This is for Jason. I am getting ready to take off on my long-anticipated trip on Friday and have had a busy week where I managed to go to the beach 3 times already. Which means an ongoing iPod shuffle. Music has been helping me work these days. Gearing up for the week of hard work ahead.
“Five Steps” – The Davenports. So sweetly melancholy. Ouch.
“Workin’ Real Hard” – Pat McCurdy. Hey, Pat. You’re showing up early. I’m sure you’ll show up again.
“The Five-Fifteen” – Christine Ebersole et al in The Grey Gardens, Broadway cast recording
“Love’s In Need of Love Today” – Stevie Wonder. J’adore.
“God Won’t Get You” – Dolly Parton. She’s so perfect.
“Summertime Blues” – Eddie Cochran. This reminds me of my old friend Ken Mottet, who used to perform this with Pat McCurdy (see above). He also was in the crowd in same Huey Lewis video I was. Total coincidence – we waved at each other from our respective scaffolds.
“Good Golly Miss Molly” – Jerry Lee Lewis. Maniac.
“Love Is a Battlefield” – Pat Benatar. Oh hell yes.
“Happiness” – Elliott Smith. His music hurts me. You can feel his despair.
“I’m Not Afraid” – Pat McCurdy
“Cigarettes and Chocolate Milk” – Rufus Wainwright
“Advertising Space” – Robbie Williams. Music video inspired by Elvis.
“I Wanna Be Your Man” – The Beatles
“Violet” – Seal
“The Man With the Magic Touch” – Brian Setzer and His Orchestra. Love love love.
“A Future Me” – Siobhan O’Malley. The song she wrote about my sister Jean. So emotional. Beautiful song.
“Another Round” – Foo Fighters
“The Revolutionary Costume for Today” – Christine Ebersole in Grey Gardens (as “Little Edie”)
“Searchin’ For the Satellites” – Bleu. One of my favorite songwriters working today. One of the boys I love.
“I Don’t Want to Know” – the cast of Glee covering the Fleetwood Mac song
“One Man’s Ceiling Is Another Man’s Floor” – Paul Simon. Love this song.
“For Love of Money” – Pat McCurdy. Go away.
“Look at Little Sister” – Stevie Ray Vaughn. Hot.
“One of God’s Better People” – Robbie Williams
“Whatsername” – Green Day. You know I forget about how much I love this song. I over-listened to it when the album first came out.
“The Story of Chess” – Marti Pellow, from Chess in Concert
“Christmas Is the Time To Say I Love You” – SR-71. Okay, this shuffle is officially weird and awesome.
“Haven’t I Been Thinking About You” – Jackie Greene. So sweet.
“Polythene Pam” – The Beatles
“Death On Two Legs (Dedicated To …) – Queen
“Loverman” – Metallica
“Lake of Fire” – Nirvana. From their gloomy awesome MTV Unplugged show.
“It’s the Hard-Knock Life” – Annie and orphans in the original Broadway production of Annie
“Minnie the Moocher” – Cab Calloway
“Grunge Song” – Austin Lounge Lizards. Hysterical.
“Call Off the Dogs” – Mike Viola and the Candy Butchers
“Man of the Year” – by Alex Davis. Beautiful emotional song.
“A Shot of Rhythm and Blues” – The Beatles
“White Lightning” – Cliff Eberhardt
“Candy” – Big Maybelle
“What Do I Need With Love” – Gavin Creel, from Broadway production of Thoroughly Modern Millie
“These Days” – Foo Fighters
“You Gotta Sin To Get Saved” – the great Maria McKee
“Bloody Mary” – Lady Gaga
“I’ve Just Seen a Face” – The Beatles
“Gasoline” – Britney Spears
“This Jesus Must Die” – Caiaphas, Annas, Priests, Crowd, from Jesus Christ Superstar
“Second Honeymoon” – Pat McCurdy. Good song.
“Outlaw Torn” – Metallica (live with the San Francisco Orchestra)
“Tragedy” – The Bee Gees. This song will always, until the day I die, remind me of Michael.
“Wheels Of a Dream” – Brian Stokes Mitchell & Audra McDonald, from Broadway production of Ragtime
“We Hate To Leave” – Gene Kelly and Frank Sinatra from Anchors Aweigh
“Dionne Reel/Mouth Of The Tobique” – Kevin Burke/Johnny Cunningham/Chrisian Lamaître – I was waiting for the Irish to show up. I always am.
“Loves Me Like a Rock” – Paul Simon
“World of Trouble” – Lou Rawls. So smooooth. He speaks before he sings – for almost 5 minutes. No surprise.
“The Way I Are” – Timbaland, feat. Keri Hilson & D.O.E.
“Love Has Brought Me Around” – James Taylor. Good for you, JT. It hasn’t brought ME around, but whatever, I’m happy for you.
“Free at Last” – the showstopper sung by Jim in Big River
“Send a Picture of Mother” – Johnny Cash
“This Can’t Be My Life” – Ruth Gerson. I love her voice, and her songs. I have Siobhan to thank me for introducing me to her. This song reminds me of Aimee Mann’s best songs.
“All Thumbs” – Tracy Bonham
“Life Story” – Lynne Wintersteller, from Closer Than Ever. The song is too powerful for me to listen to. It can open up a crack and I’d really prefer that not to occur.
“Sue Me” – Faith Prince, Nathan Lane from the Guys and Dolls revival
“Anne (Go To Him)” – The Beatles
“In the Cold Cold Night” – The White Stripes
“America the Beautiful” – Whitney Houston
“So What” – Metallica
“Little Earthquakes” – Tori Amos
“Folsom Prison Blues” – Johnny Cash
“Dear Lover” – Foo Fighters
“Bad” – U2 – live from Paris
“Hot Fudge” – Robbie Williams. He’s such a goof.
“What” – Brendan Benson. I don’t think it’s possible for him to write a bad song.
“Bad Influence” – Pink
“American Tune” – Paul Simon. This song is so brilliant I can’t get over it.
“Kisses” – Tracy Bonham. I love her.
“Got My Own Thing” – Liz Phair. She’s so cool.
“Bye Bye Bye” – Jellyfish. A time-traveler of a song.
“Grass” – XTC
“Imaginary Love” – Rufus Wainwright
“Riverdance” – Bill Whelan
“Symphony No. 1 in C Major, Op. 21: IV. Finale: Adagio – Allegro Molto e Vivace” – Beethoven – London Symphony Orchestra
“Crazy Maze” – Des’ree – what ever happened to her? This is a wonderful album.
“The Whole Shebang” – Grant Lee Buffalo
“Crucify” – Tori Amos. This is a wonderful song, but I honestly listened to this album one too many times back in 1992. I just can’t listen to it any more.
“The Air Near My Fingers” – The White Stripes. R.I.P. White Stripes.
“Womanizer” – Britney Spears. Go, Britney. You’re a shell of a person and I’ve got your back.
“(My My) Baby’s Gonna Cry” – Eurhythmics – love it.
“Unchain My Heart” – Ray Charles
“Hello My Treacherous Friends” – Ok Go. I was into them before that first treadmill video went viral.
“Marigold” – Foo Fighters. Terrific.
“Can’t You See That I’m In Love With You?” – Pat McCurdy. Yes.
“White As Snow” – U2
“Kiss Me Deadly” – Lita Ford. This girl can sing, dammit.
“Like a Virgin” – Madonna. I remember being so insulted by this song when it first came out because I WAS a virgin and I thought she was making fun of me. Ah, to be young and earnest.
“Baby I Apologize” – ELO
“Strong” – Robbie Williams. May be my favorite of his songs.
“You’re All I Need To Get By” – Marvin Gaye & Tammi Terrell (one of my favorite songs of all time)
“Come and Get Me” – Timbaland, feat. 50 Cent & Tony Yayo. So freakin’ catchy.
“Ode to Billie Joe” – The Fifth Dimension. WHAT DID THEY THROW OFF THE TALLAHATCHIE BRIDGE? SOMEONE PLEASE TELL ME.
“Yer Blues” – The Beatles
“Bohemian Rhapsody” – Queen
“Angry Dance” – from Billy Elliot
“Pack, Shack, and Stack” – Billy Nelson and The Five Wings
“You Can’t Do That” – The Beatles
“Please Read the Letter” – Robert Plant and Alison Krause. Wonderful album.
“Puttin’ on the Ritz” – Rufus Wainwright
“Some Fun Now” – the adorable Urchins in the movie of Little Shop of Horrors
“Singing For the Lonely” – Robbie Williams
“The Blower’s Daughter” – Scala & Kolacny Brothers
“Sisters” – The Puppini Sisters – covering the song from White Christmas
“Montreal -40C” – Malajube. I think I heard this song playing in a commercial, sought it out, and bought it. I do that often. Found a lot of good unknown (to me, anyway) bands that way.
“The Long Black Veil” – Johnny Cash. Lots of Johnny Cash in this shuffle! And all from the same album!
“Let It Ride” – Mike Viola and the Candy Butchers
“Overture” – to Jesus Christ Superstar
“The Tears of a Clown” – Smokey Robinson and the Miracles
“Auf Achse” – Franz Ferdinand
“Do I Move You?” – Nina Simone. Smokin’. Jesus, she’s hot.
“Thriller / Heads Will Roll” – cast of Glee
“Outrageous” – Britney Spears. Maybe you should try being the OPPOSITE of “outrageous” for a while, Brit-Brit.
“Son Of a Gun” – Nirvana
“Being For the Benefit of Mr. Kite” – The Beatles. Weird. Brilliant.
“Icky Thump” – The White Stripes
“In My Life” – The Beatles. Heartcrack.
“Killing the Blues” – Shawn Colvin. This was THE album I listened to during my transition from Chicago to New York. It had that wail of nostalgia that suited my life perfectly.
“Mr. Bojangles” – Robbie Williams
“Mannequin” – Katy Perry. I’m not sure why I own this song. I don’t particularly enjoy it.
“Mexican Seafood” – Nirvana
“Across the Universe” – Jim Sturgess, from Across the Universe, Julie Taymor’s movie
“Hockey” – Jane Siberry. From her charming beautiful live album of a Christmas show she did at The Bottom Line.
“Sharks Can’t Sleep” – Tracy Bonham
“867-5309” – Everclear
“Fifteen Minute Intermission” – Cab Calloway
Ridiculous!! :)
I had this really annoying Toby Keith earworm last year “Courtesy of the Red, White and Blue”. Not just the infamous line “We’ll put a boot in your ass/it’s the American way..” but the whole. damn. song. Plagued me for days. Tried everything all over the musical spectrum. Finally wiped it out by playing “Minnie the Moocher”
I pirated Day by Day from the original Godspell and have been listening to it twice a day for like a week….Sheila was it mandatory for every Irish Catholic
Kid in the seventies to own that album? And the Queen song that you heard….one of the angriest songs in rock history. We used to play it in our locker room before our high school football games.
I got nearly to the end before the Alison Krause showed up!
“WHAT DID THEY THROW OFF THE TALLAHATCHIE BRIDGE? SOMEONE PLEASE TELL ME.”
Some say it was a stillborn baby, others say an engagement ring. I doubt the truth will ever be known.
I love Marie McKee also. “Dixie Storms” is my favorite of hers. Here’s a very nice YouTube version – http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rd5tleKzgpM
That’s epic!
I’ve always thought that Unplugged show was the best thing Nirvana ever did. Love the Meat Puppets covers and the melancholy atmosphere and the absolutely soul-crushing way it ends.
Good to see other Maria fans out there – i have been buying her sporadic outputs since 1985 – she is without compare
Ed – I know, it really is soul-crushing. I remember watching it at the time – and I was already a Nirvana fan – but something about that particular show just flattened me. It still does. I love the Bowie cover too.
Dg – love that anecdote about playing that Queen song in the locker room!
nice collection. I’m glad Jellyfish make the grade. Bye Bye Bye is a great beatley song –
Where else do you have a pop song that utilizes an accordian? that band went too soon
i listented to Tammi Terrel and Marvin Gaye and appreciated them more when i was able to listen to them
acapella – its sick how good they were – Don’t know if they recorded together or separately – but its magic when they sing together –
Glad to see Pat benatar get her props!!
Cool list. However, what I was most pleasantly surprised to see on there was “Candy”, by Big Maybelle. She was one of a kind. Also saw a Nina Simone track. May I recommend, if you don’t already know about it, is her version of “You Can Have Him”, but only the version recorded live at Town Hall, it’s so powerful.
Operator99 – I love Big Maybelle! Love Nina, too – but I don’t have that song. Thanks for the rec.
I had no idea Everclear covered that song. And as I get older, and free-er with my feelings, ‘In My Life’ never fails to choke me up.