Down here on the farm we've been waiting for this descent of herds of cicadas that just don't seem to be coming. Most non-storming nights of the last three weeks, there's been a deafening roar from the woods, but hardly any have actually shown up anywhere to be seen. We've had only maybe a few dozen in the yard and on the lane.
Anticipation of this apparent non-event, however, has caused me to dig up every kind of insect related song. Naturally, I've mixed them down to a kick-ass bug-themed CD mix. This works out about 77:30:
*Hurry Down Doomsday - Elvis Costello
"Any day now a giant insect mutation
Will swoop down and devour the white man's burden"
*Doodle Bug - Doc Watson
The Doc Watson Family album is a totally necessary classic.
*The Cockroach That Ate Cincinnati - Rose and the Arrangement
*Spiderman - Original TV theme
Now we move into the spider section- including three unique arrangements of the basic theme song.
*Spiders & Snakes - Jim Stafford
*Spiderman Theme - Moxy Fruvous
This bunch of Canucks are highly underappreciated, and do some really cool things particularly with vocal harmony singing. Not applicable to this mix, but hunt down also their outstanding version of the Roadrunner theme.
*The Itsy Bitsy Spider - Little Richard
This comes from a pretty good children's AIDS benefit album a few years back that also includes outstanding contributions from Springsteen and Dylan.
*Boris the Spider - The Who
John Entwistle's best ever song.
*Spiderman Theme - The Ramones
*Dune Buggy - Presidents of the United States of America
Coupla fat spiders driving around in a cool dune buggy finish out the spider section.
*Bugs - Pearl Jam
I generally give a rat's ass about Pearl Jam, but this is pretty distinctive and amusing.
*High Hopes - Frank Sinatra
Who the hell did that little ant think he was, anyway?
*Insect Equal Rights Press Conference - Jason Younger
A little comedy bit about a Chigro-American demanding his rights. I first ran into this on the late lamented mp3.com, but Mr Younger has re-surfaced.
*Love Is Like a Butterfly - Dolly Parton
A few nice butterfly songs make it pretty.
*All My Little Words - Magnetic Fields
Exactly the things that make his lover so appealing mean that he won't be able to keep her. Thus the central metaphor of the song,
"You are a splendid butterfly
It is your wings that make you beautiful"
Bug gimmicks aside, this is one of the most beautiful songs ever written.
Article comments
1 - Eric Olsen
dude, how could you leave off thewedding staple (father-daughter dance) "Butterfly Kisses"? It's a guaranteed weeper.
2 - Eric Olsen
And no "Antmusic" by Adam and the Ants? Sacrilege
3 - Al Barger
Forgot all about the Antmusic- which is silly since I've been listening to "Goody Two Shoes" in my workout mix.
As to the "Butterfly Kisses," I'ma have the cockroach come over from Cincinnati and eat that guy so I never have to hear that treacly song again.
4 - Jim Carruthers
re: "Butterfly Kisses", wouldn't one of those bugs from Omnicron Seti 6 in "Star Trek II: Khan Gets Peeved" be a better choice?
Which is probably what happened to Adam Ant, since he has gone bug-fuck nuts (dressing up like a cowboy and then threatening to kill people who laughed at how crazy he looked).
5 - Phillip Winn
Eric, I have two daughters, and I *still* hate that stupid Bob Carlisle song. Ugh -- no thanks for causing me to think of it!
6 - Eric Olsen
I was mostly joking about "Butterfly Kisses," which is horrifyingly manipulative and saccharine.
BUT, I guarantee you, if you are at an actual wedding, and if that song is played for the father-daughter dance (as it so often is), and if you have one or more daughters, you WILL weep. It's an involumtary reflex.
7 - Jim Carruthers
It's an involumtary reflex.
Sorta like throwing up in your mouth a little bit?
8 - Eric Olsen
very similar
9 - Al Barger
Perhaps we could pump "Butterfly Kisses" really loud into Saddam's cell 24/7. That'd serve the bastard right.
10 - Jim Carruthers
Our Pal Al rites: Perhaps we could pump "Butterfly Kisses" really loud into Saddam's cell 24/7. That'd serve the bastard right.
I'd rather see it beamed into Shrub's brain chip implant everytime there is a reference to whatever his daughter's-names-are linked to a bar or club on the AP and Reuters newswire with an RSS. Not that the seizures would be any different from his day-to-day activities.
11 - Al Barger
Yes Jim, but thing is, Dubya's twisted enough that he might LIKE the song.
12 - Jim Carruthers
I have to make a full disclosure, the head of the Olympic drug tribunal is a Canadian, and his name is Dick Pound.
Make of it what you will, after you've finished rolling around laughing
And I think the audio loop which is running in Shrub's head is more like he is channeling Jasper and making up lyrics to "Summer Song".
13 - Al Barger
Remind me to kick my own ass later. I forgot to include "The Fly" by U2, which is a big fave of mine. It was on the working list of suggestions, and I have it on the hard drive. Just slipped my mind.
I may end up having to make a second volume.
14 - Jim Carruthers
Why should we stall ass kicking 'till later, why not do it now?
Hell, every day should be an Al Ass Kicking Day! Hurrah!!
We could even come up with a jingle.
15 - Al Barger
Oh yeah, Jim. Bring that on. It'll be you, Terence, Philip and the Canuck army versus me and the dogs.
Anyone want to make book on this?
Perhaps we could set it up on pay per view.
16 - JR
"Spider Web" by Joan Osborne (from Relish). Although that song seems to be more about Ray
Charles. How's that for synchronicity?
17 - Bridget
I'm quite a bit late in making this suggestion, but if you're anything like me, you're always editing and improving upon these tracklists anyway.
You're missing a true gem- "Lullaby" by the Cure.
"On candystripe legs the spiderman comes
Softly through the shadow of the evening sun
Stealing past the windows of the blissfully dead
Looking for the victim shivering in bed
Searching out fear in the gathering gloom and
Suddenly!
A movement in the corner of the room!
And there is nothing I can do
When I realise with fright
That the spiderman is having me for dinner tonight!
Quietly he laughs and shaking his head
Creeps closer now
Closer to the foot of the bed
And softer than shadow and quicker than flies
His arms are all around me and his tongue in my eyes
"Be still be calm be quiet now my precious boy
Don't struggle like that or I will only love you more
For it's much too late to get away or turn on the light
The spiderman is having you for dinner tonight"
And I feel like I'm being eaten
By a thousand million shivering furry holes
And I know that in the morning I will wake up
In the shivering cold
And the spiderman is always hungry... "