Huffman Coding

Marissa announced a couple of weeks ago that her favorite song was 1985. She’s heard it on the minivan radio.  The chorus is:

Bruce Springsteen, Madonna, way before Nirvana,
There was U2 and Blondie, and music still on MTV
Her two kids in high school, they tell her that she’s uncool
Cuz she’s still preoccupied with 1985

I found it humorous that she likes a song that makes references to musical groups that were popular more than a decade before she was born: Bands that she has never heard of.  But I have to admit that it is a catchy tune.

Always one to encourage her to appreciate music, I went to the website for the band (Bowling for Soup).  Like most sites it had snippets for the first 30 seconds of a few songs.  All of them were upbeat pop, so the next day at Best Buy I got the DualDisc CD.  I was hoping that the 5.1 DVD side would work in my car.  Unfortunately, my car only plays surround sound if it is DVD-Audio and the flip side of this album was in DVD-Video.  The extra buck was wasted.

The album was called A Hangover You Don’t Deserve.  Not a good sign if you are also buying for a seven-year-old.  There was also a “Parental Advisory” sticker.  Ug.  Oh well, I’d rip the CD onto another, removing the tracks inappropriate for a second grader.  A backup CD is a good thing to do anyway because my girls have scratched up other CDs in the past.

I listened to the CD at work this past week to figure out which tracks would pass muster.  I enjoyed the entire album, but it got more ribald the farther it went along.  I’m really NOT a prude, but only about half could be shared with Marissa.  Track 8, Last Call Casualty: no.  Track 9, Next Ex-Girlfriend: no.  Track 10, A-Hole: definitely not.  Track 11, My Hometown: eeek!

This CD is going to stay in my car.  Perhaps I can interest her in The Decemberists instead.

I did rip 1985 onto her GameBoy though.  And an hour ago, with her headphones plugged into the thing, I could hear her sing:

Springsteen, Madonna, way before your mama…