Trick or treating on a misty chilly night. That’s my niece, the pumpkin, with her friend, the princess. We went around with a huge crowd of kids and parents. Super fun.
Driving around New England. Seeing family, friends. Trick-or-treating with my nieces and nephew. Gloomy weather. Needed a break, although I still have to work while I’m out of town. iPod Shuffle over the last couple of driving days.
“Luv n’ Haight” – Sly & The Family Stone, from There’s a Riot Goin’ On. Disturbing, intricate, brilliant. You get lost in it. Doesn’t really have a verse-chorus structure.
“I Love Paris” – Screamin’ Jay Hawkins. The man never ceased to surprise. His version of this song is absolutely insane. I love him so much. Nobody really like him.
“I Feel Fine” – The Beatles, from those Live at the BBC tapes. As a child, the harmonies of “I’m so glad … that she’s my little girl … she’s so glad she’s telling all the world” was so intensely pleasing to me. That feeling has remained. Every time I hear the song, every time, I get a thrill of pleasure at those harmonies.
“Caledonia Mission” – The Band. “I do believe in your hexagram …”
“I Love It When You Call Me Names” – the great Joan Armatrading. She was in constant rotation in college.
“Cool Drink of Water Blues” – Tommy Johnson. Haunting, eerie … his voice, there’s a yodel in it, sounding like it’s coming from the depths within him. Riveting old-school delta blues.
“When the Stars Are Against You” – Mike Viola, from one of his recent albums. Such an excellent song-writer. He can be both tremendously vulnerable and also rock-star aggressive. I love his career, and I love seeing whatever it is he is up to.
“As Long As I’m Singin'” – the great Brian Setzer with his big-band orchestra. Love him.
“Boy For Sale” – Mr. Bumble from the movie Oliver! I saw the movie when I was 10 years old. I was never the same again. It was really my first full-blown obsession. It was an obsession I shared with my best friend Betsy (coincidentally, we just got together last night and are meeting up this morning to walk on the wild windy beach). It was ALL OLIVER TWIST ALL THE TIME. The crowning glory of our obsession was when our school drama club did Oliver, and she was cast as Nancy and I was cast as The Artful Dodger. We were in 6th grade. We treated that play as seriously as if it were a Broadway opening.
“The Only One” – Evanescence. Chick can sing, yes?
“Doth I Protest Too Much” – Alanis Morissette. Well, if you have to ask that question, Alanis …
“Dive” – Nirvana. Live. Grinding, grinding guitars, that huge huge sound made by three guys.
“Not Anymore” – Screamin’ Jay Hawkins. A bluesy burlesque-y number, with a woozy horn, distant boogie-woogie piano, and his VOICE. “Lordy Lord, PLEASE take the TIME …”
“Tomorrow Night” – Patty Griffin. I adore her. A little lady with a gigantic voice. Nothing can compare to that first album … every single song, and the sound … pared-down, almost archaic, a woman and a guitar … with a bleak and uncompromising attitude. But this is beautiful. It’s a song you’d hear in an old-timey dance hall.
“Here Comes the Sun” – the cast of Glee, featuring Demi Lovato. She keeps it simple. Not too much embellishment. The song doesn’t need it. It’s sweet and sad.
“Welcome To My World” – Elvis Presley, in his 1973 Aloha From Hawaii concert. There’s something held-back in the performance. It’s in the voice. The voice sounds thin, like the breath is shallow. You can tell immediately the Aloha From Hawaii tracks, because of the sound of his voice. Something was going on there. It was an extravaganza, that concert … but there’s something very distant about Elvis’ sound.
“Narcissus” – Alanis Morissette. One of her list-making songs. I love her, but she also drives me crazy, her phrasing, the way she breaks up syllables, some of her lyrics … I roll my eyes. Yet still, I love her. Dammit, I swing back and forth on it. I buy everything she does. I’m in, Alanis, what can I say, I’m in!
“Stand On the Word” – Keedz. Absolutely love this song. It’s on my “exercise mix”, as strange as that may sound. The beat drives one on. All of these kids, singing about Jesus. Yeah, that gets the blood pumping!
“You’re All Of My Life To Me” – Screamin’ Jay Hawkins. So much Screamin’ Jay in this shuffle. I’m in heaven! He’s out of this world. Irrepressible talent, strangeness, commitment, honesty, performance-style. He puts a sob into his voice, and it resonates so hard it makes the speakers buzz with the vibration. “If you should leave me … you can believe me … I jest don’t want to liiiiiiiive … Love makes me half mad, so if I act bad, oh bab-ee, please forgiiiiiiiive!”
“I Don’t Come From No Monkey” – Pat McCurdy. Ah, Pat. An old friend of mine. I mean, the title alone is hilarious … but his arrangement is even funnier. Pat multiplied singing backup, a manly male chorus.
“Won’t You Charleston With Me?” – from the Broadway production of The Boyfriend. Another pre-teen obsession of mine. I saw the production at the local university, and I was 10, 11 years old, and forget it. 1920s, boarding school? I was hooked!
“No Particular Place To Go” – Chuck Berry. Hot as hell. I mean, the voice, his whole thing. But also the arrangement. He’s singing without accompaniment. The accompaniment comes in at staggered points … adding to the tension of the song. It’s still rock ‘n roll. It still feels as fresh as it must have felt when it first hit the radio waves.
“Angel Of the Morning” – Nina Simone. She’s so intense.
“Johnny B. Goode” – Elvis Presley, in his last televised concert. Broadcast posthumously. It’s painful to listen to. He’s so sick and tired. The overall sound is great, the band, the back-up singers … his touring outfit was a well-oiled machine of gorgeous professionals. But he’s out of it.
“Boys” – The Beatles. Sexy. The backup: “Bop-shoo-wop … bop-shoo-wop …” Kissing, and getting a thrill to your fingertips? Yes, please. The whole song is crazy.
“How Can I Meet Her?” – The Everly Brothers. So rocking. So exciting. STILL. After all these years. What today will still sound fresh and thrilling 50 years from now? Time will tell.
“Satan Is Real” – The Louvin Brothers. The Everly Brothers sound, with a Pentecostal spirit. Their faith is the most literal faith imaginable. I mean, come on, “Satan is real.” I love these guys. Harmonies as perfect as The Everly Brothers. The Louvin Brothers were on an early group-tour with Elvis. He loved them.
“European Son” – The Velvet Underground & Nico. From the banana album. Almost 8 minutes long. The drive never lets up. Lou Reed driving that pace. Great rock ‘n’ roll.
“All Shook Up” – Elvis Presley, from 1969 or so, his live show at the International Hotel in Vegas. He was set free from his studio contract, getting back into live performing. He’s at the very tip top of his game. A thrilling period for him.
“Babylon” – Don McLean. I grew up listening to this album. It was in my parents’ record collection. For show and tell in kindergarten, other kids brought in their pet turtle, their dolls. I stood up and recited the entirety of “American Pie.” I was scared of the cover of the album, Don McLean and his big thumb. I felt the anger in that image. I remember being disturbed by it.
“She Wears My Ring” – Elvis Presley, from Promised Land, a late album, and a really good album. It’s a croon-y country & western ballad. It’s beautiful. He sings the hell out of it.
“Sad But True” – Metallica. I was wondering when they would show up. From the black album. Ominous. Relentless. Slow (for them).
“For All the Cows” – Foo Fighters. From their first album. They have a new one coming out. Can’t wait. Heard an interview with Dave Grohl where he joked that if he knew the band would last, he would never have named it “Foo Fighters.”
“Let It Be Me” – Indigo Girls. I can’t believe they’re still around. I’m happy they are.
“Get Down, Make Love” – Queen. From News of the World. Pretty damn decadent. Freddie Mercury is the perfect rock star. He’s got the voice, but he’s got the persona too. His artistry set him free. You can FEEL it in his performances.
“Didn’t Leave Nobody But the Baby” – Emmylou Harris, Alison Krauss & Gillian Welch. I think this is from the O Brother Where Art Thou soundtrack. I love all of these ladies individually, so to hear their voices blend like this … it’s heavenly.
“Cousin Jane” – The Troggs. I love The Troggs so much. And I am grateful to Lester Bangs for his essay on them, one of his most famous (and infamous) pieces of writing. It puts it all into words.
“Funny How Time Slips Away” – Elvis Presley, from his 1972 concert at Madison Square Garden. (Well, he did four in a row. Sold-out shows.) This concert was recently re-issued in a box set called “Prince From Another Planet” and the sound is phenomenal. Like you are there in that stadium. I love Elvis doing this song. He loved it so much. He’s both affectionate, and over-it. He’s so easy with it.
“Funhouse” – Pink. She’s got one of my favorite voices in the business right now. Great rock voice. Like Joan Jett’s voice. It can do a lot. It has great expressive possibilities. She’s a real singer.
“Seaside Rendesvous” – Queen, showing their roots … in the British music-hall tradition.
“Bosom of Abraham” – Elvis Presley. Getting all gospel, all holy. He put out so much gospel, and I love all of it. This is one of my favorite tracks. Elvis as part of an ensemble. He’s obviously the leader, obviously the star, but it’s as much about what is going on with that ensemble, that collective. Something is set free in Elvis doing gospel that is not present anywhere else. It’s honest. I mean, he was always honest, but there’s something pure about the honesty in the gospel stuff. Sheer joy in what he is doing, what he is channeling.
“Hit the Road Jack” – Ray Charles. Hot.
“Dicey Reilly” – The Dubliners. Was wondering when the Micks would show up. Hi, boys.
“Walk Away” – Joe Walsh. Great guitar, big crazy sound, his bratty as hell voice.
“Red Cadillac and a Black Moustache” – Warren Smith, one of the Sun Records rockabilly artists. He had deep Memphis roots, playing at a hot nightclub across the river in West Memphis, and then auditioning for Sam Phillips at Sun Records. His first single was “Rock and Roll Ruby,” a giant hit for him and for Phillips. I love his stuff.
“Mrs. Merguitory’s Daughter” – Dale Hawkins. Another rockabilly guy, who brought in his own swamp rock style, an unmistakable sound. He’s rough, he’s raw, great guitar player, great songwriter.
“Proud Of You” – Eddie Cochran. I’ve been getting really into him recently. So sad that he died so young, so soon. He had a beautiful voice, clearly Elvis-inspired, but with his own style. He was gorgeous too – as gorgeous as Elvis. Hot and sexy. He had it all. His songs are much more mainstream than Elvis’ early stuff was: Eddie Cochran is singing about a white-bread world: bobby sox and drive-in movies and milk shakes, and high school romance. Elvis was singing blues songs with dirty adult themes, like “That’s All Right” and “Lawdy Miss Clawdy.” But Eddie is wonderful. I love his voice.
“Make the World Move” – Christina Aguilera (and CeeLo Green). An anthem. I love her.
“spiral” – Alanis Morissette. Oh, Alanis. More list-making. Lyrics like “shame spiral.” Eyeroll. See what I mean? I fly around the spectrum with her. It’s a pretty song. She gets to me, she really does. Against my will.
“Stood Up” – Ricky Nelson. He’s perfect. His girl stood him up. The song is jaunty, though, in contrast to the sad lyrics, and there are little hand-claps. A nice dichotomy. And great guitar solo. James Burton? Is that you?
“When You’re Hot, You’re Hot” – the great mad-man Jerry Reed. He is out of his mind. A genius. A bad bad boy. I love Jerry Reed.
“You Should Hear How She Talks About You” – Melissa Manchester. OMG. This song was HUGE when I was in high school. I forgot I even had it.
“Stranded In a Limousine” – Paul Simon. On one of my parents’ albums. My siblings and I grew up listening to their albums until eventually we found our own tastes. We thought this song was so funny. Some “mean individual” cruising around in a limousine. We had no idea what was going on, we were children, but we loved this and knew it by heart.
“Gone Gone Gone” – Carl Perkins. Hilarious lyrics. Beautiful and funny performance from Perkins. In his music, you can hear the culture crack apart. He’s the one who heard that sound, who worked it, who worried over it. An innovator.
“Hold On Tight” – ELO, from their great concept album Time. Incidentally, Time was the first album I bought with my own money. I was 12. It was a momentous occasion. Exercising my choice. I treasured that album. I can see the cover right now in my mind’s eye.
“Let Love Rule” – Lenny Kravitz. If I’m not mistaken, this was his first mega-hit. I still remember when he “arrived.” The bell bottoms, the guitar, the rock star persona, the dreads … I mean, you felt he was bringing something new with him, opening up a space, a space to maneuver. And I think time has borne that out. I love him. I also love that he hasn’t kept repeating himself. He’s an artist.
“Sleeping” – The Band. They really get that melancholy bittersweet thing, don’t they.
“How Great Thou Art” – Elvis Presley, and his backup group The Stamps, at a show in Dallas, 1975. It was Elvis’ favorite gospel song. He was unable to phone this one in. The song itself transported him. And it happened every time. I find it intensely moving. Almost scary. That’s how powerful it is. Here, he loves it so much, he makes them all do the ending twice. “Let’s go back …” He’s not done with it. He wants to feel whatever the song provides him again.
“Flipside” – The Breeders. I miss them.
“Phoenix From the Flames” – Robbie Williams. Superstar. This is one of my favorites of his songs. It starts slow, almost conventional, a regular old pop song. And then … and then … it goes where it needs to go, and it’s huge, and strangely emotional. I don’t know how to describe it. This song has been a great comfort to me through some rough periods. I’ve got a tattoo of a phoenix on my back. Put there by a reluctant tattoo artist, while I had a fever of 103. Burning up. An important personal symbol.
“Candy Shop” – Madonna. From Hard Candy. I love her. Not as much as I loved her around the Blonde Ambition years … but I’ll always be interested in what she’s up to.
“Lullay Lullay (Coventry Carol)” – Annie Lennox. FANTASTIC. This whole album is great, but it is this and “God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen” that are the real keepers. This is one of my favorite Christmas carols anyway. It’s terrifying. It’s the real Christmas story. Herod the king. A couple on the run. The fragility of life, of grace, murderers stalking the land. Lennox puts that terror into her version.
“My Baby Just Cares For Me” – Nina Simone, live. The crowd is part of the event of the performance. They sing along with her, and she criticizes them for their lack of enthusiasm: “Jesus Lord, as loud as you can get it, let’s start it over again. This is Saturday night. Get LOOSE.” They cheer, they laugh, and the second time through they SING OUT LOUISE. You don’t want to disappoint Nina!
“She’s a Woman” – The Beatles. Ferocious. “My LOOOVE – don’t give me presents.”
“Creeping Death” – Metallica. My brother said once, “Metallica is for math nerds.” Their structure is intricate, complex musically and rhythmically, veering from fast to slow and back, all held together by the perfect parallelogram of Lars Ulrich’s drumming. Love them.
“Wee Wee Hours” – Chuck Berry. From his gigantic record After School Session. Woozy, bluesy, it captures the ‘wee wee hours’ feeling, a blues bar, everybody heading home, the sun coming up, drunk, despairing, lonely, sleep-deprived. Exhausted, enervated, head on the bar.
“Follow the Flag” – Randy Newman. Greil Marcus’ essay about Randy Newman, included in Mystery Train is a masterpiece of scholarship and analysis about this weird and honest artist, on the fringes, on the periphery of pop culture. I love Randy Newman, despite the almost unbearable sadness that emanates from his melodies.
“Kyrie Eleison” – Noirin Ni Riain & The Monks of Glenstal Abbey. Holy. That whole album … her voice … their voices … the echo … the faith expressed. Powerful.
“Don’t Leave Me This Way” – Thelma Houston. Classic Motown. Thrilling.
“Drinkin’ In My Sunday Dress” – the great Maria McKee.
“Padre” – Elvis Presley. Late Elvis. He KILLS IT.
“As Long As You Love Me” – Justin Bieber. He is such a hot mess. I like this song though.
“My Baby Likes Western Guys” – Brenda Lee. Hilarious. Her boyfriend keeps blowing her off to watch Western movies. She can’t compete. I love when her voice goes rough and gravelly, a la Wanda Jackson. She’s fearless.
“Inside Out” – Britney Spears, from Femme Fatale. Brit-Brit, I don’t think you’re a femme fatale, I think you’re a damsel in distress. But more power to you! I will always support you! “Baby, shut your mouth and turn me inside out.” Jeez.
“No Love” – Eminem (and Lil Wayne). From Recovery. Sad. Self-pitying. Gloomy. “I been to hell and back. I can show you vouchers.” Marshall comes roaring in after Lil Wayne’s opening, going faster than ever, a manic survival anthem, what that whole album is about.
“Baby” – Little Richard. Pure sex.
“Key To the Highway” – Big Bill Broonzy. Impossible to listen to and not nod your head, tap your foot.
“We Can Talk” – The Band. “start from the middle …” There’s something so positive, so outward-looking, so … inclusive about their sound, feel. It’s not that sadness is not acknowledged. Far from it. But that’s not where they stop. There is a possibility that we can connect … that possibility is held in their music somehow.
“Howlin’ Tomcat” – Harmonica Frank. One of those wild uncontrollable genre-mixing unclassifiable souls that helped make the birth of rock ‘n roll possible. He recorded at Sun too. It’s pretty country what he’s doing, but the blues underbelly is undeniable.
“Pride (In the Name of Love)” – U2, from their Live from Paris album. An anthem. This song has been a part of my life since the moment it arrived on the scene, and I’m sure that’s true for a lot of people. A scream of hope and anger.
“The Battle of Evermore” – Led Zeppelin. Pretty epic. I think I first heard this song when Heart covered it. Can’t remember. Of course Heart then performed Stairway to Heaven at the Kennedy Center Honors tribute to Led Z, and blew the roof off, actually made that over-played song sound new and thrilling. Even Robert Plant and Jimmie Page looked blown away by that sound.
“Surfin’ Safari” – The Beach Boys. I mean, you have to have Beach Boys in your music collection. It wouldn’t feel right otherwise.
“Monsters” – Lucius. I love these ladies so much. Their album was on a lot of “Best of 2013” lists, so I decided to check them out. Very very glad I did. Distinctive sound. This is melancholy, childlike, beautiful.
“Bet No One Ever Hurt This Bad” – Randy Newman. I think you’re right, Randy.
“Good Idea At the Time” – Ok Go. I love them. I was an early adaptor.
“Willy the Wandering Gypsy and Me” – Waylon Jennings. From Honky Tonk Heroes. “I reckon we’re gonna ramble til Hell freezes over …” Such a bad-ass. Heartfelt, always honest.
“Surrender” – Elvis Presley. Over-the-top, dramatic, where he gets to show off his impressive pipes. He loved Dean Martin. Mario Lanza. Listen to him GO here. Unafraid. On the verge of parody, as was so often the case with him. I love his voice so much.
“We’re An American Band” – Grand Funk Railroad. Yes, you are, God bless it!
“Crazy Mixed Up World” – Faye Adams. She’s soooo blue. She WAILS her sorrow, pouring all that feeling through her extraordinary voice (and that dramatic vibrato!)
“Happy” – Pharrell Williams. The song that went around the world, multiple times over. Well-deserved. It’s happiness bottled.
“U Got the Look” – Prince. I missed his appearance on SNL which I have heard was epic. Not a surprise! He was in constant rotation in high school and college, and he still comes up all the time. I lost my you-know-what while a Prince song was playing in the background … which just makes me a cliche of my generation, and I am fine with that.
“Purely Automatic” – Brendan Benson, one of my favorite songwriters working today. He is incapable of being boring. He writes great pop songs. Catchy as hell. I love that he is so prolific. He keeps putting out these little albums, and I’m into them all.
“Busa Rhyme” – Missy Elliott (featuring Eminem). Nuts. She’s so awesome. So is he. The two of them together? Sick and sexy. Her whispering, “Slim Shady … Slim Motherfuckin’ Shady …” Hot.
“Big Long Now” – Nirvana. From Incesticide. Rough and visceral. Creepy.
“Rumble” – Link Wray. Relentless. Ear-grabbing. Seen as so controversial at the time disc jockeys refused to play it. Is it an incitement to violence? A call to arms? Who can know?
“You Are The One For Me” – Gene Vincent. Soulful and sweet. All the heartache of youth in it. He has a beautiful voice.
“Bring It On Home To Me” – the perfect Sam Cooke.
“A Wonderful Guy” – Doris Day. Breath control. It’s key. Study her and learn.
“Soldier” – Eminem. From The Eminem Show. One of his most exciting songs. They usually put down multiple tracks of his voice: there’s the track that’s the lead, and then there’s a REALLY angry track … laid on over that first track. It’s fun to try to isolate that second track, because he’s always doing some crazy shit back there. This is a great example of that. RAGING.
“Way Over Yonder In the Minor Key” – Billy Bragg & Wilco. Lots of memories associated with this whole album.
“Beale St. Blues” – Eartha Kitt. One of my most listened-to songs in my entire collection (according to my iPod). I am strangely proud of this fact. She’s so deliciously corrupt here, and I love the male back-up singers. Beale Street, man. Always a party.
