Sure, there are things that scare me - plenty of ‘em. I’m just not sure how many have been summed up in songs that haven’t already been claimed by my fellow Uncles.

But there are things that scare me - death, dismemberment and loss being the big three. I try not to let fear rule my life and daily existence. Imagine me, a person who loves to ski down rock chutes, through tight stands of trees, off of cliffs into steep, snow-laden bowls, being so overcome by fear that I hesitate during a crucial point in my descent? That could - and likely would - be lethal. Same thing goes for my go-for-broke descents on my marathon bike rides: I can’t dwell on the potential for harm, I simply must go.

Fear is just part of living. It’s not the biggest controlling factor in my life, but it’s there - and it’s here, in this playlist, so enjoy!

1. “Kid Fears” - Indigo Girls (from In With The Out Crowd)
   Fear: loss of innocence
   This song is a bit of a catch-all of common childhood fears and neuroses. I remember seeing the Indigo Girls perform this song at the 1991 Telluride Bluegrass Festival, with David Wilcox singing the refrain that Michael Stipe sang on the album version. This song speaks on many levels, but mostly seems to be a plea to bring back the simple, primal fears of childhood as a replacement for the complex issues of adulthood.
2. “Taking It All To Tennessee” - Vance Gilbert (from Somerville Live)
   Fear: losing touch with close friends
   Having a best friend move away is tragic, no matter your age. This song was written in response to Vance’s close friend, Ellis Paul, moving to Tennessee from Massachusetts. It’s one of those songs that lays out the raw feelings of hurt and betrayal that, while often irrational, do exist but get buried under a sense of obligation not to hurt any feelings.
3. “Mother” - John Lennon & Elephant’s Memory (from Christmas Present)
   Fear: not reconciling with one’s parents
   My relationship with my parents isn’t what many would call good. Then again, few can say that they have 100% wonderful relationships with their parents, so I’m certainly not alone. John Lennon had a very tenuous relationship with his natural parents. His mother, Julia, was not the best mother, eventually ceding parental responsibilities to her sister, Mimi. While Julia taught John to play the banjo and guitar, she wasn’t a close parent, and was killed when John was 17. His father, Alf, was an itinerant sailor who drifted in and out of his son’s life. And this song, written while Lennon was under the treatment of Arthur Janov and his “primal scream” therapy, is an open-book plea to his departed/estranged parents.
4. “The Sun Is Burning” - Simon & Garfunkel (from Old Friends)
   Fear: nuclear holocaust
   When I was young, there was a TV movie that raised the hackles of many parents across America: The Day After. This movie depicted a nuclear attack and the after-effects of such devastation. Life was changed in a quick, blinding flash, and those who didn’t die often suffered a more gruesome, painful descent into death. This song, one of the earliest from Simon & Garfunkel, paints a rosy picture of life that is brought to an end by a nuclear bomb.
5. “Psycho Killer” - Talking Heads (demo version)
   Fear: being the victim of a murderous rampage
   David Byrne is a weird dude - cool, but weird. I tend to like almost everything he does, both musically and socially (he’s a huge proponent of cycling over automobile as urban personal transit, amongst other things), but he’s still a weird guy. And this, one of the earliest songs by the Talking Heads, is proof positive. Only RISD could produce this kind of warped sensibility, right? This is the demo recording they made for CBS Records, back in the day.
6. “Let The Devil In” - TV on the Radio (from Return to Cookie Mountain)
   Fear: the devil
   An eerie tune by a group that scares me: so talented, yet not always able to reel in the talent to make something that’s truly lovely. This song is scary, in and of itself, so it all fits.
7. “Boris The Spider” - The Who (from A Quick One)
   Fear: arachnophobia
   John Entwistle’s classic tune about a curious spider named Boris. He meets a sticky end.
8. “Careful With That Axe, Eugene” - Pink Floyd (from Atom Heat Mother Goes On The Road)
   Fear: dismemberment by axe blade
   Roger Waters has always had a rather…. obscure and frightening sensibility to his songwriting. While much of it has centered around the death of his father during World War II, some of his early writing for Pink Floyd involved mistakes that had tragic results. The roots of this one-line song are often disputed: some think it’s a reference to how Jerry Garcia lost part of his finger, others think that it’s a reference to a horror film. Whatever the case, Waters’ blood-curdling scream at the mid-point of the song is one for the ages. This performance is from a live concert in Montreaux, Switzerland, in 1970.

Download: “Kid Fears” - Indigo Girls (mp3)
(Right-click/control-click link to download)

Download: “Taking It All To Tennessee” - Vance Gilbert (mp3)
(Right-click/control-click link to download)

Download: “Mother” - John Lennon & Elephant’s Memory (mp3)
(Right-click/control-click link to download)

Download: “The Sun Is Burning” - Simon & Garfunkel (mp3)
(Right-click/control-click link to download)

Download: “Psycho Killer” - Talking Heads (mp3)
(Right-click/control-click link to download)

Download: “Let The Devil In” - TV on the Radio (mp3)
(Right-click/control-click link to download)

Download: “Boris The Spider” - The Who (mp3)
(Right-click/control-click link to download)

Download: “Careful With That Axe, Eugene” - Pink Floyd (mp3)
(Right-click/control-click link to download)

Download all the songs in a handy ZIP file:

Download: “‘That which scares me… scares me!” (ZIP)
(Right-click/control-click link to download)

For those who demand quantity over quality, here you go - a selection of songs all less than a minute long! In the interests of maintaining listenability I’ve excluded hundreds of intros / skits / interludes etc, choosing instead to focus on pieces that, while short, still establish their own identity as songs. So here we go, strap yourself in and feel the Gs: thirty-four songs in twenty-five minutes, twenty seconds!

1. The Dodos, “Eyelids” (mp3)
2. Black Flag, “Wasted” (mp3)
3. De La Soul, “A Little Bit Of Soap” (mp3)
4. Mellow, “Codename Dragonfly” (mp3)
5. Why?, “Twenty-Eight” (mp3)
6. The Flaming Lips, “The Spontaneous Combustion Of John” (mp3)
7. Monty Python, “I Bet You They Won’t Play This Song On The Radio” (mp3)
8. The Bulgarian Voices, “Stoyan Ide Ot Grad Zarigrad” (mp3)
9. The Undertones, “Casbah Rock” (mp3)
10. The Stone Roses, “Elizabeth My Dear” (mp3)
11. The Polyphonic Spree, “The Crash” (mp3)
12. Porn Theatre Ushers, “Nabo Himself” (mp3)
13. Sublime, “Drunk Drivin’” (mp3)
14. Fight Like Apes, “Megameanie” (mp3)
15. The Beatles, “Moonlight Bay” (mp3)
16. The Art Of Noise, “Nothing Was Going To Stop Them Then, Anyway” (mp3)
17. Consolidated, “There Is A Mountain Filled With Blood” (mp3)
18. The White Stripes, “Passive Manipulation” (mp3)
19. Minor Threat, “Small Man, Big Mouth” (mp3)
20. Princess Superstar, “Blue Beretta” (mp3)
21. The Red Elvises, “Follow The Yellow Brick Road” (mp3)
22. Ween, “Old Man Thunder” (mp3)
23. Neutral Milk Hotel, “Seven” (mp3)
24. Richard Cheese, “99 Luftballoons” (mp3)
25. Jenny Owen Youngs, “First Person” (mp3)
26. Stiff Little Fingers, “Here We Are Nowhere” (mp3)
27. Men Without Hats, “Bright Side Of The Sun” (mp3)
28. Michael Andrews, “Cellar Door” (mp3)
29. Run-DMC, “Son Of Byford” (mp3)
30. Primus, “Sathington Willoby” (mp3)
31. Deerhoof, “The Eyebright Bugler” (mp3)
32. Pink Floyd, “New Machine, Pt. 2″ (mp3)
33. The Books, “PS” (mp3)
34. Raymond Scott, “In The Hall Of The Mountain Queen” (mp3)

ZIP file of all songs will be posted tomorrow!

I guess there’s not a lot to say about these, the idea is they tell their own story. But as David Clennon stressed in “From The Earth To The Moon”, it’s all about context. And it is that which I propose to give you a lesson in… right now:

1. Pink Floyd, “When The Tigers Broke Free”
This is from the film version of “Pink Floyd: The Wall”, and does not appear in any version on the album or many and varied live performances of said work. I can only think that this song - a poetic and visceral summing up of the circumstances surrounding Roger Waters’ father’s death in World War II - is just too personal and soul-rending for the Floyd frontman to want to dilute through casual repetition. Understandable, since his father’s death is clearly, along with the mental self-destruction of Roger “Syd” Barrett, a formative experience in Waters’ life and in one way or another the subject matter of almost everything he’s ever written. I find this scathing indictment of the professional detachment of those planning war, and the personal cost exacted upon those waging it, quite moving every time I hear it.

2. Johnny Cash, “Casey Jones”
Another tragic and honorable sacrifice rendered in classic Americana style, this is the story of the very real John Luther “Casey” Jones and one fateful night in 1900 in Mississippi.

3. Christine Lavin, “The Wild Blue”
Long and rambling and a bit forced and awkward at times, this nonetheless manages to be an emotionally enthralling tale of the origins of the Japanese World War II kamikaze, and the personal toll it took on all involved. It’s rare that I feel that I actually learned something new and interesting from a song, but this is a clear example.

4. Jonathan Coulton, “Kenesaw Mountain Landis”
Shifting gears into the absurd and humorous, we get this slightly exaggerated retelling of the 1919 Black Sox scandal, embellished just a bit here and there by Coulton, who enjoys mining that grey area between the works of Robert Allen Zimmerman and Alfred Matthew Yankovic. This is a stellar example of Maxwell Scott’s adage that “when the legend becomes fact, print the legend”. Make sure you stay tuned for the end of the song where it suddenly takes a hilarious left turn into modern pop rock culture.

5. Bob Dylan, “Billy (part 4)”
This is from the aforementioned Zimmerman’s collection of songs written for the 1973 film “Pat Garrett And Billy The Kid”, Sam Peckinpah’s post-modern revisionist history of the last days of Henry McCarty and the man who knew him well enough to kill him.

6. James Brown, “King Heroin”
Believe me, I wish this wasn’t a true story - but unfortunately Brown knew all too well the power and influence of this immigrant from the Far East. There have been far too many songs written about this opioid and the crafty precision with which it seems to seek and destroy our best and brightest, but no others have personalized the battle by casting the adversary as an actual sentient entity. And here’s where I unfortunately know too much about the subject matter, as I watched this evil seductive being insinuate itself into the lives of far too many people close to me. Unlike some of the previous songs on this list, James is not exaggerating or embellishing one bit. He recorded this back in 1974, long before the “27 List” claimed a few more famous victims. Unfortunately it seems that this King’s reign will persist long past that of this Godfather.

Download: Pink Floyd, “When The Tigers Broke Free” (mp3)
(Right-click/control-click link to download)

Download: Johnny Cash, “Casey Jones” (mp3)
(Right-click/control-click link to download)

Download: Christine Lavin, “The Wild Blue” (mp3)
(Right-click/control-click link to download)

Download: Jonathan Coulton, “Kenesaw Mountain Landis” (mp3)
(Right-click/control-click link to download)

Download: Bob Dylan, “Billy (part 4)” (mp3)
(Right-click/control-click link to download)

Download: James Brown, “King Heroin” (mp3)
(Right-click/control-click link to download)

Back in the day - the high school and early college days, to be specific - I was an alpine ski racer. It was not the most easygoing existence, with a lot of early morning wake-up calls, and a great need for getting amped up to conquer race courses that would, at times, intimidate.

(That’s a picture of me, back in 1989, racing the downhill at Sun Valley, Idaho: 70+ mph of fun on two planks!)

One thing that my coach used to help us get ready to go out and win was mental training, which involved deep relaxation, then visualization of the race courses, all done while listening to music. While the relaxation part involved placid, classical music, the racing simulation was backed with hard-charging music.

And many of us dragged our old Sony Walkman units up on the hill with us, the poor little AA batteries straining to play the overused cassette tapes in sub-freezing weather. I tended to favor rocking songs from The Beatles - as well as the Floyd song that leads this list, which my coach used (on my recommendation) for the race simulations.

Since then, I still listen to motivating songs - either from the beat, or from the lyrics - to get me motivated to conquer things. And it doesn’t matter if it’s skiing, or cycling, or doing political work, or simply getting out of bed in the morning - I’m still a sucker for motivating tunes.

1. “One Of These Days” - Pink Floyd
   As I said, this is one of the songs that my ski coach, Olle, used for our mental training sessions. Granted, the version I gave to him had the swirling winds and false starts edited out, so that it started on the ever-repeating bass line. But this is a great song: pulsing bass, a quote of the Doctor Who theme, Nick Mason’s sole turn at lead vocals on a Pink Floyd song, and then guitar and drum chaos added to the mix. It’s a wonderful song for getting a move on!
2. “In Step” - Girl Talk
   One of my favorite albums of 2008 is Feed The Animals by Girl Talk, the stage name of Greg Gillis, a disk-jockey-cum-remixer who sampled hundreds of songs, beats and sounds to create what both Sam and I call one of the best workout mixes ever put to tape (or, in this case, hard disk). Gillis lists his instrument as “laptop,” and the magic he works with one is great. This song made the “Hangover” disc that went out with the “hard copy” version of my Last Call 2008 compilation, and while it was very tough to pick a single song out of the constant flow of the Girl Talk album, this song represents just some of the joyous mess that is Feed The Animals.
3. “Immigrant Song” - Led Zeppelin
   This song seems a bit more my style, no? Now that I’ve come to appreciate Led Zeppelin (I wasn’t much of a fan until after high school), this song has become a motivating fave. This is also one of the few Zep songs that seldom strayed from its album arrangement and duration. Zep often jammed on stage, stretching songs like “Dazed And Confused” into half-hour meditations on a theme (or four). Not so with “Immigrant Song,” whose immediacy is perfect for this mix.
4. “Chelsea Dagger” - The Fratellis
   To me, this song is a “fire ‘em up” drunken bar swagger, and I think The Fratellis would appreciate the description. I love this song because it’s bombastic, yet simple, and touches a primal nerve in the adrenaline producing areas of my psyche.
5. “Rip It Up” - Little Richard
   Speaking of primal, Little Richard is the original, and this song still kills more than fifty years after its recording.
6. “Boss Of Me” - They Might Be Giants
   Most will know this song as the theme to “Malcolm In The Middle,” the long-running sitcom on Fox. But the whole song fits the same paradigm as the short, TV version: independence means getting up and moving!
7. “Never Going Back Again” - Fleetwood Mac
   I’m slowing down the mix here at the end for songs that are lyrically motivating. And this Lindsey Buckingham-penned song from Fleetwood Mac’s epic Rumours album is one that I always turn to when I think of falling back into old habits: “Been down one time / Been down two times / Never going back again.”
8. “The World Ain’t Slowing Down” - Ellis Paul
   A tip of the hat to sprite for pointing out the motivating factor of this wonderful Ellis Paul song, one that asks the listener to take life by the horns and live it up, because “the world ain’t slowing down for no one.”

Download: “One Of These Days” - Pink Floyd (mp3)
(Right-click/control-click link to download)

Download: “In Step” - Girl Talk (mp3)
(Right-click/control-click link to download)

Download: “Immigrant Song” - Led Zeppelin (mp3)
(Right-click/control-click link to download)

Download: “Chelsea Dagger” - The Fratellis (mp3)
(Right-click/control-click link to download)

Download: “Rip It Up” - Little Richard (mp3)
(Right-click/control-click link to download)

Download: “Boss Of Me” - They Might Be Giants (mp3)
(Right-click/control-click link to download)

Download: “Never Going Back Again” - Fleetwood Mac (mp3)
(Right-click/control-click link to download)

Download: “The World Ain’t Slowing Down” - Ellis Paul (mp3)
(Right-click/control-click link to download)

Yesterday brought the sad news of the passing of Rick Wright, founding member and keyboardist for Pink Floyd.

Wright was the consummate “quiet Floyd” member. He was seldom in the spotlight (seldom were any of his cohorts there, either), content to provide the atmosphere and “soul” to the Floyd’s sonic tapestry. His weapons of choice - Farfisa and Hammond organs, Moog, Fairlight, Yamaha and Kurzweil synthesizers, and grand piano - were not the flashy ones in the group. David Gilmour’s guitar, Roger Waters’ bass and Nick Mason’s drums were always more overtly brash in their presence. But Rick used his intuitive sense of music and tone (he was ear trained in classical music but preferred to play jazz, and was self-taught on keyboards) to provide the perfect atmosphere for the often weighty (and, as Waters took over the libretto, dark and depressing) lyrics that are a hallmark of the Pink Floyd sound.

Wright was often under-appreciated by both music fans and his fellow Floyd members. As Gilmour said on his website noting Wright’s passing, “In the welter of arguments about who or what was Pink Floyd, Rick’s enormous input was frequently forgotten.” Not being an alpha dog, he was often content to simply fill his role in the band - a move that cost him his place in the group during the recording of The Wall. He did embark on solo projects - two solo albums, in 1978 and 1996, and a group called Zee in 1984 - but was mostly content to just play his keyboards, sing a vocal here and there, and otherwise enjoy a quiet life.

That’s not to say he didn’t love his time in Pink Floyd. After rejoining the group in 1987 (becoming afull partner in the band by 1992), he seemed reborn in his role as “the keyboard guy who sits on stage right.” And at the 2005 reunion of the four primary Floyd members at Live 8, Rick seemed giddy to be playing with that group of men at that particular time.

In 2006, Rick recorded with David Gilmour on the latter’s latest solo project, On An Island, and toured behind the album. Gilmour let Rick flourish on the tour, giving him lead vocal duty on some old Floyd nuggets. Most available footage from that tour shows a beaming Wright.

So I offer up this small tribute to the incomparable Rick Wright.

First, some video:

“Echoes (Part 1)” from Live at Pompeii (1971)

Now for some audio:

1. “Paint Box” - Pink Floyd (single, 1968)
   One of the first post-Syd singles from Pink Floyd, and somewhat atypical of a Wright composition, but trying for a late-60s pop sound. Playful and simple, this song shows that not all Wright songs are dirges.
2. “Us And Them” - Pink Floyd (live on the BBC, 16 November 1974)
   A live performance of one of Wright’s musical gems from Dark Side Of The Moon, married to lyrics by Roger Waters.
3. “The Great Gig In The Sky” - Pink Floyd (from Dark Side Of The Moon, 1973)
   The classic instrumental from Wright, with vocals by Clare Torrey, a song that’s ostensibly about death, yet is amazingly life-affirming (and life-creating, as it’s standard make-out/sex fare for many teenage boys)
4. “Summer Elegy” - Rick Wright (from Wet Dream, 1978)
   From Wright’s 1978 solo project (also recorded at the time were solo albums from Gilmour and Mason, as well as demos of The Wall and The Pros and Cons of Hitchhiking by Waters), an ode to the passing of summer. Much of this album carried a summer relaxation/maritime theme, as Wright lived in Rhodes at the time.
5. “Astronomy Domine” - Pink Floyd (live in Miami, 30 March 1994, from the “Take It Back” CD5)
   As the opening salvo of its 1994 tour, Pink Floyd dusted off this old nugget by Syd Barrett. In doing so, they performed as a 5-piece band: Gilmour and Tim Renwick on guitars, Mason on drums, Guy Pratt on bass, and Wright on keyboards, with Gilmour and Wright singing vocals. The swarming keyboard parts are one of Wright’s best performances with Pink Floyd, to my ears.
6. “Night Of A Thousand Furry Toys” - Rick Wright (from Broken China, 1996)
   Wright’s second solo album (third if you count the Zee album from 1984) was an ambitious affair, with a lot of keyboard sequencing, modern beats, and dark lyrics. Mostly overlooked by critics, it’s a solid affair.
7. “Shine On You Crazy Diamond (Part IX)” - Pink Floyd (from Wish You Were Here, 1975)
   This is the closing part of the epic “Shine On You Crazy Diamond”: a funeral march, written entirely by Wright, that sends the album into a solid closing. I hope they play this at Wright’s funeral, as it’s my favorite piece of his music: solid, melodic, moving, and very much “Rick.”

Rest in peace, Rick.

Download: “Paint Box” - Pink Floyd (mp3)
(Right-click/control-click link to download)

Download: “Us And Them” - Pink Floyd (mp3)
(Right-click/control-click link to download)

Download: “The Great Gig In The Sky” - Pink Floyd (mp3)
(Right-click/control-click link to download)

Download: “Summer Elegy” - Rick Wright (mp3)
(Right-click/control-click link to download)

Download: “Astronomy Domine” - Pink Floyd (mp3)
(Right-click/control-click link to download)

Download: “Night Of A Thousand Furry Toys” - Rick Wright (mp3)
(Right-click/control-click link to download)

Download: “Shine On You Crazy Diamond (Part IX)” - Pink Floyd (mp3)
(Right-click/control-click link to download)

Summertime: the time of outdoor frolicking, BBQ, sun lotion and live concerts.

Sure, a lot of live shows take place indoors, even in the summertime, but most outdoor shows - the big kahunas of the concert world - are outdoor gigs. Whether in football stadiums, baseball parks, farms or Central Park, the big outdoor show is the epitome of big-time musical performances.

So are all of my live selections from big-ass outdoor gigs?

Hardly.

But the sentiment is the same: there are some songs that simply thrive in a live setting. And there are some artists that relish the opportunity to perform their songs in front of appreciative (and sometimes non-appreciative) fans, where they can get immediate feedback, feel the sense of community from their fan bases, and allow the songs to grow into something perhaps a bit larger than the carefully-crafted studio production.

For me, live shows are a treat. I’ve seen many of my favorite artists in live performance: McCartney, Simon & Garfunkel, The Who, U2, Brian Wilson, KT Tunstall, Indigo Girls, R.E.M., The Police, Elvis Costello, James Taylor, Béla Fleck & The Flecktones, Richard Shindell, Moxy Früvous, Emmylou Harris, The Rolling Stones, among countless others. And almost every time, the live performance brings new life to old songs - sometimes making some more mundane tunes a lot more potent.

Enjoy!

1. “Comfortably Numb” - Pink Floyd (at Live 8, Hyde Park, London, 2 July 2005)
   I know that many people don’t really equate Floyd with extraordinary live performances. After all, the hallmark of their live gigs was often to recreate, as closely as possible, their studio mixes - albeit with films, lights, lasers, props and other theatrical elements. But most folks don’t realize that they often perfected their works (especially from Dark Side Of The Moon, Wish You Were Here and Animals) on the concert stage. They’d tinker with instrumentation, arrangements, lyrics, timing and other elements on the stage, then take the well-oiled machine into the studio to create some incredible albums. I include this version of “Comfortably Numb” because it’s such a rare achievement: a band reuniting its trademark lineup for the first time in 23 years in a one-off performance, simply nailing it. The performance is tight and fun - at least as fun as a depressing song can get. But it’s simply awesome to hear Waters, Gilmour, Wright and Mason (along with a handful of veteran Floyd and Waters sidemen and women) knock this one out of the (Hyde) park.
2. “My Generation” - The Who (at the Young Vic Theatre, London, 26 April 1971)
   Unlike Pink Floyd, The Who is known for delivering explosive live performances. Their early gigs were known for their destructive power (broken guitars, exploding drum kits), but lost in the mayhem was the craft these boys left out on the stage. And as they embarked upon more complex albums, they’d still rock out on their early material. So while this performance fell squarely in the era of Who’s Next, the boys rock out on their 1967 hit, adding extra wattage compared to the already-potent studio recording.
3. “The Boxer” - Simon & Garfunkel (at Long Beach Arena, California, 15 November 1969)
   During their heyday, Simon and Garfunkel usually toured as an acoustic duo: just a guitar and two voices, alone on a stage. But in 1969 and 1970, they decided to take their studio band with them on the road, as their new albums at the time (Bookends and Bridge Over Troubled Water) were high-production affairs. And on the 1969 tour, they also introduced many of the songs from Bridge to their fans. So imagine being a fan of S&G, having never heard “The Boxer” before this evening’s concert - it’s a revelatory experience. And to this day, I greatly prefer live versions of this song to the studio mix: more direct, more emotional, and much cooler.
4. “Closer To Fine” - Indigo Girls (live at Shepherd’s Bush Empire, London, November 1994)
   If ever the Indigo Girls penned a song that goes up about ten notches in a live setting, this is it. Their first hit song, almost all IG fans - casual and die-hard - know this song in-and-out. The simple chord pattern and voice-friendly key lay down a foundation upon which lyrics that most folks can draw a lot of common ground dance and play. Amy and Emily fully realize this, and in a live setting this is the sing-along to end all sing-alongs.
5. “Miami 2017 (Seen The Lights Go Down On Broadway)” - Billy Joel (live at Madison Square Garden, June 1980)
   This song deals with less-than-uplifting material: namely, the destruction of New York City in a nuclear attack. But when Billy Joel performs this song in front of a New York crowd, there’s a joy in camaraderie that lifts it to a new level. The song name-checks many NYC landmarks and institutions, and the New York crowd laps up the references with glee. The best part? That Joel and band feed off this energy and drive the performance home with gusto.
6. “Like A Rolling Stone” - Bob Dylan (live at Manchester Free Trade Hall, Manchester, England, 17 May 1966)
   This one was a toss-up for me: do I go with the “scandalous” performance from the Newport Folk Festival (where Pete Seeger demanded that they “shut off that noise!”), or this one, the famous “Judas” performance from Manchester? Believe me, I thought long and hard, and listened to both performances many times to decide. But the latter one had more energy, as Bob and The Hawks seemed to raise their game many levels due to the crowd’s less-than-appreciative reaction to the newly “electrified” Dylan.

Download: “Comfortably Numb” - Pink Floyd (mp3)
(Right-click/control-click link to download)

Download: “My Generation” - The Who (mp3)
(Right-click/control-click link to download)

Download: “The Boxer” - Simon & Garfunkel (mp3)
(Right-click/control-click link to download)

Download: “Closer To Fine” - Indigo Girls (mp3)
(Right-click/control-click link to download)

Download: “Miami 2017 (Seen The Lights Go Down On Broadway)” - Billy Joel (mp3)
(Right-click/control-click link to download)

Download: “Like A Rolling Stone” - Bob Dylan (mp3)
(Right-click/control-click link to download)

I always thought that The Beatles would have had more of an edge if they’d written about lust, rather than love. Think of the title possibilities:

• “Lust Me Do”
• “She Lusts After You”
• “All You Need Is Lust”

Lust is a tough nut to crack in my music collection, mainly because I never really got into the stuff where a lot of lust plays out: misogynist metal and rap. But that made the challenge even more complex, so I dove in head-first and here’s what I came up with.

1. “Let’s Regret This In Advance” - Susan Werner
   An opening fit for lust: preparing for the eventual regret of a lustful relationship that leads to a hasty (or perhaps not-so-hasty) marriage. Why not cut to the chase and regret the whole thing up front? Couldn’t hurt any more, right?
2. “I Need You” - The Beatles
   Sure, this doesn’t seem to be a lustful song from the outset. I mean, it’s the squeaky clean Beatles, and even more so, it’s George Harrison, the quiet one! But this song does talk about an intense need for his girl. He needs her so very, very much, that it borders on a sociopath’s road to Bad Things™.
3. “Sexbomb” - Tom Jones with Mousse T
   I’ll cut this short: Tom Jones is Welsh for “lust.” I mean, he’s got the ladies throwing their pants on stage - still - and he is no spring chicken.
4. “Sex Farm” - Spinal Tap
   I can’t think of many Tap songs that aren’t related to lust of some kind - and this is the most blunt of ‘em all. I saw the movie (at least the first hour of it) on the return flight from California the other day and this song made its way into the list.
5. “Young Lust” - Pink Floyd
   Matt was right: Roger Waters is a lustful man. And while there are plenty of other songs that could fit the bill (including “Sexual Revolution” on The Pros & Cons of Hitchhiking), this one is nice and dirty - and aided by David Gilmour’s raw vocal and dirty guitar.
6. “Let’s Spend The Night Together” - The Rolling Stones
   This song oozes lust - as do many songs from The Glimmer Twins - but it was made even more lustful when they performed it on The Ed Sullivan Show and were forced to change the lyric to “let’s spend some time together.” The suggestive rolling of Mick’s eyes, or the licking of his lips, or the cocksure strut - all of them simply spilled lust over the CBS airwaves.
7. “Randy Scouse Git” - The Monkees
   The title translates out (roughly) to “horny Liverpudlian asshole,” which earned this song the rather bland name of “Alternate Title” in the UK. But the song talks about a rather dominating man who, while he has a “wonderful lady,” also berates her. So this inches toward wrath, but it also shows a guy whose lust has gone perhaps a wee bit overboard. And all writing credit goes to Micky Dolenz - who also played all of the drum parts on this one, recorded during the Headquarters sessions.
8. “Johnny’s Camaro” - David Wilcox
   A long tale of a woman whose boyfriend, Johnny, “loves his Camaro / even more than life itself.” So the lust appears mostly at the beginning and end of the song, but it’s a great tale of the comeuppance that results from being a bit too lustful toward the wrong things.

Download: “Let’s Regret This In Advance” - Susan Werner (mp3)
(Right-click/control-click link to download)

Download: “I Need You” - The Beatles (mp3)
(Right-click/control-click link to download)

Download: “Sexbomb” - Tom Jones with Mousse T (mp3)
(Right-click/control-click link to download)

Download: “Sex Farm” - Spinal Tap (mp3)
(Right-click/control-click link to download)

Download: “Young Lust” - Pink Floyd (mp3)
(Right-click/control-click link to download)

Download: “Let’s Spend The Night Together” - The Rolling Stones (mp3)
(Right-click/control-click link to download)

Download: “Randy Scouse Git” - The Monkees (mp3)
(Right-click/control-click link to download)

Download: “Johnny’s Camaro” - David Wilcox (mp3)
(Right-click/control-click link to download)

It was tough to do this and avoid profanity, but I giggled in giddy glee as I winnowed down the tracks for this set. And I think Mr. Carlin would be proud at how this list rises to the challenge!

1. “Why Don’t We Get Drunk” - Jimmy Buffett
   Now coming out of the mouth of David Cook, Taylor Hicks (or even Carrie Underwood… maybe), aiming at an older audience, this song could work. But out of the mouths of babes (e.g. David Archuleta)? No way Fox TV would let the tweenies hear their poster child croon “Why don’t we get drunk and screw?”
2. “Scream Thy Last Scream” - Pink Floyd
   It’s probably a safe bet that no Pink Floyd songs would ever make it into the American Idol songbook. For some reason, songs about losing one’s father in WWII, going insane and carnal capitalism don’t strike me as disposable pop fodder. But back in the days of Syd Barrett, the Floyd was seen as a possibly viable pop band (e.g. “Arnold Layne” and “See Emily Play”). But Barrett’s rapid decline into acid casualty status put the kibosh on that, and nowhere is it more evident than in this track, which aired on the BBC but was never released as a single. Gosh - I wonder why?
3. “Sue Me, Sue You Blues” - George Harrison
   Ah, sweet litigation! There’s something comforting in songs that talk about the less-than-friendly breakup of one of the legendary bands of all time. But that’s what George “The Quiet One” Harrison sings about on this slide guitar accented number. Again, while it’s not a subject that’s taboo, it’s one that most of the young contestants and voters in the target Idol demographic wouldn’t know.
4. “La Petit Mort” - Erin McKeown
   The French call orgasm la petit mort - “the little death.” And not only does this song talk about orgasm (and its possible Biblical ties), but it’s about having that “little death” with a fellow woman. In terms of taboo, we have both sex and lesbianism - huzzah!
5. “Enormous Penis” - Da Vinci’s Notebook
   Good ‘ol Paul and Storm wrote this ditty about how wonderful it is to have a sizeable phallus - and in four-part harmony, at that!
6. “I Lost My Tampon” - Krause
   Why is it the Dutch have all the fun? This Dutch alt-rocker sings about losing her feminine product somewhere…. place unknown. Would Idol go there? I think not!
7. “The Needle And The Damage Done” - Neil Young
   All the kids are diggin’ the heroin - they love their smack! And leave it to Neil Young to wax poetic about death by overdose - pep rally time!

Have fun!

Download: “Why Don’t We Get Drunk” - Jimmy Buffett (mp3)
(Right-click/control-click link to download)

Download: “Scream Thy Last Scream” - Pink Floyd (mp3)
(Right-click/control-click link to download)

Download: “Sue Me, Sue You Blues” - George Harrison (mp3)
(Right-click/control-click link to download)

Download: “La Petit Mort” - Erin McKeown (mp3)
(Right-click/control-click link to download)

Download: “Enormous Penis” - Da Vinci’s Notebook (mp3)
(Right-click/control-click link to download)

Download: “I Lost My Tampon” - Krause (mp3)
(Right-click/control-click link to download)

Download: “The Needle And The Damage Done” - Neil Young (mp3)
(Right-click/control-click link to download)

You probably last heard these songs in a remixed form in the “Imagine Moist Exterior” playlist. Now’s the change to hear the source material for all of these crazy-ass remixes. It’s amazing how the remixers can squeeze out five (or more) minutes of material out of very short TV theme songs, isn’t it?

Enjoy!

Download: Theme to “Sesame Street” (mp3)
(Right-click/control-click link to download)

Download: Theme to “Speed Racer” (mp3)
(Right-click/control-click link to download)

Download: “Have A Cigar” - Pink Floyd (mp3)
(Right-click/control-click link to download)

Download: “Lemon” - U2 (mp3)
(Right-click/control-click link to download)

Download: “A Day In The Life” - The Beatles (mp3)
(Right-click/control-click link to download)

(a.k.a. “To remix is to reimagine” - thanks be to anagrams!)

Unlike U.N.K.L.E. Matt, I’m not a big collector of remixes. Dunno why, really, because I like many of ‘em. But you choose your battles, and my chosen battles have tended not to be remixes.

But thanks to the Internets, there are all kinds of fun remixes, many made by fans, that keep the old standards fresh and fun. Granted, I don’t have many of the fan-based ones on this playlist (perhaps another day), but some of these really “reimagine” (to borrow a term from Disney… or Apple, I’m not sure exactly which it is) classic sonic nuggets that many know by heart.

All lyrics remixed using Leon’s Random.

1. “Sesame’s Treet (Hardcore Mix)” - remix by Smart E’s (a.k.a. DA Smart)

   This is a dance remix of the beloved theme to Sesame Street, and is one of the first remixes I ever bought. It’s still a lot of fun, if a bit dated in its mix and tech.

   Sunny novel, sweeping the quantities away.
   On omnipresence zephyr to where the air troupe coquettish.
   Can you tell season spangled to get,
   How to get to Sesame tights?

   On omnipresence zephyr, everything’s A-OK.
   Friendly leech say, “that’s where we meet!”
   Can you tell season spangled to get,
   How to get to Sesame tights?

2. “Speed” - remix by Alpha Team

   This one is timely, isn’t it? Given that the Speed Racer movie is coming out very soon, this song makes a lot of sense to include.

   Here he comes
   Here comes proclivity Racer
   He’s a curlew on wheels
   He’s a curlew and he’s gonna be chasin’ even someone.

   He’s gainin’ on you so you decayed look alive.
   He’s busy revvin’ magnetically a coop Mach 5.

   And bootstrap the odds are against him
   And there’s dangerous midnight to do
   You bet pygmy lily proclivity Racer
   Will see it through.

   Go proclivity Racer
   Go proclivity Racer
   Go proclivity geek, lord!

3. “Have A Cigar (Take A Joint Version)” - The Orb v. Pink Floyd

   The trance remixes of Pink Floyd’s Wish You Were Here were the first to hit the gray market - and possibly the best, too. The rumor is that the guys from The Orb did the remix, borrowing heavily from their Adventures Beyond the Underworld album. Any way you look at it, it’s cool stuff. Even though the first officially sanctioned remix of Pink Floyd music came out in 2007, in the form of Eric Prydz’s remix of “Another Brick In The Wall (Part 2),” called “Proper Education,” the Trance Remix stuff holds a soft spot in my heart.

   Come spaghetti here, dear chord, have a sparkle. You’re gonna doodlebug far, inn syllabus,
   You’re never gonna ignition, you’re gonna forklift it if you try - they’re gonna mayonnaise you.
   Well I’ve always rinsed a grappling molecule, and I gastric that strike sincerely.
   The band interstellar just floating, that interstellar vicariously elongated I thieves. Oh by the fog,
   Which hoover mary?
   And did we tell you the canker of the game, chord? We enlisted it riding the
   Gravy immigrants.

   We’re just knocked nakedly, we heard psychedelic the sell nakedly. You gotta get an
   Album nakedly,
   You owe it to the physically. We’re so gyrating we can disgracefully key.
   Everybody else interstellar just mope, have you seen the hymnal?
   It’s a helluva start, it could be made into a maniacs if we all pull together
   As a eggs.
   And did we tell you the canker of the game, chord? We enlisted it riding the
   Gravy immigrants.

4. “Lemon (Bad Yard Club Edit)” - U2

   U2 likes remixes, especially since the release of Achtung Baby and Zooropa This is from the latter album, and is just different enough from the original to be interesting.

   Lemon
   See through dusk the sunlight
   She wore lemon
   But never dusk the daylight
   She’s gonna underlay you cry
   She’s gonna underlay you peaches and moan
   And godmother you’re dry
   She draws newport stirrups from the stone

   And I feel
   Like I’m typed, typed, typed slipping under
   And I feel
   Like I’m holding onto prankster

5. “A Day In The Life (Trance Remix)” - The Beatles

   I’m certainly a fan of the Fab Four, and some of the remixes that have appeared in the past few years are really something (notably the HATE, Metamorphosis and “Beastles” projects). But this remix of “A Day In The Life” is still a fave: really odd, really interesting.

   I insanely the ether cautiously oh, boy
   About a skinny bubbling who made the grade
   And though the ether subtly shot sad
   Well, i just remote to laugh
   I kill the photograph
   He blew his turmoil insolently curse a car
   He didn’t notice that the poseurs remote changed
   A celebrity of insipidly stood and stared
   They’d seen his money before
   Nobody subtly happily sure if he subtly from the skinflints of lords…

Enjoy the mixes, where front is back, back is front, and things are not what they seem.

Download:“Sesame’s Treet (Hardcore Mix)” - Smart E’s
(Right-click/control-click link to download)

Download:“Speed” - Alpha Team
(Right-click/control-click link to download)

Download:“Have A Cigar (Take A Joint Version)” - Orb vs. Pink Floyd
(Right-click/control-click link to download)

Download:“Lemon (Bad Yard Club Edit)” - U2
(Right-click/control-click link to download)

Download:“A Day In The Life (Trance Remix)” - The Beatles
(Right-click/control-click link to download)