(Not) Just Like Falling for the First Time

Last weekend, Susi and I went to see Barenaked Ladies in concert. This was the fifth time we have seen them play live, but the first since Steven Page left the band. They were playing at RibFest, a RAGBRAI kickoff event. That meant admission was pretty cheap ($20 apiece), but it also meant a solid majority of the crowd were drunken cyclists there for a cheap concert.

Musically, it was a good show, though not as good as some of their previous ones. Page's absence was definitely felt - without his voice the vocals were thinner and the harmonies not as tight. Perhaps more importantly, the best part of any BNL show is the banter and improvisation, and although they did some pretty good riffing on the sign language interpreter (I don't know, either) and copious amounts of BBQ they had consumed, losing the easy chemistry of your co-front man of 20 years hurt.

On the plus side, they were working hard to entertain. It was obvious that they were very serious about keeping fans, even going so far as to staying after the show to to meet and greet:

No, Kevin Hearn, YOU are the man.

So, it was a good show. If I hadn't seen them so many times previously, it may have even been a great show. It just wasb't the same, though.

Friday Five: 7/24

In which I blather about five songs randomly selected from my iPod playlist as I listen to them.

"Yellow Submarine" - The Beatles
Number 2 on my personal list of songs the Beatles have done regarding underwater matters (#1 being "Octopus's Garden ," naturally).

"If you Love Somebody Set Them Free" - Sting
It doesn't seem like much now, but I remember being really intrigued by this video when it first came out.

"Freedom" - Wham!
"Baby you could drag me to hell and back/ Just as long as we're together/ And you do." Great, great song.

"Be My Yoko Ono" - Barenaked Ladies
"I know that when I say say this I may be stepping on pins and needles/ But I don't like all these people slagging her for breaking up the Beatles/ If I was John and you were Yoko I would gladly give up musical genius/ Just to have you as my very own personal Venus." The genius of BNL, especially on Gordon, is that they are able to be silly and completely sincere at the same time.

"Happy Valentine's Day" - OutKast
"Now when arrows don't penetrate, see/ Cupid grabs the pistol/ And he shoots straight for your heart/ And when he won't miss you!/ That's alright 'cause y'all won't believe in me anyways/ Ya won't believe in me, but you would fancy leprechauns or groundhogs/ No thank you, Easter Bunny!/ There's all this talk about Santa Claus, but see love will rule reign supreme." From The Love Below, a hip-hop song from the perspective of a modern cupid. Extremely cool.

Friday Five: 7/17

In which I blather about five songs randomly selected from my iPod playlist as I listen to them.

"Am I the Only One?" - Barenaked Ladies
Am I the only one/ Who had to dress you up/ To see how you fell down?/ Am I the only one/ You needs you to go/ Go on without me/ Am I the only one/ Who loves when you leave/ Your hair down in front of your eyes?" Simple but pretty little song from Maybe You Should Drive.

"Blue Heaven" - The Pogues
Jaunty tune (not a cover of the standard) from Peace and Love.

"Connected" - Stereo MC's
Is this trip-hop? Trance? I have no idea when you get to sub-genres that fine. Wikipedia tells me this is this title theme for "Burn Notice," which I've never actually seen.

"Radio Song" - R.E.M. with KRS-One
"What are you saying?/ What are you playing?/ Who're you obeying?/ Day after day it's/ Baby baby baby/ That stuff is driving me crazy." One of the odder rock/hip-hop crossovers, but it is one of my favorite tracks from Out of Time.

"Dancing in the Sheets" - Shalamar
Footloose: so-so movie, kick-ass soundtrack.

Friday Five: 7/3

In which I blather about five songs randomly selected from my iPod playlist as I listen to them.

"Hawkmoon 269" - U2
Sparse, moody song from Rattle and Hum. It's a great late-night road trip song.

"Love Hater" - OutKast
From the Andre 3000 side of Speakerboxxx/The Love Below, the songs from which impress me more and more every time I listen to them. One of the great albums of this decade.

"Blue Moon Revisited (Song for Elvis)" - Cowboy Junkies
Another one from The Trinity Session, featuring an original song that incorporates a truly phenomenal version of the original "Blue Moon" in the middle. Great song.

"Blame It on Me" - Barenaked Ladies
"Here you are and you're a hundred thousand miles away/ They say absence makes the heart grow fungus/ I wax poetic, as you're waxing your legs/ You say you think there's a traitor among us/ If all else fails you can blame it on me."

"There She Goes Again" - R.E.M.
One of, I think, 3 R.E.M. covers of Velvet Underground songs on my playlist.

Illogical

Are auditory hallucinations a symptom of hyperthermia? It is super hot here, and the air conditioner at work has picked today to finally conk out for good (given the way the building management works, we can maybe expect it to be fixed by October). So I have to do some errands, which means getting in my car that has been sitting in the sun all day, and is thus somehow even hotter than the office. And I'm flipping around the radio, and three different stations are all playing Supertramp at the same time. Three! And three different songs, no less. So I'm thinking heat stroke, because there is no other possible reason why that should be happening in 2009, is there?

Friday Five: 6/12

In which I blather about five songs randomly selected from my iPod playlist as I listen to them.

"Voodoo Child (Slight Return)" - Jimi Hendrix
If he had lived, Jimi would be turning 67 this year. Makes you wonder how relevant he would still be.

"Every Little Thing She Does Is Magic" - The Police
Not one of my favorites, but still very listenable.

"Ultraviolet (Light My Way)" - U2
"You bury your treasure where it can't be found/ But your love is a secret that's been passed around/ There is a silence that comes to a house/ Where no-one can sleep/ I guess it's the price of love/ I know it's not cheap." Another under-appreciated song from Achtung Baby.

"Jambalaya (On the Bayou)" - Harry Connick Jr
I had the chance to see him live once - it was pretty good show. An impromptu performance of the Mutual of Omaha's Wild Kingdom theme by the trumpet player turned into a contest to stump him with any TV theme song. We couldn't.

"Sweet Jane" - Cowboy Junkies
Cover of the Lou Reed song from The Trinity Session, and absolutely amazing semi-live album. Beautiful rendition dominated by sparse instrumentation and Margo Timmins' gorgeous vocals.

Friday Five: 5/29

In which I blather about five songs randomly selected from my iPod playlist as I listen to them.

"When Love Comes to Town" - U2
Duet with B.B. King from Rattle and Hum. A pretty by-the-numbers song, but the presence of King (and Lucille) makes it quite a bit more special.

"Let's Go Crazy" - Prince
I like the faux-preacher bit at the beginning.

"Tom's Diner" - DNA & Suzanne Vega
So, a couple of British DJs take a 10 year-old a cappella folk song about nothing (interesting coincidence - the actual Tom's Diner was the inspiration for Monk's on Seinfeld) and put it to a dance beat. And not only is it not terrible, it is actually pretty awesome.

"Dancing Barefoot" - U2
This cover of the Patti Smith song was actually the b-side to "When Love Comes to Town." The Edge sounds phenomenal on it.

"Black Horse and the Cherry Tree" - K.T. Tunstall
So I was watching VH1 while ironing a shirt one morning, and they were playing a live performance of this song. One by one, she captured all the background elements (hand claps, the "woo-hoo"s, etc) on a playback machine so she could accompany herself. It was pretty amazing.

Friday Five: 5/22

In which I blather about five songs randomly selected from my iPod playlist as I listen to them.

"Old Friend" - Lyle Lovett
While the first half of I Love Everybody is filled with quirk and whimsy, the second half has a lot of beautiful little melancholy songs like this one.

"Dance Hall Days" - Wang Chung
"Take your baby by her hair/ And pull her closer there, there, there/ Take your baby by the ears/ And play upon her darkest fears." Although more remembered for their self-referential other song, I've always felt this one was superior by far. And a bit sinister when you really listen to it.

"When I Look at the World" - U2
"When the night is someone else's/ And you're trying to get some sleep/ When your thoughts are too expensive/ To ever want to keep/ When there's all kinds of chaos/ And everyone is walking lame/ You don't even blink now, do you/ Or even look away/ So I try to be like you/ Try to feel it like you do/ But without you it's no use/ I can't see what you see/ When I look at the world" For reasons I can't adequately explain, I really love this song. It is just begging to be used as a dramatic backdrop in some sort of rpg campaign (Fading Suns, especially).

"I Want to Hold Your Hand" - The Beatles
It's a shame what those boys did to Clarence, man.

"Lips Like Sugar" - Echo & the Bunnymen
There's this newer radio station in town that bills itself as having a "classic pop" format. What that means is that every once in while they'll pull out a gem like this, which you haven't heard in 20 years, and put it heavy rotation for a couple of months. Pretty cool.

Friday Five: 5/15

In which I blather about five songs randomly selected from my iPod playlist as I listen to them.

"Like a Prayer" - Madonna
I don't like a lot of Madonna's stuff, but the quasi-Catholic in me gets a kick out of this one. This is one of those versions that has been needlessly re-mixed for a compilation album, demonstrating the dangers of buying a song with multiple versions from the iTunes store.

"Creeps Like Me" - Lyle Lovett
"I knew this pretty girl once/ She was eighteen... maybe/ What's a year or two/ One day when she asked me/ If I loved her, I said baby/ What's it worth to you?/ Look around and you will see/ This worlds is full of creeps like me/ You look surprised, you shouldn't be/ This world is full of creeps like me." If I haven't mentioned it before, Lyle Lovett is extremely funny in concert, especially telling the story about how this song was written.

"When Doves Cry" - Prince
Until it was pointed out to me, I never even noticed this song had no bass line. It gives an already good song a unique sound.

"Don't Speak" - No Doubt
It's interesting to listen to a song that became ubiquitous long after it's popularity has faded. Will you think "why did I ever listen to this crap?" or "now I remember why I really dug this song before it got played to death." This one is much closer to the second category.

"Time After Time" - Cyndi Lauper
Maybe a little sappy, but I've always enjoyed this one.

Friday Five: 5/1

In which I blather about five songs randomly selected from my iPod playlist as I listen to them.

"Homeless" - Paul Simon
'Duet' with Ladysmith Black Mombazo from Graceland. It has a nice laid-back groove, even if I'm not really sure what it is supposed to be about.

"There She Goes Again" - The Velvet Underground
One of the more accessible songs from their first album.

"Money for Nothing" - Dire Straits
When he did the impromptu backing vocals for this song, Sting used the melody from "Don't Stand So Close to Me," garnering him a co-songwriting credit. I'm speculating that made him quite a bit of money for pretty much no effort. Irony?

"Crazy Love, Vol. II" - Paul Simon
I guess it is Graceland day today. I have no opinion about that.

"Ruby Tuesday" - The Corrs
Cover of the Rolling Stones song (featuring Stones guitarist Ron Wood) from their live VH-1 concert album. It's a little exuberant during the chorus, but a very good cover.

Friday Five: 4/17

In which I blather about five songs randomly selected from my iPod playlist as I listen to them.

"Rich Girl" - Gwen Stefani with Eve
Oh, shut up.

"She Loves You" - The Beatles
Early Beatles isn't my favorite, but I can see how they got so popular.

"Help!" - The Beatles
This is on shuffle, isn't it?

"Who's Gonna Ride Your Wild Horses?" - U2
Good song, but I think it always suffered in comparison to some of the other stuff that was on Achtung.

"Sweetest Thing" - U2
I believe this is the Joshua Tree era B-side version, and not the redone single released with the Best of 1990-2000 collection. I don't know that I could really tell them apart, though.

Friday Five: 4/3

In which I blather about five songs randomly selected from my iPod playlist as I listen to them.

"Our Lips Are Sealed" - The Go-Gos
Where would the Go-Gos have been without Jane Wiedlin? Nowhere special is my guess.

"Flowers on the Wall" - The Statler Brothers
Say what you want about Quentin Tarantino's movies, but the man can put together a soundtrack.

"Slide" - Goo Goo Dolls
I didn't really think much of this song at first, but then I saw (probably on VH1) John Rzeznik talking about the how when writing it he was influenced by all this Catholic guilt he was instilled with growing up. And then I listened to the song again, and holy crap if it doesn't describe how I felt about my high school girlfriend.

"My Funny Valentine" - Elvis Costello
A pretty straight-forward version of the standard.

"Baby Please Don't Go" - Van Morrison
More properly, a song by Them. A pretty smoking cover of the old blues classic.

Behind the Music

With today's installment, I've done Friday Five 40 times now. I keep track of them on a spreadsheet - mainly to make sure I don't repeat songs, but also because sometimes it's fun to analyze data. For instance, the top ten artists by appearance:

#1: U2 (40)
#2: Barenaked Ladies (16)
#3 (tie): INXS, The Pogues, R.E.M., Sting/The Police (6)
#7 (tie): Creedence Clearwater Revival, David Bowie (5)
#9 (tie): Del Amitri, Lyle Lovett, Simon & Garfunkel (4)

There are 7 artists that have appeared 3 times. There are 12 artists that have appeared twice. There are 53 that have only come up once.

In the very first installment, I said that U2 comprised about 20% of my playlist. I thought I was exaggerating, but apparently not. Now I'm worried that I will run out of things to say about them soon. Other than the oddities tied for 7th (I really don't listen to CCR and Bowie all that much), it seems to be a pretty accurate reflection of my music collection.

Friday Five: 3/27

In which I blather about five songs randomly selected from my iPod playlist as I listen to them.

"Gay Bar" - Electric Six
Any song endorsed by the Viking Kittens can't be bad, right? OK, so it's something of a novelty song, but here's the deal - it's also a pretty kick-ass rock song. Also, it's incredibly infectious (don't click that link unless you want it in your head all day).

"Special" - Garbage
Garbage, I think, sounds an awful lot like U2 a lot of the time. Only with a hot redhead for a lead singer. And despite that, they kind of faded away.

"Sunday Bloody Sunday" - U2
Studio version from War. I used to have a down-tempo live version, but the sound quality was pretty crap so I dropped it from my playlist. What I would love to get is a quality recording of the version that was featured in Rattle and Hum (the movie). The "Ffuck the revolution" version. The anger and the urgency that they packed into that performance was goosebump-inducing.

"Angel of Harlem" - U2
So, speaking of Rattle and Hum, I know that it was derided in some circles as an attempt to appropriate American culture. Those are probably the cirlces that have a hate-on for anything U2 does, though. Cynicism didn't really seem to into into U2's songwriting/stage persona until the Achtung period. Sometimes a love letter to Billie Holiday really is just a love letter to Billie Holiday.

"Scarborough Fair/Canticle" - Simon & Garfunkel
I took me forever to realize that the two different vocal parts were entirely different songs. It's a really cool effect.

Friday Five: 3/20

In which I blather about five songs randomly selected from my iPod playlist as I listen to them.

"I Fought the Law" - The Pogues
Live performance, although I have no idea from when or where. Shane MacGowan's vocals sell the song pretty well, but it is the punk accordion that really sets it over the top.

"The Times They Are A-Changin'" - Bob Dylan
As I understand it, this song is used to pretty good effect in the opening credits of Watchmen. I (GEEK HERESY ALERT!) haven't seen it yet to say for sure, though.

"Ex-Girlfriend" - No Doubt
It must kinda suck to be Tony Kanal (No Doubt bassist and Gwen Stefani ex-boyfriend). Your band gets to be popular, but every other song is about how terrible you are as a person.

"That Was Your Mother" - Paul Simon
It would figure that the only zydeco music I have is by a middle-aged white dude from New York City.

"Wake Me Up Before You Go-Go" - Wham!
Wham! used to be a guilty pleasure of mine. but then I stopped feeling guilty about it. It's very good for what it is, even if what it is is bubble-gum pop.

Friday Five: 3/13

In which I blather about five songs randomly selected from my iPod playlist as I listen to them.

"What You Need" - INXS
You don't hear a lot of saxophone in rock anymore. I wonder why that is?

"Geography" - The Judybats
"People will tell you what to do, where your head should be/ They don't tell me nothing I ain't already heard before/ Or better said/ We all want focus, we crave company/ But we're cross-eyed and punchdrunk from too much scenery/From our battles with geography."

"Fairytale of New York" - The Pogues
Widely acknowledged as the best Christmas song ever. Assuming "best" means most bitter and cynical. Worth a listen any time of year.

"Killing Me Softly With His Song" - Fugees
On one of those VH1 countdown shows, a (white) commentator said the reason white people really liked this song is because they could bob their heads and say "one time... two times" at appropriate intervals and feel cool. I think he may have been on to something.

"Twilight" - U2
Early track from Boy. It's amazing how well that album has held up over the years.

Friday Five: 3/6

In which I blather about five songs randomly selected from my iPod playlist as I listen to them.

"Don't Fence Me In" - David Byrne
Another selection from Red Hot + Blue. It has a really awesome blend of Graceland-esque percussion and western swing fiddle. It's like this song was tailor-made for my dad, who loves horseback riding and African drums.

"U Got the Look" - Prince
The beginning of Sheena Easton's journey from "Morning Train" to "Sugar Walls." Thank you, Prince.

"Mrs. Robinson" - Simon & Garfunkel
This is one of those songs where I have to make an effort not to start singing along with.

"Buffalo Soldier" - Bob Marley & the Wailers
Not one of his best, but like all Marley songs it is very groovy.

"Can't Buy Me Love" - The Beatles
I wonder if, during the writing of this song, Paul even dreamed he'd be a billionaire some day.

Friday Five: 2/27

In which I blather about five songs randomly selected from my iPod playlist as I listen to them.

"Romeo and Juliet" - Dire Straits
"You can fall for chains of silver/ You can fall for chains of gold/ You can fall for pretty strangers/ And the promises they hold/ You promised me everything/ You promised thick and thin/ Now you say just say - Oh Romeo yeah/ You know I used to have a scene with him." This used to be on the jukebox of the bar where I worked. Anytime I would give a waitress money to play music, they had to play this song and Big Head Todd's "Bittersweet."

"Flip Flop Rock" - OutKast
From Big Boi's half of Speakerboxxx/The Love Below. Not one I listen to a lot, but it has a great groove.

"Paperback Writer" - The Beatles
It's kind of amazing how much the Beatles can pack into a 2-minute song.

"867-5309/Jenny" - Tommy Tutone
I always considered this a bit of a throwaway song when it was first released. I happened to hear it a few years ago, though, and I was struck by how it was really a great no-frills rock song.

"Come a Little Bit Closer" - Jay & the Americans
I know, objectively, this really isn't a good song. It's cheesy. It's vaguely racist in a "aren't they quaint" sort of way. But anytime I hear it, it takes me days to get it out of my head. I love it, I really do.

Friday Five: 2/20

In which I blather about five songs randomly selected from my iPod playlist as I listen to them.

"Miss Sarajevo" - U2
"Is there a time to run for cover/ A time for kiss and tell/ A time for different colors/ Different names you find hard to spell/ Is there time for first communion/ A time for East 17/ Is there a time to turn to Mecca/ Is there time to be a beauty queen/ Here she comes/ Beauty plays the clown/ Here she comes/ Surreal in her crown." Duet with Luciano Pavarotti from the Passengers "soundtrack" album, inspired by a beauty contest held at the height of the Bosnian conflict of the early '90s. Up until I saw U2 play this song on the Vertigo tour, I had always given Bono credit for being a really good songwriter who was a passable singer. When he did the operatic part on this song, I was completely blown away. To this day, I get a little goosebumpy remembering the power of that performance.

"Pictures of Lily" - The Who
I have this observation. Songs that alludes to female masturbation - "I Touch Myself" or "Darling Nikki" for example- are sexy, and the act is depicted as somehow empowering. On the other hand, songs that allude to male masturbation - this song, "Blister in the Sun" or "Turning Japanese" for instance - are humorous, and the act is depicted as somehow pathetic. I have no idea what this observation means.

"Fortunate Son" - Creedence Clearwater Revival
I heard this song being used in a commercial, I believe for Wrangler jeans. I realize at this point it is probably cliche to point out songs being used inappropriately in ads, but seriously, what the fuck? Other than that, great song.

"Zoo Station" - U2
I remember reading, right after Achtung Baby came out, a reviewer who said he put the CD in and thought he had blown out his speakers because of the distortions that open this song. I don't know that it has aged as well as some of the others off that album, but I still love it for creating that ambiance.

"Hey Nonny Nonny" - Violent Femmes
A street busker's version of a (real?) Elizabethan pastoral poem, with a weird little interstitial about dropping out from society. Coming from anyone else, it probably would have been pretentious and/or horribly corny. As is, quirky genius.

Friday Five: 2/13

In which I blather about five songs randomly selected from my iPod playlist as I listen to them.

"Dancing Queen" - U2
Another concert bootleg, I'm guessing from the Joshua Tree era. Yes, it is U2 covering ABBA. And yes, it is awesome.

"Like a Rolling Stone" - Bob Dylan
Dylan is one of those people that I can admire for their contributions without actually being in to their music. This song is an exception though - maybe one of his best.

"Jane" - Barenaked Ladies
"I'd bring her gold and frankincense and myrrh/ She thought that I was making fun of her/ She made me feel I was 14 again/ That's why she thinks it's cooler if we just stay friends." Great song from Maybe You Should Drive. It actually only had a very small influence on my youngest daughter's name.

"Proud Mary" - Creedence Clearwater Revival
Very laid back compared to the more widely-known Tina Turner version.

"Long Cool Woman" - The Hollies
Almost more CCR than CCR themselves. I love the twangy guitar on this song.

Friday Five: 2/6

In which I blather about five songs randomly selected from my iPod playlist as I listen to them.

"Alabama Song" - The Doors
I don't know what it has to with Alabama either.

"Alternative Girlfriend" - Barenaked Ladies
"You live above your dad's 4-car garage/ With your vinyl and imaginary entourage/ If I pull in U-Haul pack up quick/ So we can get out of this town 'cause it makes me sick." Great guitar riffs in this one.

"Oh Yeah" - Yello
AKA, that song from Ferris Bueller. For some reason, this was on one of my myriad of "best of the '80s" CDs (really? nothing better from the whole decade?). At least at around 3:00 it doesn't go on too long.

"My Favorite Mistake" - Sheryl Crow
"Did you know, could you tell your were the only one/ That I ever loved/ Now everything's so wrong/ Did you see me walking by?/ Did it ever make you cry?/ You're my favorite mistake." I'm not a superfan, but this is my favorite Sheryl Crow song. I've always found love-gone-wrong songs more interesting than love songs, though.

"All Along the Watchtower" - U2
From Rattle and Hum. Maybe not as good as the Hendrix version, but still very enjoyable.

Friday Five: 1/30

In which I blather about five songs randomly selected from my iPod playlist as I listen to them.

"Empty" - Del Amitri
"And you're sitting there wishing you'd never been born/ With that self-inflicted crown of thorns/ And we do not lie side by side and mock the thought of you/ And I don't take her hand and ask 'Is this what he used to do?'" Yeah, I've had to deal with ex-boyfriends, too.

"Incredible Bittersweet" - The Judybats
The lyrics are mostly forgettable, but there are some very nice guitar hooks.

"Helter Skelter" - U2
"Here's a song Charles Manson stole from the Beatles. We're stealing it back." I know Rattle and Hum (the album and movie both) sometimes gets panned because it is pretentious and self-important, but to me its genuineness is its chief selling point. I enjoy irony as much, if not more, than the next person, but sometimes it is nice to come across something that isn't afraid to wear its heart on its sleeve.

"You Are the Sunshine of My Life" - Stevie Wonder
Not my favorite of his, but nice.

"All I Want Is You" - U2
It doesn't seem like this song gets brought up often when discussing U2's best songs, but I think it is fantastic. I was just the right age to be a high schooler in a tragically complicated relationship when it came out, though, so I guess that might cloud my judgement.

Friday Five: 1/23

In which I blather about five songs randomly selected from my iPod playlist as I listen to them.

"Try a Little Tenderness" - The Commitments
Things you may not have known: Andrew Strong (the guy who played Deco, the lead singer) was 16 when they filmed The Commitments. 16! And he sings like that. Amazing.

"Barely Breathing" - Duncan Sheik
One of my favorite one-hit wonders of the '90s.

"What a Good Boy" - Barenaked Ladies
"This name is the harishirt I wear/ This hairshirt is woven from your brown hair/ This song is the cross that I bear/ Bear with me, bear with me/ Bear it with me, be with me tonight/ I know that it isn't right/ Be with me tonight." The other song that convinced me BNL were more than just a gimmick. Extraordinary song.

"Just a Girl" - No Doubt
I suppose most grrrl power aficionados would consider this song pretty anemic, but it has great energy.

"City of Blinding Lights" - U2
"I've seen you walk unafraid/ I've seen you in the clothes you've made/ Can you see the beauty inside of me?/ What happened to the beauty I had inside of me?" It was very cool seeing them preform this at Obama's pre-inaugural concert at the Lincoln Memorial, even if Bono was even hammier than he normally he is.

Friday Five: 1/16

In which I blather about five songs randomly selected from my iPod playlist as I listen to them.

"Synchronicity II" - The Police
"Every single meeting with his so-called superior is a humiliating kick in the crotch." I never got into this song when it was first released, but I can definitely say I get it more now (I suspect being a suburban family man helps). I also really appreciate Andy Summer's gorgeous guitar work on it much more now. Unfortunately, they did not play this one when I saw them in concert.

"More Than This" - 10,000 Maniacs
Cover of the Roxy Music classic by a post-Natalie Merchant 10,000 Maniacs. One of my favorite moment from Lost in Translation was when Bill Murray's character sings this song at the karaoke bar. I was half expecting him to launch into his old SNL lounge singer character, and for a moment I swear you could see him contemplate it before going ahead with a much more nakedly vulnerable version. Maybe that's not what was happening, but I thought that tiny facial gesture was just genius. This version, with the vocal duties taken over by Mary Ramsey, is very lovely as well.

"Fast Cars" - U2
"You should worry about the day/ That the pain it goes away/ You know I miss mine sometimes." I love this track, stuck way at the end of How to Dismantle... Definite Middle Eastern influence to the guitar parts, which seems appropriate for a song that seems to be about PTSD.

"What's the Frequency Kenneth?" - R.E.M.
I don't know what what's better, the guitar riff in this song or the fact that it was inspired by one of the more bizarre crimes in recent history. The rest of the album was so-so, but this song kicks some serious ass.

"1999" - Prince
This one doesn't seem so relevant now, for some reason.

Friday Five: 1/9

In which I blather about five songs randomly selected from my iPod playlist as I listen to them.

"Come Dancing" - The Kinks
From their odd little early '80s coda period. My dad always really enjoyed this song.

"Cecilia" - Simon & Garfunkel
Irresistibly infectious. The percussion parts are fantastic. Just an all-around great song.

"Tryin' to Throw Your Arms Around the World" - U2
A mellow groove from Achtung Baby. I've always liked how it serves as an introduction to the dark back half of the album.

"All Because of You" - U2
"I like the sound of my own voice/ I didn't give anyone else a choice/ An intellectual tortoise/ Racing with you bullet train/ Some people get squashed crossing the tracks/ Some people got high rises on their backs/ I'm not broke but you can see the cracks/ You can make me perfect again." A great rock song with a driving beat nice guitar work from How to Dismantle...

"The Humpty Dance" - Digital Underground
For non-serious good-time music, it doesn't get much better than doin' the Hump. Bonus fun fact: Tupac Shakur got his start as a member of the Digital Underground.

Friday Five: 1/2

In which I blather about five songs randomly selected from my iPod playlist as I listen to them.

"Call Me" - Blondie
Blondie is one of the first real bands I remember being aware of. My uncle was a big fan, but I think that maybe was as much for Debbie Harry as for the music.

"All of Me" - Willie Nelson
Another selection from Stardust. If you've never listened to the album, you really should.

"Mister Cellophane" - John C. Reilly
From the Chicago movie soundtrack. I think this is my favorite song from the show - Reilly did a great job portraying a sad sack who manages to hold onto just a shred of dignity.

"Gin and Juice" - The Gourds
Bluegrass cover of the Snoop Dog rap. The first time I heard it, I thought it was hysterical - I mean it was gangster rap lyrics with a drawl and backed by banjo and mandolin. About the time it got to the breakdown, though, I realized that these guys could really jam. So, while the song still amuses me, it is also a pretty impressive work on its own merits.

"Hello, I Love You" - The Doors
"Sidewalk crouches at her feet/ Like a dog that begs for something sweet." What?

Friday Five: 12/19

In which I blather about five songs randomly selected from my iPod playlist as I listen to them.

"Video Killed the Radio Star" - The Buggles
Trivia fact you probably already knew: this was the first video ever played on MTV. Back when MTV played videos (sidebar - MTV hasn't played videos in so long that an entire generation has grown up with MTV doesn't play videos 'jokes').

"Head Over Heels" - The Go-Gos
Good catchy pop, but not extraordinary.

"Heart and Soul" - T'Pau
Another song I have an irrational fondness for. Love it to pieces.

"Foxy Lady" - Jimi Hendrix
Hendrix has an amazing ability to ooze cool through your speakers/earphones. He may have been the funkiest man to have ever lived.

"Devil Inside" - INXS
And we're back to the '80s. Michael Hutchence had some effortless cool going on himself, even if he was no Hendrix.

Friday Five: 12/12

In which I blather about five songs randomly selected from my iPod playlist as I listen to them.

"Let's Dance" - David Bowie
Has there been a lot of Bowie recently? I only have the one album, really.

"Kiss" - The Art of Noise with Tom Jones
Uber-kitschy remake of the Prince song. For the longest time, I had this song on my playlist, but no actual Prince music. What the hell, me?

"Green River" - Creedence Clearwater Revival
Speaking of acts that are overrepresented on my playlist even though I just own the one greatest hit album... these guys.

"It's All Been Done" - Barenaked Ladies
"If I put fingers here/ And if I say 'I love you, dear'/ And if I play the same three chords/ Will you just yawn and say (woohoohoo)/ It's all been done." A catchy number from Stunt.

"Hallelujah Here She Comes" - U2
A B-side from the Best of 1980-1990 album. Aside from "Spanish Eyes" it is probably one of my favorite original B-sides from that era (although, some of the covers they did for Rattle and Hum B-sides blow their original material away).

Friday Five: 12/5

In which I blather about five songs randomly selected from my iPod playlist as I listen to them.

"I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For" - U2
The gospel choir version from Rattle and Hum. I liked the original version on Joshua Tree, but this one takes it to completely different level.

"Modern Love" - David Bowie
I can't pinpoint why exactly, but this is one of my favorite Bowie songs.

"If I Ever Lose My Faith in You" - Sting
While I enjoy the song, I've always liked the Alfred the Great-inspired video for it a bit better than the song itself.

"Silver and Gold" - U2
"In the shithouse a shotgun/ praying hands hold me down/ If only the hunter were hunted/ In this tic can town." This is the studio version from the Artists Against Apartheid album. As much as love the "Am I bugging you..." rant from the Rattle and Hum live version (#2 all-time, behind "Fuck the revolution..."), in some ways it detracts from what an amazingly angry and kick-ass song this actually is.

"Big Tears" - Elvis Costello
I discovered this one on a 'best of' album. It has a great low-fi sound to it with a driving backbeat and soaring organs.

Friday Five: 11/28

In which I blather about five songs randomly selected from my iPod playlist as I listen to them.

"My Generation" - The Who
Those baby boomers with their shaggy hair and their rock-and-roll music. I just don't get them sometimes.

"Nothing Ever Happens" - Del Amitri
Wonderfully downbeat song about the unending malaise of everyday life.

"Fame" ('90 Remix) - David Bowie
Following the proud tradition of songs that remixed for the greatest hits album for no good reason.

"Yesterday" - The Beatles
So simple, yet incredibly beautiful. A flawless song, really.

"Underneath It All" - No Doubt
Not an outstanding song, but I do like the laid-back groove. It was interesting how the went back to their ska roots and fully embraced the reggeton sound (note to serious music nerds: I don't care how inaccurate my descriptions are to you).

Friday Five: 11/14

In which I blather about five songs randomly selected from my iPod playlist as I listen to them.

"Salome" (Zooromancer Remix) - U2
If the Passion of St. John the Baptist had taken place in a modern strip club, I think it might have sounded something like this. Another track from the Best of 1990-2000 B-sides album.

"One Love/People Get Ready" - Bob Marley & the Wailers
Not one of my favorite Marley songs. Not to say it is bad, but it is pretty generic as his songs go.

"Goody Two Shoes" - Adam Ant
Another staple from one of my best of the '80s CDs. My wife actually likes this one quite a bit better than I do.

"Elevation" - U2
In my advancing age, I don't tend to crank the volume as high as I once did. This one is an exception. The louder it is, the better it sounds.

"I Can't Go For That" - Hall & Oates
Hall and Oates are extremely easy to make fun of, and god knows they've had their share of mediocre songs. This one, though, is great. Great groove, great vocals, much cooler than it has any right being.

Friday Five: 11/7

In which I blather about five songs randomly selected from my iPod playlist as I listen to them.

"Summer Rain" - U2
"When you stop seeing beauty, you start getting old/ The lines on your face are a map to your soul/ When you stop taking chances, you stay where you sit/ You won't live any longer, but it'll feel like it." Another b-side from Best of 1990-2000. This one took a little while to grow on me, but I really dig it.

"The Way I Am" - Ingrid Michaelson
A sweet little song (very little - just over 2 minutes) that came and went from the radio earlier this summer. Very catchy, and it stays with you for a while after you've heard it.

"Off the Hook" - Barenaked Ladies
"He was your imaginary friend/ You were partners 'till the end/ Then something bends/ And then it breaks/ Your worst mistake accepting/ Enemies on bended knees/ A litany of tragedies/ You're vexed, it seems you're hexed/ And after sex, he expects/ You'll let him off the hook." A very clever song lyrically with some great drums.

"The Sounds of Silence" - Simon & Garfunkel
I am hard pressed to think of better music to be depressed to than Simon & Garfunkel.

"Brian Wilson" - Barenaked Ladies
Oh wait - here's one. I first started listening to BNL about 15 years ago - back when Gordon was their only album. One of the people in the church group I was involved with at the time introduced us all to "If I Had $1,000,000" (his brother who lived in Canada had introduced him) and we all loved it. When I listened to the rest of the album, though, this was one of the 2 songs that convinced me BNL were so much more than just a novelty act. Having just recently dealt with a pretty severe episode of depression at the time, this song really struck a chord as a very informed but understated description of how crippling it could be.

Friday Five: 10/31

In which I blather about five songs randomly selected from my iPod playlist as I listen to them.

"Vertigo" - U2
If I was at all worried that How to Dismantle... would be a let-down album after the brilliance of All That You Can't Leave Behind, this song quickly allayed them.

"Boom Boom" - Big Head Todd & the Monsters
Cover of the John Lee Hooker classic. They played this one when I saw them live, and it was amazing.

"Never Tear Us Apart"- INXS
Well at first blush, this song may seem schmaltzy and overproduced with predictable lyrics and strings requisite for a not-quite power ballad... OK, that's pretty much all it is. The important lesson is that a song doesn't have to be objectively good for me to like it (as if you hadn't figured that out by now).

"Promises, Promises" - Naked Eyes
I think I have 2 songs by this British synth-pop duo, and I really enjoy them both. They are one of those bands that I wonder why they never made it bigger.

"Pump Up the Volume" - MARRS
"Rhythmatic, systematic world control/ Magnetic, genetic demands your soul." I have an irrational fondness for this song, all 7 minutes of it.

Friday Five: 10/24

In which I blather about five songs randomly selected from my iPod playlist as I listen to them.

"Not Enough Time" - INXS
This one is probably not one of their better known songs, but it is one of my favorites from them. It is from the early '90s, just after their apogee. I really love the rhythm section and piano, especially.

"Down on the Corner" - Creedence Clearwater Revival
During a gaming session, if the phrase "early in the evening" is used, inevitably someone will start singing this song. I sort of like it despite that fact. It exemplifies CCR as John Fogarty's Jug Band, I think.

"Suicide Blonde" - INXS
I have no idea what this song is going on about. I dig the harmonica on it, though.

"Mexican Radio" - Wall of Voodoo
"I wish I were in Tijuana/ Eating barbecued iguana." I don't know why, but I've always enjoyed this song. I have a friend who was always freaked out by the video - I think it was the guy's face emerging from the pot of beans that did it.

"Angel Main Theme (Sanctuary Extended Remix)" - Darling Violetta
Yes, I do on occasion buy songs that have been used as themes for TV shows. You have to admit, though, the Angel theme kicks pretty hard. This remix rounds it out to 3 and half minutes, but keeps the energy of the original.

Friday Five: 10/17

In which I blather about five songs randomly selected from my iPod playlist as I listen to them.

"Don't Stand So Close to Me" - The Police
This is my wife's favorite Police song, I think because she imagines herself standing so close to Sting. I enjoy it, among other reasons, for the fact that it name-checks Vladimir Nabokov (how many pop songs can say that?). I once made the mistake of buying the greatest hits album with the abysmal '86' remix of this song; I'm much happier to have the original now.

"Even Better Than the Real Thing" - U2
How good of an album was Achtung Baby? This is a really good song that is only about the 7th or 8th best on the album.

"Daddy's Gonna Pay for Your Crashed Car" - U2
This is kind of an... odd song from Zooropa that I really dig. In between samples of a Soviet orchestra and MC 900 Ft. Jesus, there's some really interesting drum beats and electronic layering you don't get in a lot of U2 songs.

"Need You Tonight/Mediate" - INXS
When I grew my hair long for the first time, in high school, most people probably assumed it was because of Bono. In truth, though, the first guy I saw how had a ponytail that made me think "that is so cool" Michael Hutchence. Unsurprisingly, it didn't look nearly as sexy on me.

Every Song We've Ever Done Medley - Barenaked Ladies
I don't know that this one has an official title, but I saw them perform it when they toured for Maroon. In 4 minutes, they play a condensed version of every song they've ever released (plus an homage to "Hey Jude") that wasn't played in that night's show. Supremely cool.

Friday Five: 10/10

In which I blather about five songs randomly selected from my iPod playlist as I listen to them.

"An Intense Beige" - The Judybats
Once upon a time, right after I had just dropped out of college, I did a play at the local community theater (Inherit the Wind - great show). And there was this girl there, and she was really cool. The kind of girl that was really into bands you had never heard of before. You know the type. So when I was crushing on her, she really dug this song. Problem was, there was this other guy. An older guy, who had a Stray Cats bandanna he bought at an actual Stray Cats show and could do the Madness walk. How could I compete with that? Short story very short, I couldn't. Years later, I came across this CD in a used bin somewhere. Sometimes, I like to think that it had been hers and she had moved on and forgotten all about it and I was still hanging onto it, which is probably symbolic of something. Sometimes, I wonder if it is creepy that I like to think that. Whatever the case, it's a really catchy song.

"Changes" - David Bowie
I think sometimes I will throw a song on my playlist that I familiar with, even if I am ambivalent about it. I think this may be one of those songs.

"Maybe Katie" - Barenaked Ladies
"Can't you see her with her arms wide open/ She's everything that you've been hoping for/ Forever's not so long, stop moping/ She's got a daughter and you're just not coping." One of their few post-Maroon songs that I've really gotten into.

"Summer Wine" - The Corrs with Bono
Dreamy remake of the Lee Hazelwood/Nancy Sinatra song, from a concert that they did for VH1. The gamer in me is always inspired to do an old west/Arthuriana hybrid game after listening to it.

"Tear in Your Hand" - Tori Amos
"All the world just stopped now/ So you say you don't want to stay together anymore/ Here now take a deep breath, babe/ If you need me, me and Neil'll be hanging out with the Dream King/ Neil said 'hi' by the way/ I don't believe you're leaving because me and Charles Manson like the same ice ream/ I think it's that girl/ And I think there are pieces of me you've never seen/ Maybe she's just pieces of me you've never seen." I love those lyrics. And the 'Neil' reference is apparently a shout-out to author Neil Gaiman (he and Tori are friends), which is like extra-cool.

Friday Five: 9/26

In which I blather about five songs randomly selected from my iPod playlist as I listen to them.

"A Sort of Homecoming" - U2
Another great driving song from Unforgettable Fire.

"The Man's Too Strong" - Dire Straits
The front side of Brothers In Arms got all the attention, but the second side (yes, I still think in LP/cassette terms sometimes) was a really amazing collection of bleak, politically-tinged songs.

"In a Little While" - U2
A world-weary song about a man who has ben on the road too long. I love the laid-back groove.

"I Like to Live the Love" - B.B. King & Bobby Bland
Bobby "Blue" Bland is one of the greatest blues singers you've probably never never heard of. I found this live recording of on a blues compiliation album that was, of all places, in the discount rack of a K-Mart. There's a great segment with audience participation before they 'go to church with it' as B.B. calls it. Overall, a really cool song.

"We'll Be Together" - Sting
For some reason, it amuses me that Sting samples himself ("If You Love Somebody...") during the end of this song.

Friday Five: 9/19

In which I blather about five songs randomly selected from my iPod playlist as I listen to them.

"Magic Bus" - The Who
I don't really consider myself a Who fan, but when I was going through their greatest hits album trying to decide which songs I wanted to mp3-ize, there were, like, a lot of them. This one is probably my favorite Who song - I love the funky percussion and acoustic guitar on it.

"Riders on the Storm" - The Doors
I guess this is pretty good for a down-tempo chill-out song, but did it really need to be 7 minutes long?

"Flight of the Bumblebee" - Yo-Yo Ma & Bobby McFerrin
Insanely cool duet of cello and - whatever it is that you call what Bobby McFerrin does - taken from a Rimsky-Korsakov opera. It's a shame that most people only know McFerrin for "Don't Worry, Be Happy"; he is extraordinarily talented. This is from Hush, a really interesting album from Ma and McFerrin.

"Peace on Earth" - U2
"They're reading names out over the radio/ All the folks the rest of us won't get to know/ Sean and Julia, Gareth, Ann and Breda/ Their lives are bigger than any big idea/ Jesus can you take the time to throw a drowning man a line/ Peace on earth/To tell the ones who hear no sound, whose sons are living in the ground/ Peace on earth/ Jesus and the song you wrote, the words are sticking in my throat/ Peace on earth/ We hear it every Christmastime, but hope and history won't rhyme/ So what's it worth/ This peace on earth."

"Grade 9" - Barenaked Ladies
"Half my friends are crazy and the others are depressed/ None of them can help me study for my math test/ I got into the classroom and my knowledge was gone/ I guess I should have studied instead of watching Wrath of Khan." In case you were wondering if BNL were nerds, the answer is yes. I love the bit at the end where the stadium rock homage, for some reason, morphs into both Rush and the Charlie Brown theme.

Friday Five: 9/12

In which I blather about five songs randomly selected from my iPod playlist as I listen to them.

"Da Da Da" - Trio
If you know this one, it is probably due to it being used in a Volkswagen commercial more years ago than I care to think about. Half of it is in German, so I have no idea what is going on. It sounds cool, though.

"I'll Be That Girl" - Barenaked Ladies
Not a standout song, but I love the Parisian-style accordion on it.

"Mysterious Ways" - U2
Awesome song, awesome video. This was the first song where I figured out that if Bono was singing about a woman, there was at least a 50% chance he was actually talking about god.

"Record Lady" - Lyle Lovett
"She's got the cutest little cartridge that you've ever seen/ She's a phonographic dream." Jazzy number with a Motown-style group of backup singers. In case I haven't mentioned it before, Lyle is outstanding live.

"Lonesome Mood" - John Lee Hooker
A blues classic, by one of the style's masters.

Friday Five: 9/5

In which I blather about five songs randomly selected from my iPod playlist as I listen to them.

"King of Pain" - The Police
This one always seemed to me to be assembled from entries in Sting's Notebook of Vaguely Unsettling Imagery that he couldn't figure out how to work into another song. It's enjoyable mainly for Andy Summers' guitar work, I think.

"Who Will Save Your Soul" - Jewel
On one of VH1's countless "Top Whatever Videos of the Whenever" shows, Jewel made fun of herself for thinking she sounded like Kermit the Frog on this song. It was rather awesome.

"Sweet Caroline" - U2
Another concert bootleg. Before turning the mike over to the crowd, Bono asks: "This is your chance, Edmonton - are you ready to sing the Diamond?" I don't know why that strikes me as so funny.

"Bad" - U2
"If you should ask, then maybe they'd/ Tell you what I would say/ True colors fly in blue and black/ Blue silken sky and burning flag/ Colors clash, collide in bloodshot eyes." An extremely powerful song about being powerless to help.

"Stories for Boys" - U2
Man, looking at this list a person might start think I'm a U2 fan or something. This one goes all the back to Boy; every time I listen to that album I'm always re-amazed that this was a debut effort put out by a bunch of kids that were so bad at playing covers they had to start writing their own songs. Phenomenal album.

Friday Five: 8/29

In which I blather about five songs randomly selected from my iPod playlist as I listen to them.

"Sonja" - Lyle Lovett
A clever little song about micro-crushes.

"Cell Block Tango" - Catherine Zeta-Jones/Susan Misner/Deidre Goodwin
From the soundtrack of the movie version. When I watched it for this first time, I was intrigued by how they integrated the musical numbers into Roxie's fantasy life. Until this number, that is. Then I went from interested to blown away (and not just because of the unbelievable hotness of some of the ladies in it). An amazingly shot and choreographed scene coupled with a great song.

"We've Got the Beat" - The Go-Go's
There's this one part, towards the end, where Belinda Carlisle screams "Jump back." Somehow, she managed to convey more energy in that one phrase than was contained in her entire solo career.

"Never Do Anything" - Barenaked Ladies
"That guy should be me/ I look much better on TV/ Then the world would see/ That I could do anything/ I could be that/ But soon you'll see that/ I will never do anything." Megalomania only held in check by a complete lack of ambition. Unfortunately, I sometimes feel like this is my theme song.

"Don't Be Cruel" - Elvis Presley
I don't listen to Elvis a lot, but this one of his that I dig.

Friday Five: 8/22

In which I blather about five songs randomly selected from my iPod playlist as I listen to them.

"Lookin' Out My Back Door" - Creedence Clearwater Revival
CCR - one of the few bands my mother and I can agree on. Not one of my favorites by them, but I already had the album.

"Subterranean Homesick Blues" - Bob Dylan
Thank god Dylan went electric at Newport.

"Take On Me" - a-ha
Over 2 decades later, and this is still one of the coolest videos I've seen.

"Just Like a Man" - Del Amitri
"And just like a man, he holds you gently/ And just like a man, he strokes your hair/ And just like a man, I still pretend that I'm immune to the whole affair/ But I want to die, I want to cry/ I want to tell you that I was wrong/ Yeah I want to die, I want to cry/ But it's too late, so I'll soldier on/ Just like a man."

"Penguins" - Lyle Lovett
A great jazzy, large band number. I'm not sure how penguins are so sensitive to his needs, but I'm not really sure that it matters, either.

Friday Five: 8/15

In which I blather about five songs randomly selected from my iPod playlist as I listen to them.

"Whip It" - Devo
I'll admit that I don't really "get" Devo (nor do I care to, I think), but this is a quintessentially '80s song. So, no surprises that it shows up on my playlist at some point.

"Shopping" - Barenaked Ladies
Presumably the message is anti-materialism, but this song is so jaunty and faux-pop it can be hard to tell. One of the few post-Maroon BNL songs that has really glommed onto me.

"Crucify" - Tori Amos
"I've been raising up my hands/ Drive another nail in/ Just what God needs/ One more victim." Tori two weeks in a row? I only have a couple of her songs, honestly.

"Jackie Wilson Said" - Van Morrison
I think I may know more songs that reference Jackie Wilson that songs by the man himself. This one is a great uptempo soul-ish number.

"Be My Downfall" - Del Amitri
My best friend/college roommate turned me onto Del Amitri, probably to his lasting regret since I played Waking Hours and, when it came out, Change Everything (which this song is from) all the damn time. I don't think any of their other albums are as good, but those two still rate among my favorite all-time albums.

Friday Five: 8/8

In which I blather about five songs randomly selected from my iPod playlist as I listen to them.

"Pop Goes the World" - Men Without Hats
Although more remembered for "Safety Dance" (and the attendant RenFaire-on-Ecstasy video), I always liked this song more.

"Take Me Out" - Franz Ferdinand
Due to a marked decline in my personal radio listenership (of the non-NPR or 'oldies' variety, at least), it takes as a song as ubiquitous as this one was for me to notice. It's got a good old-school feel to it, though.

"Precious Things" - Tori Amos
"No one dared/ No one cared to tell me/ Where the pretty girls are/ Those demigods/ With their nine-inch nails and little fascist panties tucked inside the heart of every nice girl." I was a freshman in college when Little Earthquakes was released, and I loved how different it sounded from everything else on 120 Minutes. I haven't kept up with her music, but I do still enjoy this album occasionally.

"Heroes" - David Bowie
So it turns out I had a Bowie best-of album. One of the best things about getting an iPod was finding all the music I already had but had forgotten about to fill it with.

"Unchained Melody" - Willie Nelson
A selection from Stardust, an absolutely incredible album. I may even like this version more than the U2 one I have. Maybe.

Friday Five: 8/1

In which I blather about five songs randomly selected from my iPod playlist as I listen to them.

"Skinny Legs" - Lyle Lovett
I've seen Lyle Lovett in concert twice. Not only does he put on a really good show, but he's also extremely funny as well.

"Redemption Song" - U2
Another concert bootleg somewhat marred by background noise. It's not terribly different from the Bob Marley version, but it's still pretty neat.

"Venus" - Bananarama
As you may have noticed by now, I really dig covers. This is one of the few instances in my collection where I like the original (Shocking Blue, in this case) better. I just happened to have this one on an '80s compilation CD, though.

"Metropolis" - The Pogues
Really cool instrumental number from If I Should Fall... It starts off sounding Irish and folky, then switches to a horn-heavy jazz sound before mingling the two together at the end. I've always assumed it was a wordless study of how New York City and Irish immigrants changed each other, but I may be reading (listening?) too much into it.

"Trip Through Your Wires" - U2
20 years later and I still can't figure out what the phrase in the title means. Great song, though.

Friday Five: 7/25

In which I blather about five songs randomly selected from my iPod playlist as I listen to them.

"Wrapped Around Your Finger" - The Police
"Mephistopheles is not your name/ I know what you're up to just the same." My favorite Police song. They did a really cool version of it when I saw them in concert. It is also the only pop song I know of that name-checks Scylla and Charybdis.

"Shoe Box" - Barenaked Ladies
Born on a Pirate Ship was a bit of a disappointment, lacking the manic energy of their first two albums while not yet attaining the more mature sound of their next two. I think this may have been the only song I ripped from this album.

"I'm Gonna Be (500 Miles)" - The Proclaimers
There's this bar I used to go to - The Dubliner - before it got too smokey and douchebaggy that had Irish music on the weekends. One night there was this guy, Barry something, and his guitar. By the end of the night, he was drunk, and we were drunk, and he had played this song at least three times, and it was awesome.

"King of Bedside Manor" - Barenaked Ladies
Speaking of manic energy, this is one of those songs you can just tell they had a blast recording. I'm still not sure if I understand the Styx call-out towards the end, though.

"Dear Prudence" - U2
Live version of the Beatles song bootlegged from an unknown concert. The sound quality is shaky and there is quite a bit of background noise. One of my favorite things about U2 in concert is how do material outside of their own catalog, either full cover songs or snippets worked into their songs.

Friday Five: 7/18

In which I blather about five songs randomly selected from my iPod playlist as I listen to them.

"Everlasting Love" - U2
Tremendous re-make of the 1967 Robert Knight song that features some seriously kick-ass acoustic guitar from the Edge. The original is nice, but this version just blows it away.

"Baby Seat" - Barenaked Ladies
"Forty days at sea/ Then she turned and said to me/ If we make it back/ I'll renounce Jack Kerouac/ And all of that romantic crap/ Like I'm an artist don't look back" I may be alone in this, but I think Maroon is BNL's best album since their very first one. This is a mellow little track from deep on that album with a neat guitar hook.

"I Wanna Be a Cowboy" - Boys Don't Cry
I guess you could call this one a novelty song. It manages to be amusing without seeming gimmicky or kitschy.

"Radio Free Europe" - R.E.M.
The original version released by Hib-Tone, and included with Eponymous. R.E.M. is one of my exceptions to my rule of liking a band for their lyrics, for obvious reasons.

"Seconds" - U2
Imminent atomic destruction never sounded so cool. The 'airborne ranger' clip in the middle always makes me think of this as a companion song to R.E.M.'s "Orange Crush." Actually, put it together with Nena and you've got the start of a very '80s soundtrack to some Twilight: 2000 game out there.

Friday Five: 7/11

In which I blather about five songs randomly selected from my iPod playlist as I listen to them.

"Girl Trouble" - Violent Femmes
"Have mercy on me/ I've got girl trouble/ Up the ass." Gordon Gano's warbling vocals backed by a surprisingly upbeat song of dateless loneliness. Or, as it was otherwise known, my freshman year of college.

"Naked Eye" - Luscious Jackson
I've never been sure if this song is talking about metaphorical or literal nudity. Maybe both. I love the groove, though.

"Wild, Wild West" - The Escape Club
Super-extended version from an '80s compilation album. Which actually works against it, because about 4 minutes in, you remember why you kind of got sick of this song 20 years ago. According to Wikipedia, the group is from England (which blew my mind a little bit).

''99 Luftballons" - Nena
For some reason, I have the German version instead of the English one. Except for the phrase 'Captain Kirk,' which is apparently universal.

"Crash Into Me" - Dave Matthews Band
I love how this seems like a sweet, romantic little song. And then you get to the part with "Hike up your skirt a little more/ And show your world to me" and you realize the song is about something else entirely.

Friday Five: 6/27

In which I blather about five songs randomly selected from my iPod playlist as I listen to them.

"Der Komissar" - After the Fire

Wikipedia tells me that the band was British (which I did not know) and the song is an English cover of a Falco song (which I sort of knew). I've always dug the little acoustic guitar pat during the chorus.

"The Broad Majestic Shannon" - The Pogues

"Take my hand, and dry your tears babe/ Take my hand, forget your fears babe/ There's no pain, there's no sorrow/ They're all gone, gone in the years babe." A bittersweet (as close to sweet as the Pogues get, I think) little ditty with a great melody.

"Voices Carry" - 'Til Tuesday

A darkly beautiful song about obsession and control masquerading as love. Classic video, too. I've always meant to check out some of Aimee Mann's later work, but I don't know where to start.

"Numb (New Mix)" U2

Slightly rearranged version from Best of 1990-2000. An awesome headphones song - at certain points it sounds like Larry Mullen is standing right behind you, slightly to the right, muttering (which is only disconcerting the first few times it happens).

"Smells Like Teen Spirit" - Nirvana

It's pretty much a cliche at this point to recognize this as the greatest song of the 1990s. I still remember the first time I heard this on the radio, though. It was bookended by flaccid hair metal and manufactured R&B, and it did sound to my 18 year-old self like the world changing. Right song, right time I guess.

Friday Five: 6/20

In which I blather about five songs randomly selected from my iPod playlist as I listen to them.

"Losing My Religion" - R.E.M.
Good song, but it is a shame that it overshadowed the rest of the album. Out of Time was filled with quirky little songs that make it a great road-trip album.

"No Myth" - Michael Penn
"What if I was Romeo in black jeans..." Unfortunately, I know more about his personal life (Sean's brother, Aimee Mann's husband) than the rest of his music. This was a great out-of-left field song, though; completely different from anything else I remember being on the radio at the time.

"Orange Crush" - R.E.M.
Green is probably my favorite R.E.M. album (maybe aside from Dead Letter Office), which I think puts me into a very small category. It's about where I really started to listen to them, which I think has a lot to do with it.

"Pinch Me" - Barenaked Ladies
I love the backing vocal Steve does underneath the chorus - "Pinch me, pinch me/ I'm still asleep/ Please God, tell me/ I'm still asleep." That lyric really resonates with me when I get fixated on my various ruts.

"I'm Only Happy When It Rains" - Garbage
Another therapeutic bad mood song. It tends to help when you can hear how silly someone sounds when they are expressing what you are feeling.

Friday Five: 6/13

In which I blather about five songs randomly selected from my iPod playlist as I listen to them.

"Little Wing" - The Corrs w/ Ronnie Wood
Live cover of the Jimi Hendrix song, from a concert they filmed for VH1. The decidedly traditional folk-pop sibling quartet (with an assist from Rolling Stones guitarist Wood) manage to make this piece of psychadelia really work for them.

"One Thing Leads to Another" - The Fixx
Another song culled from a best-of-the-'80s album. Good but not great.

"It's the End of the World as We Know It (And I Feel Fine)" - R.E.M.
I'll admit it - I yell out "Leonard Bernstein" whenever this song is on. I bet I'm not the only one, though.

"New Year's Day" - U2
"So we are told this is the golden age/ And gold is the reason for the wars we wage." Every once in a while, I go back an listen to War. Without fail, I always come away thinking how it is even better than I remember it being.

"Until the End of the World" - U2
"In the garden I was playing the tart/ I kissed your lips and broke your heart/ You, you were acting like it was the end of the world." The Passion as Jesus/Judas slashfic?

Friday Five: 6/6

In which I blather about five songs randomly selected from my iPod playlist as I listen to them.

"Hallelujah" - Rufus Wainwright
Of the approximately eight billion versions of this song in existence, I think this one is my favorite. The world-weary vocals with simple piano accompaniment is what really sells it.

"Turkish Song of the Damned" - The Pogues
A punk sea shanty about a man haunted by the ghost (or zombie?) of a companion left for dead? Sure, why not.

"Turn You Inside-Out" - R.E.M.
Like most R.E.M. songs, I have no idea what this one is about. Also like most of their songs, that fact doesn't make it any less listenable.

"Bottle of Smoke" - The Pogues
Another selection from If I Should Fall From the Grace of God, full of the expletives and at-times incoherent screaming of Shane MacGowan we've all come to expect. Great tune, though.

"Electrical Storm" - U2
A new song done for the Best of 1990-2000 album. The lyrics and guitar captures that sticky, pre-storm summer atmosphere extremely well. I remember being surprised that Larry Mullen starred in the video, too. I guess you have to throw the drummer a bone every twenty years or so?

Friday Five: 5/30

In which I blather about five songs randomly selected from my iPod playlist as I listen to them.

"Happiness Is a Warm Gun [Gun Mix]" - U2
About 20% of my playlist is comprised of U2 songs, so I guess no real surprise that they lead off. This one comes from the second disc of their Best of 1990-2000 double CD, which featured B-sides and remixes. The Edge's distortion-laden guitars give this version a much harder edge than the Beatles' original.

"Saved by Zero" - The Fixx
This one comes from one of my many best of the '80s CDs. I don't really remember ever actually hearing it in the '80s, but it is probably my favorite Fixx song. For what that is worth.

"Night and Day" - U2
More U2. This one is from Red Hot + Blue, the AIDS benefit album where everyone covered Cole Porter songs. I pretty much bought the album for this one song, but it led to me discovering a lot of cool music.

"Gloria" - Van Morrison
I think technically the song was recorded by Them, but it is from my Best of Van Morrison album, so I'll go with that. It's a shame you only ever hear the Shadows of Knight version on the radio; it's a pale imitation of the original.

"Please Don't Tell Her" - Big Head Todd & the Monsters
I was finally able to see Big Head Todd live last summer. Let me tell you, they put on an amazing show. If you like blues-inspired rock, they are definitely a band to check out.

Police Report

A couple of weeks ago, we went to see the Police in concert. I was initially on the fence about going to this show. While I enjoy their music, the $50 price tag per ticket (and that's before fees and "convenience" charges) was a bit daunting. On the other hand, this was realistically going to be the only opportunity I was ever going to have seeing them live. Plus, being that this was near the end of their tour and there had been no incidences of violence, the chance to see Stewart Copeland and Sting throwing down mid-set was too good to pass up.


Elvis Costello and the Imposters were the opening act. Now, I will freely admit that I am not fully versed in Costello's entire catalog. I like most of his music that I've heard, but there were a lot of songs that I did not really recognize. He also fell victim to the poor sound quality that seems to be endemic to the Qwest Center, especially when the organist really started cranking. All that aside, the set was filled with enough of his standards - highlighted by an energetic version of 'Watching the Detectives' back-to-back with a duet with Sting on 'Alison' - that I never lost interest.

The Police were thankfully spared most of the sound problems from earlier in the show. Opening with an acoustic version of 'Bring On the Night,' they launched into a greatest-hits laden set that hit all high points you would expect it to (with the glaring exception of "Synchroncity II'). They did, however, alter the arrangements to many of their most familiar songs, some more successfully than others. 'Don't Stand...', for instance, I thought came off as flat because the slowed tempo was not quite enough of a change. 'Wrapped Around You Finger', on the other hand, featured the percussion parts played on a variety of chimes and gongs before transitioning into the standard drum kit (and then back again) and the guitar parts played with, what sounded to my untrained ear, like a mixture of jazz, samba and Middle Eastern rhythms. The overall effect was a very cool groove to what is probably my favorite song of theirs.

Another thing I found interesting was that they used some of their lesser-known songs, 'Demolition Man' and 'So Lonely' for instance, to get their extended jam onto, which was also a joy to listen to. And despite Sting being a much better instrumentalist than I had ever given him credit for, the star of the show had to be Andy Summers on the guitar. For being older than my dad, the man can still play with amazing speed and skill. Really, words can not describe it.

So, all in all, it was a very good show. No violence (barely - I really wanted to choke spastic-dancing guy in the row in front of me, though), but I can definitely say in retrospect that I am glad to have seen Police live.