“The Road to Shamballa” – When a Shuffle starts off with Three Dog Night, one gets excited. That guitar underneath, it’s so simple, the repetition, beautiful.
“Rock of Ages” – Def Leppard. Hahaha. Awesome.
“That’ll Be the Day” – Buddy Holly. Perfect Shuffle so far. I could live in these three songs.
“Gonna Get Back Home Somehow” – Elvis Presley, from the horribly titled Pot Luck album. Pot Luck? He’s the greatest rock star in the world and you name an album POT LUCK, RCA?? I love him here, though. It’s super-dramatic, and listen to how he pushes that voice, that range. He’s in total control of the effects he wants.
“May Queen” – the great Liz Phair. She’s so fierce. “rock and roll Ken doll”. Ouch.
“Damage Case” – Metallica covering Motörhead, which couldn’t be cooler. The sound here is raw punk rock ferocity.
“Livin’ La Vida Loca” – Ricky Martin. The awesome just keeps coming. I love the quote from Joe Strummer, which goes something along the lines of: “If I could do it all over again, I would want to be Ricky Martin”, which … I mean, really. I saw Ricky Martin on Broadway in the revival of Evita and he was great. Charisma, the boy’s got it. I love that the woman described in the song is supposedly so dangerous, so scary, and why? She “makes you take your clothes off and go dancing in the rain”. Oooooh, I’m so scared.
“Am The Only One (Who’s Ever Felt This Way)” – Maria McKee, whose voice gives me goosebumps. Powerhouse. Pure and simple.
“Boy Meets Girl” – Bleu. If you are not familiar with Bleu, do yourself a favor … He’s my favorite guy out there right now. He writes pop-dance tunes, he writes power ballads, he writes testosterone-driven rock anthems. So versatile. His voice, too! I feel so fortunate that my sister Siobhan introduced me to his music. Thematic dovetail: he references Motörhead in this song, so all is right with the world.
“Wait” – The Beatles. I love the strange opening, the stops/starts of the melody – and then how the song kicks in, with the shriek of sound: “WAIT!”
“A Hard Day’s Night” – The Beatles. A perfect song. Play this at any random party? People still can’t resist getting up and moving. Listen to what Ringo is doing in the background.
“Nothing Else Matters” – Metallica. Kirk’s guitar that opens the whole thing … melancholy, vulnerable (and Hetfield’s voice), very very sad. Why have I not ever seen them in concert? What is my problem? They’re my favorite band.
“King Herod’s Song” – from Jesus Christ Superstar (the movie). Meanie!
“Finale” – from the new Broadway production of Anything Goes with Sutton Foster (which I have not seen). I saw the other revival, with Patti Lupone, whenever that was. It was awesome. I love that show.
“How Many Women?” – from the Broadway production of Chess, with the wonderful Judy Kuhn. I was wondering when the inevitable Chess juggernaut would begin.
“Burning Love” – Elvis, live, from his enormous simulcast Aloha from Hawaii concert. One of his unstoppable 1970s hits. It was electric, live. He “went there”. I love how he makes his own voice fade out (“risin risen risin”). He’s in the Zone.
“I’ll Get You” – The Beatles. “It’s not like me to pretend – but I’ll get you – I’ll get you in the end …” Promise?
“Spread Your Wings” – the awesome Robbie Williams. May he live long and prosper.
“I Only Want to Be With You” – Dusty Springfield. One of my favorite songs ever written. Great recording.
“16 Tons” – Robbie Williams, from his latest album, Swings Both Ways, a mix of both originals and covers of classic swinging songs, like this one. He’s the BEST. Duets with all sorts of folks (the one with Michael Buble rocks, and the one with Rufus Wainwright is awesome). I love him so much. This is his second “swing” album. What I love about him is he is not ironic about it. He’s sincere. More so than Buble (who I realize is a bit of a tool, but I do like him). Robbie Williams is a bad boy, a dark angel, a showman, a muse, all of that. He loves this music and tosses himself into it with all his heart. And he’s great at it.
“In Dreams” – the awesome Roy Orbison. Beautiful song, which has now forever been co-opted by Dean Stockwell.
“Flutes & Trombones” – Tenacious D. One of their super-stupid (a compliment, in my world) “skits”. Their humor hits my sweet-spot. “Dude, are you comin’ here at night with a fuckin’ flute and layin’ down flute tracks? You goddamned motherfuckin’ stupid piece of shit!”
“Bitch” – Eminem. One of the “skits” he puts in between songs. This is from The Slim Shady LP and it features a phone message from a “Zoe” who is ranting about hearing Eminem’s latest song and how disgusting it is, and “It makes me upset. I am now nauseous and I can’t eat lunch. Goodbye.”
“Oops … I Did It Again!” – Britney Spears. Oh, Brit-Brit, stop toying with the boys! Stop “making them believe” you are in love with them, it’s not fair!
“The Five-Fifteen” (reprise) – from the Broadway production of Grey Gardens. Christine Ebersole gave one of the greatest live performances I’ve ever seen. The show is not all that great, but she? My God.
“It Is No Secret (What God Can Do)” – Elvis Presley, from his 1957 Christmas album (the one that led off, startlingly, with one of his dirtiest bluesiest recordings ever, “Santa Claus is Back in Town”). So to mix that, with a serious devout hymn like this? Badass. Because both are sincere parts of Elvis. Both must be included in our assessment of him. I go into that here.
“One Night” – Elvis, live, August 11, 1970, midnight show in Las Vegas. Elvis’ relationship with this song went back to his earliest days. He always performed it ferociously, even though he was forced to change the more suggestive lyrics in the 50s. He performed it in his ’68 “comeback special” and it’s one of the most passionate performances I’ve ever seen – so raw it’s almost scary – and this performance in 1970 has the same vibe. You almost want to stand back.
“Blew” – Nirvana. The screaming guitars, it almost hurts to hear. Messy, powerful. Leaps out at you.
“Keep Young and Beautiful” – Annie Lennox, from her wonderful Diva album, which I listened to constantly when it first came out. This is psychotic and great.
“You’re My Is-Ness” – Tracy Bonham. I listened to her “The Burdens of Being Upright” until I wore out the cassette tape. I still keep my eyes peeled for her latest projects. She’s awesome. She’s weird. Her voice is great.
“Call Me Maybe” – the Glee cast cover of the monster hit from whatever that girl’s name is. I am not up to date on pop music! But I keep up to date on Glee! I like this. Dumb pop song, but catchy.
“The New York Times” – Everclear. I have a powerful relationship with this band, it’s very personal, and I don’t know how to even track it. I’ve always been aware of them, and love “Father of Mine”, but something clicked for me with their album of covers and also “Welcome to the Drama Club”. 2009 was a wilderness of pain. Those albums helped me get through it. Still don’t know why but I don’t question it.
“The House Jack Built” – Metallica, from the reviled Load, an album I actually love.
“Good Old-Fashioned Lover Boy” – Queen. Freddie Mercury: sui generis. He cannot be replaced.
“Scandal” – Queen. Speaking of which!
“I Feel So Bad” – Elvis Presley, aching with how “bad” he feels. “Like a ballgame on a rainy day …” Love the sound of this. The echo on his voice, the slight and manufactured RCA echo, not the wild organic Sun Studio echo.
“Land of the Lost” – Everclear’s raucous joyous cover of the Land of the Lost theme song, which fills me with such intense joy that I don’t want to unpack it. This is one of those songs that helped buoy me up through 2009 – absurd, but that’s the way it goes.
“Good Morning” – Lenny Kravitz. I’ve been with him from the start. I never get tired of him. Also, he’s so positive. This rocks.
“Love Field” – Elvis Costello. Haunting. I’ve seen him three times in concert (not recently). I actually listened to him too much, in that I can’t really listen to him anymore. I love this song.
“I’ve Forgotten What It Was In You (That Put The Need In Me)” – Maria McKee. Every one of her songs is a journey. It starts, it goes someplace, she takes us someplace, and she goes somewhere herself. Her songs are not static. They are monologues.
“Sit On My Face” – Monty Python. You just want to march around your house when this comes on. Naked.
“Cecilia” – Simon & Garfunkel. I grew up with these guys, listening to my parents’ albums.
“It’s Easy to Remember” – the luscious and smooth Doris Day.
“11 Odd Future” – Bleu, from his latest album, To Hell With You. You can see why he writes songs for pop princesses.
“Livin’ Thing” – ELO. Heartcrack. I love them so much.
Hi Sheila,
I have no comment about your songs, but I did want to ask you, do you have any thoughts about Tom Hiddleston? I saw Coriolanus the other day (at a movie theater) and was sorely tempted to write a gushing fan letter. My first since about, oh, 1990.
My 4 year old recently came into my room to wake me up, yelling, “Say My Name!” He wasn’t happy until I yelled “Loki!” back. I guess I’m sharing my obsessions!
Hi, Anne! That is so cute about your son!
I actually am not familiar with Hiddleston although I saw a clip of him on, I think, Conan, and he was super appealing and totally charming. Pitter-pat!!
I think one of the more charming things about him is that he gets what it is like to be a fan.
Wow, I love that!
I did a course in LA last year and used to study in a coffee shop and Lenny Kravitz walked in TWICE. I decided I needed to play it cool – being in LA – and so I didn’t say anything. I thought of telling him about that Jeff Buckley show we both saw. I was told the furniture shop next door belonged to his daughter. Anyway, I too am a long time fan.
Is he just even more overwhelmingly gorgeous in person?