Friday Five, Playlist Edition

Way back in the annals of time, when everyone used LiveJournal, something called the Friday Five used to go around. It was five questions to answer in the comments, and it was also fun, because who doesn't like taking a survey/quiz where there are no wrong answers?

I thought I'd do that here on Fridays, because a) see above re: fun, and b) I'd love to know some of you out there in the blogosphere a little better.

Today's theme is playlists. What did writers do before they existed? Was Jane Austen asking a random cousin to play something on the spinnet that sounded like good banter and vague sexual tension? Did James Joyce have a fiddler on retainer, to play the occasional Irish jig?

My playlists are most important when I'm compiling them, because that's when I'm really easing into the headspace of a new project. Setting the mood, figuring out the tone, lying around with my eyes closed, listening hard and watching the images behind my closed lids as the music creates people and pictures and places.

I finally have the first five songs for a new project I'm working on, and they're so perfect, I want to pet them and feed them cookies. I'm not going to tell you what the project is about, but maybe you can get an idea from these five songs.

1) "Paper Doll," Rosie Thomas

2) "Down by the Water," The Decemberists

3) "I'll Fly Away," Gillian Welch

4) "A Stor Mo Chri," Maura O'Connell

5) "Fallen From Grace," Mark Lee Scott

It makes sense in my head, honestly.

Share yours! Are you making a playlist for anything right now? Or just tell me your top five songs right now, because I always want new music to try.