It comes just slightly early – the April random gum soundtrack. I also think I will be sending out a few copies on CD (along with the previous few months’ music) in postal form because there are a handful of people who need more candy.
01 Negative Gemini – You Never Knew …now you’re pretending that i’m someone you never knew…
For all the beautiful negative Geminis 02 Gianna Lauren – Mistakes …Mistakes, they are my own…
Thank you to Esteban 03 ABC – All of My Heart …What’s it like to have loved and to lose that much?…
Thanks to J 04 Vorderhaus – Tanz Tanz Tanz oder ich bin verloren
Thanks to ML & Inken 05 The Jack Moves – Doublin’ Down 06 Mark Gaetani – Rwanda
With Rwanda on my mind 07 The Aislers Set – Cocksure Whistler …Showers icy but the streets are chalk/Like the cocksure whistler’s on a winter walk… 08 Fine Young Cannibals – She Drives Me Crazy
For SD and to memories of Terra and her insistence that she would like to stick her tongue between Roland Gift’s front teeth 09 Katie Von Schleicher – Baby Don’t Go 10 Kelley Stoltz – Kim Chee Taco Man …Let your grace go wild…
“You’re not alone… You know the smile is real/It’s something you can feel/The stars with twisted teeth/Not so out of reach!” For Martina: “The Kim Chee Taco Man/The real Mexican” 11 Lushes – Low Hanging Fruit
For Annette and our dislike for low-hanging fruit preachers with deer-in-the-headlights eyes 12 Mugison – Patrick Swayze …there’s a ghost living here in the scrapyard…
For SD, the Swayze gym and the way Scottish people talk, even over strange Icelandic soundtracks 13 Jane Weaver – I Wish …I wish you were cool/I wish you were something…
MP. “So you really did nothing/So you really did nothing of concern?/In the distance I’m humming/Are the whispers nothing?” 14 Olivia Newton-John – Hopelessly Devoted to You
Sing-song singalongs with SD 15 Negative Gemini – Don’t Worry Bout the Fuck I’m Doing
“I don’t care about your shit face, the street goes down two ways, Don’t worry bout the way I’m going” 16 Belle and Sebastian – Poor Boy
True words. “Poor boy, I could never live up to your imagination/Poor boy, I was a crush that killed” 17 Emma Lee Toyoda – Nünü 18 Indeep – Last Night a DJ Saved My Life
SD and locker-room recordings 19 Feu! Chatterton – L’oiseau
Merci, Laurent. 20 Karen Marks – Cold Café …on the esplanade/my coffee’s gone cold/I won’t forget the sounds/you left me…
Australia. 21 Robyn Hitchcock – Godnatt Oslo 22 Cat Power – Nude as the News
Memories of Seattle, Naomi and the Finn from Funland 23 Ösp Eldjárn – Ástarnetið
Thanks to and love for Eva 24 Maggie Björklund – The Road to Samarkand
Danmark 25 Veronika Boulytcheva, Natalia Ermilova – Зачем тебя я, милый мой, узнала …И сердце песню радости поет…
For J. This ‘relic’ from the college years pops into my head now and then. I had to dig through all my old CDs to find it. 26 Houndstooth – Bliss Boat …words are just a poor man’s pennies, dear…
Portlanders. I love the sound of this. “My aching heart/my wounded knee/you were the only air I breathe” 27 Kon Kan – I Beg Your Pardon (I Never Promised You a Rose Garden)
Thinking back to being 13 and the people populating that period 28 Clara Luciani – Comme toi
“J’ai le coeur qu s’égare en attendant que toi/Qui me ressemble tant, qui ne me comprend pas” 29 The Sundays – God Made Me
“We’d love to be good but we’d rather be bad/But how was I supposed to know that?” 30 Scott Fagan – In My Head 31 Martha Ffion – We Disappear …guess we never really knew how good we were…
Irish in Glasgow 🙂 32 Velly Joonas – Kaes On Aeg
Estonia 33 YACHT – I Thought the Future Would Be Cooler
“Got my broken heart—/I got it sold right back to me—/By an algorithmic social entity!” 34 Widowspeak – Dead Love (So Still) …Even if it wasn’t as good/If it didn’t hurt so bad to remember… 35 The True Loves – The Dirty
Seattle, you know… 36 Martin Courtney – Airport Bar …I can pass the time/But I can’t undo the changes once they’re made…
“Life in that dream was just what it seemed/If I knew then what I know now I would not have stayed” 37 Cate Le Bon – Aside from Growing Old
“What’s the hubbub, I’m losing my mind/I’m running from people/What’s the measure of a passing time/I’m, I’m running from people/Deep seated inconsequence/Still running from people” 38 Fleetwood Mac – The Chain …And if you don’t love me now/You will never love me again…
For Erin 39 Vendredi sur Mer – L’amour avec toi 40 Laura Marling – Gurdjieff’s Daughter …Darkness can’t do you harm/Fear will hurt you…
“Man is made in such a way that he is never so much attached to anything as he is to his suffering.” –Gurdjieff 41 The History of Apple Pie – Keep Wondering
I keep wondering about some never-tasted mysterious apple pie 42 Jane Weaver – Slow Motion …I want to feel the life we loved in the sun,/Slow motion…
“Let’s get together/We keep changing/Sometimes everything’s amazing/Then the silence/Reminds us we are lost/Stop listening/To other people/Whose agenda/Doesn’t seem good/Then exception is the only/Thing we’ve got.” 43 Dan Deacon – Feel the Lightning …I try not to worry/But I always worry… 44 Belle and Sebastian – Lazy Line Painter Jane …Being a rebel’s fine/But you go all the way/To being brutal…
Missing my Jane 45 Crybaby – When the Lights Go Out …There’s a beauty in this/A privilege in parting I know… 46 Meshell Ndegeocello – Waterfalls
A Meshell take on someone else’s song that somehow outshines the original. Love to Anne 47 Strawberry Runners – Dog Days 48 Jessica Lea Mayfield – Sorry is Gone …Leave me alone, but I want you with me every minute… 49 Damien Jurado, Richard Swift – Radioactivity 50 Veronika Boulytcheva, Natalia Ermilova – Вьюн над водой
Giving thanks: “November came at last…” “Eight billion zeroes is still zero/If you got no heart” Random gum – November 2017
Listen on Spotify. Find some of the tracks below for download (which are not available on Spotify). Or request a physical copy – I’m not doing the large-scale CD burning/package endeavor en masse any longer, but if anyone wants a physical copy and a package with some random candy in it, please comment (will leave the comment private).
1. This is the Kit – “Les Plus Beaux” 2. I Was a King – “Frozen Disease”…November came at last…
Discovered while seeing Robyn Hitchcock in Oslo in October. Lovely Norwegians 3. Michou – “Maloya ton tisane”
Maybe the only time I’ll include a singer from Réunion… 4. Jessie Ware – “Selfish Love”…why do I do these things/I break you down just to get my way/darling you do it too/you tell me lies and I bend the truth… 5. Marjan – “Kavire Del”
In Iran again 6. Whitesnake – “Here I Go Again”
Nothing I thought I would ever include, but – as he does – SD randomly added it to his ‘repertoire’ and started singing it on the regular to make me laugh… and well, here it is. And it truly is the right song for him. 7. Robyn Hitchcock – “The Abyss”…I don’t know what is true/but my compass points to you/when it’s quivering like this/in the abyss…
For J. Finally got to see Hitchcock in Oslo in October after 30 years of waiting and wanting… 8. Vorderhaus – “Minor Activity”…love and regret I’ll never truly forget… 9. The Cry – “Alone” …With a piece of paper as blank as night and the words don’t seem to come out right and you ask yourself again is this for me?… 10. Mai Lệ Huyền – “Có Ai Trên Đời Mà Không Yêu
Seems to go along with all the Vietnam-related stuff around me now (the Ken Burns documentary, the fiction I read just before that by Bao Ninh and the memoir by Tim O’Brien earlier in the year) 11. Chastity Belt – “Caught in a Lie”…I’ll take a shot of whatever you’ve got/But it’s not going down that easily…
Walla Walla. Thoughts of M 12. Laser & bas – “Spela Shoreline”
Sweden, of course 13. Orange Juice – “Rip It Up”…I hope to God you’re not as dumb as you make out…
Glasgow classic 14. Velvet Condom – “Samt und Stein” 15. Throbbing Gristle – “Hot on the Heels of Love” 16. The Sonics – “Psycho”…Tell me baby/Am I just your clown?…
1960s Tacoma. For SD, cut-out marionette 17. Crybaby – “I Cherish the Heartbreak More than the Love that I Lost”…a happy ever after, well, baby/it just wasn’t us… 18. Ariel Pink, Weyes Blood – “On Another Day”…now the soft attraction has gone…
“She’ll swear some weak excuse/To gain more time/Changing sides like friends/To satisfy her quicksand ego/When life falls short again/She’ll crawl away” 19. Promised Land Sound – “She Takes Me There”…it seems she’ll never let me in/like emotion is a sin…
Nashville 20. Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers – “Asshole” …she’ll do anything to make you feel like an asshole…
RIP Tom Petty; always think of the scene in the old sitcom Wings when the character Lowell claims that Tom Petty is the world’s handsomest man… 21. Cults – “I Can Hardly Make You Mine”…Still I lead on the days/like a loaded gun…
“But I know you’re not the one or the only/But we both know what it’s like to be lonely” 22. Jean-Louis Murat – “À mendiante rousse”*
I can never get enough of these musical treatments of Baudelaire 23. Beyond the Wizard’s Sleeve – “Diagram Girl” 24. The Pastels – “Nothing to Be Done” …I’m ready for you, sweetheart/Now my mind is open wide…
More Glasgow, of course, and truth: “Remember what was meant to be this year/The past is a disaster/And the future’s coming faster now” 25. Otis Redding – “These Arms of Mine”
I dare you to not love Otis 26. Cigarettes After Sex – “I’m a Firefighter”
Wandering Oslo with Annette on a day when firefighters were everywhere; joking about chasing fireman cock for lunch, remembering Yoga Fireman from so many years ago 27. Alex Chilton – “Hey! Little Child” 28. Men I Trust – “Tailwhip”…I’m happy as I am/cause I’m leaving…
Montréal. “This country dog won’t die in the city” 29. Lia Pamina – “Cards on the Table”…I hide away from close encounters/I never let my feelings be known/I’d rather burrow deep into my hole…
Spain! What in the hell is going on in Spain? For J 30. Roy Orbison – “The Comedians”…it’s always something cruel that laughter drowns…
An Elvis Costello tune recorded by Roy Orbison; my mom and I have always joked about this song (especially the “who held the lever that could bring me down” lyric) even though it is quite sad 31. Bedřich Smetana, Wiener Philharmoniker– “The Bartered Bride, JB 1:100: Dance of the Comedians”
Czech Czech Czech. Love for Anne, Martina. Reminds me so much of Academic Decathlon in high school – love for Mike, Amanda, Terra, Leighanne, etc. 32. Nahid Akhtar – “Dil To Kya Cheez Hai” 33. Bubblegum Lemonade – “The Only Constant is Change”
Another constant: Glasgow 34. Camper Van Beethoven – “Sweethearts”
Like a slice of junior high school: “McDonnell-Douglas olive drab/They bear the names of our sweethearts/And the captain smiles, as we crash/Cause in the mind of Ronald Reagan/Wheels they turn and gears they grind/Buildings collapse in slow motion/And trains collide. Everything is fine” 35. Front 242 – “Tragedy >For You<”…With that skill that was hers alone/She drove her clutches into me/I was dumbfounded/She was hungry/She required me entirely…
Belgium. Reminds me of sophomore year in high school though I like this much better now than I did then. It’s great for staying awake during long, late-night drives 36. Danielle Dax – “Tomorrow Never Knows” 37. Jane’s Addiction – “I Would For You”
Another brand on the brain – junior high school, getting this album from my old friend Jeremy as a gift and not really appreciating it until much later, but isn’t that always the way? 38. LCD Soundsystem – “One Touch”…Complicated people never do what you’re told to… 39. Radial Spangle – “Patio Furniture”…it’s not gonna matter in a couple of days/it will all melt…
For my beloved, hardy, robust patio furniture 40. Aimee Mann – “Disappeared”…Somehow I wound up on your bad side/Til now, I guess I had a free ride… 41. Chaz Bundick Meets the Mattson 2 – “Star Stuff”…I could be wrong in saying/Everything falls into place… 42. Bunny Girls – “Why That Person?”
Korea 43. Hot Chocolate – “Heaven is in the Back Seat of My Cadillac”
I think this song is ridiculous. Right after I stumbled on it, I was at one of the Norway-Sweden border malls and saw this weird dude drive into the parking lot in a Cadillac (not a common car in Sweden) and then kept running into him inside the mall where he made a point of smiling creepily at me… ugh 44. St. Vincent – “Fear the Future”…In our bed, in our room/I come for you, come for me too… 45. Dolly Parton – “I Couldn’t Wait Forever” 46. Happyness – “Surfer Girl” 47. Kevin Morby – “Beautiful Strangers” 48. Martha Wainwright – “Ayoye” 49. On Dead Waves – “California”…The sun sets in California… 50. Monika – “Take Me With You” 51. Lea Porcelain – “Endlessly” 52. Onuma Singsiri – “Mae Kha Som Tam”
Thailand 53. Saint Etienne – “Out of My Mind”…Is this the end? I need to know/If it’s the start of something, where does it go?…
Love for Ben, Naomi 54. Jo Stafford – “The Gentleman is a Dope” …He’s somebody else’s problem/she’s welcome to the guy…
I do indeed enjoy cooking/baking while singing this at the top of my lungs 55. Jeremy Jay – “Airwalker”…Where can we go where the lights are low?… 56. Cabaret Voltaire – “Spies in the Wires”…ingenuity my secret rival… 57. Beck – “Up All Night”
Another good one for driving in the middle of the night 58. Heron Oblivion – “Beneath Fields”…Dreams from the days of suffering… 59. The Apostles – “Don’t Huzzle for Love”
Nigeria 60. Frank Zappa, The Mothers of Invention – “Trouble Every Day”
Timeless, thus timely, spot-on shit 61. Vincent Delerm – “Super Bowl”
Because who doesn’t pretend to like Joe Montana with ulterior motives? 62. Delicate Steve – “Don’t Get Stuck (Proud Elephants)”
For the dainty SD 63. Jessica Lea Mayfield, Dan Auerbach – “(David Bowie I Love You) Since I Was Six” 64. Laibach – “Sympathy for the Devil (Time for a Change)”
Another take on a classic… from Slovenia 65. Death in Vegas – “Dirt” 66. Dent May – “Face Down in the Gutter of Your Love” 67. Oumou Sangaré – “Koukoun”
Mali 68. Fiji Mermaid – “Lipsticked Lips of Yore” …transfixed by the lipsticked lips of yore…
For J. 69. Arik Einstein – “Beit Ha’arava”
Israel: the mystery man uncovered 70. Y La Bamba – “Orca”
Portland, Oregon 71. Jacky – “Dog and Pony Show”
For Martina; hoping she is not in a new dog-and-pony show 72. Eleftheria Arvanitaki – “Ta Schoinia”
Greece 73. Keren Ann – “My Name is Trouble”…My game is endless I tend to obsess/No game is up to my need to possess…
Worldly: Paris/New York/Tel Aviv 74. Echo & the Bunnymen – “Seven Seas”
Always loving the way “tor-TOYZ” gets pronounced; pretty sure this song will remind me of Halt & Catch Fire and Gordon Clark for the rest of my life 75. Death and Vanilla – “Moogskogen”
It will not surprise you that this is Swedish/from Malmö 76. Tropic of Cancer – “Distorted Horizon” 77. Maysa – “Vai Via Malinconia”
Brasil 78. Eivør – “Silvitni”…og eg gloymi mína óró/minnist aftur mína eydnu…
It won’t be often you’ll get something Faroese 79. Goat – “Talk to God”
A strange one from Sweden 80. Insecure Man – “Subaru Nights” 81. Mehrpouya – “Soul Raga”
Persian pop time 82. Part Time – “Honey Lips” 83. Googoosh – “Talagh”
Quite the mix: Iran-Azerbaijan 84. Robyn Hitchcock – “I Want to Tell You About What I Want”…I want a non-invasive kind of telepathy…
“You think I’m un-generous? Really? In what way?/The more you give someone the more they want from you”. “We’re replacing ourselves with artificial thought/And that could be our legacy/Before the feline dynasty/Scampers over history”
“Eight billion zeroes is still zero/If you got no heart” 85. Marching Church – “King of Song”
Denmark. Somehow this song also seems ideal for driving 86. Kleenex/LiLiPUT – “Die Matrosen”
Switzerland all-girl band, late 70s/early 80s; sadly the guitarist died last year 87. Jim James – “Same Old Lie”
Seems to be a social protest song of sorts; good timing 88. Reigning Sound – “Never Coming Home”…Upon each broken part of my heart/is the wear and tear of many years…
The American South. This sounds like something from many decades ago, maybe not only because of the sound but because of the reference to a “long-distance call”, which used to be such a big deal 89. Eleftheria Arvanitaki – “Fysa Psychi Mou”
One of those random discoveries in college 90. Holy Shit, Ariel Pink – “Written All Over Your Face”…Truth, it never really came between us…
“Keep every little scrap of paper/You never know what you’re gonna need/Your memories are sad distractions/Get so bright you can’t even see” 91. Talking Heads – “Psycho Killer”…Don’t touch me I’m a real live wire… 92. Jack Cooper – “North of Anywhere”…Too scared to say the wrong thing… 93. Takako Minekawa – “Fantastic Cat”
The Japanese and their cat love. I don’t trust anyone who doesn’t like cats 94. Rotary Connection, Minnie Riperton – “I Am the Black Gold of the Sun” 95. Natalia Lafourcade, Los Macorinos – “Mexicana Hermosa”
For Martina 96. Robyn Hitchcock – “Light Blue Afternoon”…and there’s no derailing destiny/she’s a single-minded girl…
“If you were not so aggressive/I’d feel pity in my heart/but your rage is so possessive/I just don’t know where to start” 97. Martina Topley-Bird – “Valentine”…they release you then you turn to see/Make it feel all right/The only thing is that I didn’t…
Somehow always makes me think of dear Jane. “I feel around and still you’re here” 98. St. Vincent – “Slow Disco”
Perfection: “Am I thinking what everybody’s thinkin’?/I’m so glad I came, but I can’t wait to leave” 99. Jean-Louis Murat, Morgane Imbeaud – “Héautontimorouménos”*
“Pour abreuver mon Saharah/Jaillir les eaux de la souffrance/Mon désir gonflé d’espérance/Sur tes pleurs salés nagera” 100. Broadcast – “Echo’s Answer…the message sent was of discontent/from incline to incline…
