13 February 2011
Top 5 Health Care or Regulatory Songs of All Time
02/17/11 22:42 Filed in: Fun Stuff
You know honestly, I do find it hard to focus sometimes. So sometimes I need to just treat myself to something funner than analyzing regulatory issues. Nonetheless, to do that and do it here still requires that the topic is relevant to regulation and healthcare. So I decided to put together my list of the 5 greatest (and I mean indisputably greatest) healthcare and regulation songs ever.
The criteria is that
1) The song has to do with patient care, medicine, or regulations
AND
2) It has to be an awesome song. So even though there may be more obviously relevant songs to medicine (e.g., "Doctor My Eyes" by Jackson Brown, "Bad Medicine" by Bon Jovi, or "Doctor Love" by KISS) they don't make the list because I don't think they're good songs. They either bore me to tears or the "cheese factor" is off the charts. Don't bother arguing with me about this either, because I'm the emperor of truth and taste on this particular blog post.
So here goes. I'll start with number one to avoid the whole "countdown and suspense" cliche.
1. Smokers Outside Hospital Doors by Editors This song has one of the more poignant lines in music I've ever heard "The saddest thing that I'd ever seen were smokers outside the hospital doors." For a bunch of young artists to point out one of the most commonly seen tragic ironies of healthcare with such a simple vivid image earns this song the number one spot. It also is just a really beautiful song full of spiraling ear-piercing guitars (I'm a softie for those). Listen to and view the song below. Sony wouldn't let me embed the official video, but there are two excellent performances below from the band. The first one is a toned down version that captures the song nicely. The second one is a live version more true to the original recording that requires listening at full volume!
2. Someone Saved My Life Tonight by Elton John. Ok this song is really about Elton John being convinced by a friend not to get married, hence his friend "saved" his life. Nonetheless, if you misunderstand the lyrics properly, then you can enjoy the distorted reality that this is really about medically saving peoples lives. Not a stretch at all. It's one of my favorite all time songs, and, through the magic of youtube, I discovered a solo performance of this song from the mid seventies that blows my mind. Listen to and view the song below.
3. Sister Morphine by the Rolling Stones. It would be hard not to put a Stones song on this list since they're probably one of the most hospitalized bands of all time. Also, it begins with the line "Here I lie in my hospital bed, tell me Sister Morphine, when are you coming 'round again?" So, its definitely about institutional care and addiction and an important FDA regulated drug (morphine). It's also from perhaps the most consistently excellent Stones album ever--Sticky Fingers. "The scream of the ambulance is sounding in my ear. Tell me Sister Morphine, how long have I been lying here?" Listen to and view the song below.
4. What Sarah Said by Death Cab for Cutie. This is a really sad song about someone dying in a hospital. It's really just a beautiful song and if you're not paying attention to the lyrics, its easy to just think to yourself "this is a really great song." But if you listen closely to the lyrics you understand that narrator is depicting the experience of being in a hospital visiting someone dying in an ICU and expressing very painful and beautiful insights. If you're uninitiated to Death Cab for Cutie, don't let the name of the band fool you. It's not some heavy death metal band or missanthopic punk band, they're a smart melodic band with excellent songwriting. The song What Sarah Said, to me, is perhaps the most meaningful song about health care I've ever heard. Seriously. If you sell, make, administer, or take healthcare products, its a beautiful reminder of death, dying, and caring. In reality, this is the #1 song on this list, but I put it at number 4 to stun you with truth. Listen to the song below. Youtube doesn't really have a good performance of the song, and the official video is somewhat hard to watch but here's a good selection that gives you a sense of the song. Ethics in medicine and in medical marketing requires a conscience and a conscience requires compassion. This song drips of the concept of compassion.
5. The Catastrophe and the Cure by Explosions in the Sky--I might have mentioned that I love soaring electric guitars. This band makes songs with no singing. But the song is called catastrophe and "cure" so it must be about medicine. And it's good and I can sit back and listen to it on my earphones on my iphone while I type my regulationships blog. Therefore, Good Song+Reference to "cure" in the song title=#5 song on my list. Check out this performance from Austin City Limits on PBS. The drummer is insanely excellent.
6. Light and Day the Polyphonic Spree--This song makes the list because a) the Polyphonic Spree is maybe my favorite band over the last 5 or 6 years, but also b) because this excellent song was in a mind blowing surreal scene in an episode of Scrubs! See the video below. I give you the scrubs version and also the official version too just in case you want to listen to it all the way through. You might have noticed that this Top 5 list has 6 songs. So it does. Sorry, medicine is unpredictable and full of on-the-fly decisions--and so is my top 5 list of the 6 greatest health care songs. Universal Music Group may throw a bullet into the ability to embed the videos on my site, but I just couldn't leave this song off the list because of that. You can click the link below to see the video on youtube if clicking the link on the video player doesn't work. I think the it should work though.
The "Scrubs" version
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mUHgKBw994A
The Official version
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rHJo_klmPcA
So that's my list. If you have suggestions for something I left off, please let me know. Remember though, it has to be a good song and a song I like and you must relate it to healthcare or medicine.
JM
The criteria is that
1) The song has to do with patient care, medicine, or regulations
AND
2) It has to be an awesome song. So even though there may be more obviously relevant songs to medicine (e.g., "Doctor My Eyes" by Jackson Brown, "Bad Medicine" by Bon Jovi, or "Doctor Love" by KISS) they don't make the list because I don't think they're good songs. They either bore me to tears or the "cheese factor" is off the charts. Don't bother arguing with me about this either, because I'm the emperor of truth and taste on this particular blog post.
So here goes. I'll start with number one to avoid the whole "countdown and suspense" cliche.
1. Smokers Outside Hospital Doors by Editors This song has one of the more poignant lines in music I've ever heard "The saddest thing that I'd ever seen were smokers outside the hospital doors." For a bunch of young artists to point out one of the most commonly seen tragic ironies of healthcare with such a simple vivid image earns this song the number one spot. It also is just a really beautiful song full of spiraling ear-piercing guitars (I'm a softie for those). Listen to and view the song below. Sony wouldn't let me embed the official video, but there are two excellent performances below from the band. The first one is a toned down version that captures the song nicely. The second one is a live version more true to the original recording that requires listening at full volume!
2. Someone Saved My Life Tonight by Elton John. Ok this song is really about Elton John being convinced by a friend not to get married, hence his friend "saved" his life. Nonetheless, if you misunderstand the lyrics properly, then you can enjoy the distorted reality that this is really about medically saving peoples lives. Not a stretch at all. It's one of my favorite all time songs, and, through the magic of youtube, I discovered a solo performance of this song from the mid seventies that blows my mind. Listen to and view the song below.
3. Sister Morphine by the Rolling Stones. It would be hard not to put a Stones song on this list since they're probably one of the most hospitalized bands of all time. Also, it begins with the line "Here I lie in my hospital bed, tell me Sister Morphine, when are you coming 'round again?" So, its definitely about institutional care and addiction and an important FDA regulated drug (morphine). It's also from perhaps the most consistently excellent Stones album ever--Sticky Fingers. "The scream of the ambulance is sounding in my ear. Tell me Sister Morphine, how long have I been lying here?" Listen to and view the song below.
4. What Sarah Said by Death Cab for Cutie. This is a really sad song about someone dying in a hospital. It's really just a beautiful song and if you're not paying attention to the lyrics, its easy to just think to yourself "this is a really great song." But if you listen closely to the lyrics you understand that narrator is depicting the experience of being in a hospital visiting someone dying in an ICU and expressing very painful and beautiful insights. If you're uninitiated to Death Cab for Cutie, don't let the name of the band fool you. It's not some heavy death metal band or missanthopic punk band, they're a smart melodic band with excellent songwriting. The song What Sarah Said, to me, is perhaps the most meaningful song about health care I've ever heard. Seriously. If you sell, make, administer, or take healthcare products, its a beautiful reminder of death, dying, and caring. In reality, this is the #1 song on this list, but I put it at number 4 to stun you with truth. Listen to the song below. Youtube doesn't really have a good performance of the song, and the official video is somewhat hard to watch but here's a good selection that gives you a sense of the song. Ethics in medicine and in medical marketing requires a conscience and a conscience requires compassion. This song drips of the concept of compassion.
5. The Catastrophe and the Cure by Explosions in the Sky--I might have mentioned that I love soaring electric guitars. This band makes songs with no singing. But the song is called catastrophe and "cure" so it must be about medicine. And it's good and I can sit back and listen to it on my earphones on my iphone while I type my regulationships blog. Therefore, Good Song+Reference to "cure" in the song title=#5 song on my list. Check out this performance from Austin City Limits on PBS. The drummer is insanely excellent.
6. Light and Day the Polyphonic Spree--This song makes the list because a) the Polyphonic Spree is maybe my favorite band over the last 5 or 6 years, but also b) because this excellent song was in a mind blowing surreal scene in an episode of Scrubs! See the video below. I give you the scrubs version and also the official version too just in case you want to listen to it all the way through. You might have noticed that this Top 5 list has 6 songs. So it does. Sorry, medicine is unpredictable and full of on-the-fly decisions--and so is my top 5 list of the 6 greatest health care songs. Universal Music Group may throw a bullet into the ability to embed the videos on my site, but I just couldn't leave this song off the list because of that. You can click the link below to see the video on youtube if clicking the link on the video player doesn't work. I think the it should work though.
The "Scrubs" version
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mUHgKBw994A
The Official version
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rHJo_klmPcA
So that's my list. If you have suggestions for something I left off, please let me know. Remember though, it has to be a good song and a song I like and you must relate it to healthcare or medicine.
JM
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