I’ve been back and forth to the beach 5 times in the last 5 days. It’s been hot, humid, and I yearn for the ocean. Because of my writing gig, I can’t hit the road until around 2, which often means I am hitting major traffic on my way home (everyone leaving the beach at the same time). I also drove out to my friend’s country house this past weekend, a 2 hour drive each way. Hence: a lot of iPod listening. It was one long continuous shuffle over the last week. Epic, as they say. Sometimes Shuffle gives you lemons, sometimes it gives you lemonade.
Here we go.
BEACH DRIVE SHUFFLE
“Rumour Has It” – Adele
“Safety Dance” – Glee cast version
“Don’t Tread On Me” – Metallica (love that it starts with “I Like To Be In America …”)
“Joga” – Scala & Kolacny Brothers
“Moonlight Bay” – The Beatles (live – with hilarious laughter and goofy antics from the moptop 4)
“Country Road” – Carole King & James Taylor live. The guitar playing. Heartcrack.
“Summer Nights” – Olivia Newton-John and John Travolta
“Sean” – The Proclaimers
“Together / Fireworks” – the magnificent Sally Mayes
“Born to Run” – Frankie Goes to Hollywood. It’s a helluva good cover.
“Danny Boy” – The Chieftains with Diana Krall
“Say Yeah” – Pat McCurdy. There’s a backstory to this song, but I ain’t telling.
“Leaving for Paris No. 2” – Rufus Wainwright. This song is a bit of a yawn.
“You Need Me” – Pat McCurdy. Wow, the McCurdy domination has started early.
“Got My Own Thing Now” – Squirrel Nut Zippers
“Wizards in Winter” – The Trans-Siberian Orchestra. (Everyone probably knows this one from this hilarious video.)
“That Summer” – Garth Brooks
“Tell the Truth” – Ray Charles
“Happiness Is a Warm Gun” – Joe Anderson (from Across the Universe)
“Lady Madonna” – The Beatles
“This Time Next Year” – Pat McCurdy. Go away. I love this song, though.
“When the Music Stops” – Eminem
“I Might Have to Deal Drugs In Order to Afford Living In this City” – my glorious sister, Siobhan O’Malley
“To the Sea” – Jack Johnson
“Pilate and Christ” – from Jesus Christ Superstar
“Forever and the Same” – Philippe Tartartcheff, Anna McGarrigle, Kate McGarrigle, from the wonderful McGarrigle Hour
“Simple Pages” – Weezer – I forgot about them. I love them.
“Breathe On Me” – Britney Spears. Do I have to?
“Love Buzz” – Nirvana. Absolutely love this song.
“My Hero” – Foo Fighters. A live version. Interesting that this song would come up on Shuffle right after “Love Buzz”.
“Free At Last” – the slave Jim in the Broadway musical Big River
“Borrow” – Brendan Benson. He’s so great.
“Meant To Be” – Squirrel Nut Zippers
“Standing On the Corner” – Dean Martin. Wonderful. Puts a smile on my face.
“I Don’t Care Much” – Alan Cumming as the Emcee in the Roundabout Theatre’s revival of Cabaret
“The Stuttering Lovers” – The Clancy Brothers and Tommy Makem
“Rag and Bone” – The White Stripes. I miss them already.
“Sad But True” – Metallica, live with the San Francisco Symphony
“The Drama King” – Everclear
“This Love Affair” – Rufus Wainwright
“Horseshoes and Hand Grenades” – Green Day. My current favorite off of 21st Century Breakdown
“Catch Hell Blues” – The White Stripes
“Carol” – The Beatles
“Hearts and Bones” – Paul Simon
“Panic” – The Puppini Sisters
“The Twistinside” – Everclear
“78 Stimulator” – Stimulator (I believe I discovered them through their rendition of Olivia Newton-John’s “Magic” playing as accompaniment in a Target commercial)
“My Eyes Can Only Look At You” – Nina Simone
“I’ve Got Life” – Nina Simone. A Nina cluster!
“Roam” – The B-52s. This song reminds me of driving cross country in a beatup Westfalia van. We listened to this song constantly.
“Matinee Idol” – Rufus Wainwright.
“Under African Skies” – Paul Simon
“She Came In Through the Bathroom Window” – The Beatles
“Glitter In the Air” – Pink. She is my favorite voice, currently. Well, hers and Adele’s. Great great pipes.
“I’m Artistic” – Pat McCurdy
“Piggies” – The Beatles. I guess I have more Beatles than anything else – hence, their domination of any Shuffle. This song makes me uncomfortable. Fuck you, Charles Manson.
“Heaven on Earth” – Britney Spears. From the album made when she was going through her mental breakdown. It’s a really good song, actually.
“What a Game” – cast of Ragtime – very funny song.
“Effect and Cause” – The White Stripes. They had the best song titles.
“Level” – The Raconteurs
“I’m Ready To Go Home” – The Louvin Brothers. These guys are so nuts. My brother introduced me to them years ago and I recently remembered them and tracked them down on iTunes. This is from their album called Satan is Real and the cover features the Louvin Brothers standing in front of what I assume to be the licking fires of hell. But their Everly Brothers harmonies are perfection.
“Operator, Operator” – the great and underrated Wynona Carr
“Brick By Brick” – Katy Perry, live, on her MTV Unplugged album. I think this is a cover of a Paramore song, if I’m not mistaken.
“Sukaz Are Born Every Minute” – L.E.O. (the ELO tribute/parody band featuring Mike Viola, Bleu, and a couple of other favorites)
“Ain’t That Love” – Ray Charles
“Circus” – Lenny Kravitz – from his dark twisty album of the same name. Critics/fans were baffled: what happened to happy bell-bottomed hippie boy? I love Circus, and this song in particular.
“Girls Just Wanna Have Fun” – Cyndi Lauper. She’s so brilliant.
“Broken Boy Soldier” – The Raconteurs
“Scenes From an Italian Restaurant” – Billy Joel. Back in high school, Meredith figured out the piano solo to this song. The sentiments in this song were far too grown-up and full of adult compromise for me to really get it in high school. “Why couldn’t Brenda and Eddie work it out? I totally do not get it …”
“Turn, Turn, Turn” – Dolly Parton and Roger McGuinn
“Overkill” – Colin Hay – his acoustic version, which totally made me hear the song in a new way. As a matter of fact, I am currently obsessed with this song. It reminds me of the situation I am attempting to describe in my script.
“Midnight Radio” – John Cameron Mitchell, from Hedwig and the Angry Inch
“Adios Hermanos” – Paul Simon
“Benjamin Calypso / Joseph All the Time” – cast of Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dream Coat (this part of the show always gives me goosebumps I am not ashamed to admit)
“That Kind of Man” – The Nylons. Until the day I die, the Nylons will make me think of my friend Brett, who died this year. He introduced me to them, loved them.
“Closer Than Ever” – cast of Closer Than Ever
“Whatever Happened to Saturday Night?” – cast of Glee, the “Rocky Horror” episode
“What I’d Say” – Jerry Lee Lewis
“Ticket to Ride” – The Beatles
“These Days” – Nico. Ouch, Nico, ouch.
“Hard to Say” – Dan Fogleberg
“Unconscious” – Pat McCurdy
“Dancing Queen” – cast of Glee
“Good Lovin'” – H-Bomb Ferguson. Hot.
“Big Cheese” – Nirvana
“Will You Ever Learn” – Pat McCurdy. NO. GO. AWAY.
“One Day” – Bleu. God, I love this guy. Love his new album, love love love.
“Give It to Me” – Timbaland, with Justin Timberlake & Nelly Furtado. Smokin’. Great album in general.
“Girl U Want” – Devo. Me and Devo go way way back. My friends and I were caught dancing at a New Year’s party to “Jerkin'”, reliving our high school years But I have newfound love for “Girl U Want”. Great song.
“Orion” – Metallica. An 8 minute long instrumental that rocks my world.
“All Nightmare Long” – Metallica. Hi, boys, you again?
“Role Model” – Eminem. He’s such a brat.
“Don’t Stop Me Now” – Queen
“Peace of Mind” – Nina Simone
“You Like Him Better Than Me” – Pat McCurdy
“What” – Brendan Benson. Love this song.
“The Crime of the Century” – cast of Ragtime
“You Can’t Always Get What You Don’t Want” – Tracy Bonham. This woman is unbelievable. I’ve been into her for years, always keep my eye out for her.
“South of the Border” – the great Robbie Williams
“Khyber Pass” – Ministry. Awesome. Perhaps most famous for being the song that plays over the end credits of Hurt Locker (as well as his last scene when he gets off the plane in Iraq again, and walks down the street in his bomb suit). A blast of sound, chaos, driving, insistent, leaving you no time to think.
“Wake Up Alone” – Amy Winehouse. You were so damn talented, dear. I am going to miss you so much.
“Thenardier Waltz” – from Les Miserables
“Countin’ on a Miracle” – Bruce Springsteen
“You Can Bring Your Dog” – Tori Amos. I don’t have a dog, Tori. Stop assuming things.
“Shed a Little Light” – James Taylor. Beautiful song. But it always makes me think of this.
“Roi” – The Breeders. Awesome song, best played really really loud.
“Goody Two Shoes” – Adam Ant. Ha.
“Kissing the Lipless” – Tracy Bonham
“All I Need” – AWOLNATION
“His Name was Coalhouse Walker” – cast of Ragtime
“Big Porno Hair” – Pat McCurdy
“Jenny Was a Friend of Mine” – The Killers
“Baby It’s Fact” – the wonderful Hellogoodbye
“You Can’t Do That” – The Beatles
“I Can Make You a Man” – Tim Curry from Rocky Horror. He is truly otherworldly in that role.
“Let It Go” – The Blizzard of ’05
“Old Time’s Sake” – Eminem and Dr. Dre
“Boogie Woogie Bugle Boy” – Bette Midler
“Mamma Mia” – ABBA
“Something/ Blue Jay Way” – The Beatles (from the show LOVE)
“To Know Her Is To Love Her” – The Beatles
“You Can Leave Your Hat On” – Joe Cocker. Yes, SIR.
“The Road” – Tenacious D. They make me LAUGH.
“Be That Way” – Pat McCurdy. Ann Marie and I referred to this song as “one of his minor-chord angry songs”
“Connection” – Elastica. The all-female cast of this show I did always listened to this song as a group warmup.
“My 1st Single” – Eminem
“As Long As I’m Singin'” – Brian Setzer Orchestra
“Hungry Like the Wolf” – Duran Duran. Oh for God’s sake.
“18 Miles From Memphis” – Stray Cats. Setzer again!
“One Short Day” – cast of Wicked
“Human Touch” – Bruce Springsteen
“Reaching” – Wanda Jackson
“Me” – Pat McCurdy. He actually wrote this about Billy Corgan (whom he hated) but unfortunately he wrote it right around the time that Kurt Cobain killed himself, so he would always apologize, awkwardly, before he sang it.
“Joe Bean” – Johnny Cash at Folsom Prison. One of my favorite albums of all time.
“Space Bound” – Eminem
“Minute / African Drums” – from the Hair revival on Broadway
“Glory of the 80s” – Tori Amos
“Raspberry Swirl” – Tori Amos. I prefer her when she rocks, and lets herself get hard. The soft introspective stuff does nothing for me. I love “Raspberry Swirl”.
“Talkin’ to Myself” – Eminem and Kobe. I love it when Eminem shows up a lot on my Shuffle. This is a good song.
“Bring It On” – Seal. I have so many emotional connections to Seal it’s hard to even quantify.
“Easy Street” – Alan Cumming, Kristen Chenoweth and Kathy Bates, from the movie Annie – genius simple staging of this showstopper.
“Never Get Old” – Sinéad O’Connor
“Insects Rule” – Brendan Benson
“Psychotic Girl” – The Black Keys
“Chess Hymn” – the cast of Chess on Broadway. (I have three separate versions of this show: The Broadway version, the London version, and then the live version done in London with Josh Groban, et al. Each version has something to recommend it, and something that bores me. I like them all put together.)
“Move” – Beyonce & Jennifer Hudson and others in movie of Dreamgirls
“The Divide” – Tenacious D. “You have to decide: Tits or Destiny.”
“Stupid” – Pat McCurdy. I do love this one.
“Money Is a Problem” – Dean Martin
“A Place to Crash” – Robbie Williams
“Outta Sight” – Stevie Wonder
“Psychobilly Freakout” – Reverend Horton Heat
“Dumb” – Nirvana
“I’ve Had the Time of My Life” – the Glee cast version. Lovely arrangement.
“Magical Mystery Tour” – The Beatles
“Anthem (reprise)” – Idina Menzel from the live concert version of Chess. (She is not good in this role. Doesn’t suit her at all.)
“Haunted” – Evanescence
“Black Boys on Mopeds” – Sinéad O’Connor
“My Last Breath” – Evanescence. An Evanescence cluster!
“Hometown Waltz” – Rufus Wainwright
“Bitterroot” – Indigo Girls. I am so glad that these ladies were not just a one-hit wonder.
“Bodies” – Robbie Williams
“What Is This Feeling?” – Idina Menzel and Kristen Chenoweth, from Wicked
“Cherry Bomb” – Joan Jett. She’s so hot.
“I Am Africa” – the cast of The Book of Mormon, which I haven’t seen yet but the soundtrack is phenomenal and HILARIOUS.
“Rock-a-Bye Your Baby With a Dixie Melody” – Rufus Garland, doing Judy Garland’s show at Carnegie Hall
“In the Moonlight” – Tracy Bonham
“Light of a Clear Blue Morning” – Dolly Parton
“Candles” – the adorable cast of Glee
“Johnny Has Gone” – Varetta Dillard. Brilliant. Love it.
“My Way” – Nina Simone. So freakin’ INTENSE.
“Eternity (Orchestral Version)” – Robbie Williams. Oh, you’re such a goof, Robbie, and I love you.
“Hope Alone” – Indigo Girls
“Fade to Black” – Metallica
“Hey Jude” – The Beatles
“Dark Lady” – Cher. Oh hell YES.
“Paris When It Burns” – Pat McCurdy. Early Pat. I love this song so much. He would always play it whenever I showed up at a show, because he knew I loved it.
“School” – Nirvana. Rockin’.
“The Queen” – Lady GaGa
“A Million Ways” – the marvelous Ok Go, in a tiny album they put out (an iTunes exclusive) called Live from Soho. Acoustic, fun.
“Papa Poppa” – The Good Rats
“Walk Like an Egyptian” – The Puppini Sisters
“Crazy In Love” – The Puppini Sisters
“Creep” – Radiohead. An anthem.
“Blue Jay Way” – The Beatles
“Colorblind” – Scala & Kolacny Brothers. I’m a little bit obsessed with this Belgian all-female choir.
“Girl From the North Country” – Bob Dylan
“Let Love Rule” – Lenny Kravitz. It starts slow, and builds.
“Hurricane Eye” – Paul Simon. I have so much Paul Simon and I rarely listen to him. I used to listen to him all the time.
“Love, Don’t Turn Away” – Audra McDonald from the recent revival of 110 In the Shade which I saw.
“Unemployed Boyfriend” – Everclear. Cute song.
“You’ll Remember” – the great Patty Griffin
“Jessie’s Girl” – the Glee version. Yes, I have all of the Glee songs. This should surprise no one.
“Those Were the Days” -Dolly Parton with Mary Hopkins, Porter Wagoner & the Opry Gang and The Moscow Circus. I have a memory associated with this song (the Mary Hopkins version). Walking through downtown Chicago, listening to a mix tape given to me by … someone … and that song came on, and I was all over goosebumps in an instant and had to step out of the line of traffic in order to catch my breath. That was the summer of the heatwave in Chicago when all of those people died.
“Memorial Day” – Pat McCurdy. I mean it now. Go away.
“Folk Monologue / Value” – Barbra Streisand – A Happening in Central Park. Crazy funny and amazing that she got away with stuff like this.
“Swanee” – Judy Garland
“Minnie the Moocher’s Wedding Day” – Cab Calloway
“Love Is Only Love” – Barbra Streisand, from Hello Dolly
“Sexy Sadie” – The Beatles. Again: fuck you, Charles Manson.
“The Saints are Coming” – U2 and Green Day
“Peace Like a River” – Paul Simon
“OK, It’s Alright With Me” – Eric Hutchinson. I love this song.
“4 Minutes” – the Glee cast version of the Madonna/Justin Timberlake duet. I love it because there’s a marching band playing the accompaniment.
“Wilting Flower” – Tracy Bonham
“Jealousy” – Liz Phair. I was wondering when she would show up. I don’t think she’s written one single song that bores me.
“Callin’ Baton Rouge” – Garth Brooks. I love it when millionaires pretend they’re regular good old boys.
“You Are” – Sarah Donner. Have you heard her stuff yet? Do yourself a favor and check her out. Especially “Treeline” but I am loving discovering her other songs.
“Stars” – Javert, from Les Miserables
“My Conviction” – cast of Hair
“When You Were Young” – The Killers. Very into them right now.
“Everybody Loves Me, Baby” – Don McLean. My parents had this album when I was growing up and we were all obsessed with it. In kindergarten, on Show and Tell Day, I did not bring in my favorite toy to show. No, I recited the entirety of “American Pie” for the class. This song scared me when I was a kid. I didn’t get the sarcasm aspect of it. My thoughts were: “This guy sounds so mean, so awful … why is he talking about himself like that??”
“Green Green Rocky Road” – Emmylou Harris, Kate & Anna McGarrigle, Loudon Wainwright – again, from the wonderful McGarrigle Hour
“Thank You For the Music” – Amanda Seyfried (from the movie Mamma Mia). Seyfried really can sing.
“The Man Who Sailed Around His Soul” – XTC
“Old Pictures” – The Judds
“Not So Sure” – Mike Viola and the Candy Butchers
“Wonderboy” – Tenacious D. Yes, yes, yes.
“Cool, Cool, Considerate Men” – from 1776. When they all sing out, full voice, at the end … never fails to get me.
“You’re Quiet” – Brendan Benson
“Stone Dead Forever” – Metallica
“Paris” – Jonatha Brooke & The Story
“Somewhere That’s Green” – Ellen Greene, in Little Shop of Horrors
“Dreaming in Metaphors” – Seal
“Sandy” – John Travolta. Oh, that dancing hot dog!
“Highway 57” – from the Broadway show Pump Boys and Dinettes
“Hey, Hey, Hey” – Stevie Wonder. That harmonica goes right through me.
“Ghosts” – Robbie Williams. “Here I stand victorious: the only man who made you come” is how the song starts. I love how shy Williams is, how reticent.
“Heartache Tonight” – The Eagles
“The Duke Arrives / Barricade” – John Carpenter, from the Escape From New York soundtrack
“Prince of Darkness” – Indigo Girls
“The March of Time” – cast of Closer Than Ever. I love this show, and I have contempt for it at the same time.
“Come Undone” – Robbie Williams. One of my current favorites of his.
“Tough Life” – Pat McCurdy
“Hearbreak Express” – Dolly Parton.
“Help Me Mary” – Liz Phair – the second song on Exile in Guyville
“I Spy” – Siobhan O’Malley, my gorgeous talented sister. This is one of my new favorites of hers.
“Lola” – Robbie Williams
“Know Your Enemy” – Green Day
“On My Own” – Lea Michele, from Glee (she actually auditioned for the show with this song)
“Go With the Flow” – Queens of the Stone Age
“The One” – Tracy Bonham
“Here, There, and Everywhere” – The Beatles
“My Way (live)” – Robbie Williams
“It’s Electric” – Metallica
“Soft Winds” – Dinah Washington
“You’re My Is-Ness” – Tracy Bonham
“The Deepest Blues are Black” – Foo Fighters
“Hater” – Everclear
“Regeneration” – The Divine Comedy
“How I Roll” – Brit-Brit Spears
“Miss the Misery” – Foo Fighters, from their latest album, which I love
“All My Loving” – Jim Sturgess, from Across the Universe – what a cutie.
“Riot Proof” – Tori Amos
“For Love of Money” – early Pat McCurdy
“Smells Like Teen Spirit” – Nirvana. Even after all these years, still get a thrill when I hear those opening chords.
“Sea of Monsters” – The Beatles, from Yellow Submarine
“The Chain” – Fleetwood Mac. Haunting, angry, brilliant.
“Killing the Blues” – Robert Plant & Allison Krauss
“Don’t Bring Me Down” – ELO
“About a Girl” – Nirvana, from their melancholy reserved MTV Unplugged album
“Tough Lover” – Christina Aguilera, from Burlesque, a movie I didn’t see but whose soundtrack I bought at the earliest convenience
“Ride the Lightning” – Metallica. Wow, I guess I have a lot of Metallica, huh?
“That’s All” – Bobby Darin
“Concertina” – Tori Amos
“Itsy Bitsy Spider” – Carly Simon. This song is also the theme of Heartburn
“Burnout” – Green Day
“Mother Nature’s Son” – Sheryl Crow. I love her version of this song.
“I Flipped a Coin / I’m Goin’ To Hell” – Pat McCurdy
“Joseph Smith American Moses” – the cast of Book of Mormon. Hilarious, outrageous.
“Finale: I Don’t Need Anything But You” – Victor Garber, Audra McDonald, Alicia Morton – Rob Marshall’s Annie
“Late In the Evening” – Paul Simon
“Stay” – Allison Krauss. What a voice.
“Animal” – cast of Glee
“Photograph” – Weezer
“Heroin Girl” – Everclear
“You’re Gonna Lose That Girl” – The Beatles
“Moratorium” – Alanis Morissette
“She (live)” – Green Day, from their latest album, Awesome as ****
“The Green Leaves of Summer” – Nick Perito. Off the Inglourious Basterds soundtrack.
“I Am Enough For Myself” – Sinéad O’Connor
“American Woman” – Lenny Kravitz. I loved him in the ‘dreads, but I loved him too when he cut it off, and the look he was rocking during this album. HOT.
“See the Light” – Green Day
“Camping With Lesbians” – Pat McCurdy. Oh, Pat.
“Because” – Dana Fuchs, Evan Wood, Jim Sturgess, Joe Anderson, Martin Luther McCoy & T.V. Carpio – from Across the Universe
“No Leaf Clover” – Metallica
“Mack the Knife” – Robbie Williams
“The Weight Of a Man” – Russell Crowe
“Newborn Friend” – Seal
“While My Guitar Gently Weeps” – Martin Luther McCoy, from Across the Universe
“When Love Takes Over” – David Guetta, featuring Kelly Rowland
“Every Little Thing (He) Does Is Magic” – Shawn Colvin
“Somebody Save Me” – Nina Simone
“Hold Tight” – Dave Dee, Dozy, Beaky, Mick & Tich (aka DDDBMT)
“My Life Would Suck Without You” – Kelly Clarkson
“Wanted Dead or Alive” – Bon Jovi
“The Trashing of the Car” – cast of Ragtime
“There’s a Place in the World For a Gambler” – Dan Fogleberg
“Rivers of Babylon” – Sinéad O’Connor, from her bafflingly boring double album Theology
“Chelsea Hotel No. 2” – Rufus Wainwright
“Let’s Do It (Let’s Fall In Love)” – Alanis Morissette
“Season of the Witch” – Donovan. Believe it or not, I tracked this one down from an ad I saw in a movie theatre, an adorable ad. Normally I hate being advertised to while I’m caught there, but in this case, the ad was awesome, and the song even better. My parents had a Donovan album when I was a kid, so it’s been fun to re-encounter him.
“Thank You Girl” – The Beatles. Live, with girls literally losing their collective shit in the background
“Freak Me Out” – The Blizzard of ’05
“Hell Is For Children” – Pat Benatar
“Medley: Kansas City/Hey! Hey! Hey! Hey!” – The Beatles
“Be Italian” – Fergie, from the Nine soundtrack
“Spiderwebs” – No Doubt
“On the Street Where You Live” – Dean Martin
“Dancing Through Life” – the cast of Wicked
“Up In Arms” – The Foo Fighters. Good makeout song. Or so I hear.
“Yellow Sun” – The Raconteurs
“Which Will” – Nick Drake
“Gone At Last” – Paul Simon, Phoebe Snow & The Jessy Dixon Singers
“Electra Made Me Blind” – Everclear. Guess I like Everclear, huh.
“H.W.C.” – Liz Phair. I love you, Liz, for saying what many of us women think/feel/desire. And for doing it in such a blunt and yet sing-songy way. Awesome.
“Underneath” – Alanis Morissette
“Now the Day Is Over” – from Shawn Colvin’s suicidal Christmas album
“Loaded Gun” – The Reverend Horton Heat
“Choose To Be Happy” – cast of Broadway show Grey Gardens
“Name” – The Goo Goo Dolls. I don’t really like these guys, although Lead Singer Boy is one of the hottest people I have ever seen in my life, but I do like this song.
“Dumbo Sun” – Tracy Bonham
“Baby One More Time” – the cast of Glee doing Brit-Brit’s first hit
“Give ‘Em Hell Kid” – My Chemical Romance. Manufactured angst. Phony, overwrought. Yet I like them anyway. My main response to them is: “Boys. Take a deep breath. Relax. Everything’s going to be okay. Stop screaming.” (My response to Kurt Cobain is NEVER that, because he seems singular, himself, the real article.)
“Jack and Diane” – John Mellencamp. Yeah, you got a problem with this?
“The Emperor’s New Clothes” – Sinéad O’Connor
“Thankless Bastard” – Pat McCurdy
“Conversation With My 13 Year Old Self” – Pink. Wonderful song.
“Welcome to England” – Tori Amos
“Tomorrow Night” – Patty Griffin
“Baby’s In Black” – The Beatles
“Fresh Air” – Ruth Gerson. She’s wonderful. Reminiscent of Aimee Mann. Or Chrissie Hynde.
“Mr. Mustache” – Nirvana
“Darlin'” – Yipes. Pat McCurdy’s band back in the day.
“Don’t Keep Me Waiting” – Britney Spears
“Mick McGuire” – The Clancy Brothers & Tommy Makem. (Not too much Irish in this shuffle, which is amazing – usually they take over)
“Come Rain or Come Shine” – Judy Garland (an incredible arrangement)
“Please Read Me” – Nina Simone
“Purple People” – Tori Amos
“What I Did For Love” – the cast of Glee, singing one of the big anthems from Chorus Line
“Many Shades of Black” – The Raconteurs. I’m a little sick of them right now.
“To Be Brave” – Sarah Donner. I am newly in love with her.
“Conquest” – The White Stripes
“Endgame #2” – from Chess In Concert. Giant ensemble number, exhilarating to hear it done live.
“Catch a Shooting Star’ – Hellogoodbye
“Enterlude” – The Killers
“For Once In My Life” – Michael Bublé
“1999” – Prince
“Why I Lie” – Liz Phair
“All I Have To Do Is Dream” – The Everly Brothers
“Memphis, Tennessee” – The Beatles. What exactly do you Liverpudlians know about Memphis??
“Get Him Back” – Fiona Apple. My dad loved her. I love that about him.
“Gonowhere” – Brendan Benson. He doesn’t seem capable of writing a boring song.
“Almost Anything Goes” – The Good Rats. God, they are great.
“Live-In Skin” – The Foo Fighters
“With or Without You” – U2. Great song. That bass line.
“Rap Game” – D12
“Shame” – Eurhythmics
“Inconsolable” – Jonatha Brooke & The Story. Every song on this lovely album is about 2 to 3 minutes too long. WAY over-produced. Good songs, too much of them.
“Heartbreaker” – Sarah Donner. I am so happy she keeps coming up on Shuffle, I just discovered her, so I am happy to promote her.
“Synchronicity 2” – The Police. My God, was I obsessed with this album.
“You’ve Got to Show” – Indigo Girls
“Molokov and Anatoly” – David Bedella & Josh Groban, from Chess in Concert
“Of Wolf and Man” – Metallica, live with the San Francisco Symphony. An exhilarating opening.
“Baby (You’ve Got What It Takes)” – Michael Bublé with Sharon Jones & the Dap-Kings. J’adore. I was afraid this song would be ruined for me after 2009, but I was wrong.
“Skylark” – Bette Midler. Certainly one of the definitive versions of this song.
“Bang! Bang!” – Liz Phair, from her totally weird latest album which is growing on me
“Raise Your Glass” – Glee cast version of the Pink song
“All the Pretty Lil Horses” – again, from Shawn Colvin’s Holiday Album of Despair
“Rock Me” – Liz Phair. Love this song. It kind of reminds me of my relationship with Michael.
“Grunge Song” – Austin Lounge Lizards. Very funny. “This is the part of the song that’s really quiet … We play very soft. It sounds like a ballad. And this is the part where we play real hard. It’s much louder than at the beginning.”
“In the Bleak Mid-Winter” – Jane Siberry from an album of hers I treasure: a double album of a Christmas show she put on at The Bottom Line
“Flipside” – The Breeders
“Love Field” – Elvis Costello & The Attractions. Awesome. I’ve seen him in concert more than anyone else.
“Sugaree” – Rusty York
“Somewhere There’s a Someone” – Dean Martin. CLASSIC.
“Ode to Billie Joe” – Bobby Gentry. This song completely haunted me as a child. I needed to listen to it, scratch it like an itch, but it scared the shit out of me.
“Them And Me” – Brendan Benson
“Take It All” – Adele
“Slow Down” – The Beatles
“I Won’t Go Hollywood” – Bleu. This guy is so talented
“I Want You So Bad I Can’t Breathe” – Ok Go
“Come On Home” – Franz Ferdinand
“Cleaning Out My Closet” – Eminem, from the juggernaut that was The Eminem Show
“As Long As You’re There” – the cast of Glee
“You’re Never Fully Dressed Without a Smile” – the orphans in the original Broadway production of Annie. Jean has this song as my ringtone on her phone.
“Make No Mistake” – Mike Viola and the Candy Butchers. If you are not aware of these guys, you really should check them out.
“Entering Grey Gardens” – the cast of the Broadway production of Grey Gardens
“Jump Jack Jump” – Wynona Carr. Her stuff is so hot.
“Time On My Hands” – Chaim Tannenbaum
“What Ever Happened To Us” – The Blizzard of ’05 (the marvelous Bleu is also behind this album)
“Chrysanthemum” – Everclear
“Stupidity Tries” – Elliott Smith. Ouch.
“Old Friends” – Simon & Garfunkel
“One of God’s Better People” – Robbie Williams
“Sister Rosetta Goes Before Us” – Robert Plant & Allison Krauss
“Son of Sam” – Elliott Smith
“Black Eyed Susan” – Mike Viola and the Candy Butchers
“Take A Look” – Liz Phair
“Nothing” – from A Chorus Line. I’ve listened to this song one too many times, about 400 years ago. I just can’t hear it anymore but I also can’t get rid of it.
“Close Your Eyes” – Shawn Colvin, feeding me poison through an eyedropper on her suicidal holiday album
“John I Love You” – Sinéad O’Connor
“Où es-tu Julian?” – Scala & Kolacny Brothers
“Embassy Lament” – Idina Menzel and cast of Chess in Concert. Sorry, Idina. Nice try, but no.
“The Bitter End” – Scala & Kolacny Brothers
“Fields of Joy (reprise)” – Lenny Kravitz. This song means more to me than I even know how to say.
“Missing the War” – Ben Folds Five. They always make me think of Jean and Pat.
“Mother” – Tori Amos. I totally over-listened to this album when it first came out.
“Don’t Let the Sun Go Down On Me” – Elton John
“Gasoline” – Britney Spears
“Get Up” – Bleu. Definitely in my Top 5 of his songs.
“Espionage” – Green Day
“Forget About the Boy” – Sutton Foster and cast in Thoroughly Modern Millie
“I Won’t Stand In Your Way” – Stray Cats. I have a personal association with this song. My friends and I made a movie when we were in high school, an overwrought crazy soap opera that was also a musical. I played a heartbroken man (among other parts) who becomes an alcoholic in one night after his girl breaks up with him. I lip synched to this song. It is tragic. On multiple levels.
“Down the Moor” – Katie McMahon
“Yours, Yours, Yours” – William Daniels & Virgina Vestoff, from 1776. A heartbreaking beautiful number.
“11:11” – Rufus Wainwright
“Crack a Bottle” – Eminem (and Dr. Dre and 50 Cent). I love this song, my favorite on this vaguely misbegotten album
“Blast Off” – Stray Cats
“The Prince of Humbug” – Jim Dale as PT Barnum in Broadway soundtrack of Barnum. I saw this on Broadway when I was in high school and Tony Orlando played Barnum. He was incredible.
“We Three Kings” – The Reverend Horton Heat
“You’ll Be Mine” – The Beatles. This recording makes it sound like they are at the bottom of a deep well.
“The One You Love” – Rufus Wainwright
“Heaven on Their Minds” – Judas, from Jesus Christ Superstar. Perhaps my favorite number in the whole thing.
“Mambo Italiano” – Dean Martin. Only he could pull this schtick off and make it sound like he knows exactly what he is doing. The song is a gimmick. He plays it that way, but he also doesn’t play it that way. To quote my brother: “Dean Martin is the most underrated of all time.”
“Intimate Secretary” – The Raconteurs. Enough.
“The Calloway Boogie” – Cab Calloway
“I Can’t Think Straight” – Pat McCurdy. Neither can I.
“Easy and Slow” – The Clancy Brothers and Tommy Makem
“So Real” – Jeff Buckley. The most memorable live music show I have ever gone to. Will never forget it. Miss him.
“The Way Young Lovers Do” – the great Maria McKee
“Give Them Blood” – My Chemical Romance. Relax boys. Breathe. Everything’s going to be okay. Stop whipping yourself into a frenzy.
“Ripper’s Sole” – Stomp (this is from the great Tank Girl soundtrack)
“People” – AWOLNATION
“The Sweet Escape” – Gwen Stefani. What is she up to these days?
“Waiting (reprise)” – George Michael
“Ultraviolet (Light My Way”) – U2
“Lovely Rita” – The Beatles
“Dream On” – the Glee version featuring Neal Patrick Harris
“Hot N Cold” – Katy Perry
“Rolling in the Deep” – Adele
The shuffle goes on, but I’ll stop here, bookending the shuffle with Adele.
Sheila, that is a looong and lovely road!
This shuffle is six songs by Meat Loaf short of being perfect!
Also, Adam Ant! Suddenly I am seven again and my sister is playing Kings of the Wild Frontier on an eternal loop.
Ok, this is geeky but I love reading people’s playlists. Almost as much as exploring a friend’s bookshelves. This one had just the right mix of music I love and music I don’t know to send me looking for samples.
With your collection of Glee songs, I wonder, have you run across Darren Criss singing with Charlene Kaye? She is my current favorite new discovery. Such a lovely pure tone and mature sound. Her videos are fun too.
Thanks for sharing. My ipod will be getting heavier!
// This shuffle is six songs by Meat Loaf short of being perfect! //
Paul – HA!!!
Jane – count me as another geek who loves reading other people’s playlists which is why I like to share my own. It’s like the old days when you made mix tapes for people of music they maybe might like … I discovered a lot of cool music that way.
I do not know Charlene Key and will now definitely check her out. Thanks for the tip!!
Would love to know what songs sparked your fancy here.
Sheila,
I am going to have a good time with some of these.
I’d never heard anything by Mike Viola and the Candy Butchers. So far I’m liking “Give Me Some Time” and “Fall Back Down.”
Also the Nina Simone reminder, I need more of her music.
And how did I miss hearing about Pat McCurdy? I’m going to start with “Idiot for Your Love” and go on to download freely from there. Then I’m going to make a playlist of him and Jonathan Coulton for my bad mood days.
I’ll have to comeback and sift through some more later.
Oh I’m so excited to have introduced you to Mike Viola! His album Hang on Mike was a real breakthrough for them – every song is superb. So excited – he’s awesome.
And Pat McCurdy and I go way way back. Years and years. He wrote a song for me which I sang with him on his album Show Tunes (not to totally self-promote, but you know, I can’t help it). Here’s a link about it. He’s a major star in the Chicago/Milwaukee area and one of the best songwriters I have ever known. Yet his fame is TOTALLY local. He’s still going strong.
I am pretty sure most of his stuff is on iTunes – would love to hear what you download. And yes, he is great for bad mood days.
You have a lovely voice! I’d self-promote that too.
There’s a lot of warmth in his songs along with the humor. I think that’s what I’m liking.
There is something about the arrangement of the Glee version of “Safety Dance” that is so fun. Also, yes! to turning up the volume on anything by The Breeders. That’s a great album. Makes me think of my late friend (who loved Jane Siberry; I however was always a little weirded out by her).
I had a strange introduction to “Season of the Witch” as well–it was covered by a band called Luna. It’s a solid groove.
Kate – The only Jane Siberry I have is this double Christmas-show album (and she has a bunch of guest stars with her onstage). I’m not that familiar with the rest of her work.
I like it when Glee decides to “re-think” songs – like they did with Halo/Walking on Sunshine – or even Rehab, with the rocking chorus sound, speeding up the pace of it. I’m not as wacky about their straight covers, if you know what I mean – I like the re-imagining (“4 Minutes” being a perfect example).
Like Jane, I love peeping other folks music and book collections. I’m digging the Dolly Parton here – she’s a national treasure.