Brave Astronaut did two of these posts lately, after one of his friends shared on her blog.
A few notes before I begin:
- My iPod has been edited recently to contain only my favorite songs. Hence a lot of "I love this one!" sprinkled throughout the comments.
- I tried to prune the Proustian involuntary memories so this post wouldn't be three yards long, but trust me when I tell you that I could say a lot more about each song/artist.
- I was going to link to the songs on Amazon/YouTube or perhaps make a muxtape or two featuring these tracks, but I ran out of time/energy for the first one and I couldn't violate the pop cultural rules for making a mixtape for the second. (Or tangle with the RIAA.)
(1) A Song for You — Aretha Franklin
I love this song, and have at least a dozen versions of it by various artists. I love Aretha — What white girl who wishes she could sing doesn't? Cf. Murphy Brown — but my favorite version is by the Temptations.
(2) Strangers in the Night — Frank Sinatra
This always makes me think of that scene in Mr. Mom, which makes me laugh.
(3) Lovers Rock — Sade
I bought this album on a whim, and I love every track. I like it when stuff like that works out.
(4) The Humpty Dance — Digital Underground
One of about a dozen hip-hop songs from 1988-92 that bring back a lot of high school memories. Mostly of Larry & Tony providing the soundtrack in one of the band buses on the way to a football game.
(5) I'm So Open — Cowboy Junkies
This one's a pretty uptempo, rockin' tune, which is not exactly typical CJ material.
(6) Waiting for the Sun to Shine — Lee Ann Womack
After many years of loudly detesting anything labeled "country," I've reluctantly come to find that I kind of enjoy some of the vintage/retro/alt-country stuff. Although released in 2005, this whole album is retro, right down to the cover art and the graphics on the CD itself.
(7) Total Eclipse of the Heart — Bonnie Tyler
Ha ha ha! This is the title track to one of the first LPs I ever owned. (Well, that didn't have "Sesame Street" in the title, anyway.) I still have it on vinyl, along with Thriller and Olivia Newton-John's Greatest Hits, Volume 2.
(8) Never Can Say Goodbye — The Jackson Five
You know what's awkward? Trying to sing along to the Isaac Hayes version after learning MJ's pitch/pacing.
(9) Hard to Handle — Black Crowes
Once upon a time, this video used to be on MTV a lot. I didn't know it was a cover of an Otis Redding song then, I just knew I liked it.
(10) I Could Never Love Another (After Loving You) — The Temptations
Not as well known as some of their other tracks, but definitely worth having on the Amythology. (My personal mix of my favorite songs by that artist: like an anthology, but better. I've made about a dozen.)
(11) Never Enough — The Cure
I still have the cassingle!
(12) Let's Hear It for the Boy — Deniece Williams
Would you believe that I about wore out my cassette of the Footloose soundtrack, but I have still never seen the movie in its entirety?
(13) See That Girl — Righteous Brothers
This guy I knew in college made me a mix tape of all these songs he loved because they were sad and depressing. This was on it. He wasn't wrong.
(14) Lay Down the Law — Switches
I came across this on iTunes the other week and took a flyer on it since the review promised a mix of Strokes, Franz Ferdinand, Arctic Monkeys, etc. Not bad.
(15) But Not for Me — Harry Connick Jr.
I love the When Harry Met Sally ... soundtrack, and I'm totally jealous of his jazzy arrangement of Winter Wonderland.
(16) Collecting You — Indigo Girls
I saw them live when they played the Convo @ OU my senior year. Great show, slightly freaky crowd. I see that they're playing Mem Aud in October — I totally want to go!
(17) Tones of Home — Blind Melon
I just saw Visually Impaired Cantaloupe (newly reconstituted with another lead singer) in St. Louis on Memorial Day Weekend. They played this, and the crowd was rockin' out.
(18) 83 — John Mayer
I love John Mayer, but I'm not sure I could see him in concert. He makes too many awkward faces.
(19) Day Tripper — The Beatles
I don't consider myself that big of a Beatles fan. I mean, I know the big hits and all, but . . .
(20) Bossa Nova Baby — Elvis Presley
You know that part in Pulp Fiction about how everybody's either a Beatles fan or an Elvis fan? I'm an Elvis fan.
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Now playing: The Cars - Shake It Up
via FoxyTunes
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WOW. Talk about eclectic. Then again, with the exception of some of the newer stuff (and you have a different high school era than I), I would totally have these songs on my iPod (and do in many cases).
ReplyDeleteA few comments:
1 - Mrs. BA has a thing for Aretha, too.
2 - Frank will always make me think of my mother. But the Mr. Mom reference is nice, too. My friend had "220, 221, whatever it takes" rolling around in his head and it took him forever to remember that it was from that movie.
7 - Makes me think of "Guiding Light," if you watched it, you'd remember.
12 - Same story. Had the soundtrack, have never seen the whole movie.
#7
ReplyDeleteWhen I was in elementary school, the babysitter always watched Guiding Light, but I never really got into it.
# 12
I was reading some magazine yesterday (probably an Entertainment Weekly that was a few weeks old) and found a reference to a guy who covered the entire soundtrack, reconfiguring all the poppy, upbeat songs to depressingly mellow tunes. This quote from a blog I found just now while I was searching for the Doveman Music site probably says it best:
"i wanted to slash my wrists. who knew holding out for a hero and almost paradise could be this raw, intense and depressing? i love his version of let's hear it for the boy."
— David @ http://artistahin.blogspot.com/2008/07/lets-hear-it-for-doveman.html