Random dumb thoughts

This page is to put those little weirdnesses of life that don't really fit anywhere else, or aren't worth a page of their own

Saturday, May 12, 2007

Lily's Virtual CD Mix Challenge #4

As most of you have realized by now, I didn't participate in this particular go around of the CD Mix Challenge -- various things going on and I didn't have the mental and physical energy to do it. A recent offshoot of the lack of energy is a reversion to musical tastes of yore, in particular Elvis Costello's early years. As I was perusing the topics, I kept throwing in Elvis titles and not thinking of much else.

Now, in the past, I tried very hard to avoid using songs by three artists -- Squeeze, Elvis Costello and Elton John -- because a) I do agree on the need to be eclectic and b) I figured most of the participants had just about everything by at least two of the three. However, I said "hmm, what if I just restricted myself to my usual no-no list?" and then looking through the titles realized that Elvis alone fit the bill.

So here in all it's glory is my virtual CD Mix Challenge #4 -- The All Elvis Edition! If anyone actually wants a physical copy of the list, let me know and I'll wing it your way. But again, I suspect my readership has 95 percent of the titles.

1. Song with a day of the week in the title. I'll go with "Wednesday Week" to follow the category to the letter, even though the one that snapped into my mind was "Seven Day Weekend". That's okay, though, as you'll see that again.

2. A song you disliked as a youngster that you like now. This is hard, because there's very little I didn't like, and of those I did, almost none grew on me that much. I'm going to go with "Alison", which I really loathed back then and have an appreciation for now, although I still won't put it in my top 20 (okay, 50) Elvis tunes.

3. Sellout - song from a TV commercial. This was a really hard category until Mr. C just this past week or two decided to plop himself into a Lexus and shill that, on the heels of doing a CD mix for Starbucks. Now, I can't quite place it, and it may have been in Britain, but I KNOW that I've heard the tones of "Watching the Detective" coming from the TV on multiple occasions. I will admit that a news program may have used it as the cover tunes for one of their repeating faux-news segments. If that doesn't work, then Elton or Squeeze could more than admirably fit the bill, and I'll call "Tempted" in the BK ads or anywhere else.

4. Kickass cover song. Wow. This one is the hardest choice -- thanks Kojak Variety and Blood and Chocolate disk two. I'm leaving some of my absolute favorites off here because I suspect I'll want to use them in a real mix sometime. So it's "Everybody's Crying Mercy".

5. Musical question... "Why Can't A Man Stand Alone?"

6. And answer! "The Fairy and the Ass" (from Il Sogno) -- boy, there's a story in there somewhere.

7. Third person song "Let Him Dangle"

8. Uplugged - a favorite acoustic song. This is a little hard -- much of King of America sounds unplugged to me, although I'm sure they miked it up for recording. But since the Futurama sessions were definitely electric, I'll go with "Little Palaces' or wait for Mike the Blogless to send me some live cuts from somewhere.

9. A song about food. "Fish and Chip Paper"

10. Trains, Planes and Automobiles: song about a mode of transport "The People's Limousine"

11. A song that cheers you up. "Just About Glad" -- it's got a chipper beat and a happy title, but there's just an undercurrent of anger (well, it is Elvis) that puts it over the top in this category for me.

12. Media - songs about radio, TV or other type of media "Radio Sweetheart"

13. Add it up: "13 Steps Lead Down" +

14. “Seven Day Weekend" =

15. "20% Amnesia". It even kind of works thematically. Those basement clubs can be deadly!

16. Banned! A song that is, or was in its day, controversial.
"Radio, Radio" -- song that got the man in trouble on Saturday Night Line. The song itself wasn't banned, but the Elv was from SNL for going off script into something 'da dangerous'.

17. A song about a family member "Big Sister" -- the rocking extra track, not the slower "Big Sister's Clothes".

18. A favorite song that you have discovered since our last CD mix.
"Twentyfive to Twelve" -- Just been playing it over and over, but it was one of those extra songs on a Ryko/Demon/Remaster disc that I had never bothered to listen to much all of the way through. It's also good that Elvis is quite good about having songs with numbers in the title so I didn't have to use this in the math section.

19. A song that reminds you of an old friend. "I Want You". Yeah, I know, and we've all got the same reason, I suppose. And this one I reserve the right to use again.

20. Amnesty song For this I'll take an "Alibi" . I didn't have an appreciation for this song until I heard him do it live, and also since this is a virtual mix, the fact that it's almost seven minutes long doesn't play into it.

.: posted by Lily Saturday, May 12, 2007

Comments by: YACCS