I bought a new CD for myself yesterday: Emma Pollock's Watch the Fireworks.

As I swiped my debit card to pay for the $18 disc, I realized I haven't purchased a CD in a very long time. Remember Lemonade Stand? Guess what, music industry.... and thus we all trade CDRs, mp3s and keep our Jacksons to spend on winter boots or save for a down payment on a condo we'll never be able to afford.

I bought this CD because I love Emma's beautiful, effortless vocals on the Delgados records. The second track, Acid Test, reminds me of a specific song from the late 90s, but I can't place it. Perhaps the Breeders, Juliana Hatfield, Liz Phair... it's driving me a bit nuts.

We salute you!

Though few things make me hungrier than a grown man in a school boy uniform with a guitar, AC/DC is not something I'd think to put on the hifi while nibbling white bean crostini and charcuterie.

However, this is a delicious pairing: a glass of wine and Angus Young.

Dining to AC/DC was surprisingly relaxing. I curled up in the corner booth at Black Mountain Wine House and ordered a second glass.

Shane, the proprietor, selected our wines, and I presume he picked the music too. Why bore your customers with ignorable (if not deplorable) generic focus-group lounge grooves when you can make them feel at home with music chosen by a real person who apparently scanned a rack of CDs and thought, Hmm, I feel like putting on some AC/DC.

When I give it some thought, I wonder if I'm being irrational and reactionary. But, sorry, I have no love for:

My Favorite Things

- or -

Pachabel's Canon in D

Why such a hater of two perfectly decent, loved-by-the-people songs?

My Favorite Things is the Pollyanna kid who will not stop pointing out the silver lining. Yeah, I like a crisp apple strudel. Yesterday I even paused to appreciate a few snowflakes that stayed on my nose and eyelashes. But that melody just keeps jumping all over the place with it's gosh darn cheeriness.

No, I don't like the Coltrane version either. (And to offer a little perspective, this is coming from someone who at one time had The Sound of Music soundtrack - minus this song, of course - on her iPod). Remind me, why is it a Christmas song?

Pachabel's Canon strikes me as utterly pedestrian, like rolling a bowling ball down a lane padded with bumpers. If I were to hear it unencumbered by its legacy (a thousand boring, ill-fated walks down aisles, soft-lit jewelry commercials, grating midi files embedded in amateur webpages), perhaps I could appreciate its simple, elegant structure. But no. It just makes me think of everything mundane and middle-of-the-road.

Okay, I have a tiny bit of love for this version.