The Weekly Mix, Vol. 1

Every week, I end up with a fully new playlist of stuff I listen to on repeat over and over, all week long. I burn a quick and dirty CD of it to take in the car with me and then I start over. I wear songs out from overuse and then like the fickle creature I am, I move on.

These discs, not by design, are full of musical whiplash. I give not a damn for genre, artist, mood or any other theme with them. I merely pile up a plateful of whatever I feel like listening to, and if they go together or if they clash horribly makes no difference to me. Some will have more music than others; it's all part of the variety thing.

I thought it might be a fun idea to share them. So, weekly mixes for everyone!

Here's the first, and you can either click on the song titles to download the individual songs, or click here to download the whole thing as a zip file.

Weekly Mix 1: Dirty Hippies & Musical Theater, Among Other Things

1) Time Of The Season - The Zombies
I don't know why I'm in such a sixties mood again all of a sudden. I spent my last two years of high school listening to nothing but the assorted works of the 1960s, and haven't really been back often. Until now. Is it just me, or are the Zombies everywhere these days?
Buying Odessey & Oracle really would not be a bad investment.

2) Incense & Peppermints - Strawberry Alarm Clock
I love the schizophrenic word salad psychedelic lyrics.
If you want the whole album, it's $7, it's got great vintage cover art, and it has a song named "Rainy Day Mushroom Pillow" on it too. What's not to love?

3) The Fish Cheer & I-Feel-Like-I'm-Fixin'-To-Die Rag - Country Joe & The Fish
Oh, maybe that's why I'm all into the hippie music this week. An ever-sharper sense of nihilism and despair with the government and the war? Yup. I'll bet. I know this song started the hippie trip, and I chose it because it felt exactly right.
Buy I Feel Like I'm Fixin' To Die here.

4) Casey Jones - The Grateful Dead
Hippie'd out yet? Hang on, there's still more.
Buy Workingman's Dead here.

5) Mercedes Benz - Janis Joplin
A little more.
Buy Pearl here.

6) Whatever Gets You Thru The Night - John Lennon
Always loved this. It takes me back to the '70s. Dad & I would go out on the backyard patio, sit down on those rickety metal lawn chairs with the webbing, turn on the radio and listen to the Reds games together on hot summer nights. After the game, he'd switch over to music. I always associate this song with those nights.
Buy Walls & Bridges here.

7) I've Been Everywhere - Johnny Cash
I'm new to this. I didn't think I liked Johnny Cash. But I'm falling for this song, and I can see it maybe being a forever thing.
Buy Unchained here.

8) Suicide Is Painless - Manic Street Preachers
Yes, still.
Buy Forever Delayed here.

9) That Lady - The Isley Brothers
It's a summery song. Hot, steamy weather rolls off this song in waves.
Buy 3 + 3 here.

10) Bruces' Philosopher Song - Monty Python
I'm pretty sure it's the only Monty Python song I can stand. I love it though, because it's fun to sing, and because at one time in college, I actually knew all about everyone mentioned in this song; indeed, I had it memorized even then and used to sing it while walking home from the neighborhood bar.
Buy Monty Python Sings here.

11) She's A Rainbow - The Rolling Stones
In my youth, I naively thought it was just about a girl who liked to wear colorful ensembles. Now I'm pretty sure it's about her movements leaving psychedelic trails of color because somebody took something.
Buy Their Satanic Majesties Request here.

12) Cold Cold Ground -- Tom Waits
I have a fairly limited vocabulary anyway; combine that with my neophyte-level knowledge of Waits, and I have no way to accurately describe why I love this song. It's melancholy and ominous. I wouldn't call it catchy, but it settled comfortably into my brain after the first hearing.
Buy Franks Wild Years here.

13) What Is This Feeling? - Idina Menzel & Kristin Chenowith
I have it totally memorized now. If I could sing, I could handle Glinda's part, I think.
Buy Wicked here.

14) Sultans Of Swing - Dire Straits
They seem to be reviled lately. I've no idea why. They produced this, this quiet little rock and roll song about a jazz band, and it would probably find its way onto my perfect 100 songs list, if I ever sat down and thought it out.
Buy Dire Straits here.

15) My Baby Just Cares For Me - Nina Simone
Piano & vocal jazz from someone who, like Tom Waits, I'm only just getting to know. So far, this, "Sinner Man", & "Feelin' Good" are my favorites. This is upbeat and mellow at the same time, it's just as much Saturday afternoon music as it is Sunday morning music.

Buy Little Girl Blue" here. As it also has her lone top 40 hit, "I Loves You Porgy" and "Don't Smoke In Bed," which might well be featured here later, it's a good buy.

Plus, original, gorgeous '50s era cover art!

16) There Once Was A Man - Harry Connick, Jr. & Kelli O'Hara
Yep. Listening to it on repeat again. What?

For God's sake, would you go buy Harry On Broadway?

17) Hernando's Hideaway - Harry Connick, Jr. & The Pajama Game cast
8 minutes of fun, including Harry singing and playing piano. Buy it at the link above.

And that about wraps it up.

Music - Manic Street Preachers, Suicide Is Painless (M*A*S*H theme)

If you haven't heard of the Manic Street Preachers before, you might go here for some long and fascinating reading. I'd limn it all out but it's neither here nor there. This song was released in 1992, and was evidently their first top ten UK hit.

Onto the song. It's the theme from M*A*S*H, both the movie and the tv show. In the movie, it's used with lyrics; for the tv show, of course, they only used the melancholy music. The title's a little play on words, because while the lyrics work on their own, they're also applicable to the scene in the movie in which the song is featured -- the dentist, whose nickname is "Painless," decides he's going to commit suicide, and his colleagues "help him out."

It's also one of the saddest, most haunting songs I've ever liked. (I generally avoid both slow songs and sad songs.) These lines especially always get me:

The game of life is hard to play
I'm going to lose it anyway
The losing card I'll someday lay
So this is all I have to say.

Damn, that's bleak.

For the record, I think M*A*S*H is a rare instance of a TV show rising above its source material. The movie's okay -- it's certainly acclaimed -- but there's a lot about it that works my nerves. The tv show had more heart and the time to be able to properly explore whatever themes they felt like exploring. As far as the actors, I like Donald Sutherland, but Alan Alda made Hawkeye a world-class smartass and a joy to pay attention to. And Sally Kellerman is a more annoying Hot Lips than Loretta Swit.

Manic Street Preachers - Suicide Is Painless

You can buy the song here.