Copying the Copycat

      Having seen my friend Ken give in to the "what's in your iPod?" question on his blog recently, I will go ahead and add derivation to derivation and post my own. Ken's list of songs on his iPod beginning with the letter "A" certainly exempts him from the accusation of affecting a hipster pose, but nevertheless includes some strong stuff from The Kinks, Sting, Springsteen, and--stepping into this century--Dar Williams, while offering only a few possible embarrassments easily excused by Ken's coming of musical age during the early 80's, as I did.
      However, since I've been collecting mp3's a lot longer than Ken, a complete list of my iPod's songs that start with "A" would quickly become tedious. Instead I've opted to copy the "Random Rules" feature from the "AV Club" at the online version of "The Onion." They regularly ask much more interesting people than I (musicians mostly) to set their iPods on shuffle and talk about the first ten songs that pop up--no skipping allowed. So here goes...

• "From Her to Eternity" by Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds. Not necessarily one of my favorite Nick Cave tunes, being one of his more jarring, less melodic songs, but it wins points just for the title.
• "The Needle Has Landed" by Neko Case. Ahhhh, Neko. No surprise that she should turn up. There are more than 2,500 songs on my iPod right now, and several dozen of them are Neko's. Crank up the reverb, Ms. Case, and belt it on out.
• "Yellow Bird" by Chris Isaak. This one is from his "Baja Sessions" album where he focused on a lovely, beachy, mellow California sound. And he finally stopped fighting the Roy Orbison comparisons and covered "Only the Lonely." Beautifully.
• "Fools on Parade" by The Jayhawks. A sort-of un-Jayhawks song, being more traditionally rock and roll than most of their stuff. At least until the bridge hits with its unmistakable Jayhawks harmonies. Like the Eagles when they were good.
• "Don't Dream It's Over" by Crowded House. Wow, speaking of the 80's. What a fantastic song. Someone like Sixpence None the Richer recently did a totally lame cover that made no attempt to reinterpret the song or add anything of the artist's own stamp to it at all. What's the point? I've seen concert footage of Neil Finn performing this song, and eventually he simply stops singing and lets the crowd take over. That's when you know you've written a SONG.
• "Hole in the River" by Crowded House. I hate when the shuffle function hits two songs on the same album back-to-back, but as the emperor in "Amadeus" used to say, "Well, there it is." A good showcase, however, for Crowded House's use of funky rhythms and minor chords.
• "Homesick" by The Finn Brothers. Weird. My iPod seems to be channeling the Finn boys. Could be worse. It could be three consecutive songs by "Air Supply." Ken.
• "Gridlock" by the Pogues. A rollicking, driving instrumental piece complete with horns that, like Gershwin, musically captures a city in motion. Reminds me of the factory music from the old Bugs Bunny cartoons. Joyous.
• "I've Been to Memphis" by Lyle Lovett. I love this entire album. I remember some time in the final years of Johnny Carson's reign on "The Tonight Show" he brought out this freaky little man in a white suit with hair like a rooster who totally stole the show with his comic big band song--"on second thought, make that...a CHEESEburger." Johnny was totally smitten, and I too have loved Lyle ever since.
• "A Rush of Blood to the Head" by Coldplay. I like Coldplay, but not in the gushing way that a lot of music critics seem to. There are some good songs, but they seem to repeat themselves a bit. This one, however, is one of my favorite ones. Maybe because it sounds like Radiohead.[:)]

So shuffle your iPods gang, and let me know what you come up with. Remember, no skipping allowed.