Apparently Weird Al covered a bazillion songs on his last tour. True covers, not parodies. A lot of the ones I listened to were pretty straightforward, so I don't know that he added or took away much from the songs. But still. It's Weird Al!
Anyway, you can check it out the whole list - 4+ hours of covers! - here:
And I suppose it's worth making note of this particular TMBG cover:
I used to burn CDs only with TV theme songs. Sometimes I'm just in the mood for short, catchy jingles. My favorite is below. What's yours?
Whats on your music agenda this weekend?
Im going to blast through some Elvis Costello and Metallica albums
Drop a list below or a video you've been playing on repeat
Not too long ago I was listening to the song "Coconut" by Harry Nilsson. Though I'm well familiar with the song I was struck at how well constructed it was, with just layer upon layer being added up to this much bigger cacophonous sound than it start as. Just really subtle building. Lots of songs will do a stripped down verse, add something obvious on the next one, and build in a way that just isn't quite so smooth.
So I'm curious about other songs that you think of as building slowly, or subtly, up to a much larger sound.
Also drop lists.
Okay, I swear I'm going to figure out how to break this into individual tracks. For now though, it's just two tracks; one for each part. I'm hoping to have the grand opening for the next FMD. In the meantime, it's dangerous to go it alone! Take these.
Some quick notes:
Have at it. 2020 is a weird year, and this is appropriately a weird mix. I like it though.
About halfway through summer, anything old or new catching you ear? Drop a video below!
Or drop a random 10
Or both!!!
Look, things are complicated in this country. We all know that. We're reckoning with a lot of horrible facts about both our present and our past. But, at bottom, I think we can acknowledge that some flawed, complicated people came together and set up a novel framework that genuinely enabled things to get better. And this weekend is a time to reflect on that. A chance to think about what we might do to make things better too - because, at bottom, we're all flawed, complicated people too.
Anyway, let's identify some songs of hope and pride, and maybe a bit of patriotism - real patriotism, not that "everything we do must be the best because it is us" stuff.
And to kick it off, here's Ray Charles singing America The Beautiful at the 2001 World Series.
Your doorbell rings. On the steps is a traveler, someone who looks to be in their early twenties. They’re a local resident. They think they haven’t gone far out of their way, but they seem confused. In reality, they’re lost. They have appeared on your doorstep at the end of a sudden journey.
The traveler looks down at a note in their hand. By their puzzled expression, it’s clear that the note was not there a moment ago. They hand you the note. It reads:
I have arrived from the past. When I left, it was August 7th, 1965. My journey has left me unable to talk with you, but I can listen. I know the general outline of the intervening years between now and when I left.
Back home, I play & listen to music all the time — it helps me make sense of the changing world around me. I am permitted to stay with you for the span of five songs. Please play songs that will tell me something about your world, and how your world emerged from the world I just left. I will take what I hear back with me.
You bring them inside your home, stall for time by getting them something to drink. What are you going to play? Why?
We've discussed this before, I'm sure, but what music services do you use? I was finding myself getting into a bit of a rut with Pandora - it seems to have stopped rotating in new songs unless and until I make a conscious addition to the playlist, and then it really gloms onto that artist. I'd never been much into Spotify - it just seemed silly to rotate through multiple services - but given the Pandora problem, I decided to give it more of a try. The weekly curated lists have been excellent - a handful of songs I know, but many more I don't, including some news stuff, deep cuts and covers, many of which I have genuinely enjoyed.
I'm trying not to like or dislike too many songs on the service though, for fear it will become another Pandora, and only cater to my identified likes, when, in fact, the thing I like most is variety and finding new songs.
What services do you use? How do you use them? Drop your lists. Nominate your summer songs. Especially that. Nominate your summer songs!
Oh, man, this one should be a doozy...
1. The theme is "Summer". You're free to interpret that as you'd like. Especially this summer...
2. Put your nominations in a Spoiler box.
3. You may nominate up to 3 songs. Any further nominations will be ignored.
4. Unless we get an insane amount of nominations for some reason, everyone's first choice is automatically in. The rest of the mix will be filled out with the other nominations.
Also, toss out a list if you feel like it.
WGOM Summer Mix 2015
WGOM Summer Mix 2016
WGOM Summer Mix 2017
WGOM Summer Mix 2018
WGOM Summer Mix 2019
