Thursday, 10 August 2006

"Friday" "Random" "Ten"

There you are, in a good mood—the dishes are done, the floor's vacuumed and, yes, you've even done a little laundry—so you decide to sit down and write a "Random Ten."  You hit "shuffle" and—what?  "For my nineteenth birthday, I got my union card and my wedding coat"?  Who's shuffling my shuffler?  (The Devil, silly.)  That explains it.  So, with a heavier-than-anticipated heart, I present my Friday Random Ten ... on Thursday, because I can:

  1. Bruce Springsteen, "The River" [.mp3]   What can I say?  I'm a Jersey boy and this song breaks my heart.  It'll break yours too.  If it doesn't, Rosie the Riveter just put you on her list.
  2. The Band, "Look Out Cleveland" [.mp3]  Two songs in a row about towns blowing away.  Mother of ... stop.  (Hammer Time?)  No.  But I'll take a page from his ministerial book and repeat things really, really hard until I think they're true:  You believe in the power of positive thinking.  You believe in the power of positive thinking.  You believe in the power of positive thinking.  (Do you?)  No, but I have another idea.  I love game shows.  Just like faith, only with prizes.  Another approach, then: C'mon now! Big money, big money, no whammies, big money ...
  3. Wilco, "Kamera (Take Two)" [.mp3]  Big money!  The inevitable Wilco song and/or demo.  Given the ratio of Wilco to non-Wilco tracks on my iRiver, the odds of a Wilco appearance on a "Random Ten" are, um, how 'bout we leave it at "good"?  This take's a happier, if harder, of the YHF gem.  C'mon now!  Big money, big money, no whammies, big money ...
  4. Big Star, "Kangaroo" [.mp3]  Whammy!  The Whammy King, really.  Boy howdy, does anything depress a body more than the sound of Alex Chilton's sanity dissolving while the tape keeps running?  (At least the peppier depression of, say, "O Dana" [.mp3] could've popped up.)  So much for pressing my luck.  I'll take "Happy Songs That Make Scott Happy" for $400, Alex ...
  5. Soul Asylum, "Cartoon" [.mp3]  Sorry, what?  Oh, forgot, the form of a question.  "What is proof that a band can release a greatest hits album which contains exactly one song representative of their best work?"  "Happy Songs That Make Scott Happy" for $600, Alex ...
  6. What is Matthew Sweet's "Devil With the Green Eyes" [.mp3]?  Not cool, Alex, not cool.  This ain't "Depressing Songs Proudly Depressing Scott Since 1993."  It's "Happy Songs That Make Scott Happy."  You're lucky I don't have lasers, punk.  (But you do.)  Not here.  You and I?  We're through, Trebek.  Pat, I'd like to solve the puzzle ...
  7. The Pogues, "Danny Boy" [.mp3]  "Danny Boy," Pat?  The version sung for John Peel in 1984, before Shane became the man, er, man-boy he is today?  You're killing me, Pat.  Killing me.  I should've stuck with the Canuck.  No more game shows for Y.T.  No Pat, I don't want to buy a vowel, I'd rather blow my brains out with a pistol up my arse ...
  8. Enough of this random crap.  I only wanted some catalytic happiness, but as the Lord of The Shuffle insists on foiling my feelings, I rebel.  I don't need The Man's fascistic listification regulations.  I'm the man The Boss taught me to be.  I believe in the promised land.  And the spirit of the night.  I'm running on the backstreets.  (Really, what's a Jersey Jew to aspire to elsewise?)  So instead of being random, I'm going to be crassly direct and ask "What do you think of 'Born in the USA'?"  Hate the easily appropriated politics, do you?  Check out the original.  (One of them, anyways.)  Click a link, gain an appreciation [.mp3].

Thus concludes my not-Friday not-entirely-Random not-quite-Ten.  If you can't tell, I'm not quite sure what to do with myself now that the Little Womedievalist wenden on hir yeerly pilgrymage.  I could continue working into the wee hours of the night ... or I could write, jam my head full of narrative and wake up refreshed and ready to crash by noon.  Worked today, didn't it?  (For the record, I did straddle that saddle again, but re-remounting at this hour seems silly.)

DISCLAIMER:  As always, if you like the sample song I've posted the link to, click on the band's name and buy the album.  If there's no link on the band's name, that's because I couldn't find the album, so ... I don't know.  Buy another album by that artist?  I don't think they care which albums you buy so long as you buy one. 

Aug 10, 2006 8:01:00 PM | Weblogs

5 Comments

Luther Blissett

Scott, thanks for the list. I was just reading that, in their last shows, Sleater-Kinney were ripping audiences apart with Springsteen covers. But that the indie-rock audience wasn't responding to the sing-along parts -- because they didn't know their Boss! What is this world coming to?

(Another song to break your heart, or at least mine: Tom Waits, "I Wish I Was In New Orleans." Actually, most of *Small Change* just makes me weep.)

Posted by: Luther Blissett | Thursday, 10 August 2006 at 09:44 PM

Scott Eric Kaufman

The world has come to nothing. I still put myself to sleep at night sometimes with the thought of the words "Would the distinguished gentleman from New Jersey, Mr. Springsteen ..." The idea of Sleater-Kinney covering the Boss, however, makes me want to hit my sources for bootlegs, as I can imagine the vocals on "The End of You" working their magic on "Thunder Road" and swoon, er, swoooooooon.

I actually remember the first time I heard "I Wish I Was In New Orleans" after Katrina, and all I could think about was the rest of the title, "(In the Ninth Ward)." Damn, you know, I haven't loved many cities, but New Orleans was one of the few. I remember sneaking out my bedroom window at 11 on a Friday night, hot-dogging it for 45 minutes to New Orleans, and having myself a hell of a time before slipping back in my bedroom window at seven. I can't believe they killed my city sometimes ... then I remember, they did. They did photo-ops with country music "stars" while my city drowned, and so now I drink a little more than I used. Inevitable, really ...

Posted by: Scott Eric Kaufman | Thursday, 10 August 2006 at 10:11 PM

The Little Womedievalist

Never put depressing tunes on your i-device. Never. You would not like them in a car, nor would you like them in a bar. All you will hear is a damned guitar or, if you're lucky, perhaps even Gwar. (OK, so I stole that last one...actually, I think I somehow Suess'd up the Magnetic Fields.)

Posted by: The Little Womedievalist | Friday, 11 August 2006 at 12:40 AM

Alex Leibowitz

What happened to the mandatory close readings, huh bubba?

Posted by: Alex Leibowitz | Friday, 11 August 2006 at 07:32 PM

Scott Eric Kaufman

Pending. They actually take some time to come together, so I've about six or seven concurrently drafted. In short:

Patience, my child.

Posted by: Scott Eric Kaufman | Friday, 11 August 2006 at 08:43 PM

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