The Song I Have Stuck In My Head

It makes getting to sleep a little bit more difficult than I'd like. And if anyone wants to know why I even know this song, it is because it is on the Bend It Like Beckham soundtrack.

In other news, In Bruges is a really weird film. I can't figure out if it is a good film with some bad parts, or a bad film with some good lines. I'm not watching it again to see though.

Again With The Doctor Horrible

Okay, for everyone who has bought the Dr. Horrible's Sing Along Blog soundtrack (or others who are just interested in things like lyrics while they're waiting to invest in an actual CD and an actual DVD from an actual store), Joss Whedon et al have put the liner notes on-line. Sweet! Now I can have an Ellen DeGeneres moment where I gasp, "That's what they're saying? OH!" And here's something from the team themselves:

Thanks to all of you, we're already one of the top sellers in the US, UK, Australia, Canada, and the list goes on!

It is great for listening in your car, at work, while working out, it makes a great gift, do I sound like a whore? I'm whoring now, aren't I? Anyway, spread the word, tell a friend, say it was Horrible...

Yeah, I still love them.

In other news, the Whedon team (which is in reality probably a bunch of interns -lucky, lucky interns...) are also preparing to have us, the fans, send in video applications to the Evil League of Evil! *Gasp* Awesomeness!!!!! Anyway, the ten best get placed on the DVD. I can't wait to see what people come up with, and I'll be sure to post when submissions are being taken. Until then, come up with some kooky quasi-villain and figure out how to work a webcam -or some other recording device that can be then hooked up to the computer. I'm a complete luddite, and therefore know little about such matters. Luckily, I have a Mac, so I can record myself via my computer itself. Now, all I need is an idea... a great, innovative, original wanna-be villain idea... This is gonna take a while.

Jakob Dylan Is My Summer Love

I listen to music seasonally. Blues, especially Nina Simone and Billie Holiday, means summer nights. Punk is generally equated with the winter months, when everything is hard and cold. Except for The Clash. They are pegged as a summer band, a summer-day-in-the-car-with-the-windows-down kind of band. Buddy Holly and other music from the 1950s and 60s are summer music too. The Wallflowers are typically a fall-into-winter band; as is, for that matter, Aimee Mann. Which is why it is somewhat surprising to me that Jakob Dylan's new album, "seeing things", is a summer-afternoon, sitting-on-the-back-deck-with-sunglasses-on-and-a-cold-glass-of-something-or-other kind of music:

So Jakob Dylan is being added to my tentative summer list of ever-changing summer music songs. My (hopefully expanding) Summer Day soundtrack is:

1. "Darwin" -Third Eye Blind

2. "Help Me" -Joni Mitchell

3. "Could You Be Loved" -Bob Marley & The Wailers

4. "Portions for Foxes" -Rilo Kiley

5. "Don't Look Back in Anger" -Oasis

6. "I've Been Loving You Too Long" -Otis Redding

7. "Something Good This Way Comes" -Jakob Dylan

8. "Come Pick Me Up"- Ryan Adams

9. "Helpless" -k.d. lang

10. "Circle" -Edie Brickell & The New Bohemians

11. "California"- Joni Mitchell

12. "(White Man) In Hammersmith Palais" -The Clash

13. "Le Vieux Piano" -Edith Piaf

14. "Change is Hard" -She & Him

15. "True Love Ways" -Buddy Holly

That's what I've got it whittled down to at the moment. Suggestions, comments, snide remarks, all welcomed and encouraged (less on the snide remarks side though).

Fourth of July!

It's the Fourth of July (just in case you missed it)! And in honor of the fourth, I would first like to bring you the document that brings us this three-day weekend and fireworks events: The Declaration of Independence. Thomas Jefferson really outdid himself in both style and content when he penned that. I also find the rest of the site of interest; it's full of fun facts to know and then possibly get beaten up for knowing. Also, if anyone has 7 hours free this three-day weekend, I strongly recommend tracking down HBO's miniseries "John Adams". With only a couple glaringly huge historical flaws, the miniseries as a whole is wonderfully done and incredibly compelling. Excellently written and exquisitely acted, it is well worth the time needed to reintroduce (or meet for the first time) some of these historical figures to our lives.

But now on to the real issue of the day: what would someone put on a compilation CD about America, without including such horrific songs as Toby Keith's "Courtesy of the Red, White, and Blue (The Angry American)" -a song which until I went and looked it up today I always referenced as "the 'boot in yer ass' song"- and Lee Greenwood's "Proud to be an American"?

I've been thinking about this for most of the day; would I include such time honored favorites as "This Land is Your Land" and "Stars and Stripes Forever"? Would I throw in some revolutionary war songs and some Civil War songs, including "Dixieland"? I don't know. So far, my list is this:

1) Eyes on the Prize- Bruce Springsteen off of "We Shall Overcome: The Seeger Sessions", because it represents such an important period of our country's history.

2) Small Town- John Mellencamp off of "Scarecrow". When we think of America, we think of New York City; but oftentimes the first thing that comes to mind is the ideal small town. Like apple pie, small town says 'America' to us like nothing else.

3) Life Uncommon- Jewel, off of "Spirit". I think it represents the ideals of America: freedom, bravery, free speech, and the urge to actually do something, to go out and make something of yourself.

4) Centerfield- John Fogerty, of of "Centerfield". It is a song about a truly American sport and pastime.

5) Surfin' U.S.A.- The Beach Boys, off of "Endless Summer". Quintessentially American music, talking about the U.S.A.

6) Subterranean Homesick Blues- Bob Dylan, off of "Bringing it all Back Home". It is in the Beat-American style, and obliquely references Woody Guthrie and Pete Seeger. One of Dylan's socially conscious songs, it is purely American in both style and delivery.

7) America- Neil Diamond, off of "The Jazz Singer". Full of Patriot feeling.

8) America- Simon & Garfunkel, off of "Bookends". A little more dystopian, but still about searching for America, the America of dreams and of hope.

9) If I Had a Hammer- Pete Seeger, off of "If I Had a Hammer: Songs of Hope and Struggle". Because being blacklisted didn't keep him down.

10) American Pie- Don McLean, off of "American Pie". "A long, long time ago, I can still remember how that music used to make me smile..."

11) California Girls- David Lee Roth, off of "Crazy From The Heat". Cuz East Coast girls are hip.

12) Born in the U.S.A.- Bruce Springsteen, off of "Born in the U.S.A." I think that's kind of obviousl.

13) Take Me Home, Country Roads- John Denver, off of "Poems, Prayers, and Promises" Same sort of premise as "Small Town".

14) Pink Houses- John Mellencamp, off of "Uh-huh". Another song that deals with the reality of America not living up to the American dream.

15) California- Joni Mitchell, off of "Blue". Because it talks about California.

16) Woodstock- Crosby, Stills, Nash, & Young, off of "So Far", because it details harmoniously one of the great concerts -and great political ideals- of all time. "And I dreamed I saw the bombers riding shotgun in the sky, and they were turning into butterflies above our nation".

17) For What It's Worth- Buffalo Springfield, off of "Buffalo Springfield"; another protest song.

18) The Preamble -America Rock, from School House Rock.

Any other songs of note?