1. Your favorite song with the name of a city in the title or text.
Let me start by getting the "this is a tough one" phrase out of the way right off the bat, and by stating that the aforementioned phrase can pretty much apply to every question that follows. Seriously. I am by no means a music genius, but for the questions about "favorites," multiple answers would apply because if there's a style of song -- either musically or lyrically -- that I love, I tend to love every subsequent tune that follows suit.

For this leadoff question, I'm going with title because frankly, if the artists wanted to, they could name a city in every damn song. I also choose not to be influenced by anyone else's answers, so while I love "New York City" by They Might Be Giants, Casey mentioned it first, so I'll go with another one. Lyle Lovett's "L.A. County" is a great one, but that's technically a county as the title, and though it mentions Dallas and Houston in the lyrics, I've already said I'm not going that way. I'm going with the stereotypical New Jersey hometown answer and saying Bruce Springsteen's "4th of July, Asbury Park (Sandy)." I'll do my best to make that my only Springsteen answer, since I could probably go through this whole survey and restrict it to Bruce tunes, with obvious exceptions like question No. 8. And probably 3. Ironically, "4th of July, Asbury Park" doesn't mention Sarajevo-by-the-Sea anywhere in the lyrics, which is presumably why the alternate title "Sandy" is included. The song to me has always sounded like a description of Asbury Park in its heyday, of the colorful lights of the rides and booths on the boardwalk on a hot summer night beneath the hazy moon and bright colors of the fireworks over the water. I wouldn't know, however, because Asbury Park became a shit hole long before I could ever visit.

Man, first question and I've already cheated by mentioning three songs.

2. A song you've listened to repeatedly when you were depressed at some point in your life.
I try not to dwell on those depressed times, so I'm not sure what I may have listened to. I took my breakup from high-school Heather hard during freshman year of college, and I was heading down the road of further dwelling on that sore subject three years ago when I was mere months into this diary. Somewhere on my old laptop there might still be a file I began that was going to be "My Maggie Cassidy" (working title), a memoir or perhaps novel of my days as a young paramour a la Jack Kerouac's work of the same ilk, Maggie Cassidy. But then I started conversing with Casey and I lost interest. No coincidence there.

But when Heather ended things (I believe she's now -- it'll be 10 years this fall -- engaged to the guy she dumped me for) I had just purchased Lyle Lovett's new album I Love Everybody. "Old Friend" became a poignant song.

3. Ever bought an entire album just for one song and winded up disliking everything but that song? Gimme that song.
Yeah, you're going to laugh at this one. I can tell by the way you asked. Like so many songs in college that you feel you have to have Right Now, Bryan and I thought "Standing Outside A Broken Phone Booth With Money In My Hand" was a great song. So I bought the Primitive Radio Gods album.

Fine, Heather said that one too, but if I remember correctly, I thought as soon as I read the question before reading that part of her answer. And if I don't remember correctly, that was a freakin' month ago, so get off my back. I thought of it on my own.

I also did it with Chumbawumba's "Tubthumping," but when I finally listened to that album again a year or so ago, I found that there are actually one or two other decent songs on it. Turns out they have a new album out, or coming out, and it's sitting on my desk at work, but I haven't managed to give it a listen just yet.

4. A song whose lyrics you thought you knew in the past, but about which you later learned you were incorrect.
Sorry, but I do have to go back to Springsteen here. There's a line in "Born In The U.S.A." where he says, "Got in a little hometown jam/So they put a rifle in my hand" and the way Bruce sings it in his raspy voice, it sure sounded like "So they put an apple in my hand" to me, and at 8 years old, I couldn't quite understand why an apple in his hand would help him get out of a hometown jam.

Especially when he goes on to say, "Sent me off to a foreign land/To go and kill the yellow man."

5. Your least favorite song on one of your favorite albums of all time.
Any Eagles album on which Timothy B. Schmidt sings. Though I don't listen to them much anymore, I went through a long stretch where I loved everything they did. But why did they ever let him near a microphone?

6. A song you like by someone you find physically unattractive or otherwise repellent.
Neil Young looks like a scarecrow, but I love "Harvest Moon."

7. Your favorite song that has expletives in it that's not by Liz Phair.
What? Is she known for cursing? Well, I'll go with "Fuck Yourself" by Vice President Dick Cheney. HA! Well, since I've now remembered that Heather gave a good answer with "Boom Boom Baby" (though I have it on an album of one of Bob Schneider's other bands, Ugly Americans) and I'm trying to come up with my own answers without looking at my neighbor's test, I should choose something else. Ooh! "Rockin' the Suburbs" by Ben Folds. Kick-ass!

I also like "Kyle's Mom Is a Big Fat Bitch."

8. A song that sounds as if it's by someone British but isn't.
When Third Eye Blind first put out "Semi-Charmed Life," I could've sworn they were British. But they're from Pennsylvania or something. (San Francisco, actually.) And has there ever been a line so true as "Those little red panties they past the test"?

9. A song you like (possibly from your past) that took you forever to finally locate a copy of.

Bryan pulled me into his quest for "Come On Eileen" and I think I was the one who finally figured out it was sung by Dexy's Midnight Runners (this being college, our knowledge of the internet wasn't nearly as broad as it is now, and Google didn't exist yet to search for it). But personally, I suppose I searched long and hard before I finally obtained the Drifters' version of "White Christmas." That's the do-woppy one that appears in Home Alone. Love that song. Bought it last year on a Christmas compilation. There's also a song Tom Petty did when he played the Joyce Center at Notre Dame that might be called "The Girl on LSD," but I'm not sure because I'd never heard it before and I had to ask a friend who might've said that merely because he was, himself, on LSD at the time.

10. A song that reminds you of spring but doesn't mention spring at all.
To me that song will always be "Centerfield" by John Fogarty. As a song about baseball, it may be a summer song to many, but for me it's spring because 95.5 WPLJ in New York would always play it during the morning show on Opening Day. The first time I went to an Opening Day game at Shea Stadium, it came on the radio while we were en route to Queens.

11. A song that sounds to you like being happy feels.
"Lovin' Each Day" by Ronan Keating. I shouldn't have to explain why -- just listen to it.

12. Your favorite song from a non-soundtrack compilation album.
"Jersey Shore" by The Promise Ring will always have a special meaning for me; it was on the first mix Casey made me a few weeks before we met. For a mass-produced compilation album, Shawn Colvin's "Shotgun Down The Avalanche" on the first Columbia Records Radio Hour CD is a great one.

13. A song from your past that would be considered politically incorrect now (and possibly was then).
I'm not sure what this question means. If the song itself could be considered politically incorrect in society, then just about any song by any current rapper would qualify. But if it's supposed to mean that my liking the song could be considered politically incorrect by my peers for any number of reasons not limited to actual societal influences, then ... it's still not an easy question. Jeez, I don't know. How about the theme to The Dukes of Hazzard? It was a song about two white hick cousins in Georgia who drove around in a bright orange car that featured the confederate flag prominently on the roof.

14. A song sung by an overweight person.
"Chain of Fools" by Aretha Franklin. Also "Spanish Harlem."

15. A song you actually like by an artist you otherwise hate.

Casey went with Bjork, which is so much worse than my choosing Eminem's "Without Me." I could also go with "In Da Club" because I don't think much of Kennedy Half Dollar.

16. A song by a band (whose members actually play instruments) that features three or more female members.
"Awesome" by Veruca Salt. I could be a smartass and say "Notre Dame Victory March" by the University of Notre Dame Marching Band.

17. One of the earliest songs that you can remember listening to.

Easy. "Joy To The World" by Three Dog Night. Dad loved the soundtrack to The Big Chill. Also, "Horse With No Name" by America and "You Are My Sunshine," though I don't know who was singing the version we listened to often. Might have been Bing Crosby.

18. A song you've been mocked by friends for liking.
I'm actually drawing a blank here, though I know there have to be some. Heck, based on some previous answers, there might be some in my guestbook shortly after I post this entry. I imagine "I Can't Get Enough Of You Baby" by Smash Mouth would draw some smirks. "Steve McQueen" by Sheryl Crow will too.

19. A really good cover version you think no one else has heard.
I'll go the other way: Barenaked Ladies' version of "Lovers In A Dangerous Time" is great, but there may be more people who know their version than do the original by Bruce Cockburn (another song on the first Columbia Records Radio Hour album). Also, Cowboy Junkies put a great spin on "Sweet Jane," but it may be what they're best known for.

20. A song that has helped cheer you up (or empowered you somehow) after a breakup or otherwise difficult situation.
"It's Raining Men." Wait, wrong survey. I want to say "London Transport" by a Notre Dame campus band, Skalcoholiks, whose members I knew. Graduation would qualify as a breakup, and I had two tapes of Skalcoholiks live shows that I listened through on the 12-hour drive back to New Jersey. But as for songs you have heard or could otherwise easily purchase or download (legally, of course), "Stones In The Road" by Mary Chapin Carpenter. I don't know why, exactly, but that seems like a good answer for an uplifting song.

21. What was the last song you downloaded?
I honestly can't remember. I could probably look on my computer at work and give you an accurate answer. It might've been Peter Gabriel's "Shock The Monkey" for my Monkey Songs mix.