"F" is for Frequent Firsts Like "For" and "From"

      Running across a new internet music meme at truffin.com (see my last post) has inspired me to return to the alphabetical stroll through my iPod. I've worked my way up to "F" now, and it turns out that of the 165 songs currently on my iPod that start with "F", dozens of them begin with some form of just a handful of the same words: for, from, fall, fly, and fire. Below are some of my favorites for each word.

"For" (begins 11 song titles)

• "For a Dancer" by Jackson Browne from "Solo Acoustic, Vol. 1"
  I can't claim to be a huge Jackson Browne fan; I generally like his songs when I stumble across them, but the only album of his that I actually own is the excellent and intimate "Solo Acoustic" live performance. There's not a dud on the whole thing, and even most of the between-song patter is entertaining. Here's "For a Dancer" as he was performing it in the 70's, which is not much different from the contemporary "Solo Acoustic" performance.
  
  


• "For Heaven's Sake" by 16 Horsepower from "Low Estate"
  The sound of 16 Horsepower is a little hard to describe--imagine if you saw a sign outside a club that said, "Hootenanny Tonight," and when you went inside you discovered that the band playing the hootenanny was Nirvana. The sound on this live version is pretty rough, but here you go:
  
  
  and the "For" also-rans...
• "For Emily, Whenever I May Find Her" by Simon & Garfunkel
• "For Everyman" by Jackson Browne
• "For My Lover" by Tracy Chapman
• "For Never More" by The Reverend Horton Heat
• "For The Loser (Hallelujah!)" by the Rave-Ups
• "For The Turnstiles" by Neil Young
• "For Tomorrow" by Blur
• "For You" by Tracy Chapman
• "For Your Babies" by Simply Red

"From" (begins 9 song titles)

• "From My Own True Love (Lost at Sea)" by The Decemberists from "Picaresque"
  Any band that would actually know the meaning of the word "Picaresque" is already one up in my book, and their quirky, prog-rock, English Major-friendly songs seal the deal for me. "From My Own True Love" is not necessarily the song I would pick to introduce them to a prospective listener (that would probably be "The Mariner's Revenge Song"), but it still gives a pretty good idea of what The Decemberists are all about. The only version I could find at YouTube is one some fan attached to one of Spielberg's most shameless moments (from "Saving Private Ryan"), but what are you gonna do?
  
  


• "From Blown Speakers" by The New Pornographers from "Electric Version"
  The New Pornographers are a fantastic power pop band cobbled together from members of various (mostly Canadian) bands, led by Carl Newman and sometimes featuring Neko Case on vocals or backing vocals. Even the most casual reader of this blog will probably have encountered my infatuation with the inimitable Ms. Case and therefore not be surprised with my interest in any musical project that includes her, even down to "Neko Case's Favorite Scottish Martial Music for Solo Accordion" (if you've got a copy, I'll give you $50 for it). But TNP are definitely their own thing, with or without Neko, and their mostly fast, loud, and impossibly hook-y pop tunes couldn't be much further removed from Neko's dark and brooding solo work. Her participation, therefore, is just another excuse for me to think she's great.

and the "From" also-rans...

• "From A Late Night Train" by The Blue Nile
• "From Her To Eternity" by Nick Cave & the Bad Seeds
• "From Here To Eternity" by Big Country
• "From Our T.V. Teens To The Tomb" by Maria McKee
• "From Rags To Riches" by The Blue Nile
• "From The Edge Of The Deep Green Sea" by The Cure
• "From the Morning" by Nick Drake

"Fall" (begins 9 song titles)

• "Falling for the First Time" by Barenaked Ladies from "Maroon"
  Speaking of impossibly hook-y power pop bands, Barenaked Ladies rank with the best of them. They've quietly put together a decades-long career that, without the benefit of any real breakthrough hit songs, has nevertheless built them an enthusiastic critical following and a near-cultish fanbase. I have to admit to being a late-arriving passenger on the Barenaked bandwagon (early 00's maybe?), but what I lack in "I-knew them-when" cred is made up for by my zeal of the newly converted.
  
  

and the "Fall" also-rans...

• "Fall At Your Feet" by Crowded House
• "Fall Down" by Toad the Wet Sprocket
• "Fall Down (Like The Rain)" by The Mighty Lemon Drops
• "Fall On Me" by REM
• "Fallen" by Sarah McLachlan
• "Falling" by Glen Phillips
• "Falling In Love Again" by Linda Ronstadt w/ the Nelson Riddle Orchestra
• "Falling Through Your Clothes" by The New Pornographers

"Fire" (begins 7 song titles)

• "Fired" by Ben Folds from "Rocking the Suburbs"
  I really like Ben Folds a lot, mostly because it's just so nice to see a really talented musician break the guitar-bass-drums mold of pop and rock music and create a signature sound. This is a song about how sometimes there are just so many people around that you want to tell them, "get the hell off my planet, you're fired." In the clip below, an a capella group from Stanford enters their version of "Fired" into an a capella contest of Ben Folds songs. No, I don't know if they won, but they're pretty good.
  
  

and the "Fire" also-rans...

• "Fire" by Bruce Springsteen
• "Fire from Heaven" by Guadalcanal Diary
• "Fire In The Engine Room" by Richard Thompson
• "Fire In The Hole" by The BoDeans
• "Fire Island" by Fountains of Wayne
• "Firecracker" by Ryan Adams

"Fly" (begins 8 songs)

• "The Fly" by U2 from "Achtung Baby"
  The first incarnation of U2's mega-stardom, which peaked with the smash release of "The Joshua Tree" in 1987, had faded a bit by 1991, when I went to live in Japan for a couple of years. By the time I bought "Achtung Baby" as an import in Fukuoka that year, I had been listening to their earliest hits for nearly ten years, and their readily identifiable sound had grown a bit stale. When I got home and stuck it in the boombox, "Zoo Station" and the early tracks of "Achtung Baby" made it clear that they had found a new direction, but I wasn't fully convinced until track seven, when the Edge kicked in with that snarling, echoey lick that opens "The Fly." I wore that disc out during the next two years, and to this day, hearing any of the tracks on "Achtung Baby" will evoke the smell of tatami mats and the udon shop, and a thousand other associations of that great time in Japan. "The Fly" should always be played at MAXIMUM VOLUME, and since the only thing that sounds worse than streaming audio is streaming audio played at maximum volume, you should get the CD, punch track number seven, and TURN IT UP.
  
  

and the "Fly" also-rans...

• "Fly" by Nick Drake
• "Fly By Night" by Rush
• "Fly From Heaven" by Toad the Wet Sprocket
• "Fly On The Wall" by XTC
• "Flying" by Chris Isaak
• "Flying" by Joe Jackson
• "Flyswatter/Ice Water Blues" by Lyle Lovett