Songbook #23: Bonus Tracks
When I was making my list of songs, I did my best to arrange them in chronological order. As I worked my way through them I inevitably though of a few songs that I forgot. Because they are mostly tied to memories from junior high and high school I didn't want to shove them in at the end of my existing list, so instead I am going to treat these four songs as bonus cuts, and they will be covered once I return from Iceland 2012: A Vacation We Can Believe In.
There were also five songs that I considered writing about that didn't quite make the cut. Usually these were songs that I really like but that after due consideration I decided they weren't really stuck in my head so much as really well liked. For the completists out there, I've decided to add little song blurbs for each of these.
1. The Waifs - When I Die
My immediate family loves the Waifs and has seen these Aussies a collective dozen or so times, of which I only contributed two. I've got their first five studio albums and a live disc. The problem is that none of these tracks is stuck in my head, although When I Die, a song about a man wandering far from his hometown and likely never to return, comes close.
2. Robert Earl Keen, but I prefer the version by Joe Ely - The Road Goes On Forever but the Party Never Ends
I've actually seen Keen do his version live, which was merely tolerable. The Joe Ely version, recorded live at the legendary Austin club Antone's, is sublime. The song describes a couple that goes out on the road for a life of crime, and what happens to them.
3. Alejandro Escovedo - Castanets. This song is famous largely because it was supposedly on George W. Bush's iPod playlist. Escovedo is at the complete opposite end of the political spectrum and immediately stopped playing it until Bush left office. I like it because of the repeated refrain "I like her better when she walks away" as in
I love her hair fallin' across my face
I like her better when she walks away
Either he really wants this girl to leave, or she has a very scenic posterior. The lyrics go either way, but combined with the beat it rather implies the latter.
4. Pete Yorn - For Nancy ('Cos It Already Is)
I once kind of sort of went on a few dates with a girl named Nancy, but this song's appearance on this list has nothing to do with her and everything to do with it being totally awesome. I find it to be utterly gripping. Is the singer being dumped, or just jilted? Comforting or bitter? I know what my opinion is...
5. Peter Mulvey - Pretty Young Girl in the Hi-Tops.
This song directly references Cleveland, which makes sense because Mulvey told me and RC in a personal conversation after his show that he wrote it after playing The Barking Spider. The lyrics are about an older man talking to a younger woman and as his memories overwhelm him he recalls wistfully that he was young once and that We lose all the best things to time. Add in a nice melody and it's hard to beat.
Inevitably, there are also a few earbugs that have no particular memories but that are essentially stuck in my mind. The more prominent example of this in my head is Red Red Wine as performed by UB40 (originally by Neil Diamond), which I don't particularly like but which isn't coming out short of a power drill to the frontal lobe.
More happily, there are the songs that are stuck in my head because they are new and fresh to my ears. Some of these can stay in there for a significant amount of time. The current primary occupant is Wilco's I Am Trying to Break Your Heart, which has been stuck in my head since last December due to its incarnation by JC Brooks & the Uptown Sound. I suspect that it will eventually drop out, but for right now it is lodged in there good. Heck, I went to see Wilco yesterday largely because of that one track.
Tracklist
#1 - Welcome to the Jungle
#2 - Runnin' Blue
#3 - Cryin'
#4 - Mr. Jones
#5 - Blinded by the Light
#6 - Piano Man
#7 - Romeo & Juliet
#8 - Ecstasy
#9 - Seasons of Love
#10 - Red Sweater!
#11 - Insomniac
#12 - It Had to Be You
#13 - Cabaret
#14 - Psycho Killer
#15 - All Along the Watchtower
#16 - When I'm Up
#17 - Alcohol & Pills
#18 - What Becomes Of The Brokenhearted
#19 - Sweet Jane
#20 - Screenwriter's Blues
#21 - Oh My God
#22 - Another First Kiss
#23 - Bonus Tracks
There were also five songs that I considered writing about that didn't quite make the cut. Usually these were songs that I really like but that after due consideration I decided they weren't really stuck in my head so much as really well liked. For the completists out there, I've decided to add little song blurbs for each of these.
1. The Waifs - When I Die
My immediate family loves the Waifs and has seen these Aussies a collective dozen or so times, of which I only contributed two. I've got their first five studio albums and a live disc. The problem is that none of these tracks is stuck in my head, although When I Die, a song about a man wandering far from his hometown and likely never to return, comes close.
2. Robert Earl Keen, but I prefer the version by Joe Ely - The Road Goes On Forever but the Party Never Ends
I've actually seen Keen do his version live, which was merely tolerable. The Joe Ely version, recorded live at the legendary Austin club Antone's, is sublime. The song describes a couple that goes out on the road for a life of crime, and what happens to them.
3. Alejandro Escovedo - Castanets. This song is famous largely because it was supposedly on George W. Bush's iPod playlist. Escovedo is at the complete opposite end of the political spectrum and immediately stopped playing it until Bush left office. I like it because of the repeated refrain "I like her better when she walks away" as in
I love her hair fallin' across my face
I like her better when she walks away
Either he really wants this girl to leave, or she has a very scenic posterior. The lyrics go either way, but combined with the beat it rather implies the latter.
Click to view4. Pete Yorn - For Nancy ('Cos It Already Is)
I once kind of sort of went on a few dates with a girl named Nancy, but this song's appearance on this list has nothing to do with her and everything to do with it being totally awesome. I find it to be utterly gripping. Is the singer being dumped, or just jilted? Comforting or bitter? I know what my opinion is...
5. Peter Mulvey - Pretty Young Girl in the Hi-Tops.
This song directly references Cleveland, which makes sense because Mulvey told me and RC in a personal conversation after his show that he wrote it after playing The Barking Spider. The lyrics are about an older man talking to a younger woman and as his memories overwhelm him he recalls wistfully that he was young once and that We lose all the best things to time. Add in a nice melody and it's hard to beat.
Inevitably, there are also a few earbugs that have no particular memories but that are essentially stuck in my mind. The more prominent example of this in my head is Red Red Wine as performed by UB40 (originally by Neil Diamond), which I don't particularly like but which isn't coming out short of a power drill to the frontal lobe.
More happily, there are the songs that are stuck in my head because they are new and fresh to my ears. Some of these can stay in there for a significant amount of time. The current primary occupant is Wilco's I Am Trying to Break Your Heart, which has been stuck in my head since last December due to its incarnation by JC Brooks & the Uptown Sound. I suspect that it will eventually drop out, but for right now it is lodged in there good. Heck, I went to see Wilco yesterday largely because of that one track.
Tracklist
#1 - Welcome to the Jungle
#2 - Runnin' Blue
#3 - Cryin'
#4 - Mr. Jones
#5 - Blinded by the Light
#6 - Piano Man
#7 - Romeo & Juliet
#8 - Ecstasy
#9 - Seasons of Love
#10 - Red Sweater!
#11 - Insomniac
#12 - It Had to Be You
#13 - Cabaret
#14 - Psycho Killer
#15 - All Along the Watchtower
#16 - When I'm Up
#17 - Alcohol & Pills
#18 - What Becomes Of The Brokenhearted
#19 - Sweet Jane
#20 - Screenwriter's Blues
#21 - Oh My God
#22 - Another First Kiss
#23 - Bonus Tracks