Travel Shuffle

I was fortunate I chose to fly out when I did. Even a couple of hours later, the airports would have shut down my flights. As it was, it was a long day of travel, with a layover in Cincinnati. I slept. Or tried to. Had a huge day on Monday, a huge career day, and needed to be rested, sharp and ready for it. I was back in my apartment with my purring cat by 5 p.m. Eastern Standard Time. I then proceeded to CRASH. And had a great time Monday with that career thing which went totally well. I’m not being coy, just not ready to announce it yet. Once it’s official, I’ll share the details. But it has been a hell of a busy month and a half. I can’t even believe I made it through without, you know, short-ing out. My iPod shuffle took me across this great country. I love the Shuffle. You never know what’s gonna come up. Like … Basia? I own a Basia song? Who knew.

A stroll through Sheila’s Shuffle.

“I’m Looking Through You” – The Beatles. One of my favorite Beatles songs, from my favorite album of theirs.

“Good Boys” – Yipes. What is Yipes, you ask? An early band led by Pat McCurdy who finally went off to have a solo career which, putting it mildly, has gone very well for him. He plays something like 300 live shows a year. He wrote a duet for the two of us to sing together. We recorded that in one take, both of us in the booth, in a recording studio in Milwaukee. The man is a monster-star in the Illinois/Minnesota/Wisconsin circuit.

“Yer Blues” – The Beatles. A ferocious song. A song to get lost in.

“Love Hate” – the aforementioned Pat McCurdy. This is actually also on Show Tunes. This shuffle is already a McCurdy conspiracy. Ann Marie referred to this as “one of his angry minor-key songs.”

“Memorial Day” – Pat McCurdy. Enough already.

“An American Trilogy” – Elvis Presley, the 1972 evening show at his Madison Square Garden series of concerts. The trilogy was, in many ways, the most personal thing he ever did, although everything he did was personal. Put together by him, encompassing three songs, it was an inclusive and hopeful blending-together of the different traditions in our country. An example, laid out by him, that we are not as far apart as we may think. This is from the Prince from Another Planet box set, and the sound is extraordinary. Crystal-clear.

“American Pie” – Don McLean. Staying with Americana. A small personal story: My parents had this album. The cover, of his giant thumb in the foreground, scared me. I was 4, 5 years old, and I didn’t know what it meant.

I had memorized every song by the time I was 4 years old. And, in the way that kids do, I imagined that the little deli around the corner from my house was the “sacred store” mentioned in the song. Every time I walked by there with my parents I thought of “American Pie.” And then I went to kindergarten the next year. On our first day of Show ‘n Tell, other kids brought in their gerbils, their toys, their dolls. And I sang the entirety of “American Pie.” I wish I had a Youtube clip of that. “Can you teach me how to dance reeeeeal slow,” sung by 5-year-old me.

Years later, many many years, I went to Garth Brooks’ free concert in Central Park. It was awesome. But the best moment came when Garth Brooks made mention of “the man who inspired me the most…” Pause. “Please welcome to the stage … Mr. Don McLean.” I lost my ever-loving mind. Even more so when the two of them sang “American Pie” together, and the thousands and thousands and thousands of people out on the Great Lawn sang along.

“Do It Again” – Queens of the Stone Age. Adore this album. It was on constant-repeat for me for a good 5 month period after it first came out.

“My Wish Came True” – Elvis Presley. One of those amazing 1958 songs, recorded before he left for the Army. I love the crazy almost psychotic-sounding chorus of voices behind him. I believe that’s Millie Kirkham doing her swoopy soprano. The song is a slow ballad. Elvis is almost … almost … on the verge of self-parody. It makes it fun. He has fun with his persona, his style.

“We Will Rock You” – the Glee cast version. You know, it just can’t be duplicated, what went on in the original. But whatever, they have fun with it, and I like the arrangement a lot. Go, Glee. I’m a supporter.

“She Needs Me” – Bobby Darin. So damn smooth.

“Livin’ On a Prayer” – Bon Jovi. This was the version they did for the fundraiser a couple of days after September 11, 2001. It’s meditative, slow, thoughtful.

“The Snuggle” – Raymond Hill. One of those amazing Sun Records artists. He was a tenor saxophonist, and “The Snuggle” is awesome, all about his moaning sexy sax. He was part of Ike Turner’s band.

“Get It Off Your Mind” – Speaking of Sun Records, this is Brian Setzer, on his really fun “Tribute to Sun Records” album. I am so glad Brian Setzer exists. I’ve been a fan for almost as long as I’ve been alive. The Stray Cats “hit” while I was in high school. And I will always be interested in what he is up to, what he is doing.

“For Good” – Chris Colfer and Lea Michele singing the song from Wicked. Gorgeous. Heartfelt. Their voices blend together beautifully.

“Ticket to Ride” – The Beatles. Fierce. This is from the awesome Live at the BBC double album. Some amazing tracks and performances.

“Life’s Too Short” – Pat McCurdy. Again, Pat? This is actually one of my favorite songs of his. Years pass and I will show up at one of his shows, and at some point, he will play “Life’s Too Short” for me. He remembers everything.

“Black and White” – from Barnum, which I saw on Broadway when I was a kid. Starring Jim Dale and Glenn Close. (I saw Tony Orlando in the role of PT Barnum. He was amazing!) Terri White is the star of this rousing number.

“Beautiful Loser” – Bob Seger. Ouch. Sad song, I think a lot of us can relate to it. A friend of mine was joking about Bob Seger on Facebook, saying that his favorite Seger song was called “Member That Hooker Who Got Me So Hard?” I’m still laughing. Lester Bangs wrote an interesting piece about Bob Seger.

“It Doesn’t Matter” – Pat McCurdy. You know, sometimes Shuffle does this, giving me Pat every other song. Yes, I have a lot of his stuff, but not more than Elvis!

“School’s Out” – Glee covering Alice Cooper. Ridiculous. Awesome. Lester Bangs talking about Alice Cooper is great.

“Wildwood Carol” – Jane Siberry, in her live Christmas album, recorded at the Bottom Line, I believe. It’s a beautiful album, with lots of guest artists.

“Lonely Street” – the great Everly Brothers. Perfect harmonies. A sort of thoughtful coda/reflection to another certain song about a “lonely street”.

“Alex” – the wonderful Bleu, one of my favorite songwriters/singers working today. Wrote about seeing him live here. This is one of his sort of smooth jazzy ballads. He’s so diverse.

“Stairway to Heaven” – Led Zeppelin. You know, it still gives me goosebumps. How many times I have heard this song? 1800 times? More?

“Give Up All Desires / Hail Mary / Roll Call” – the cast of the Broadway revival of Hair. You know what? I WON’T “give up all desires,” but thanks for the stupid suggestion.

“Nobody Does It Better” – Carly Simon. I grew up listening to her, my parents had her albums. This is one of my favorites of hers.

“The Angels Rejoiced Last Night” – the great and psychotic Louvin Brothers. Elvis loved them. They toured together in the early days. Hugely influential guys. The harmonies.

“Big Boss Man” – Elvis at his hottest and sexiest. I LOVE this recording. He’s on fire. I also love what he’s doing between the lyrics, the grunts, the muttering … It’s so sexy you want to rub up against a tree or something. Maybe that’s just me, but I highly doubt it.

“Love Conquers” – Pat McCurdy again. This from his Fainting with Happiness album. I’m thanked in the credits. I’m still not sure why. I said to him, about this song, “This is the most positive song you have ever written.” He said, “I know, right??” It’s an anthem. A call to arms, a call to love one another.

“Heartspark Dollarsign” – Everclear. About an interracial relationship. From Sparkle and Fade.

“Baby It’s You” – The Beatles. Burt Bacharach’s genius.

“Johnny B. Goode” – Elvis, from the That’s the Way It Is album, a great one. This is a recording of one of the rehearsals for the Vegas opening.

“So Glad You’re Mine” – Elvis Presley. Sexy as hell. “She cried oooo-weee I believe Iiii’ve changed my mind …” That little hitch in his voice, the sex-hitch.

“Komm, Gib Mir Deine Hand” – The Beatles, singing “I Want to Hold Your Hand” in German. Those claps in the background. So great.

“Wild in the Country” (take 14) – Elvis, recording the title song for his wonderful 1961 film Wild in the Country. A sensitive sweet country ballad. Elvis at his gentle best. The falsetto, the vibrato. He is in such total control of his instrument.

“Can’t Help Falling in Love” – Elvis, doing one of his most beloved songs, during his 1968 NBC special. With an audience present. Beautiful.

“Lawdy Miss Clawdy” – Elvis Presley. One of his earliest recordings. You still can’t believe it exists. It doesn’t sound like anything else. Ever.

“Winter Wonderland” – Elvis. Later Elvis. He sounds tired. Like, “what the hell am I doing.” Still, he’s easy and light with it.

“The Visiting Hour” – one of the songs from Jim Akin’s film After the Triumph of Your Birth, starring the great Maria McKee. I am pretty sure you can rent it on Amazon. I wrote it up here.

“Run For Your Life” – The Beatles. Another Rubber Soul track. Awesome: “that’s the end-uh Little Girl.” Syncopation.

“On Our Way” – the Glee cast, covering the song by Royal Concept. Pretty rousing. It’s on my workout mix.

“Sweet Woman” – another track from Brian Setzer’s “Rockabilly Riot,” his tribute to Sun Records artists. Hot. I love it when he roughs up his voice. Sexy.

“Love Is Like a New Born Child” – Barbra Streisand, from her Central Park concert album. Finally some women on this shuffle!

“Science Fiction Double Feature” – from The Rocky Horror Picture Show. Rocky Horror was HUGE when I was in high school. I love this song, because … is there any other song out there that mentions the great Claude Rains by name?

“It’s Late” – Queen. I feel so lucky that I actually walked the planet at the same time as Freddie Mercury. That we shared the same atmosphere for a brief space.

“Survival” – Eminem. From his latest. As of this moment, this anthem is my favorite track. I fluctuate. There are so many good tracks. But still. This is ferocious and powerful.

“Fly Away” – Lenny Kravitz. Rockin’.

“Each Day” – the great Wynona Carr. She had a similar journey as Sam Cooke’s, without the super-stardom though, unfortunately. She started out as a gospel singer and then switched to pop songs. She’s terrific in both. Great rough thick voice.

“Don’t Cry Daddy” – Elvis Presley, from those extraordinary American Studio sessions, which resulted in two phenomenal albums. “Don’t Cry Daddy” is definitely one of his self-pitying numbers, but boy, does he perform the hell out of it. It’s as sincere as anything else.

“Somebody Told Me” – The Killers. I like them a lot, and this one in particular.

“Just Because” – Brian Setzer covering one of Elvis’ first recorded songs at Sun, also on his “Rockabilly Riot”. Way to represent, Setzer!

“Halo / Walking on Sunshine” – one of Glee‘s really fun and a props mash-ups. Beautiful.

“Crazy Mixed Up World” – Faye Adams. She just MOANS her pain.

“Shady Grove” – The Everly Brothers. Wonderful banjo in the background, a bluegrass sound. You can hear the entire folk music scene exploding in a sound like this. They were so amazing.

“Stairway to Nowhere” – another song from Brian Setzer’s Sun Records tribute album. At this rate, we’re going to hear the whole album before this Shuffle is out.

“Steal the World” – Brian Tichy. Hard cliched rock ‘n roll. Satisfying, though. I have no idea why I have this and where it came from. I like it though. Grinding guitars always get my motor running.

“A Man for All Seasons” – the great great Robbie Williams. He is the best thing going on right now. Well, it’s been going on for decades now. He is here to stay, thank God.

“They’re Gonna Get You” – the awesome Count Five. Good old-fashioned rock ‘n roll with a fresh sound. Naturally, I must link to Lester Bangs again.

“American Honky-Tonk Bar Association” – Garth Brooks. One of those country songs where multi-millionaires rhapsodize about the working man, as though they are a part of that demographic. I mean, I get it, but still. Come on.

“Fake It” – Tracy Bonham. She is so damn awesome. Not prolific enough! I’m sure she’s still out there, performing, doing cool things. I like her early stuff best, the angry stuff. But still, she’s a major talent.

“My Way” – Elvis, from the June 1971 Nashville session. His version of this song is downright eerie. He was a young man, remember. In his 30s. But he’s singing as though he’s at the end. As, indeed, he almost was. This is an old man’s song. Not to get mystical, but somewhere he had to know. Who knows what it was like to be Elvis. I wrote about a glimpse of what it might have been like here.

“The Holly and the Ivy” – Annie Lennox, from her awesome Christmas Cornucopia album. When the chorus joins her on the second time she sings the chorus? Goosebumps.

“Superstitious” – Stevie Wonder. One of my favorite songs ever. Blast that shit as you careen down the highway!

“(Til) I Kissed You” – The Everly Brothers. For some reason, due to my old-fashioned soul, I had a cassette tape of their Greatest Hits in high school. I’ve always been into them.

“Suspension Without Suspense” – No Doubt. A beautiful melody. Kind of sad.

“Double-Decker Bus” – more Count Five! Grinding. Great harmonica echoes. Great bass line. I love them.

“It’s Midnight” – Elvis Presley, from his wonderful Promised Land album, which makes me wonder what the hell people are talking about when they say the 1970s were a total wash for him. Selective memory. Yes, he was into sad songs. Well, he was sad. His was always an extremely personal career. If he had lived, he would have moved into another phase. I love the sad songs, though. This is beautiful.

“Mary’s Place” – Bruce Springsteen, from his painful tribute album The Rising. It’s usually too much for me to listen to. But I am grateful that he did it, that it exists.

“Xanadu” – Olivia Newton-John. HELL. TO. THE. YES.

“Yes It Is” – The Beatles. One of their 1965 B-sides. Beautiful in a real heart-crack-y color. The harmonies. The chord changes. Ache.

“Prologue: Ragtime” – a gigantic ensemble number from the Broadway musical Ragtime, which I am so sorrowful I didn’t see. I adore the music and the performances.

“Superman” – Glee covering the REM song. I am not an REM fan at ALL, just never been into them, they bore me to tears. Maybe I heard them one too many times growing up – that was their heyday. But I wasn’t into them then either. So it’s actually nice to hear some of the Glee covers, which I prefer to the originals. More energy, more heart, more commitment.

“It’s Over” – Elvis, live, from the Feb. 17, 1972 dinner show in Vegas. Another one of those gigantic howls of pain he specialized in in the 70s. Beyond his personal investment in such material, it is also not difficult to see another reason he loved these big power ballads: he could show off his pipes. He sings the hell out of it.

“Blossom” – Carole King & James Taylor, from their Live at the Troubadour album. Lovely. This song echoes through my entire life.

“When You Laugh the World Laughs With You” – Tracy Bonham. She plays the violin. Beautifully. The song starts out with a haunting violin duet. She’s so talented.

“Teenagers” – My Chemical Romance. They’re so melodramatic. I want to tell them to take a breath, relax, and have some fun. Everything’s going to be okay, boys.

“Hair of the Dog” – Mike Viola and the Candy Butchers. I love him, I love his solo stuff, I love his stuff with Candy Butchers. I love the soundtrack to That Thing You Do, which is Viola. This one is painful. Can’t really deal with it.

“Innuendo” – Queen. Drama!

“Didn’t I” – k.d. lang. From Absolute Torch and Twang, the only album of hers. I love every song. I’ve kind of lost track of what she’s doing (understatement). But this is great.

“Junk Bond Trader” – Elliott Smith. Haunting. I am haunted by him.

“Live and Let Die” – Wings. Awesome karaoke song. Gets the whole joint singing with you.

“Just Because I’m a Woman” – Dolly Parton. If I’m not mistaken, she has a brand new album out. I follow her on FB. She’s one of my favorite living singers. I treasure her!

“The Difficult Kind” – Sheryl Crow. “If you could only see what love has made of me … then I’d no longer be in your mind the difficult kind.” That is me. That is my life.

“It’s a Sin to Tell a Lie” – The Ink Spots. I’ve been listening to these guys my whole life. They are so not my generation. They have nothing to do with me. But for whatever reason, I fell in love with them, and had their greatest hits on cassette tape. So I was listening to this as well as the B-52s. A weird kid.

“That Thing You Do!” – from the That Thing You Do soundtrack, speaking of Mike Viola. And they fucked him on giving him credit for all those songs. A debacle.

“Can’t Pull the Wool Down (Over the Little Lamb’s Eyes)” – Maria McKee. She is just so awesome. Her pipes are just incredible. What a voice.

“Sweet Sacrifice” – Evanescence. Talk about great pipes. Chick can SING.

“Disenchanted Lullaby” – Foo Fighters. Huge fan. I’m so glad it happened at all. I know it’s not Nirvana. And it is totally its own thing, which makes it even better. But it is still a connection, a link.

“Just for You” – Sam Cooke. He was such a genius. Such a pioneer. Too bad he couldn’t keep it in his pants. I mean, the way he ended. Really, Sam? Such a shame. Horrible. Imagine what else he would have done. Imagine where he was going. He saw where the music industry was going, he was paving the way, he really was.

“Hold Me Tight” – The Beatles. Love. This. Song.

“Blurred Lines” – the Glee cast version of Robin Thicke’s super-controversial and super-catchy song. You MUST move to it. Or at least I must. I like lots of things with sketchy lyrics. I mean, case in point. I’m a grown-up. I don’t need to be protected from sketchy lyrics. I can hear sketchy things and still somehow keep my moral compass intact. I know. It’s incredible that I can manage it. Meanwhile, excuse me, gotta groove out to this clear HIT.

“Virginia Woolf” – Indigo Girls. SUCH a beautiful song. And I love the sentiment, too.

“Enter Sandman” – Metallica (of course). But this is the KILLER version done with the San Francisco Symphony Orchestra. THRILLING.

“You’re the Boss” – Elvis Presley and Ann-Margret. Speaking of the glorious Ann-Margret. They recorded this smokin’ hot duet (Ann-Margret calling him “Daddy”? Rowr.) for Viva Las Vegas, and then it didn’t end up making it into the film, more’s the pity. But at least we have this recording. They are sexing each other up HARD.

“Your Daddy’s Car” – The Divine Comedy. I love this guy. My sister Siobhan saw him live in Ireland and introduced me to his music. What a voice. “Gin-Soaked Boy” is probably the best track off this album, but I love this one too. A sad story.

“Hong Kong” – the absolutely out-of-his-mind and otherworldly almost-scary Screamin’ Jay Hawkins. Obsessed with him lately.

“Big Tall Man” – Liz Phair. I was wondering when she would show up. I missed her. When Exile in Guyville came out, my main thought was: “How did she get a hold of my journal?” Wrote more about that here. This song is from Whitechocolatespaceegg.

“All Across America” – Reverend Freakchild. Speaking of which …

“Red Cadillac and a Black Moustache” – Warren Smith, another great Sun Records artist. It’s a sound, what can I say. Very few studios have such a distinctive sound where you know immediately that it was recorded in that one particular room. How did it happen? Yes, there was an echo. But more than that, Sam Phillips created an atmosphere where people could show up fully as themselves. I mean, obviously.

“Delilah” – Tom Jones. SING IT, YOU VOCAL GOD.

“The Smell of Rebellion” – from the Broadway musical Matilda, which I have not seen, but the numbers on the Tony Awards were so much fun I bought the soundtrack. It’s great.

“Every Breath You Take” – The Police. Ah, there was the summer when you could not walk 5 feet without hearing this song. From every radio, from every car, it was on every 10 minutes. And the video. We were all obsessed with the video. It was insane. This song took over the universe.

“Drivin’ On” – The Breeders. They broke up 521 years ago and I still miss them. Let it go, Sheila.

“Colonel Fraser & O’Rourke’s Reel” – The Dubliners. I knew it was just a matter of time before the Micks showed up. You lads are late.

“A Martyr For My Love For You” – The White Stripes, from Icky Thump. I was really into this album. I’m even more into his incredible work as a producer of new material for the Gigantic Lady-Divas of our glorious past. So impressed.

“Glory Train” – James Taylor & Randy Newman, from Randy Newman’s awesome musical Faust. I love James Taylor as this cynical manipulative God.

“Break It to Me Gently” – Brenda Lee. Classic. So romantic, so sad.

“Squinting Optometrist” – my amazing talented sister Siobhan O’Malley from her album Alibi Bye

“Confusion” – ELO. They are up there in my Favorite Bands Ever list. Top 10, definitely.

“Happy Feet” – Manhattan Rhythm Kings. Roll up that rug and start Charleston-ing immediately.

“Time and Tide” – Basia. OMG. I had forgotten this song existed. Basia? What the hell.

“I’m Looking for a Woman” – the great great Bo Diddley.

“Pills” – Look! It’s a Bo Diddley cluster! I try to listen to at least one Bo Diddley song a day. This is a crazy song about a drug addict.

“Marry the Night” – You do that, Gaga.

“Folsom Prison Blues” – Johnny Cash. Again, recorded at Sun Studio. You can just HEAR it. And God, Johnny Cash. You really don’t get more authentic than that.

“Scoff” – Nirvana. From Bleach. So fucking fierce you don’t even know what you’re hearing. I mean, I’m just thinking back to when I first heard it, when it first came out, and while of course you can hear in it the influences of punk rock and metal … it still felt like its own crazy THING. And certainly like nothing else on the radio at that time.

“Gonzo” – James Booker. Why the hell do I buy some of these weird tunes? So random. Groovy!

“Lonesome Town” – the glorious Ricky Nelson. Any time one of his tracks come on, I settle in, happy. He’s the best.

“Big Wheel” – Tori Amos. I have a love/hate relationship with her. Basically I love her rocking angry stuff, and hate (strong word, not really applicable) her interior introspective stuff. I adore “Big Wheel” and think it’s her best song in years. But what can I say, I’m a fan for life. I saw her live at the Park West only a month or so before Little Earthquakes came out, and feel very fortunate I got to see her in a small venue, intimate. She was about to became super famous.

“Johnny Sunshine” – Liz Phair. Hot. Like I said, she stole my journal.

“Surfer Girl” – the incomparable Beach Boys.

“Hot Stuff” – Donna Summer. A friend of mine had this album when we were kids. Little pipsqueaks in pigtails. I remember you opened the album up and there were images of hands on the driving wheel, holding money, and all these hookers gathered around in the distance. I didn’t know what it meant but I knew it was grown-up and I didn’t like it. I saw Donna Summer live at that outdoor venue outside of Chicago, the name of it escapes me. We all went, with a picnic, and a blanket, and had a great night.

“It Goes Like It Goes” – Jennifer Warnes, singing the absolutely heartbreaking theme song to Norma Rae. I adore her.

“Doggin’ Around” – Jackie Wilson. What a showman. What a voice. He inspired Elvis to push farther, go deeper, be more innovative. He was the guy to beat, and Elvis knew it. He’s incredible. And apparently phenomenal live, electric, blowing the top of the roof off.

“The Black Angel’s Death Song” – The Velvet Underground. So intense.

“Ya Got Trouble & Seventy-Six Trombones” – Robert Preston as Professor Harold Hill! The Music Man. My siblings and I can sing this entire score word for word. And believe me, we do.

“I Hate Myself For Loving You” – Joan Jett. I have such a huge crush on her. The crush has been going on now for 30 years. No signs of abating. Especially not after this!

A SECRET show after Nirvana’s induction into Rock and Roll Hall of Fame? At a tiny club with only 300 people there? Why wasn’t I there? Joan Jett playing “Smells Like Teen Spirit”? I am in heaven.