RANDOM YAMMERINGS: March 2013

Some assorted musical thoughts..

I sometimes share my iTunes purchases in this forum, but since I have been a tunes glutton as of late, it would be easier/briefer to share what I haven't bought on iTunes lately. These songs remain unpurchased--not by any feat of self-restraint. It's just that iTunes ain't selling 'em . You thought EVERYTHING was available on iTunes, didn't ya? So did I, and I was sadly disillusioned. Here are some tracks that continue to elude me...my "iTunes Holy Grails"

One thing I can't even find on YouTube is a certain version of Falco's "Rock Me Amadeus". I think it's the American radio edit and there's a bit of a guitar riff that is unique to that version and also it has the educational timeline bit. I think he also says in it "Sug-sug-sugar sweet. Sugar sweet." That line is a trifle hazy in my memory, so maybe that's not really in there. But the guitar & the timeline for sure. Now, I do have a perfectly servicable "Rock Me Amadeus" in my tunes library already . But IMHO, "Rock Me Amadeus" is such a benchmark of 80s pop that I MUST OWN every. existing. variation. MUST OWN!!

There's a decent catalog of stuff by The Cramps on iTunes, but I can't find the one song by them that I reeeeally want--

And even more aggravating, iTunes has my other Holy Grail proffered on a slew of soundtracks where you can't buy individual tracks. Yes, I want this, but I'm not going to buy an entire $10 soundtrack to get it. And the only Pete Townsend record it's available on is where he performed it live (a good 15 or so yrs after he originally came out with it) for a charity concert. With an acoustic guitar. Mehhh. Not as good. No thank ye.

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I used to have this funny practice of listening to a playlist of showtunes when driving in inclement weather. This sprang from the notion that nothing bad could happen while "76 Trombones" (or anything of that similar ilk) was playing. It would be too ridiculously incongruous a soundtrack, y'know? Well, eventually, I tired of listening to ONLY showtunes in foul weather, so I expanded the inclement driving playlist to include any & all "nothing-bad-can-happen-when-this-is-playing" songs. For instance..."Whoomp! There it is" Nothing bad could ever happen whilest the dulcet tones of Tag Team are back again and making you wave your hands in the air shake yer derriere...and whatnot and so forth

Anywhooo, shuffling thru my music the other day, and up came "Surfin' Bird" by The Trashmen. I cannot help but smile when listening to that song. I started to consider it being added to the aforementioned playlist but ultimately ruled against it. While it is utterly delightful (it SO is) it is not exactly soothing to the nerves. I can't imagine I could steer serenely and steadily with it blastin' out tha speakers.
Now.as my inclement weather playlist is essentially "mood music", my mind then meandered to mood music for setting the mood. And how freakin' HYSTERICAL would it be if somebody used "Surfin' Bird" for THAT? Yeah, OK, so if it really, in-real-life happened it would be weird. But as a hypothetical absurdity, it's damned amusing. The date comes back for the ostensible "nightcap" and instead of Barry White's Greatest Hits or the old standby slow jams (Teddy Pendergrass springs instantly to mind, though I don't know that I've ever in my life listened to Teddy Pendergrass) you dim the lights and put on ...PAPPA OOO MOW MOW PAPPA OOO MOW MA MOW!!
Mmmm...Hot.

Just spotted Surfin' Bird on this erudite & well thought-out list of influential 60s songs. Perusing that list led me to buy--

It's definitely an olllllld chestnut, but this version of it is fer sure my fave. < < That is nearly exactly what I wrote about it on This Is My Jam when I posted that as my proffered jam. I dig that site... you post every week a different song..whatever song you're currently hooked on. And you can write a brief caption of just why you are so smitten. And then the other side of the coin, (what I feel makes the site so very brill) is that it will recommend others' jams (based on your chosen jams and your FB likes...if you linked your TimJ account with yer FB account, that is) and you can peruse them and discover new tunes (or just browse freestyle, ignoring any recommendations). If you "follow" someone on the site (ideally peeps whose musical tastes intrigue you), then at log-in, you get the option to play a playlist of all the current jams of those folks. Me mucho gusta!! I'm always digging about for new audio discoveries.. I suppose the site isn't *WORLDS* away from something like Pandora, but I like how user-driven it is.

..better than months of silence and then recycled email banter. But recycled banter you're getting (sorry!!) in the hopes that it will prime the proverbial pump and get me blogging a bit more frequently.

And hey, it's not like I haven't don *any* work-- I screen capped, I obscured last names to protect the work-shirkin' guilty. I'll be honest--vis a vis the guilt -- it's 99.9% my guilt. I don't really believe that anyone is captivated by what I'm streaming over AccuRadio. But the show & tell keeps my brain from going ENTIRELY numb....and sometimes it evolves into semi-entertaining repartee..

I should maybe stipulate that "Thigh Ride" is an obscure little musical nugget from the 80s that comes on AccuRadio from time to time. Like, more times than one would expect. When it comes on, I rarely can sit through the whole thing (well, HERE, you try!). But I do screen cap it before hitting skip, as I am irresistably compelled to alert someone (usually Kara) that I'm actually hearing a song called THIGH RIDE.