously, Jamiroquai's "Supersonic" comes to mind.

kosem, what's wrong with "Dazed an Confused" :P?
posted by freakystyley at 8:21 AM on May 19, 2006


"Come Downstairs and Say Hello" by Guster. It's pretty much exactly what you asked for.
posted by smackfu at 8:23 AM on May 19, 2006


Going to California by Led Zeppelin.
Wish You Were Here by Pink Floyd
We Do What We're Told by Peter Gabriel
posted by kdern at 8:30 AM on May 19, 2006


An incredibly (INCREDIBLY) good example of this is "So Come Back, I Am Waiting" by Okkervil River. It's off Black Sheep Boy.
posted by scarylarry at 8:38 AM on May 19, 2006


wow so much led zep...and i was going to add Stairway To Heaven. soft start...rockin end.
posted by ShawnString at 8:52 AM on May 19, 2006


This CD was in my alarm clock CD player for years.

Track 1 comes in really slowly and gently, gives you a few monuts of gentle lulling, then Track 2 hits you with a "get out of bed" signal.
posted by rxrfrx at 9:02 AM on May 19, 2006


China My China and Dead Finks Don't Talk, both by Brian Eno
Yoo Doo Right by Can
Don't Call Me Mark Chapman by Julian Cope
7th Symphony, first movement by Shostakovich (the middle section is very similar to Ravel's Bolero)
Ecclusiastics by Charles Mingus
posted by PinkStainlessTail at 9:03 AM on May 19, 2006


Try anything by Manitoba (now known as Caribou) for a nice pleasant wake up. Only a couple of tracks have the gradual-build property you're looking for but all of their music makes me happy and smiley. It is gentle and also rockin' in places.
posted by utsutsu at 9:04 AM on May 19, 2006


Crown of Love by Arcade Fire has an awesome, very slow build, and a killer finish.
posted by n-clue at 9:05 AM on May 19, 2006


Glósóli by Sigur Rós does that. It's from their new album Takk, and is the second track after a sufficiently mellow track, so the whole album would work well. It also has my favorite video ever.
posted by mayfly wake at 9:06 AM on May 19, 2006


Reveille never gets old.
posted by jellicle at 9:07 AM on May 19, 2006


Belle and Sebastian - Stars of Track and Field
Belle and Sebastian - I Fought in a War
Radiohead - No Surprises
Radiohead - Exit Music (For a Film)
posted by ludwig_van at 9:07 AM on May 19, 2006


Slut, by Pretty Flowers (can't believe this hasn't been mentioned yet!)

Actually, I'd like to second mayfly wake's Takk suggestion. That will work nicely.
posted by kosem at 9:12 AM on May 19, 2006


Several songs by Lamb fit the bill as well, though they may not give you a Starway to Heaven amount of slow wakeup time. "God Bless" and "Gold" and "Gorecki"... hell, most of the songs that are on "Best Kept Secrets."

Mind you, the degree of ennui you might carry the rest of the day might not be worth it, and if you accidentally pick, say, "B Line" you'll get the exact opposite approach.
posted by phearlez at 9:24 AM on May 19, 2006


"Perpetual Dawn" by Orb :) (Not selflinking!)
posted by Orb2069 at 9:47 AM on May 19, 2006


How about "Try a Little Tenderness" by Otis Redding?
posted by genefinder at 10:02 AM on May 19, 2006


The album, "Ladies and Gentlemen, We Are Floating in Space" by Spiritualized might fit the bill.

A lot of Dirty Three would work, maybe some of their longer tracks like "Sue's Last Ride," "Indian Love Song," or the awesonely titled "Everything's Fucked."

There is no chance in hell you have heard of this, but I have an album called The Bloodied Sword, which features a couple of members of Ultravox in a wacko electronic spoken word thing. Um. Yeah, that.
posted by Kafkaesque at 10:06 AM on May 19, 2006


"Once More" by the Bevis Frond, off Inner Marshland. Gentle start, blazing guitar finish.
posted by flabdablet at 10:12 AM on May 19, 2006 [1 favorite]


"wake up" by arcade fire.

Its perfect...name and everything.

Ive woken up to it for the past year and a half now and i still love the song.
posted by I_am_jesus at 10:25 AM on May 19, 2006


Ugh, you're gonna hate it, regardless. Face it, there's nothing out there that'll sound good at 6am in the morning. I've tried this with one of my favorite songs ("Somewhere over the rainbow" as done by Malmsteen) but stopped after two days. It took me a couple of months before I stopped flinching once that song came up on the iPod rotation. There's gotta be a reason that alarm clock manufacturers make the alarm an annoying tone that you won't hear anywhere else..
posted by aeighty at 10:25 AM on May 19, 2006


It doesn't have to be quiet, as long as it's melodious. Caravan, by Duke Ellington, in any of its many forms is an example of this.

Let's face it, though. You can go about your day trying to avoid the things which piss you off, but you'll get nothing done. Maybe let that first annoying song remind you that doing the things you gotta do is generally an annoying endeavor. Embrace the annoyance and become bigger than it.
posted by Mr. Gunn at 11:01 AM on May 19, 2006


Hmmm...'Champagne Supernova' by Oasis fits the bill,
was also gonna suggest stairway,'Everybody knows that you're insane' by QOTSA, 'All I want is you' by U2, 'Industry' by Michael Gordon (a cello piece - fantastic stuff), most of Jeff Buckley's stuff, 'Red Chord' by the Frames,lots of Opeth stuff, and maybe 'Where did you sleep' from Nirvana unplugged.
posted by TwoWordReview at 11:39 AM on May 19, 2006


"The Bleeding Heart Show," by The New Pornographers.
posted by pardonyou? at 11:41 AM on May 19, 2006


'Industry' by Michael Gordon (a cello piece - fantastic stuff)

A second so big it's a third on this. And everyone should listen to more Michael Gordon.
posted by PinkStainlessTail at 11:46 AM on May 19, 2006


"Sunset", by Kate Bush, off of her newest, "Aerial", is the best wake-up ever.... starts out very gentle voice and piano, and moves (after several minutes) into a stomping, gorgeous flamenco.

Actually, that entire CD (the second disc of "Aerial", called "A Sky of Honey", I think), would work very well.

Something by the Postal Service might do it, too, if you want something without a beat for the first minute but don't mind voices/synths.
posted by WidgetAlley at 12:03 PM on May 19, 2006


Harkening back to the first response, I've been using Yanqui U.X.O. by Godspeed You! Black Emperor for this exact purpose for months.
posted by llamateur at 12:12 PM on May 19, 2006


Just avoid anything by Bjork.
posted by yellowcandy at 1:08 PM on May 19, 2006


Vessel in Vain, by Smog
posted by Dr Phibes at 2:48 PM on May 19, 2006


Angel by Massive Attack (a subject of another AskMe thread) is one of my favorite long-buildup songs.
posted by Durhey at 3:45 PM on May 19, 2006


"Sherry Darling" by Bruce Springsteen.
posted by I_Love_Bananas at 5:03 PM on May 19, 2006


Damage Inc. by Metallica.

Seriously.

It's got this slow, quiet build-up for the first minute, then a subtle warning sound, and then kicks into one of their fastest, heaviest songs. That will give you time to come to conciousness without being too jarring, but won't let you stay in bed listening to it. And when you get completely sick of the song, no big loss. :)
posted by team lowkey at 5:57 PM on May 19, 2006


I spent most of 2000 being woken up by this album. It worked for me, but might not for you, considering that 'scary electronic noises' is a pretty good summation of Cul de Sac's sound. ('James Coburn', though, is an excellent slow-build track to wake up to, though.)
posted by Sonny Jim at 6:07 PM on May 19, 2006


Definately Mogwai, although the rise in their songs can take some time. In particular, I'm thinking Mogwai Fear Satan.
posted by Serial Killer Slumber Party at 6:08 PM on May 19, 2006


"Open Up Your Heart and Let the Sun Shine In," by Frente!, off the Saturday Morning Cartoons' Greatest Hits CD. Every morning at 7, the DJ at our local alternative rock station (back when that meant something) would play that song, and it always made getting out of bed a little easier for me.
posted by joshuaconner at 10:45 PM on May 19, 2006




« Older Converting Canvas to HTML   |   What are some good books about the international... Newer »
This thread is closed to new comments.


Tags

Share