The Not-Pop Jukebox

Once upon a time The Connells and Barenaked Ladies were two of my favorite bands. As one has fallen into obscurity and the other into the popularity trap they've also fallen of the "must hunt new albums at once" list.

That does not, however, mean that I stop listening to older songs that I love. And of course I find parallels in the strangest places. Take, for instance, The Joke and Humor of the Situation. The first was released on "One Simple Word" in 1990, the year I actually saw The Connells perform live. The second song came along ten years later on "Maroon". But the moment I heard the latter I knew it was born to follow the former.

Today I bring you both songs and ask what you think. Related or not?

Last year Eilen Jewell put out a record titled "Queen of the Minor Key" that was an instant hit with me. Aurally it tastes like a combination of James Hunter and The Notting Hillbillies (whom, I now realize, I've never posted): humor and soul and a little savor of country beneath.

Upon hearing Bang, Bang, Bang, I immediately had to search for more. The idea of psychotic Cupid firing a shotgun at random into crowds entertains me perhaps more than it should. It's too short for a post, though, so I added Hooked, a love song that perhaps follows perfectly. Cupid has done his thing and love has bloomed unexpectedly.

If you go back to Eilen Jewell's earlier albums you get a lot more country with less soul. You still get a great voice, though. If you like Bang, Bang, Bang and Hooked try Shakin' All Over, too.

I've been looking backward a lot in my posts of late. Let's look forward...by looking back some more with Loo & Placdio who have compiled one of the most massive mixtape mashes I've heard and then covered it in awesome sauce for extra wonderful. I can't even begin to tell you the track list for Retro Future Shock but you can see the whole thing by clicking over to the SoundCloud page, where you can download the whole, hour-long, gorgeous thing for free.

Be warned: the track is an hour and nine minutes long and includes a bit of foul language when it switches from Queen vocals to The Beatles early on. You might want to keep your headphones on or watch the volume button when you're listening to it driving around in the convertible with the kids in the back. Not that I've had that problem. Ahem. But the rest of it makes such tiny issues worth it.

Did you notice that the end of the track name is Volume 1? And are you as geekily excited to hear the Volume 2 implied? No? Listen to Retro Future Shock and imagine it twice as long. I'm going to be exhausted from chair dancing but I'm pretty sure I can make it through two hours and every time they switch songs it's like an Easter Egg hunt. This is the future of mashes and great taste of what shocks big record companies about them. Thanks, Loo & Placido!

It's a rainy day, it's getting dark, and I'm listening to Jimi Hendrix. All, it seems, is right with the world. For those of you who conjure wailing guitar and not much else, when you think of Hendrix, do try Rainy Day, Dream Away. It gives you some great Jimi with a saxophone and much jazzier flavor than you might expect. Of course if you're a serious fan already you know that much for yourself. It's still a lovely song.

It's Tight Like That, with or without the "it's", has stayed a blues mainstay for a lot of years. But sometimes strange things happen to standards. They tend to wander across genre lines and show up in interesting ways.

Today I'd like to share a couple of traditional guitar blues versions of Tight Like That, one from Leadbelly and the other from Tampa Red with Georgia Tom. As a contrast, have a listen to the Benny Goodman version, a swung-to-the-rafters take on a great song, with some scat sauce for awesome, but the fun lyrics have all been removed.

One presumes the more risque versions of the song might have offended Goodman's audiences and he likely wouldn't have been allowed to perform it on the radio, though you'd be amazed what slipped past the censors back in the day. But, having heard the song, I imagine people ended up with a recording or two of the wordier versions, which was all to the good.

Whatever the case, enjoy these three takes on a fun blues standard. I have a great version from Jeff Healey & the Jazz Wizards that unfortunately wasn't on Grooveshark but if you happen across it (on the album of the same name) I recommend it, as well. Let me know if you think Benny Goodman was right to drop the verses or if you like his version.

While most people think of Call Me or some other pop hit when they think of Blondie, I think of War Child. It comes from their last album together in 1982, "The Hunter", and never charted well. In fact it didn't chart at all in the US, as far as I can tell.

I'm pretty sure that makes it the perfect favorite song for a punky band that turned into a still-edgy pop band, for me. And at the time I first heard the song it was deep, deep into the chill of the Cold War when everyone seemed pretty convinced we would be nuked back to the Stone Age any day, now.

Whatever the reason, War Child really resonated with me then. It still does, though more in the disdainful defiance than the lyrics themselves. Have a listen and share your thoughts. Do you remember this one from the end of Blondie or was this a bit before your time?

Not all songs of wanting are sad. Today let’s have a playlist filled with fun songs, all with the word “want” in the title. Everyone wants something so let’s try some Spekulation, some Cat Power, some Etta James, and some David Bowie…and that’s just for starters. I've already posted a slew of versions of I Want to Take You Higher but you'll find three different songs titled I Want My Baby Back.

You’ll find Sly & the Family Stone in here, too, cheek and jowl with Queen, Bow Wow Wow, and Blind Boy Fuller. Heck, you’ll even bump into They Might Be Giants. As neither the proper, Taj Mahal version of Give Your Woman What She Wants nor Spekulation's I Want It All appear on Grooveshark I've included separate ways to listen to each.

Have a meander and let me know if you find that wanting can be much more enjoyable than sappy love songs would have you believe. Well, okay, the David Bowie song is pretty drippy and Queen's I Want to Break Free is a solid break-up song. But I Want Some of Your Pie works as a pretty good antidote. If you’ve a favorite song of wanting that doesn’t appear on this list, share it with me!

In my pursuit for some quiet time, I'm listening to songs called Hush. With luck I'll find a way to convince every to to just shush it for a bit so I can write this for you.

Okay, I made that up. I do, however, have four songs titled Hush and I thought it might be interesting to listen to the lot of them in a row. I was right.

So for this Sunday night or Monday morning, let's have Squirrel Nut Zippers versus The Knux versus Deep Purple versus KRS-One. That's one neo-swing, one classic rock, and a pair of hip hop songs from different decades.

Have a listen to the four and let me know which Hush you like best. The Squirrel Nut Zippers song drags a bit for my taste but it's a lullaby sort of tune so that works with the lyrics. I have nostalgic ties to the Deep Purple and KRS-One versions but I'm familiar with all four and I don't really have a favorite.

It's Saturday. Let's celebrate with something funked up, something looped and horned and generally perfect for jamming at the club, no matter what kind it might be. Today's example, Fool's Paradise, comes from the United Future Organization. Yes, that would be UFO to you acronym nuts out there.

If this is what the aliens are carrying in their ships, I say bring it on, ET Overlords! Have a listen to Fool's Paradise and let me know if you think an epic street-dancing scene would be how visitors from outer space could take over the world. I wonder how LMFAO's video for Party Rock Anthem would work with this song, because that's what I'm picturing when I listen to this. Well, with UFOs.

Did you know that Janelle Monáe could be even better? I know, Tightrope seems darned near perfect as it was released. But Party Ben found a way to improve it just that tiniest bit by marrying the lovely Ms. Monáe to Nancy Sinatra’s iconic These Boots Are Made for Walking.

And so I bring you today This Tightrope’s Made for Walking, a song guaranteed to get you out on the dance floor doing your best high wire act (or at least to subjecting your chair to some serious getting down). As with all Mashups of the Month, this one is available for free download from the Party Ben web site. Go get it and a whole lot more.

On a more-serious note, I feel like I have to be missing a lot of great bootie talent out there. If you know of some fantastic mashers I’ve missed—or if you are one—I would love to hear from you. It’s not that I don’t get enough mashup in my life, it’s that there’s no such thing. There has to be a legion of you out there I’m overlooking. Share!

Like many people, I came to Walk off the Earth via their video of the five of them playing a single guitar in their cover of Somebody that I Used to Know. Unlike a lot of people, that made me thirst for more. Sure, covers are fun but I wanted to see what their clearly original brains could come up with on their own.

Songs like Corner of Queen make me glad I did. I'm posting the video because I like the sound a lot more than the album version on "My Rock". The falsetto in that one really grates after watching the video, but if you want to judge for yourself it's available on Grooveshark. Let me know which you like better.

What do you get when you cross Devo with ska-punk? That’s a pretty stupid question, as you pretty much get Devo. But you could get The Aquabats, which is where I was going with that until I realized it didn’t make any sense.

Skip that first paragraph. The Cat with Two Heads captured the imagination of my children from an early age, the more so when our ever-so-friendly cat showed us why we were the most popular on the block with all the strays. The youngest asked me if next time we could get her to have a kitten with two heads and I had to play this song for him again so that he would understand why that was a bad idea. That distracted him from my assertion that there would not be a next time because the vet was going to "fix" her.

So for today I’m sharing the bizarre fun that is The Aquabats, nerd rock to the core and proud of it. Should enjoy The Cat with Two Heads and seek out more, be aware that the matching spandex costumes are customary for the band. See, I told you they were like Devo.

Guess what I've got for you today, boys and girls? A rockin', stompin', howlin' song about a girl that drag races. If Smokin' the Boys doesn't get your butt out of that chair then there's not a blessed thing Audra May, The Almighty Sound, I, or anyone else can do to help you.

I'm not quite sure how to classify Ms. Audra Mae and the AS. Smokin' the Boys rocks but songs like Jebediah Moonshine's Friday Night Shack Party fall well into the rockabilly realm. But the songs on Soundcloud definitely don't fit that idea.

Bah, who needs labels? Click over to Grooveshark and Soundcloud for more Audra Mae & the Almighty Sound if you like Smokin' the Boys a tenth as much as I do. Then come back and let me know what you think.

I've got a great blues two-fer today: not only a crying man song but a jelly roll song, too. Well, Have Mercy Baby doesn't talk about jelly rolls in a euphemistic ways but it is performed by Jelly Roll Kings, which offers a significant nod to the wide-spread use of the term in blues.

The Jelly Roll Kings played together off and on for decades, from the sixties on into the nineties, when the mood struck them. Sadly, you'll never find a new album from the trio as they've all passed away. You can, however, enjoy some great songs from the two albums they did release and a slew of great stuff from Frank Frost, Big Jack Johnson, and Sam Carr. In this case, YouTube is your friend.

As we pass mid-week and begin our slide down to the weekend, let's wallow in some dirty, filthy boogie courtesy of Son of Dave: Shake a Bone. No, you nasty creature, not that kind of dirty and not that kind of bone.

Unless you want it to be. Heck, I don't care if you get down in your underwear while smearing bananas on your chest. Have a listen to the song, tell you didn't at the very least chair dance, and please do not share any other personal details. This post has gone awry and I'm going to stop writing it now. Son of Dave. Shake a Bone. Enjoy.

I've been swooning to Janelle Monae all night but when I came across Call the Law I knew I had to share it with you. She wields her amazing talent deftly with fantastic creativity but this one has serious boogie-down potential with bonus creepiness thrown in as a bonus.

Have a listen to Call the Law and a whole great whack of her fantastic Metropolis albums (the first, "Metropolis" and the second, "Archandroid" are both a lengthy and inventive rock/jazz/hip hop opera about an android that falls in love and is pursued by the authorities for it. It's part Blade Runner and part musical genius.

Call the Law, however, has nothing to do with the story. It's love gone very, very wrong, though how wrong you don't realize until near the end. "Call the law and hold the applause", indeed.

I think of Rebellious Love as a sort of “circle of love” song, one in which love is a skittish and elusive thing that causes God to chase man and man to chase the unknown. And there in that unknown man finds love that some call a god, causing the circle to go around again.

Now I’m not so big on the religion thing but it’s an intriguing song nonetheless. I wouldn’t have expected it from the creators of Supertheory of Supereverything. But Gogol Bordello’s imagery, as usual, creates something more than just the toe tapping you get from any old (awesome) song.

And for once they’ve completely avoided cursing or sex which makes it a lot safer to enjoy Rebellious Love at work than most of their songs. Much as I like to have Think Locally, Fuck Globally pop onto my computer’s speakers when I’m on the phone or when my kids are romping around the living room it’s nice to have one that doesn’t have me diving for the fast-forward button.

Was Blue Oyster Cult ever as mainstream as I think they were, outside of the explosive popularity of Don’t Fear the Reaper? I rather hope they were, though quirky—and frankly bizarre—songs like Harvester of Eyes argue against the likelihood.

I know I’ve written about how much I like Blue Oyster Cult before but I thought I’d share this one as an example of the sorts of weird up to which the band got, once upon a time. If you like Harvester of Eyes definitely take a listen to more from them and if you’re already a fan please share your favorite BOC song with me!

Some songs exist in tandem, duos that seem incomplete without their other halves. For me, I Love a Rainy Night and Drivin’ My Life Away are just such a perfect pair. If I hear one I expect that it will be followed by the other.

In part that’s simply loving the rain and “windshield wipers slappin’ out a tempo”. This is where I pretend I’ve never adjusted the wipers to keep perfect rhythm with the song on the radio. I'm whistling innocently.

That's neither here nor there. For me Drivin' My Life Away and I Love a Rainy Night are like bookends. They complement each other perfectly. 'Way back when gas was cheap and my time was my own I used to love driving in the rain. These songs may well have had a lot to do with that. Let me know what you think: is this a perfect pair?

As you may imagine, music plays pretty constantly around my house. If I’m not listening to a little bit of everything my husband has something a little more hard-core on for our enjoyment. But on those occasions when my kids aren’t around music they sing their own. What comes out of their little mouths, like Ghost of Stephen Foster, can be a big surprise.

This is one of those times when a parent can really feel proud: the tiny ones learned an appreciation of neo-pseudo-swing early and it has stuck with them. For every time they subject me to Top 40 pop I find a way to get them in my car and wield my mp3 player with skill and subtlety to broaden their captive little horizons.

I thought I’d start this series as a way to share with you my little successes (along with songs more songs I love). Ghost of Stephen Foster gets to be first because the video played as much a part in my children’s love of the song as the lyrics, the horns, and the plunking bass. That gives me an excuse to share it with you! At least it’s one thing I’ve done right as a parent. I’ll be going back to label a few other songs I know I’ve posted, as well, so keep an eye on the Songs My Kids Like series!