Skip to main content

Shufflin' On Down

As I've stated before, one of my favorite iPod features is called "Shuffle Songs." It takes all of your songs and plays DJ. It makes strange choices, and sometimes gets fixated on a certain artist. And often it does not consider flow, and I mean AT ALL!

But sometimes wonderful things happen. As I've used the feature, I've found myself attempting to make mental connections between the songs. You know, lyrically, historically, geographically, thematically, etc. It has become sort of a game for me, so I thought I'd detail a recent example:

1. Prince - Movie Star. A great start is always impotant, and this funny, spoken-word b-side delivers.

2. Olympic Hopefuls - Stoned Again. The iPod wisely decides to stay local.

3. Johnny Cash - Hurt. Of course you know that Johnny mentions St.Paul in his song Big River?

4. Neil Diamond - The Boat That I Row. Johnny Cash was known as the Man In Black, and Neil pretended to be a black man in The Jazz Singer!

5. Henry Mancini - Moon River. Speaking of The Jazz Singer, it was directed by Richard Fleisher. He also directed 1967's Doctor Doolittle, starring Rex Harrison, who played opposite Audrey Hepburn in My Fair Lady. Of course, Moon River is from Audrey's film Breakfast At Tiffany's. Whew!

6. The Replacements - Achin' To Be. Ah, going local again! Breakfast At Tiffany's, we all know, featured a main character named Paul. The Replacements featured a lead singer named Paul.

7. Semisonic - This Will Be My Year. I am loving this obsession with local bands! Way to go iPod!

8. The Soundtrack Of Our Lives - Heading For A Breakdown. Semisonic are from Minnesota, which is known for its strong Swedish heritage. The Soundtrack Of Our Lives are from Sweden!

9. Brian Wilson - She Says That She Needs Me. Can I get serious here for a moment? I'd like to acknowledge that Brian Wilson has written many songs that have become the soundtrack of our lives.

10. Semisonic - Chemistry. See what I mean about artist fixation? Anyway, Brian Wilson wrote lots of songs about California, and the lyrics of this song mention California! Coincidence?

11. Aimee Mann - Lost In Space. It's a fact that Semisonic man Dan Wilson went to Harvard. Where did Aimee Mann and 'Til Tuesday get their start? Boston!

12. The Thorns - Think It Over. Matthew Sweet was in The Thorns. He also co-wrote the title track to 'Til Tuesday's final album Everything's Different Now.

Sadly, the next song was Jadakiss' Why and it messed everything up!

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Honoring the Legacy of REO Speedwagon

I suppose I should have known the saga of REO Speedwagon couldn't end with a whimper. Before I get into the latest developments, here's a brief review of what's happened so far: In September 2024 came the announcement that the band was effectively breaking up at the end of the year. Apparently, frontman Kevin Cronin ruled that bassist Bruce Hall was no longer fit to continue touring following back surgery in summer 2024. Hall felt otherwise. Here we learned that REO had essentially become a three-way partnership between Cronin, Hall, and Doughty (who retired from touring in January 2023) following the departure of original members Alan Gratzer and Gary Richrath in 1988. Doughty sided with Hall, so Cronin was outvoted 2-1. No Bruce Hall, no REO Speedwagon. In December 2024 Cronin revealed he would continue performing REO Speedwagon songs with the two musicians who replaced Doughty and Hall, as well as Brian Hitt and Dave Amato (who replaced Gratzer and Richrath), with the on...
Post a Comment
Read more

Billy Joel: 1980 - 1977

When I decided to write about every single Billy Joel studio album I knew had a bit of a leg up in that I'd written reviews of a handful of his records already. What I didn't realize until just now was that those reviews were of albums that had been released consecutively between 1977 and 1980. As I reread those reviews - the most recent of which is 14 years old! - I found that I still stand by them. My writing style has mellowed a bit, and I no longer give grades to albums, but otherwise my opinions then are my opinions now. So here you go... Billy Joel: Glass Houses (1980) Billy Joel: 52nd Street (1978) Billy Joel: The Stranger   (1977)
Post a Comment
Read more

Billy Joel: Turnstiles (1976)

Turnstiles is, along with An Innocent Man and The Stranger , in my top three Billy Joel albums. It has pretty much everything you might want from the Piano Man. It has two beloved classics: "Say Goodbye to Hollywood" and "New York State of Mind." And while I like that they respectively open and close side one, I think these two are the key moments to the album's story, and thus wish they'd been sequenced a bit differently (more on that in a bit). It has virtuosity. The opening to "Angry Young Man," called "Prelude," with its lightning fast hammered piano, is the most obvious display of Billy's growing talents. But it wasn't just him. Turnstiles is the first recorded appearance of the Billy Joel band - Richie Cannata, Liberty DeVitto, Russell Javors, Howie Emerson, and Doug Stegmeyer - and their performances show they were able to handle pretty much anything with aplomb. It has introspection and wisdom. Billy was only 27 years old ...
Post a Comment
Read more