Never mind the furthermore, the plea is self-defense

[vovat]

I was tagged for this by revme, but it's something I would have wanted to do anyway, so hooray!

"List seven songs you are into right now. No matter what the genre, whether they have words, or even if they’re not any good, but they must be songs you’re really enjoying now, shaping your spring. Post these instructions in your blog along with your 7 songs. Then tag 7 other people to see what they’re listening to."

1. Aimee Mann - Jacob Marley's Chain
I really hadn't listened to much of her music until recently. I knew a few songs, and while I thought they were good, I got the impression they were pretty much all down and depressing, and I have an easier time getting into fun music. (That's not to say that I don't like any slow or sad music, just that it usually takes longer.) I guess this song is kind of on the depressing side itself, but it stuck out for me when listening to some more of her music recently. I'm not sure why, but since it was on the Ultimate Collection, I must not have been the only one who liked it.

2. Cracker - Duty Free
This song became firmly lodged in my brain when bethje mentioned going to a duty free shop in Canada. Probably one of Cracker's catchiest songs, and they didn't even write it. I've never heard the original, though.

3. Hypnotic Clambake - Trouble
On Mayonnaise (still the band's most recent album, even though it came out in 2005; isn't it about time for another one?), my favorite song is "Psychedelic Polka," and this comes right before that one. The song that comes before my favorite sometimes get tedious for me, but other times I really get into it as well. It's like how "Whistling in the Dark" was an early favorite on They Might Be Giants' Flood, but I later started really liking "Letterbox" as well. It's much the same deal here. "Trouble" actually kind of reminds me of Cracker, maybe just because the backing vocalist sounds a little like Brandy Wood.

4. Neko Case - Buckets of Rain
Another cover song where I haven't heard the original. That always makes me feel a little bad, because I tend to think of covers as being reinterpretations instead of, like, the real thing. That doesn't mean they're not sometimes better than the originals, though, and since Neko is generally a better singer than Bob Dylan (and, really, just about everybody), this might well be such a case. I loved this song when she did it live, so I'm glad it was officially released last year.

5. Monkees - No Time
I listened to Headquarters for the first time recently, and really enjoyed it. This song is really catchy, and quite possibly the source of a line in a TMBG song.

6. Frank Black - Living on Soul
A very reference-heavy song, which in case you haven't noticed, is something I tend to enjoy. "No Time" is also pretty reference-heavy, actually. By Frank's own admission, "Living on Soul" is mostly about the atomic bomb, but there's a lot of other stuff in it as well.

7. Nellie McKay - Cupcake
The first, and quite possibly best, song on her second album. I still need to get her third record. As usual, I was late getting into her music, but I've been listening to it a lot.

None of these songs are very new, are they? Well, some of them were new to me fairly recently. Anyway, as for the tagging:

1. Everybody
2. Nobody
3. Somebody
4. Anybody
5. Bigbody
6. Littlebody
7. There is you, and then there is your body.

Seriously, I'm a conscientious objector to the tagging system, not just because most of the people who get tagged never actually do anything with it, but because there have been some other memes that I wanted to do and WASN'T tagged for. I think it would be cool if everyone on my friends list did this, but you don't have to. I support a blogger's right to choose!

Comments

[revme.livejournal.com]

I basically tagged you because I knew you would do it anyway! So there! (That was actually what drove most of my selections, really.)

ALSO -- check your email in a little bit. I have solved one of your not-hearing problems.

Also also -- which line? I know there's the one in your title/subject, which was used by both TMBG and the Monkees, but that was in "Zilch" by the Monkees, but the source for both of those was a song in Oklahoma!. But it is a cool line.

I need to pick up Headquarters anyway. I've just got Head (movie and soundtrack) and Pieces, Aquarius, Capricorn & Jones, Ltd., which are both pretty awesome.

[vovat.livejournal.com]

I guess I do always do memes like this even if I'm NOT among the people tagged, but I generally have an odd compulsion to follow the rules.

I know the "never mind the furthermore" line was originally from Oklahoma!, but since the Johns seem to be Monkees fans, I think it's not unlikely that the line in "Memo to Human Resources" is more of a Monkees reference than an Oklahoma! one. At the very least, I'm sure they're aware that the Monkees used it as well.

I'm planning on listening to PAC&JL pretty soon. I already know and like several songs from it, so I have a feeling it will be a pleasant listening experience. Well, I'm not so keen on "She Hangs Out," but hey.

Duty Free

[colleenanne.livejournal.com]

I agree, that is one of Cracker's best songs. The original seems AWFUL, I listened to a clip on iTunes. David Lowery = God.

I've put that song on many mix cds. And now I think I'll listen to it again.

Re: Duty Free

[vovat.livejournal.com]

As I told revme in an e-mail, there was recently a discussion on the Cracker Yahoo group about how Cracker's version was much closer to the demo than to what the original artist ended up releasing on an album. I'm sure Cracker's take on it is much better than either earlier version, though. I'll bet Ike Reilly didn't even use accordion! {g}