This was a fun list to compile. Perhaps it was because my load has been lightened a bit this week and I feel less stress, thus my playlist has lightened up considerably. But as ever, it's an eclectic mix. The only thing I did not include is the classical music I have been listening to by Erik Satie, who I would also recommend, even though he is quite melancholy at times. The piano is beautiful if you’re into that sort of thing.
This list has many songs about love and lovers who are leaning, yearning, needing, and wanting. The heart wants what it wants and love warps the mind a little. With that said, I present "The List of the Moment, Volume 18." Inherent in the list is all of those things we feel – desperation, elation, endorphins rushing – as love or infatuation begins.
So, summer is full on, the sap has risen in the trees from the spring, and we find ourselves squarely in love. Given that consideration; here is your List. As ever, I look forward to your comments and questions and also, note the new feature which allows you to listen to some of the more obscure songs. Just leave a comment about a song you would like to hear, I’ll upload it for you, and you can hear it at your leisure since it is difficult to define a song – sometimes, you just need to hear it. Amazingly and happily, I’ve worked out a way to do this, so do make your requests.
Thanks as ever for your patience and for reading.
"Young Americans" by David Bowie – A softer side of Bowie to be sure and not the Bowie of the hard-edged "Suffragette City," a great song which I almost had on "The List" but for some reason, "Young American" just struck me this week so it made it.
Perhaps it was because I just saw him performing the song on a repeat of the Dick Cavett Show. It was Bowie in full make-up with his side-swiped blonde hair and parachute pants — pure Bowie.
I hear this song and I hear sex. Well sex and politics, the lyrics bear that out. This is, without doubt, a political song or is that just me. Heck, he even mentions President Nixon at one point. For now, here's a sampling of the lyrics. You can get the full lyrics from lyrics freak, if so moved.
Article comments
— go to most recent comments1 - Gordon Hauptfleisch
Good call on English Beat (great live: saw them live opening for the Clash) the Replacments and Lindsay Buckingham "Trouble."
As a Tom Waits fan, though, it should be noted that the original version of his composition "Downtown Train" surpassed for me Rod Stewart's cover. Haven't heard the EBTG, but I've always liked them--sounds intriguing.
2 - Connie Phillips
You've hit on some of my favorites here, Sadi, "She's a Beauty," "Bette Davis Eyes," "I Want You To Want Me," and of course, "Call Me." I suppose because they remind me of a simpler time, when I was much younger.
I cannot hear "Call Me" without seeing Richard Gere driving the convertible up the coast as the credits to American Gigolo run. And yes, I was too young to be watching that movie the first time I did -- but it was Richard Gere! For me that song will always have the seductive and kind of naughty connotation.
3 - sadi ranson-polizzotti
Hey Gordon;
nice to see you...
Never saw the Beat live, which is weird because i saw pretty much everyone of that time live... how odd... i love Tom Waits... didn't know he did a version of Downtown Train... i'll have to download that and check it out... i've always liked his stuff.
The EBTG version is very, very very good... acoustic and melancholy, but then, what you'd expect, but regardless, a great version.
4 - sadi ranson-polizzotti
HI Connie: i think for me, so many of the songs on this list are memory songs - i ascribe a specific date and place to each, esp. the ones you have listed... Call Me is for me more general and i wasn't much into the film so to me, it's just a command song, but i like it just as i like Hanging on the Telephone - which is a bit or a lot, rougher sounding and i almost put that one instead, since Blondie has been on my list a lot lately (well, besides the usual Bob Dylan, as ever) ---
I know what you mean of a "simpler time" but that said, i think for me anyway, even though i have far more responsiblities now, in many ways, things are simpler for me --- it's variable for everyone depending on circumstance on growing up.
Most of all, what i miss of my youth is my brother (he died, sadly) so it's sad sometimes to hear these songs and have memories of him - but i know he'd be glad of it, because these were his faves as well - so i honor him in this small way.
small things count for a lot sometimes. small kindnesses...
as for age, as my friend says or said to me, "Age ain't nuttin' but a numba." and i say this with a birthday approaching - and i have to say, i believe it. Whatever your birthday is, you can now subtract ten years because of medical advances etc etc. As my sister informed me the other day, "forty is the new thirty."
I think she's right on the money.
Glad to bring back some memories or you ... ; )
5 - Gordon Hauptfleisch
Sadi--"Downtown Train" is on Wait's album Raindogs (subject of my next Vinyl Tap) and indeed one of the best songs he's ever written-- very evocative.
6 - sadi ranson-polizzotti
oh, i should note, i have almost all of these songs as uploadable files, but for some reason, one or two won't "take" but they are ones you likely know (for example: Call Me gives me an error...) But as to the rest, i can uplaod them if you don't know... as to last weeks list, for a listen of the more obscure stuff click here. and use the left navigation until you get to Take a Listen: List of the Moment where you can download mp3 files of stuff to hear. Check out last week's list and see what you think....
ta ev to all,
s.
7 - sadi ranson-polizzotti
Hey Gordon- i'm going to have to download that from somewhere b/c i'ave been a big fan of Waits for years... just love the gravel in his voice. I can imagine him doing that song, it would be fitting... gritty? I'll have to look for it..
Thanks Gordon! Hey, not sure, but you can listen to some of last week's more obscure stuff by clicking the "here" link above ... if you have requests, let me know and i'll do my best to upload them so you can take a listen. This works well especially when i am trying to convince ya'll to listen to the French stuff..., though i admit, i also try to make a few Dylan converts - ; )
Already working on the next list... hopefully will be good...
cheers Gordon - nice to meet another Waits fan...
sade.
8 - Gordon Hauptfleisch
I met Waits once at a concert by Elvis Costello (who I also met at another occassion)--Waits was in the lobby of the Wiltern Theater in L.A. (he was later to serve as a carnival barker-like announcer in a very fun spin-the-wheel concert--replete with dancing go-go girlsin cages, etc.--in which audience members came up to determine at random what Costello songs would be performed).
Anyway when I walked inside to the lobby, Waits was there surrounded by some over-zealous fans--he didn't look especially happy about the situation. I wanted to meet him but I also didn't want to be another jerk taking up his time. But before I kept walking on, he noted my hesitation and caught my eye, subtley nodding his head as if to invite me over. In a nutshell, I walked around to the other side and he took this occasion to turn from the crowd to greet me while the other fans got the hint and dispersed.
Needless to say, I was flumoxed and virtually speechless and barely able to speak: We shook hands and I stammered something about being a big-time fan, and he said in his gravelly way, "Thanks, man." I would like to think--and there was reason to believe--that he was also thanking me for extricating him from loitering lingerers (is that a word?), but I'm not sure. I got the impression I could've probably stayed to talk with him, but I was so hummina-huminina'd that what passes for a thought process within me shut down all communication skills.
At least Waits didn't turn away from me as a newer batch of fans approached him from the other side...
9 - Steve
Hey, Sadi, I'll be reading this real good and get back to you on it soon, busy night here at home right now.
10 - sadi ranson-polizzotti
gordon, what a great story about Waits... sounds like you rather saved the day on that one... i've had similar run-ins. I met Paul Weller. There was a throng of fan girls with their make up on and their boobs pushed up to their teeth etc etc and vying for his autograph and i just walked casually down to the front of the stage after he had played English Rose and handed him the only paper i had (which happened to be a prescription for Valium, because i'm epileptic) and he turned it over first, then laughed, signed it and placed his hand over mine and kissed me.
It was the only signature he gave out that night, and god, did i feel those daggers in my back from those girls, but i think he just recognized me as a quiet Mod girl and took everything in stride and he was right - i am just a quiet Mod girl. It was a great coup, really, but the real coup was just the fact of him singling me out, much the way Waits singled you out and you become not a fan, but more of a sort of "friend' in a way - obviously not really good friends in the true sense, but some connection was or is made beyond the norm.
I've had this happen in my life several times - also with Big Audio Dynamite in NYC at the Palladium when it was big, with Weller as above, and with various people of note (Saul Bellow who was on my Editorial Board when i ran Lumen Editions), Artur Schlesinger who i met at a party, etc etc etc... it's funny; if you are just cool about things, then the person will gravitate to you.
I'm seeing Dylan in a little while and wondering if the same will happen, though i doubt it, since i don't think you can get near the stage where he's playing; i guess i could go backstage, but that seems rather pathetic... but then, i know that he used to ask if anyone was back there before leaving (when he first started out) to make sure there were fans. How sad it would be if he finished his set and there is nobody back there! This keeps crossing my mind - so i'm torn.... but i don't posit myself as a Dylan "fan" - i study him more, write about him, but not in an fan-crazy way... So how to get his attention without being utterly pathetic....
I AM interviewing D.A. Pennebaker of Eat the Document and Don't Look Back fame come this january and am very much looking forward to that -- he already agreed to the interview so it's just a question of his time and being in the country. So i'll be where he is and do an in-person thing. THAT is a real coup, i think...
i really like your Tom Waits story--- I've been there, so i know what it must've felt like...
s.
11 - sadi ranson-polizzotti
wait, Gordon, back to your first comment - you saw Lindsey Buckingham perform "Trouble"? Amazing. I had the hardest time finding that song for download and nobody seemed to have heard of it. I still think it's a great song about infatuation and not quite wanting to be there - or if i read correctly , temptation - the big "oh-oh" sort of thing... i love that song tho.... one of the last by him that really struck a chord with me and that i felt was not over produced.
Maybe that is one of the ones i'll uplaod for people who may not know it... it's such a good song.
cheers,
s.
12 - Steve
OK, well, let's see...
Re. David Bowie, I have about 31 of his songs, but none from the 70's (unless you include his Christmas duet with Bing Crosby, which I believe was recorded around 1977, though not released as a single until 1982). Funny, the lyrics to "Young Americans" seem alot more sensual when you type them out, Sadi, I guess I'd never paid much atention to them before, it having been on the radio since I was a 'little gaffer' as it were.
Do you have the "Moulin Rouge" soundtrack, Sadi?? Bowie does a killer version of the old 1940's classic "Nature Boy" on it, amazing.
Kim Carnes, yeah, I remember this tune, radio played it to death when it came out in late Spring/early Summer, I seem to recall being up north from here with family at a beach off of Georgian Bay (connected to..ummm..Lake Huron). Dirt roads, lots of trees, beach, lake, nice memories. The year that song came out, was the year I hit puberty, seems like a long time ago now lol.
I think we've discussed Buckingham too before and that song "Trouble" from the same year, Sadi. I think my big sis was a fan of the song, she loved anything to do with Fleetwood Mac. I just saw the video for this song on the Canadian 24 hr. music channel "MuchMoreMusic" a few weeks ago, hadn't seen it since...probably the 80's I think.
"Downtown Train" is a fave of mine too, although I love alot of Rod's tunes. Haven't heard the EBTG version.
Did you hear their version of Rod's "I Don't Want To Talk About It"? Beautiful.
I was never a fan of Tom Waits. I think Rod and Chris Rea are about the only rough/husky voiced male singers I've really liked over the years to be honest.
Re. The Tubes, I seem to recall discussing this one with you, Sadi, as far as your brother goes...or maybe it was part of an article you'd written. Anyway, I remember I bought the single in Canada to take back to Scotland with me, along with 3 or 4 others, so my friends could hear them as they were not hits in the UK (the other 3 or 4 were Canadian artists you probably wouldn't know ...Prototype..umm...gosh...can't remember the other 1983 ones, only the 1985 ones, wow lol!)...anyway...
I wasn't crazy about Blondie's rougher tunes, preferred their lighter fare, "Rapture" was interesting, was the first mainstream song to feature the kind of rap that is so common place today, I believe.
I was never a fan of The Beat at the time, though because of the time period they evoke for me now, I don't mind them quite so much.
I always found ska to be kind of bleak sounding, at least how The Beat did it anyway (I'm thinking of their tune "Mirror In The Bathroom" as I type this). It always made me think of unemployed youths looking for trouble, walking the concrete city streets late at night...not pleasant images. I'm glad I was just getting into secondary school at the time. And that I grew up in a smaller town, rather than a big UK city.
I do have one Cheap Trick tune ("Mighty Wings", from the "Top Gun" soundtrack) but I'm not a huge fan myself.
I guess I'll have to look up the others on your site, Sadi, as I don't know the songs and only know some of the artists by name. But it's bedtime now, so I'll leave that for tomorrow. It's been a fun trip down memory lane as usual!!
13 - Gordon Hauptfleisch
Steve: I feel the need to reiterate--especially since you say you're not a big Tom Waits fan but then go on to say that you like "Rod Stewart's tune" "Downtown Train"--that the song was written and originally recorded by Waits. It's arguably feasible to say you like Stewart's rendition, but implying that it's a Rod Stewart tune distorts things.
14 - Gordon Hauptfleisch
Said: I know "Trouble" from Buckingham's solo LP Law and Order.
Great story about Paul Weller. The circumstances for me meeting Costello backstage at the Greek Theater in Los Angeles stemmed from a friend who attained for me a personally autographed backstage pass from a San Diego show. I took it the next night to the LA show, flashed it after the concert at a security guard who was confused by it's legitimacy but ultimately, thinking it somehow authorized me someway--let me into the backstage area, where there was a party with such people as Tom Petty and John Doe and Exene from X, assorted tv stars and Hollywood types and starlets, and eventually the man of honor Costello. Again, I didn't want to seem to be a another hanger-on, but when I did meet him I made it short because I could barely stammer on about "big fan--blah, blah." That's okay, that was a enough for me--and he was very gracious, a far cry from his "angry young man" persona at the time.
15 - sadi ranson-polizzotti
hey steve; yes, i agree, young americans is quite sensual though you can read the lyrics either way i suppose. I always thought it was sensual, but erred on the side of caution here...
I don't have the soundtrack to Moulin Rouge and, in fact, had no idea that Bowie was even on it... i'll have to check this out...
Rod's I don't Wanna Talk About It is pretty great, but i've been a Rod fan for a long time (yes, laugh all you want) but i even saw him live twice; you can't beat songs like Maggie Mae and You Wear It Well and The First Cut is the Deepest. Not sure which he wrote, but i do know that he performs them incredibly well and heck, even Tonight's the Night is a great song if you're a mooning about teeenager, it think. My fave of his has to be Broken Arrow or If We Fall in Love Tonight - from that album i really like those songs ...
Lindsey Buckingham can be great when he's not overproduced. Trouble worked because it was NOT over produced.... which is one reason why i like it, plus we've all been there and had hat "oh oh" moment when we realize, "oh shit, i have a crush on x and i shouldn't have!!" Funny how life/love does that to you; you just land squarely in it without taking a step.
yes the Tubes we discussed via an article about my brother, i think.....
rest of your questions in separate post; this one getting too long.. move onto next....
s.
16 - sadi ranson-polizzotti
Steve; see, i'm with Gordon on the Tom Waits issue - i think they both have rather husky voices (as does Kim Carnes actually and as does Marianne Faithful who i also love...).
Ska, bleak! wow! i never thought of it that way - i always found it buzzing with energy and always loved it... but i think that's such a personal choice like any music and i'm not here to make converts, but if you want anything uploaded to try it out, let me know...
As to Blondie - i like all of her stuff; i like the smooth and the rough. I mean "Heart of Glass" is a beautiful beautiful song and if you've ever seen the video, damn, was she ever beautiful ... just gorgeous ... i haven't seen her in ages, but i would imagine she would age pretty gracefully .. but who knows... but i do like her rougher stuff because it IS so raw and full of emotion... and i like that she's not afaid to say what she wants, even if it makes her seem sort of pathetic at times to be "hangin' on the telephone." as in waiting for a call, etc etc. She's a pissed off chick in that song. The only other singer that reminds me of Blondie is Aimee Mann, who i think is just great as well... if you don't know her stuff, i can upload some for you... she's pretty great and did Voices Carry, but her more obscure stuff is great, like "Comin' Up Close" which is just a great song.
Cheaptrick i threw in for fun... thought we could use some lighter stuff ... ; )
as ever, great responses... but looooongggg.... you might have to break them up a bit for me, as i do with my answers because Wow! It's a lot to absorb even in these "short" answers....
sleep well, and i suppose you're awake by now!
s.
17 - Gordon Hauptfleisch
Here's to keeping it short: Rod Stewart's "You Wear it Well" has always been an evocative heart-melter.
18 - Steve
Sorry, Gordon, I did not mean to imply the song was written by Stewart, but it was 'Stewart's tune', in that he was the first to have a big hit with it, and Waits did not have a hit with it, ergo, most folks would think of Stewart's version rather than Waits' version. Of course, a big chunk of Rod's output are covers of other people's songs.
19 - Gordon Hauptfleisch
Steve--I understand and got the impression you were already in-the-know. Sorry to overreact. My corrective was a "just in case" thing--plus there are probably many who don't realize the songs
Waits wrote but that're associated with others:
the Eagles "Ol' 55," "Martha" by Bette Midler, "Jersey Girl" and the list goes on...
20 - Steve
Good points, Sadi.
Just looking at The Beat's UK hits, I only know 3 so perhaps my judgment was a bit harsh. Ska can certainly be fun, but I just couldn't think of a song of their's that fell into that category. And I thought of ska bands like The Specials who could be very bleak at the time (remember their UK#1 hit "Ghost Town"?? Downright creepy, I thought lol).
"Broken Arrow" is a fave of Rod's for me also...oops...it's actually written by former The Band member, Robbie Robertson, for his self titled Canadian Top 10 1988 album. Radio played his singles "Showdown At Big Sky" and "Somewhere Down The Crazy River" (the latter I have on cassette) to death here back then. Didn't like Robbie's stuff much at the time, but it's grown on me over the years. Isn't Rod the best 'song stealer' you've ever seen (I mean making hits out of non hits?) lol. I have Rod's "Storyteller" box set, so I suppose you could say I'm a big fan.
There are actually 2 soundtracks to Moulin Rouge, the first one is definitely better.
Yes, Sadi, it was a long post, sorry, I will try to be more brief next time.
21 - Steve
Thank you Gordon, no problem, it is certainly true that Waits is a great songwriter, I just can't stand his voice, that's all.
And for me, as I've told Sadi in the past, music and vocals are key, if I don't like either, I just wont want to listen to the song, no matter how well written, I'd rather read it, than hear it, in that case. I have a good friend of mine who thinks that the lyrics are all important, music being secondary. I guess it all boils down to what we want to get out of our music in the first place.
22 - Gordon Hauptfleisch
Steve: I also appreciate vocal quality--and lean toward that if there are other lacking conditions. There are some, though, whose lyrics and music over-ride everything else, and Waits is one.
It also helps if you grew up with Waits' singing as it evolved--the change was more gradual, less jarring for me--along with his severe shift in music style from beatnik to Beefheart-esque. To me, his vocals on albums after Swordfish Trombone displayed more character and very much befits his relatively newer unconventional direction. I couldn't imagine any other singer in that role--but, having said that, I think Rod Stewart's rendition of "Downtown Train" was very good--it certainly is one of the rarey accessible Waits songs that could be covered for a broad-based hit.
23 - Steve
I remember Waits being a fave of the music critics and the DJ's on public radio in the UK back in the 80's when I was there.
'Beatnik to Beefheart-esque'?? Wow, that is a shift!!
Funny you should mention his vocal changes, Sadi said Dylan had done the same over the years also.
Yeah, I often wonder if I hadn't grown up in the UK, whether I would like Rod's voice as much as I do, it is an acquired taste I think, like Waits' is. My Dad, who moved to Canada around 20 yrs. old, could never stand Rod, he preferred singers with more technical vocal prowess (Celine Dion, Pavarotti, Sinatra, etc.).
24 - sadi ranson-polizzotti
hey steve, no worries about length; say as much as you need to say! really! just break it up into pieces so i don't get lost... now to answer all that has come up in my hour or so absence... (was watching hitchock film, "Stage Fright" v. good, if you haven't seen and like Hitchcock).
Okay, now i'm going to read everyone's comments...
where did Chantal and Scott B go? they dropped off the face of the earth (or my column, lol) Scott emailed me a few times then it just stopped. Odd. Maybe my computer filtered it out.. not sure... aannnnyyyywayyyyy .. onward to comments.
s.
25 - sadi ranson-polizzotti
Hey Gordon - you're right about You Wear It Well - i mean, what better compliment could you pay to anyone. It reminds me so much of where i grew up (london, still citizen) and a certain age and stage of my life.
I wasn't old enough then, but my dad went to see Rod Stewart live and Rod kicked a football (soccer ball) from teh stage and it had a scuff from his red-boot on it... My father fought with some other guys for it and would up having to get stitches in his head, but he DID return home with the black and white football and red scuff...
wish i still had it; funny how things from childhood just disappear sometimes... i hate that. Wsih i had a family who saved everything, like all of my blue ribbons from horse riding. i guess my family just wasn't like that.. which makes me the opposite - i save everything and am a major documentarian... photos, soveniers etc etc... I keep it all in great big books and organized.
It's our legacy after all.. i wish someone had kept mine!
sigh..
Too bad i don't still have that football; could prob. make a killing on eBay, but how do you prove it's really Rod Stewart's scuff mark? I suppose you couldn't... I still have Paul Weller's autograph ont eh back of my valium prescription which i put behind one of the phots in the house so i would never lose it. Problem is i can't remember which photograph i hid it behind and seem to have misplaced it!!!! argh...
Best signatures i have, non-music related, are Lewis Carroll (you know THE lewis carroll, and in a first edition of his book - so extremely rare as well as Otto Plath (Sylvia's Father) in his book "Bees and Their Ways") Both were quite a coup to get, but the Lewis Carroll one is in his "Alice's Adventures Underground" (the original title of Alice in Wonderland) and it's a book all handdrawn and hand written by him of which there were only five hundred copies printed... i'm a lucky girl but have gone completely OT,
To bring us back around - i also kissed Billy Joel on the cheeck several times and got his authograph a few times as well... which also, i can't seem to find! durrr!!!