Street Songs
We’ve spent all this time building up our digital music libraries, so why not tinker around with them a bit and have some fun? Last week I explored tunes that clocked in at 2:28. This week, I take it to the streets.
The exercise this week is to locate your street songs. I’m not talkin’ lanes, avenues, roads, courts, and the like. Nuh-uh. I’m talkin’ Streets.
What’s more, I’m looking for songs that are simply names of Streets. “Oak Street”, “Main Street”, “This Street”, “That Street”. So that leaves out a lot of quality tunes obviously (“Positively 4th Street”, “Incident on 57th Street”, to name a couple). I’m interested to see what other “Street” gems are out there. So use the Search area of your favorite media player, look for some “___ Street” songs, and drop some into the comments.
Me? I came up with 17 streets. Here are four of my tops…
- Christian St. – Marah | An ode to their hometown of Philadelphia, this is on Marah’s 2nd album, Kids in Philly. It’s my favorite Marah album – just bristling with life. I spent the better part of the year 2000 with this record.
- Straylin Street – Pete Droge | From Pete’s ’94 album, Necktie Second.
- Great Jones Street – Luna | Never owned any other Luna albums other than Bewitched, but this song is a soft stunner. They had me at Great.
- Cherry Street – JJ Cale | From JJ’s latest, Roll On (a concept album about deodorant. Just kidding.).
The Others…
Alphabet Street – Prince
Boogie Street – Leonard Cohen
Dominick St. – Steve Earle
Grafton Street – Nancy Griffith
Grey Street – Dave Matthews Band
Highway One Zero Street – Joe Strummer
Lonely Street – Bap Kennedy
Love Street – World Party
Meadowlake Street – Ryan Adams
Rain Street – The Pogues
Shakedown Street – Grateful Dead
Shouting Street – Joe Strummer
South Street – The OrlonsNew Pete Droge: The Droge & Summers Blend
Pete Droge just added Volume One, a new EP by The Droge & Summers Blend, to his Puzzle Tree Online Store today. The EP is made up of 5 tracks, and you – the picky music consumer – have the option of paying what you want, a la Radiohead’s In Rainbows. I just picked up the digital download for the default price of $2.99, and they are well worth it. Head over to Pete’s store to listen to the tracks and download if you fancy. The EP is officially released later this month.
The Summers in The Droge & Summers Blend refers to Elaine Summers, a Seattle area musician and artist who shares the vocals with Pete. They recorded the songs on nearby Vashon Island.
I’ve been a fan of Pete’s since his debut, the Brendan O’Brien-produced Necktie Second, back in 1994. There’s just something about his vibe – relaxed, genuine, gentle – that has always sat quite well with me.
Here’s one of the tracks – a happy-go-lucky, summery kind of tune…
Listen: The Droge & Summers Blend – Tie the Knot (mp3)
Name Your Price at Pete’s Puzzle Tree Store.
Pete Droge’s Psychedelic Love Song
A killer love song from an underrated artist. I love the psychedelic effects, the instrumentation, the lyrics. This one just floats.
Pete Droge – Do Be True
Buy Skywatching (2003)
Visit Pete’s Official Site
Pete Droge, Part 2
I like it when this happens. You know when you hear a great song for the first time, a tune that just connects with you? Where you have the innate ability to know that you’ll be listening to the song 5-10-15 years down the road? And for me, in this digital world, the kind of song that goes straight to the CD burner so you can carry it around with you, listen in the car, etc?
I found that song of the moment yesterday. “Things Will Change and Go My Way”. Pete Droge. Song 6 on 2003’s Skywatching. Great tune, and a great album, and I can tell you this after owning the album for just over 24 hours.
I’ll be reviewing Pete’s new album, Under the Waves, very soon. For now, travel back 3 years in time and put your ears to this gem.
Pete Droge: Things Will Change and Go My Way (mp3) – buy Skywatching on eMusic, the United Musicians store, or from his web site.
In Appreciation of Pete Droge’s ‘Necktie Second’
Thanks in part to a friendship with Mike McReady of Pearl Jam, Pete Droge secured a contract with American Records in the early 90’s, and released a fantastic album called ‘Necktie Second’ in 1994. The single that really caught my attention back then was “Sunspot Stopwatch”. With clever lyrics, and obviously influenced by Bob Dylan and Tom Petty, the tune sucked me in to Mr. Droge’s world, and led me to the debut album, which is great from start to finish.
The song that made the biggest impact, “If You Don’t Love Me (I’ll Kill Myself)”, was featured on the soundtrack to Dumb and Dumber. It’s pretty much the most electric and uptempo song of the album. But it’s the more relaxed, acoustically oriented tracks that are my favorites: “Faith in You,” “Straylin Street,” “Fourth of July” and “Hardest Thing to Do.”
The album is produced by Pearl Jam buddy and producer extraordinaire Brendan O’Brien, who also produced Springsteen’s ‘The Rising’ (always a Boss connection!), as well as Soundgarden, Neil Young and Stone Temple Pilots.
Droge just released his fifth album, Under the Waves, last Tuesday. You can hear the album streaming on his web site or his Myspace page. I just picked up his fourth album, Skywatching, on eMusic, and am listening to it right now, and digging it immensely.
So take a listen to this great tune from Droge’s debut, and show the fella some love by checking out his links below.
Pete Droge: Sunspot Stopwatch – from Necktie Second.
Pete Droge Links: Official Site | His Substack (2024 update!)
Search
