(should be 500 songs, part uno)
Spurred by a post with the same title, I was wondering about writing about 500 songs, and if I could really do five hundred. That’s a lot. One of my iPods has something like 4 days of music collected on it, so maybe that wouldn’t be too much of a challenge. But still. With annotations?
1. God’s Own Drunk (Jimmy Buffet) and if you don’t get it? Then you don’t.
2. “On the Muscle of my arm, there’s a red and blue tattoo, says, ‘Ft. Worth I love you’.” (Michael Murphy) Before he was Michael Martin Murphy and moved to Sante Fe, and receded into being just a singing cowboy, he was all about the alleys of Austin. Back in the day, one of the original cosmic cowboys.
3. Bad Company (Bad Company) Addendum to a summer of love?
4. Southwestern Pilgrimage (Michael Murphy) is wheel stopped in Snata Fe. Or Taos. Not a bad, gig, either way.
5. Uneasy Rider (CDB) If you don’t understand the acronym, CDB, then the allusion is lost on you, and, for that matter, you’re a poorer person, less of human, if you don’t get it. CDB=Charlie Daniels Band. While there’s a canon of work associated with CDB, and in recent years, he’s turned to Jesus, hey, that’s fine. But “Uneasy Rider” was an anthem, at one time. Still is, if you ever listen to a mix-CD from me. Wasn’t so very long ago, we were walking into a diner in a little town, and my buddy was softly singing, “He may look dumb, but that’s just a disguise…”
6. Natchez Trace (Michael Murphy)
7. Up Against the Wall Redneck Mother (Jerry jeff Walker) I can skip Mr. Bojangles, and enjoy the bulk of his work, especially the early work. Redneck Mother is one I’d have to pick. Sorry anthem, but there is, in all its glory.
8. Green Grass and High Tides (The Outlaws) guitar solos that used to mean something.
9. Free Bird (Skynyrd) As if this needed any kind of an explanation, c’mon, it’s still a guilty pleasure.
10. Race with the Devil on a Spanish Highway (Al Dimeola) Speed jazz.
11. Smoke on the Water (Deep Purple) youthful indiscretion, and guilty pleasure, to this day.
12. Stay (Jackson Brown). While “Running on Empty,” was the big one, “Stay” later become an internal lyric, once I hit the road. For real.
13. Space Trucking (Deep Purple) that whole album, and it was an album - vinyl first - was a masterpiece. Several memorable cuts, many memories in fog some place, too. Should be a “must” on any modern music list.
14. Busy Child (The Crystal Method) - this one deserves an annotation. I was in Seattle, visiting for opera, and I hopped in a car with an Aquarius friend. “Vegas” was in the CD player. I asked, hooked on an aural kick. Took a while, but I found the CD, and that led me into the world of - whatever it’s called - brand of music.
15. Two Rolling Stoned (Robin Trower) and
16. Bridge of Sighs (Robin Trower), which I guess, is more a period piece.
17. Rocky Mountain Way (Joe Walsh) Hey, saw him do it on the Europe Eagles tour. Got the T-shirt.
18. Radar Love (Golden Earring)
19. A boy named Sue (Johnny Cash)
20. Desperado (Jerry Jeff)
21. Hotel California (The Eagles) - Look, it meant something, at one time. Get over it. A certain lyric rang true.
22. The Boys of Summer (The Atari’s) Back to back with the Eagles, this one has more staying power and it’s a stronger version. It’s a cover wherein the cover builds on the strength of the pop original and the cover doubles the ironic content.
23. Mexican Radio (Wall of VooDoo) South Texas.
24. Low Rider (War)
25. Northeast Texas Women (Willis Alan Ramsey) Mr. Muskrat Love? This is a better song, thank the odd gods.
26. Close to the Edge (Yes) and at 18 minutes, won’t be seeing a lot of airplay. Still classic, still evocative. Prog rock?
27. Sunday Bloody Sunday (U2)
28. “White Freightliner Blues” (Townes Van Zandt) First heard a couple of buddies cover this song, then I eventually chased down a recording. Great stuff. Spurred a whole photo essay that never went anywhere.
29. Big Ten Inch (Aerosmith)
30. Back in the Saddle (Aerosmtih)
31. Sweet Emotion (Aerosmtih) As if Aerosmith, bless their aging souls, needs any excuse.
32. El Paso (The Gourds)
33. “Gin and Juice” (The Gourds) I went to the first Austin City Limits musical deal, just to see this song, by this band. Doubt I’ll ever participate in ACL Fest. Nope, never again. But that song was worth it. The whole set was amazing.
34. Rank and File (Rank and File) The earlier Alejandro Escovedo, the formative cow-punk. Alt-country while most “alt-country” fans were still swimming around in their daddies’ testicles.
35. Back in the USSR (Beatles) The White Album, as whole, is seminal piece of music. But that one song, got to be one of the best.
36. California Uber Alles (Dead Kennedys)
37. Dude don’t call me dude (Scatterbrain)
38. In a Big Country (Big Country)
39. Bitchin’ Camero (Dead Milkmen)
40. Punk Rock Girl (Dead Milkmen)
41. Instant club Hit (Dead Milkmen) I’d hate to run three songs together, but the collection shows the band’s versatility. “Instant Club Hit” was a special, an exact parody of everything we all hated, “Choke in this, you Danceteria type!”
42. Spill the Wine(War) The song I got a nickname from, as a mere youth, I was dubbed a long-haired leaping gnome. No shit. Song’s been covered a couple of times, makes me wonder when it pops up in pop culture.
43. “Room to Move” (John Mayall and the Bluesbreakers) I just remember the song, can’t seem to find it, something, there’s a memory there. Must’ve been a fried brain cell. Might have the name wrong, I think it was harmonica.
44. London Homesick Blues (Jerry jeff Walker) the song is really a Gary P. Nunn song, and I saw Gary do it at the Broken Spoke here. Made a circle complete, author, artist, performer. Usually means a tube stop at Marble Arch for a picture, too. Not many people get the allusion. There will be an Art of Noise reference, later, hits the same spot.
45. Castanets (Alejandro Escovedo) lots of local radio play, when I still listened to radio, still has a good hook.
46. Long Train Running (Bananarama) cover of a Doobie’s song, and this is a recent discovery - for me - but it’s timeless because it evokes the Doobie Brothers.
47. Change (Tears for Fears) going to be a four-way on Tears since they had several that impacted my memory.
48. Shout (Tears for Fears)
49. Pale Shelter (Tears for Fears)
50. Everybody wants to rule the world (Tears for Fears) done. I hope.
51. Bonecrusher (Soul Hat) Local sound. Still a good song. Used to get airplay, every Friday at 5 PM.
52. Tainted Love (Soft Cell) and wait, there’s more, the covers.
53. Copperhead Road (Steve Earle)
54. Ridin’ the Storm Out (REO Speedwagon)
55. Sea Sick (Larry Joe Taylor) which leads to a three-way set. Very few set lists here, but these three go together, with a hat tip to Texas Radio in Corpus Christi (TX). Heard three in a row and hunted down the albums. CD format, really.
56. “Once you clear the jetty” (Larry Joe Taylor)
57. Gulf Coast Romance (Luke Olson)
58. On the Run (Pink Floyd) Yes, which one is Pink? Dark Side of the Moon is so classic, yet, I’m wondering if this is an under-appreciated cut. The effect of “The Floyd” on modern music? Can’t be underestimated.
59. Stuck in the Middle (Keith Urban) Hear that sucking noise? My street cred with alt-country just whooshed down the the drain for even mentioning this rock singer. Cowboy boots don’t make a hick, but there was something adventuresome, to me, to find this cut on a newer release. Used to say that took balls, back when we had the balls to say that something took balls. Which have been all but cut off by Political Correctness. But this is a list of songs, not diatribes about the taxonomy of music. Or how “country music” sold its soul to the devil that went down to Georgia.
60. One of these days (Pink Floyd) and that’s just to offset the urbane entry above. Meddle is a fine album, all the way through. As is the next song….
61. Inerstellar Overdrive (Pink Floyd) Relics is the album. Weird shit. I’d mention the album “Animals,” too, but there’s a hitch, no song, but the cover art is a buried memory, resurfaced as late as last June.
62. Smack my bitch up (The Prodigy) Used in a movie. As prelude to a fight scene. Between a male and female. Opening bars made me laugh. Always liked the song, anyway.
53. Uncool (The Derailers) Last album, as I knew them. Can’t say, I don’t keep up with modern times. The whole Derailer catalog is damn fine. But this one cut was rich, and I’ll do my own thing and be uncool.
64. Where Eagles Dare (The Misfits)
65. Wildwood Weeds (New Lost City Ramblers) Song’s forty years old? Wow.
66. Big Balls in Cowtown (Bob Wills) and Bob Wills should’ve showed up earlier in the listing, as his music was infused in my early childhood, not by my parents, but by my choice. I liked it. Still do. Fiddle reel alone, just makes me smile. And wasn’t it Bob Wills who introduced the pedal steel to country music, and invented Western Swing? “Big Balls in Cowtown,” classic example.
67. Stray Cat Strut (Stray Cats) Rock-a-billy revival. Rock on.
68. The Joker (Fatboy Slim) I’m rather fond of the whole album, as it’s got pop licks and few underground touches, but to pick the first song I liked to hear again and again? “The Joker.” I should give points for anyone who can find the connection.
69. Repo Man (Iggy Pop) The movie’s theme song. The perfect post-punk adolescent fantasy. The opening bars always bring a smile, brief dreams of a happy time.
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