I like boozy, smokey, loungy stuff from the 30s-40s-50s stuff from Rosemary Clooney, Ella Fitzgerald, Dinah Washington, Alma Cogan, Michael Buble (Sway), Diana Krall (Besame Mucho)...nice stuff to listen to when sitting on the back porch on a warm summer evening with a drink surveying the garden :)

Eric

Eric, i could work in your garden any day! :) i really like "peel me a grape" (diana krall)

I have my ipod with about 4000 songs on it hooked up to my stereo system, speakers inside and outside of the house. I just let it shuffle through my songs. Blues, Classical, bluegrass, folk, country, jazz, waltz, salsas, polkas, zydeco, swing, opera, I never know what type of music it will play next.

BUT, I have a neighbor about a quarter mile away who has one CD - The Beach Boys. They play it so loud that I cannot hear MY music. That really irriates me.

Kathy

kathy, i noticed that the beach boys weren't on your ipod list :D

joyce

Old rock, Eagles, Bruce, Elton, Traveling Wilbury's, Justin
Some Johnny Cash
I like all kinds but soothing music doesn't get me going for garden work.
Kathy, we used to have a friend that played the BB all the time :0(

Carla

Joyce, no, I do not have the Beach Boys on my ipod ;-). One Sunday evening my neighbors had a party and one of their guests brought a CD of party music. Four straight hours of the Macarena, the chicken polka, electric slide, hokey pokey, cha cha slide, over and over ad nauseum.

Kathy

Peel Me a Grape...good choice too Joyce! :) Might I also recommend "Big Spender" by Peggy Lee.

Eric

Very varied, Stones, Talking Heads, Dead Can Dance, Ella Fitzgerald, Dinah Washington, Nat King Cole, Procol Harum, The Kinks Bowie, Renata Tibaldi, Callas, Simon and Garfunkle a lot of Baroque, Tierney Sutton, Sondheim (all) Etta James, Moby, Fatboy Slim, Tracy Thorn, Carmen McRae, Cassandra Wilson, Lisa Gerrard,Dianne Reeves,John Mayer, Jamie Collum, Madeleine Peyroux,Tom Waits, Leonard Cohen, Piaf, Judy Garland, Ann Hampton Calloway, Transglobal Underground, Samite, Patricia Barber, Rufus Wainright, BB King, Traffic, Diana Krall, Carla Bruni, Miles Davis Goldfrapp, Chopin, Stravinsky, Beethoven, Bach, Van Morrison.

well, i guess from our "very official" survey :) it's pretty safe to say that there isn't any "proper" gardening music. but on the flip side, it does seem that Beach Boys, Macarena, the chicken polka, electric slide, hokey pokey, cha cha slide are not proper gardening tunes :D

Labrea...another Piaf fan.... FANTASTIC. I adore her. I've got her complete collection (10 discs, I believe)

I also worship Eartha Kitt. I was very sad that she passed away.

Eric, are you familiar with Casandra Wilson... I've been keen on her lately.

And I can never get enough Seal.

I always listen to music while I'm outside.

Robert

Having speakers in the garden is essential. Almost as important as the patio refrigerator filled with beer. I took tomorrow off (coincidentally it will be sunny and sixty) and plan to engage Bob Dylan, The Grateful Dead, Stevie Ray Vaughn, Willie Nelson, Simon and Garfunkle, Mazzy Star, Allison Krause, Mozart and Sam Adams.

Joyce, it is a bit difficult to garden while making chicken beaks and flapping your wings ;-). And the Beach Boys don't make sense for me when I am gardening. But I do notice alot of similarities in the music listed above. I am not familiar with Piaf, I will have to check her out.

Eric you mike like Katie Webster, she plays great boogie-woogie piano.

Kathy

I've got a JBL Center Stage for iPod speaker system that goes on the patio table when I'm outside.

Bon Jovi, Sting, Rob Thomas, Cold Play, Brian Adams, Elton John, Michael Buble, Josh Grobin, & Diana Krall work just fine.

Randy

I usually don't use speakers but I never go to the garden without my mp3 player and earbuds. I have over 5000 songs of every genre imaginable. Some of my recent favs are Clannad, Jackson Brown, ELO, Eagles, Ray Charles, America, Don Williams BMG, and lots and lots of instrumentals. What ever the mood dictates what I listen to. I can't imagine gardening without music (and birds),

Robert and Kathy, thanks for the tips on "new to me" artists. I've also discovered some new ones through Pandora.

Eric

Was Piaf the French singer I got to know in a movie last year?

Usually if I am in the garden I don't want to hear music. Then I miss the wind water and birds. When my daughter is home I can hear her playing the piano when in the garden and I do love that.

Funny, Harry, I took off tomorrow too to work in my garden, especially since this weekend isn't going to be like last weekend!

Carol,
Did you tell your boss you were going to work from home?

I love the Greek singers, especially Sakis!!!!
I listen to this wondeful song now:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bd5ThoUYx_s

I'm like Pam, I don't want music in the garden, and not that much of it at other times, either. I love the sound of silence, or wind, or water, or birds. Occasionally I sing, but both my voice and my repertoire are limited. I never did get over being laughed at for singing when I was a child.

Melissa

I don't listen to music when I'm outside except if I'm on a walk or in my car. I got in a complete rut listening to practically nothing but violin music for 20 years, but then I rediscovered other of my roots and got back into stuff like Tom Petty, Beatles, Stones, Joan Baez and others. I hear lots of kinds of music at my house because my husband is a big collector of vinyl records and it is going on all the time in our bedroom. He loves all sorts but especially old jazz, r&B and big band.

Melissa, your comment about being laughed at reminds me a bit of Simon Cowell on American Idol. I like the guy ok but I really think he goes too far when he tells some people they shouldn't even be singing in the shower. I bet he sticks to that rule and is mute himself. Too bad.

Oh, I do listen to music outside when my neighbors are performing it. There's a guy. He used to sit outside by himself all day long every day doing nothing I mean nothing, just sitting. Meditating? Then he started getting visitors. Sometimes they sing. It's great..makes me want to go on over. Also another neighbor is a fairly well known bluegrass mandolin and fiddle player who plays outdoors sometimes. Also I have to listen to people turn their bass up in their cars.

Linda

For those of you who like to listen to nature in the garden -- count me in too. i happen to live in an area that's teaming with wildlife. and it's very rural and quiet. so i generally don't flick on the music until the weekend.

i also live at the top of a mountaneous area. sometimes there's live music down in the valley and it wafts up my way -- just heavenly!

and my neighbor plays classical piano, which i love. i wonder, do you think the plants respond to our music or the happiness that it brings us? surely there's a study out somewhere that shows happy gardeners = happier plants?

Edith Piaf sang "La Vie en Rose" -sp? which most of you would recognise but just not know the singer. It is frequently the background music whenever Paris is the focal point.The singer has a very sexy voice and the accompaniment is an accordian. It was featured in "Bull Durham", Piaf was a favorite of Annie Savoy. I love Coldplay, Rod Stewart, Bon Jovi, Josh Groban and my new favorite soundtrack- "Slumdog Millionaire"! Buff

I would LOVE to be part of group singing!! if I could get over my inhibitions, and manage without being able to read music. No wonder heaven has choirs.

Melissa

Birdsong and the splashing of water in the garden.

Beethoven in the house.

Here is a link that might be useful: Kleiber doing the 7th, so wonderfully

i like to listen to myself and the world when i am in the garden but when i am shoveling (manure or mulch) there is nothing sweeter than a little hawaiian slack key to keep me company.

Linda your neighborhood sounds very colorful ; )

And WOW, where/how can i get a copy of Labrea's playlist!!

My ipod died. :( And I'm spending too much money on roses and other plants lately to buy a new one. LOL

I like music for the sweaty work. My ipod goes on the patio for that, but not for mornings and evenings which are reserved for birds and bugs and the little pekingese grunting noises my dogs make when they are wrestling. Lately I like Neko Case, Gillian Welch and other sweet harmonious finger picking good music. Has anyone been to Merlefest?

I am in agreement about not listening to music IN the garden. My speakers are at a volume where I can hear them inside, on the deck, in my potting shed, and hanging in the hammock swing.

An update on my neighbors. They walked up to my house this afternoon because one of the other neighbors stopped by to cuss them out about their music. They wanted to see first hand how far the sound carried. We made a compromise that it is acceptable for the occasional party for them to play the music loud. But normally they will keep the volume lower. They also informed me they purchased a new CD. Greatest hits of the 80's, I may decide the Beach Boys aren't so bad after all.

Kathy