FriPod: Princes

(No princesses in my iTunes, I’m afraid...)

1. Prince of Darkness, Indigo Girls, Indigo Girls
2. Rebel Prince, Rugus Wainwright, Poses
3. Prince Nez, Squirrel Nut Zipper, Hot
4. To arms, to arms, Heroic Prince, by Henry Purcell, performed by Syvlia McNair & The Academy of Ancient Music
5. A Very Nice Prince; First Midnight, from Sondheims’ Into the Woods, original cast recording

One artist: Prince, 3121 (I only have one album? This is a problem…)

FriPod: Baby

This one is for my friend KG in Seattle, who last night at this time was starting to feel that her little girl was about to make her entrance into the world! Thanks for the serendipity, Scott. **UPDATE!! Beautiful little ARG joined her mom and dad in Seattle Saturday morning! Everyone is doing beautifully, and very happy to be face to face at last. Welcome, little girl!

1. Man is the Baby, Antony & The Johnsons, I Am A Bird Now
2. Broadway Baby, Bernadette Peters, Sondheim, Etc.
3. It’s all over now, Baby Blue, Bob Dylan, The Essential Bob Dylan
4. I’ll be your baby tonight, Bob Dylan, The Essential Bob Dylan
5. Where did my baby go? John Legend, Once Again
6. My Baby, LeAnn Rimes, Blue
7. Don’t cry baby, Madeleine Peyroux, Careless Love
8. Baby be mine, Michael Jackson, Thriller
9. Sleep Baby Jane, Over the Rhine, Eve
10. Baby Brother, The White Stripes, Icky Thump
11. Baby, I love your way, Big Mountain, Reality Bites soundtrack

And two albums:
Achtung Baby, U2 (no music collection is complete without it)
My Baby Don’t Tolerate (Lyle Lovett)

FriPod: Accidently to After

1. Accidently Kelly Street, Frente, Marvin the Album
2. Acrobat, U2, Achtung Baby
3. Across the Universe, Rufus Wainwright, Poses
4. Action / Adventure, Andrew Bird, Weather Systems
5. Ada, The National, Boxer
6. Adé, David Byrne, The Catherine Wheel
7. Adventures in Solitude, The New Pornographers, Challengers
8. Advice for the Young at Heart, Tears for Fears, The Seeds of Love
9. After it All, Cat Power, The Greatest
10. After the Bombs, The Decemberists, The Crane Wife

The Girl from Ipanema

Borrowed from Little Ms. Bossy, a meme instead of the FriPod playlist. This was a lot of fun, especially adding LMB’s bit of finding a lyric that matched up with the question. Made some of the answers a bit more interesting. Or bizarre…

MEME Rules:

1. Put your iTunes/ music player on Shuffle
2. For each question, press the next button to get your answer.
3. YOU MUST WRITE THAT SONG NAME DOWN NO MATTER WHAT

1. If someone says ‘Is this OK?’ you say?
Round the Bed, Beck:
We dont have to worry
Life goes where it does

2. What would best describe your personality?
Made to Last, Semisonic:
Secret, sweet, and sublime

3. What do you like in a guy?
The End of the Summer, Dar Williams:
We have to get a move on.
Its just that time of year when we push ourselves ahead,
We push ourselves ahead.

4. How do you feel today?
Sleeping in, The Postal Service:
Dont wake me i plan on sleeping in…

5. What is your life’s purpose?
Care for a choro? Sasha (Russian flamenco quitarist I met in Atlanta):
Hmm. No words on this one… I could probably dance to this song though, so my purpose is to dance? Sure, I can live with that.

6. What is your motto?
Luna from Golijov’s Ayre:
Another one with no words. Think that’s a hint?

7. What do your friends think of you?
S’il est un charmant gazon (Liszt), Barbara Bonney & Antonio Pappano:
Read the translation here. I would be beyond happy if my friends said those words to me.

8. What do you think of your parents?
Cigarettes and Chocolate Milk, Rufus Wainwright:
And then there’s those other things
Which for several reasons we wont mention
Everything about ‘em is a little bit stranger…

Umm… pass? This one doesn’t fit...

9. What do you think about very often?
Empty Hearts, Alison Krauss:
Tell me what an empty heart must feel.

10. What does 2+2=
Mojo Pin, Jeff Buckley:
Well it's you I've waited my life to see
It's you I've searched so hard for...

11. What do you think of your best friend?
Pride (In the Name of Love), U2:
(nobody like you...)

12. What do you think of the person you like?
Can we go higher? Nenad Bach:
Higher?
(We can smile at the future)

13. What is your life story?
A mistake, Fiona Apple:
I’m gonna make a mistake-
I’m gonna do it on purpose…

14. What do you want to be when you grow up?
And Hiding Away, The Innocent Mission

Try, catch the thoughts that flap and fly
in the cloudy, tearing sky,
that touch and stir and won't be tied-
and try to speak them.

15. What do you think when you see the person you like?
Completely Pleased, Semisonic:
I want to see you smiling
(It gets a little PG-13-rated after that…)

16. What do your parents think of you?
Either Way, Wilco:
Either you will or you won't
Maybe you just need some time alone
I will try to understand.

17. What will you dance to at your wedding?
Somebody More Like You, Nickel Creek:
hahaha – This is NOT a good first dance song for a wedding!

18. What will they play at your funeral?
Schneckenlied (L. Alexander-Katz), Suzanne Mentzer & Craig Rutenberg:
Snail, snail! Love-Slug,
Into your parlour crawl snug…
Weird.

19. What is your hobby/interest?
Heart in a Cage, The Strokes:
And we gotta laugh, laugh, laugh, laugh, laugh, laugh, laugh

20. What is your biggest secret?
Ricochet in Time, Shawn Colvin:
I crawled up from the sewer
For something that was truer than I intended.
I ended up on my knees in this big city.
I was befriended, I transcended.

21. What do you think of your friends?
Beautiful, Christina Aguilera:
You are beautiful in every single way.

22. What should you post this as?
The Girl From Ipanema, João Gilberto & Stan Getz

FriPod: Halloween Plus

Another alteration on the original: since I’m late on this FriPod (as usual), I’m adding Saints and Souls for the days after Halloween.

1. Ghost in this House, Alison Krauss, Forget About It
2. Ghost Train, Counting Crows, August & Everything After
3. Ghost Writing, Neko Case, Blacklisted
4. They Are Night Zombies!! They Are Neighbors!! They Have Come Back From the Dead!! Ahhh!, Sufjan (duh), blah blah blah Illinoise
5. Hunting for Witches, Bloc Party, A Weekend in the City
6. This Devil’s Workday, Modest Mouse, Good News For People Who…

7. Old Soul Song (For the New World Order), Bright Eyes, I’m Wide Awake It’s Morning
8. Soul Meets Body, Death Cab for Cutie, Plans
9. Life & Soul, The Sundays, Blind
10. At Saint Patrick’s Purgatory, Leontyne Price with Samuel Barber, from Hermit Songs
11. Saint Simon, The Shins, Chutes Too Narrow
12. Saint Augustine in Hell, Sting, Ten Summoner’s Tales
13. Sleeping Bear, Sault Saint Marie, Sujan Stevens, blah blah blah Michigan

And two artists:
Ghostland Observatory
Galactic & Juvenile & Soul Rebels Brass Band

FriPod: Sleep

I’m altering Scott's FriPod list a bit this week, to reflect my totally sleepy state of being on this rainy weekend. A reminder: these lists are pulled from my iTunes library; if you think I should have something else on my list, feel free to send it to me! The email on my profile page is the one I use to buy my iTunes songs, so… gift away! 

1. Who Needs Sleep?, Barenaked Ladies, Stunt
2. Trouble Sleeping, Corinne Baily Rae, Corinne Baily Rae
3. She Only Sleeps, David Byrne, Grown Backwards
4. Do you Sleep?, Lisa Loeb & Nine Stories, Tails
5. Sleep Baby Jane, Over the Rhine, Eve
6. The District Sleeps Alone Tonight, The Postal Service, Give Up
7. Sleeping In, The Postal Service, Give Up
8. The Sidewinder Sleeps Tonite, R.E.M., Automatic for the People
9. Singing in my Sleep, Semisonic, Feeling Strangely Fine
10. Sleeping Lessons, The Shins, Wincing the Night Away
11. Sleep Tonight, Stars, Set Yourself on Fire
12. Fear of Sleep, The Strokes, First Impressions of Earth
13. Sleeping Bear, Sault Saint Marie, Sufjan Stevans, Greetings from Michigan

And an album:
Sleepless in Seattle soundtrack, Various Artists

FriPod bonus edition: For the Birds

I’ll accept Patty’s challenge for the playlist, although I really have no classical music to add to Scott’s great list. Unless, of course, you consider anything sung by me to be applicable!

I’ll represent the Eclectic Pop study group. We can compare our results against the Classical group and the Control group see who the happier birds are.

1. Bird on the Wire, Leonard Cohen, The Best of LC
2. Birds, Over the Rhine, Eve
3. Bye bye blackbird, Joe Cocker, Sleepless in Seattle soundtrack
4. Songbird, Eva Cassidy, Songbird
5. Caged Bird, Alicia Keys, Songs in A Minor
* 6. Bird Gerhl, Antony & The Johnsons, I Am A Bird Now
* 7. Birdless, The Innocence Mission, Birds of My Neighborhood
*^ 8. The Bird, Charlie Parker, Bird: The Original Recordings of Charlie Parker
*^ 9. Between Roof & Bird, Henry Sparrow. This is a friend of a friend, so I don't know the album, or if there is one, but I love this song. (He does appear to have an album that fits the theme, though: Bird Songs. Check it out.)

Artists: The Dixie Chicks
Andrew Bird (particularly his album: The Mysterious Production of Eggs in the Night Time. Seriously, what more could those biddies want?!)

* Also eligible under the “Album” category.
^ Also eligible under the “Artist” category.

FriPod: The States

1. California, Joni Mitchell, Blue
2. California, Rufus Wainwright, Poses
3. California, Semisonic, Feeling Strangely Fine
4. Carolina; Ben Gibbard; Home, Vol. 5
5. Caroline, Billy Pilgrim, Bloom
6. Midnight Train to Georgia, Gladys Knight & the Pips, ??
7. Going Back to Georgia, Nancy Griffith, Flyer
8. Sodom, South Georgia; Iron & Wine; Our Endless Numbered Days
9. Louisiana, written by Randy Newman, performed by Seattle Black Box cabaret
10. Sweet Louisiana Sound, Billy Pilgrim, Bloom
11. I happen to like New York; Bing Crosby, maybe?
12. The Boy from New York City, The Ad Libs, Wonder Women: The History of the Girl Group Sound
13. New York State of Mind, Billy Joel, Essential Billy Joel
14. North Dakota, Lyle Lovett, Joshua Judges Ruth
15. Why did I ever leave Ohio?, Wonderful Town cast recording
16. Deadwood, South Dakota; Nancy Griffith; One Fair Summer Evening
17. Tennessee, Shawn Colvin, Fat City
18. That’s Right, You’re Not From Texas, Lyle Lovett, Road to Ensenada

And two albums, by Sufjan, of course:
Come On Feel the Illinoise!
Greetings From Michigan: The Great Lakes State

Honorable Mention Album:
Californication, Red Hot Chili Peppers

FriPod: Every

1. Every day a little death, Sondheim’s A Little Night Music, original cast recording
2. Time Heals Everything, Bernadette Peters, Sondheim, Etc.
3. Everything, Ben Harper, Diamonds on the Inside
4. Everything is Broken, Bob Dylan, The Essential Bob Dylan
5. At the Bottom of Everything, Bright Eyes, I’m Wide Awake It’s Morning
6. Sunshine and Clouds (And Everything Proud), Clap Your Hands Say Yeah, CYHSY
7. Everything’s Different Now, The Innocence Mission, Glow
8. Every Hour Here, The Innocence Mission, Umbrella
9. Every Ghetto Every City, Lauryn Hill, The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill
10. Everything is Everything, Lauryn Hill, The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill
11. Every valley shall be exalted, Handel’s Messiah, Martin Pearlman conducting Boston Baroque, Bruce Fowler, tenor
12. Everywhere, Pink Martini, Hey Eugene!
13. Everybody Hurts, R.E.M., Automatic for the People

And four albums:
Everything All the Time, Band of Horses
August & Everything After, Counting Crows
Everybody Else Is Doing It, So Why Can’t We, The Cranberries
I Love Everybody, Lyle Lovett

FriPod: (Another 100) People

This one is in honor of AC Douglas (with tongue firmly in cheek) and Scott, the FriPod originator, who is taking some time off. I tried to do a NYC theme in honor of the upcoming recital, but only had two tracks, and that’s no fun. So, instead, one for the ”Great Unwashed iPod People”.

1. Freedom for my people, U2, Rattle and Hum
2. Papa Dukie and the Mud People, The Subdudes, Behind the Levee
3. Comfort ye, my people; Messiah, Handel, Martin Pearlman leading Boston Baroque
4. The people that walked in darkness, Messiah, Handel, Martin Pearlman leading Boston Baroque
5. Some People, Bernadette Peters, Sondheim, Etc.
6. Too many people, Billy Pilgrim, Billy Pilgrim
7. People get ready, Eva Cassidy, Songbird

And two albums:
Good News for People Who Like Bad News, Modest Mouse
Automatic for the People, R.E.M.

FriPod: Mind, Thought, Hear

(I’ve made up Scott’s FriPod lists for the past few weeks but have never gotten around to posting them. Today’s seems fitting somehow, I can’t really say why. I keep these on my iPod as playlists; it’s fun to see your music thrown together in different ways. Enjoy! Oh, and I’ve replaced “Thought” with “Think,” ‘cuz I didn’t have any songs with “thought” in the title…)

1. “It’s all in your mind,” Beck, Sea Change
2. “New York State of Mind,” Billy Joel, The Essential Billy Joel
3. “Speak our minds,” The Innocence Mission, Glow
4. “She’s already made up her mind,” Lyle Lovett, Joshua Judges Ruth
5. “In my own mind,” Lyle Lovett, My Baby Don’t Tolerate
6. “It never entered my mind,” Rodgers & Hart, performed by Miles Davis
7. “Never mind,” Nancy Griffith, Little Love Affairs
8. “How does it feel? (to be on my mind),” Over the Rhine, Patience (I.R.S.)
9. “Always on my mind,” Pet Shop Boys, Discography
10. “Never you mind,” Semisonic, Feeling Strangely Fine
11. “Don’t think twice, it’s alright,” Joan Baez, Ring Them Bells
12. “Don’t you think,” Natalie Imbruglia, Left of the Middle
13. “What do you think?” The Sundays, Blind
14. “Hear me Lord,” Bonnie Raitt, The Best of Bonnie Raitt
15. “What do you hear in these sounds,” Dar Williams, End of Summer
16. “I hear you say so,” Innocence Mission, Glow
17. “Let’s hear that string part again, ‘cuz I don’t think they heard it all the way out in Bushnell,” Who Else but Sufjan Stevens, Come On, Feel the Illinoise!

(I seem to have a lot of “Best of” albums...)

FriPod: Mother’s Day Edition

(aka “Better late than never!”)

It’s been a few weeks since I actually had anything in my iTunes library to contribute to FriPod, so I was happy that this week’s topic turned up so much. Even a few “classical” pieces, for once!

1. Mamma Mia, ABBA, Gold
2. Does your Mother Know, ABBA, Voulez-vous
3. Mama Says, Billy Pilgrim, Billy Pilgrim
4. Goodnight to a Mother’s Dream, Nanci Griffith, Flyer
5. Decatur, or, Round of Applause For Your Stepmother!, Sufjan Stevans (who else would have a title like that?!), Come On Feel the Illinoise!
6. Mother, Tori Amos, Little Earthquakes
7. Mothers of the Disappeared, U2, Joshua Tree
8. Senza Mamma, O Bimbo, Tu Sei Morto; from Suor Angelica by Puccini, performed by Victoria de Los Angeles
9-12: Selections from Amahl and the Night Visitors, original cast recording of the NBC Television production:
Oh, Mother, you should go out and see!
Don’t cry, Mother dear
Amahl… Yes, Mother?
I walk, Mother

The first and last two groups of songs (ABBA and Amahl) were regularly on the Bird Family Playlist when I was growing up (I think I knew all the words to the Voulez-vous album by the time I was 10), so there is something fitting about this list!

I love you, Mom! Thanks for helping me love all music!

FriPod on Tuesday: Random 10

This week’s look at the music library, via Musical Perceptions: the first ten listings on the Party Shuffle, pulling from the main library.

1. “Flamenco Sketches,” Miles Davis, Kind of Blue - 1997
2. “One of Us,” ABBA, Gold - 1995
3. “Should,” Over the Rhine, Eve – 1994-96
4. “You Remind Me of Home,” Ben Gibbard, Home, Vol. 5 - 2007
5. “Long Line of Pain,” Amos Lee, Supply and Demand - 2006
6. “Poison,” David Byrne, The Catherine Wheel - 1996
7. “Radio War,” Iron & Wine, Our Endless Numbered Days - 2005
8. “Hey, That’s No Way to Say Goodbye,” Leonard Cohen, The Best Of - 1998
9. “Miss Sarajevo,” Luciano Pavarotti, Bono, Pavorotti & Friends Together for the Children of Bosnia - 1996
10. “Bullet Proof…I Wish I Was,” Radiohead, The Bends - 2005

iTunes has gotten me back in touch with so many cds that I hadn’t looked at in years! To have something like “Miss Sarajevo” - which I haven’t listened to since, oh, 1996 - come up in my shuffle is like a little present! A litte trip back in time to when the song or cd was in constant rotation on my boom box… To that end, I’ve added a year to most of the above songs, indicating when it fit into the soundtrack of my life.

I’m off to the café to finally write about my weekend! I imagine I’ll write out EVERYthing, then edit it a bit before posting here. ‘Cuz there’s a lot… I don’t feel like my head stopped spinning until yesterday…

FriPod: a few days late

I’ve been loving Scott Spiegelberg’s weekly “FriPod” posts, in which he comes up with a theme of sorts and then makes a playlist from his iTunes library. I asked if I could appropriate the idea as a meme of sorts, and he agreed, so here is my first “FriPod!” Whether or not I include commentary will depend on how much time I have, which tonight is not much…

This week’s theme was “The Four Emotions.” (A play upon “The Four Seasons,” perhaps? Since there are obviously more than four…) Here are mine:

1. “The Happy Birthday Song,” Andrew Bird, The Mysterious Production of Eggs
2. “She’s only happy in the sun,” Ben Harper, Diamonds on the Inside
3. “Happy, The End,” The Innocence Mission, Glow
4. “Make Someone Happy,” Comden and Green, performed by Jimmy Durante on the Sleepless in Seattle soundtrack
5. “Happy With Myself?” Over the Rhine, Eve
6. “Happy Phantom,” Tori Amos, Little Earthquakes
7. “Why do I Feel So Sad,” Alicia Keys, Songs in A Minor
8. “Sad Songs and Waltzes,” Cake, Fashion Nugget
9. “My Lonely Sad Eyes,” Maria McKee, You Gotta Sin to Get Saved
10. “Love and Anger,” Kate Bush, The Sensual World
11. “Atoms for Peace,” Thom Yorke, Eraser
12. “Love and Peace or Else,” U2, How to Dismantle an Atomic Bomb
13. “All Good Naysayers, Speak Up or Forever Hold Your Peace,” Sufjan Stevens (who else would have a title that long?!), Greetings From Michigan: The Great Lakes State
14. “Oh, Lead Me to some Peaceful Gloom,” from Purcell’s Bonduca, sung by Sylvia McNair on The Echoing Air

I’m happy to have more “happy” songs than “sad,” and I had to search for that “anger” song. SS used “angry,” and I didn’t have any songs with that word in the title. One classical selection, one jazz standard, and lots of indie rock. Seems about right… I wonder if I searched for these words in Italian, German, or French, what I’d come up with? Maybe tomorrow…

(Upon further consideration, I’m afraid this exercise might, over time, display how woefully under stocked my music library is! Maybe some new purchases will be in order, as holes are made obvious…)