Friday Five

The Friday Five: January 23, 2009

They call me Mister Shuffle!

If you’ve been working for the weekend, well you are in luck because it’s just about that time. That’s right, it’s Friday and it’s time to kick back hit the shuffle button and let the music take us where it will. Today we’re firing up iTunes to battle the post-lunch dip!

For those who have not joined in the Friday Five here is all you need to know; each Friday I hit the shuffle button on my iTunes and share my five and drop a little knowledge and insight for each track. Sometimes there is a playlist involved, sometimes there isn’t. Sometimes we have guest, but most of the time it’s just me.

The rest is up to you, our friends and readers! Fire up your media player of choice and share the first five random track of your shuffle in the comments. The more the merrier!

The Five:

“For Giuseppe Franco” – Frank Zappa (from Trance-Fusion)

This is an outtake solo from “Hot Plate Heaven at The Green Hotel” recorded December 17, 1984 Paramount Theatre, Seattle, Washington. And to think, this is an outtake

“Dirty Mind” – Prince (from Dirty Mind)

Listening to this era’s records is making me antsy to hear the new record.

“Linger” – The Cranberries (from Everybody Else Is Doing It, So Why Can’t We?)

Definitely in my top 5 of 1993, there really is nothing to compare to this record.

Tomorrow, Wendy (live)” – Concrete Blonde (from Still in Hollywood)

A stark and poignant song written from the view of a woman coping with the AIDS virus and the frustrations and challenges to faith that come with it. This particular verse has always stood out as particularly powerful:

“I told the priest, don’t count on any second coming.
God got his ass kicked the first time he came down here slumming.
He had the balls to come, the gall to die and then forgive us.
No, I don’t wonder why, I wonder what he thought it would get us.”

This live version holds nothing back with Johnette Napolitano delivering every line with the utmost conviction.

Dear God” – Sarah McLachlan (from Rarities, B-Sides, & Other Stuff)

A quiet and introspective take on the XTC classic. I adore Sarah’s voice and could listen to her sing the phone book.

Okay, I’ve shown you mine, now show me yours!

5 Comments

  • KathyB

    1. “Quiet Town” by Josh Rouse from “Subtítulo” (2006).
    I love Josh Rouse. I love Josh Ritter also. I wish their last names weren’t so close together alphabetically, because their combined body of work tends to run together in my mind (and my iTunes), which is not such a great thing for two artists that I respect a lot individually and that each deserve better than to be lumped in with “that other Josh.”

    2. “Have a Little Faith in Me” by John Hiatt, from “KBCO Studio C, Vol. 11” (1999?)
    Love, love, love this song, although the studio version from “Bring the Family” is better.

    3. “For the Love of a Girl” by The Young Fresh Fellows from “Because We Hate You” (2001)

    4. “Bar Woman Blues” by The Watson Twins from “Fire Songs” (2008)
    How come this album didn’t seem to make it onto any year-end lists last year? It’s fantastic.

    5. “Conjunction Junction” from “Schoolhouse Rock.”
    No, I did not make this one up. 🙂

  • whiteray

    Well, it’s still Friday . . .

    1. “Ride Captain Ride” by Jeff Arundel from “Compass,” 1993. Arundel is a Minnesota-born singer-songwriter, and for some reason he thought it was a good reasont to remake the Blues Image song from the early 1970s. Not bad but not super, either.

    2. “Carry On” by Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young from “Déjà Vu,” 1970. The opening track to an album that’s still one of my favorites . . . and one of the Top 20 of all time or so.

    3. “You’ll Be Sorry” by Big Maybelle Smith from an unreleased session for the OKeh label, 1954. Big Maybelle was a force of nature, usually rocking it out in the fashion of Big Mama Thornton. On this one, she slides into a ballad that has just a little bite. Nice stuff.

    4. “What You Left My Memory” by Barbara Fairchild from “Mississippi,” 1977. A nice country ballad that sounds a little bit like Dolly Parton in some places.

    5. “I’ll Be Seeing You” by Tommy Dorsey with Frank Sinatra on vocals, Victor 26539, 1940. Boy, we’re heading back! But this is a great song and a great record. Lots of folks ended up singing this to each other during World War II . . . and some of them even saw each other again.

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