CD mix challenge

[rivka]

puppytown proposed a CD mix exchange. It's sort of like a scavenger hunt: there are 21 categories, and you choose a song for each one. Because they're so oddly assorted, she's calling it a "Frankenstein mix."

I decided to make things a bit harder for myself by requiring every song to be by a different artist. I started out mildly interested, and wound up having an insane amount of fun. My choices are beneath the cut tag, with commentary. I'll be happy to do exchanges with anyone else who puts a Frankenstein mix together.

1. from the last CD you purchased
Can You Dig It? - Napoleon XIV
A tiny cheat - the last song I downloaded, not a song from the last CD I purchased. nolly offered it for download in connection with an alt.poly thread. A beat spoken-word piece, with a vaguely poly theme.

2. labeled blues or "the blues"
Love Is Never Equal - Jill Sobule
A bitter, rockin' song with great bluesy guitar riffs. One of the songs I didn't even hesitate about. Great for when you're pissed off at a partner, especially if you're feeling bitterly fatalistic about it. Love is never equal, the love between two people - someone always gets kicked to the curb. Someone's always left out freezing, battered down and bleeding. Love is never equal, after all.

3. gets you going in the morning
Brown Dog - Young Dubliners
If this song doesn't get you up and moving, you're dead. End of story.

4. romantic
Constant Craving - k.d. lang
I had the hardest time coming up with a romantic song, especially after I decided I didn't want to include any jazz standards. I had been toying with the idea of Ella Fitzgerald and Louis Armstrong doing a duet on Dream a Little Dream of Me. I also considered using a literary definition of "romantic," and choosing Loreena McKennitt's The Highwayman, but curiousangel convinced me that you just can't put a ten-minute song on a mix CD. In the end, I went with one of my favorite k.d. lang songs.

5. one of the first you remember hearing
I Love Rock n' Roll - Joan Jett & the Blackhearts
My parents didn't listen to popular music at all, so I didn't get a lot of early exposure. I remember riding the school bus and hearing a bunch of sixth grade girls singing this song in the back row.

6. you discovered from a film
Everybody Wants to Rule the World - Tears For Fears
From the end of Real Genius. It was either going to be this, or something from the O Brother, Where Art Thou soundtrack. Much as I adore Alison Krauss, she just didn't seem to fit with the emerging gestalt of this mix.

7. from your favorite band or artist
Seagulls - Great Big Sea
I settled on Great Big Sea early, but it took me a while to pick a specific song. I picked this one in part because they never seem to play it anymore. It's a great song that deserves more exposure.

8. from a band or artist that you don't really like except for this song
The Impression That I Get - Mighty Mighty Bosstones
I have a lot of one-hit wonders in my iTunes - mostly pulled from 80s collections. None of them seem like fair picks for this category, because I don't know whether I like the rest of their songs. This song is a fair pick: I bought the album, but this is the only one I ever want to play.

9. a lullabye
Gypsy - Suzanne Vega
If I had it on CD, I would've picked my half-uncle Elijah's rendition of Two Sleepy People - but alas. Hey! This could've been my romantic pick, and then I could've used Didn't Leave Nobody But the Baby for my lullaby. It's too late now, so it's a good thing that this works great as a lullaby. Hold me like a baby that will not fall asleep, curl me up inside you and let me hear you through the heat...

10. makes you laugh
What If Your Girlfriend Was Gone? - Carla Ulbrich
I've got more than 60 songs in my "funny" playlist on iTunes, but this was still an easy pick. It's fun and quirky, and (unlike, say, Da Vinci's Notebook) everyone hasn't heard it already. It's not very poly, but you can't have everything. I was just wondering (hypothetically): what would you say (theoretically) if something were to happen accidentally or medically - what if your girlfriend was gone?

11. a really good cover version
My Heart Will Go On - Switchblade Kittens
A hotly debated category. curiousangel thought I should inflict Luther Wright and the Wrongs' bluegrass version of Pink Floyd's Comfortably Numb on an unsuspecting populace. I like Kirsty MacColl & the Pogues' medley Miss Otis Regrets/Just One of Those Things, but I realized that I don't really think of recordings of standards as "covers." pixel is entirely to blame for bringing this much-improved punk version of Celine Dion's whiny anthem to my attention.

12. reminds you of school days
Uncle John's Band - Grateful Dead
I loved the Grateful Dead in high school. That lasted until I got to college and saw what the Deadheads on campus were like. I still secretly liked this song, though.

13. from an artist that you are embarrassed to admit you like
Express Yourself - Madonna
I really do like Madonna, and I absolutely adore this song. It makes me want to get up and dance around and be empowered at the top of my lungs. I swear to god it's a feminist anthem in disguise.

14. FUNKY!
Think - Aretha Franklin
I fear that I'm not a very funky person. This was the last blank unfilled on my song list. Thank God for Aretha!

15. for those quiet rainy nights
We Could Leave Right Now - Oyster Band
Oyster Band songs got tested for a lot of different slots in the playlist. Granite Years could easily have been the song that gets me going, and I briefly considered Diamond for a Dime for the romantic slot. Half a dozen Oyster songs could've been associated with my school days - in this case, college. I finally realized that this lovely, haunting song almost demands quiet rainy nights. A good song for disappearing into the mists rising from the street, trench coat flapping behind you.

16. no matter when you hear it, it makes you feel good
Somewhere Over the Rainbow - Israel Kamakawiwoole
Okay, so part of the reason I love this song is that the opening bars were featured in those insanely great eToys commercials. I'm not proud. But I don't think that's the only reason. Just a great, sweet, uplifting song.

17. with the word "Look" in the title
Can You Picture That? - Muppet Movie Soundtrack
This is totally cheating. I didn't have a single song with "look" in the title, but this is such a great song that I just don't care.

18. from a member of the Dead Rocker's Society
Imagine - John Lennon
If I hadn't picked a Grateful Dead song for my school days, I would've put one here. I couldn't remember whether Perry Farrell from Jane's Addiction was dead or not. Oh, hey! This would've been a great place for a Freddy Mercury song. Except that I don't think we have any on CD - clearly a problem that needs to be remedied.

19. is your favorite Elvis song
A Little Less Conversation - Elvis
For a while last summer, this was Howard Dean's entrance music. Those were good days. This could've been my funky song, I suppose, but then I would've had to include a less-favored Elvis song. I always want to get up and dance to this.

20. anything else that fits
Mammal - They Might Be Giants
I'm not sure how it "fits," given that the other songs don't exactly fit together. I just know that this song belongs in all places at all times. Mammal, mammal. Their names are called - they raise a paw: the bat, the cat, dolphin and dog, koala bear and hog, the fox, the ox, giraffe, and shrew, echidna, caribou.

21. by Johnny Cash (or about Johnny Cash)
I've Been Everywhere - Johnny Cash
I'm a sucker for list songs. Yakko Warner sang All the Words in the English Language just for me.

Comments

[patgreene.livejournal.com]

I'm a sucker for list songs. Yakko Warner sang All the Words in the English Language just for me.

So am I. Although my favorite is probably "We didn't start the fire" by Billy Joel.

[rivka.livejournal.com]

Yeah, absolutely. Other good ones are Bob Dylan's Subterranean Homesick Blues and the Great Big Sea cover of It's the End of the World As We Know It (it's faster than the original).

[patgreene.livejournal.com]

Ooh, yeah. That may be my favorite cover --it's close between that and Smash Mouth's cover of "I'm a Believer".

[kightp.livejournal.com]

I never play the CD mix things, alas, because most of my favorite, most-listened to music is still on tape or (*gasp*) vinyl, and getting it digitized would involve a much better stereo than I own and fancier cabling, etc. than my set-up currently allows.

That said, your mix is wonderful.

[rivka.livejournal.com]

I'll send you a copy, if you like. Would a small example of your mail art be an equitable trade, or would I need to up my side of the bargain?

[kightp.livejournal.com]

Oh, my, yes. E-mail sent.

[brooksmoses]

For what it's worth, I've been digitizing tapes by running a three-dollar patch cable from the headphone jack on my (cheap) stereo unit to the "line in" on a rather ancient (but decent for its time) PC sound card. The same trick would work for the vinyl, too, if I didn't have a slightly better setup for that. (My record player has an internal pre-amp, so I can run its output straight into the sound card.)

It's not the greatest quality and I wouldn't use it for professionally remastering anything, certainly, but it's quite sufficient for putting things into an MP3 collection and making CDs to play in the car and that sort of thing.

[kightp.livejournal.com]

Alas, my stereo is not only cheap but ancient. Its headphone jack fried out years ago.

Since I don't have a CD player in my car, it hasn't seemed worth the bother.

[saoba.livejournal.com]

*squeeee* You included the mighty IZ! I love him to pieces. He and Keola Beamer make me homesick for Hawaii, every time I hear them.

This is a great mix of 'that would be my pick too' and 'never heard of it, sounds great, must find'.

Barbara, going to put a CD of some slack key guitar on and be all happy now.

[trinker.livejournal.com]

-whimper-

The ex took all the Hawaiian CDs we'd bought when we were consulting. I really miss the Iz stuff.

[puppytown.livejournal.com]

...inflict Luther Wright and the Wrongs' bluegrass version of Pink Floyd's Comfortably Numb on an unsuspecting populace.

That would rule. I love that CD.

[brooksmoses]

I think I need a copy of that.

(This means, I suppose, that there are two Pink Floyd bluegrass cover albums, since the "Pickin' On" series did one; I've got ... drat; I can't remember which song. One of theirs, anyhow, on the sampler album.)

[rosefox]

About the only thing that annoys me about GBS concerts is the consistent non-playing of "Seagulls". I'm glad someone else appreciates it.

I posted mine in puppytown's thread and will be happy to swap.

Neat idea!

[rmjwell.livejournal.com]

I decided to apply the Mix breakdown to the stuff I put together for the apc7 dance. The results are over in my own journal, if you want to take a look.

[therealjae.livejournal.com]

I think you should have included what your parents *were* listening to for #5! (Mine isn't a popular song, either!)

I fear that this won't all fit on a CD, alas. What will have to be cut?

-J

[rivka.livejournal.com]

I fear that this won't all fit on a CD, alas. What will have to be cut?

I thought it would be too long, too. But actually it's 71 1/2 minutes, and a CD supposedly holds 74. If I had to cut something, though, I'd cut Mammal. "Anything else that fits" is not the most important category to fill.

[therealjae.livejournal.com]

Wow. Mine is more than 80 minutes long, *without* the "anything else that fits" category. Gonna have to cut, dammit.

-J

[brooksmoses]

I was figuring that, worst case, I've got an 8-second mp3 of the Hampsterdance theme that would almost certainly fit.

[ex-helygen254.livejournal.com]

k.d. lang. Yummm.

Ahem. Nice CD. :)

[filkerdave.livejournal.com]

What a great list! Great Big Sea...and Carla!

Have you ever heard Carla's alternate ending to "What if Your Girlfriend Was Gone?"

[rivka.livejournal.com]

No! But now I totally want to.

[filkerdave.livejournal.com]

She sings it at filkcons sometimes (and probably in live performance outside filk).

Would you tie me up in whips and fetters
And photograph me with your Irish Setter...

Something like that, at least. There's a snippet of it on Her Fabulous Debut.

[the-siobhan.livejournal.com]

I just finished putting together a CD mix for a swap with a group of my friends. I'd be happy to send you a copy. It doesn't fill all 21 categories, but it comes surprisingly close.

(Mostly punk and industrial versions. But there are one or two things in there you might like.)

[rivka.livejournal.com]

Cool! My address can be found here (http://www.livejournal.com/users/rivka/130308.html). If you want a copy of my mix, send me yours!

[the-siobhan.livejournal.com]

It came back in the mail!

[brooksmoses]

Neat! I got inspired to try doing my own list fitting those categories, even though I don't think I'd be likely to getting around to actually making the CD or swapping it. Here's my list, if you want to peer at it.

[taigh.livejournal.com]

Luther Wright and the Wrongs' bluegrass version of Pink Floyd's Comfortably Numb

I'm a random journal hopper, but I was delighted to find someone other than me (and a few of my nutball Luther Wright fan friends) who is into this group. Canadian rockabilly rebels are out-of-control hilarious. (And really nice guys)

So, just a note to say, "Cool." (I really enjoyed your song choices as well)