3.6.10 Not a whole lot of movement in this week’s list because I didn’t snyc my Ipod to my Itunes this week. It’s the same 106 songs that were on last week, some tracks may have bumped up or down one notch, but not much. Since the battery is getting low on my Pod, I’ll likely be syncing it some time this week, so we’ll see how things shake up next week.
Based on their current playcount on my Itunes, updated regulary (I hope.)
I’d like to preface this list by noting its relative infancy. I’ve only had my current incarnation of Itunes for a couple years and I’ve only had an Ipod for a couple months. Before that I did about half of my listening on Itunes on my laptop, and the other half on CDs in Melissa’s car. So it didn’t make sense to do the list this way, ignoring all of those plays that were going unrecorded. But now that my Ipod is what we listen to in the car, I’ve decided that this will be the way I keep track of my “top 100″… But since tracks 95-106 all have only 16 plays, and number one only has 56 plays, look for lots of change on a weekly basis with this list, until things can sort of settle out… At any rate, without further ado.
98t. Day After Tomorrow – Tom Waits 16 (coming in at 106, but tied with twelve other songs, this track off of “Real Gone” is the first of many Waits tracks on the list. Fitting, considering he’s my favorite artist of all time. This particular track I began to take note of after I heard him perform it live in St. Louis a couple summers ago.)
98t. Walking Spanish – Tom Waits 16 (From “Rain Dogs” a track that I have at times called my favorite song ever, from an album that I’ve called my favorite Waits album ever…. to “Walk Spanish” is to be move or be dragged reluctantly… thus the imagery in the song)
98t. I Wish My Baby Was Born – Tim Eriksen, Riley Baugus, Tim O’Brien 16 (From the Cold Mountain soundtrack, the 16 plays this song has are Melissa’s)
98t. Head Over Heels – Tears for Fears 16 (This song and the INXS song below are off the Donnie Darko soundtrack, which Melissa was a big fan of, which explains these songs’, which I haven’t listened to much, presence on the list)
98t. Never Tear Us Apart – INXS 16
98t. Return of the Grievous Angel – Gram Parsons 16 (From the album “Grievous Angel” a good wanderlust song)
98t. Got My Mind Set On You – George Harrison 16 (From the album, “Cloud Nine” I liked this song, and the video quite a bit, although I haven’t listened to it in quite a while.)
98t. Remember When (Side A) – The Black Keys 16 (From “Attack & Release”, a band I’d like to get into more. I’m planning on seeing them in concert in a month or so.)
98t. You – Atmosphere 16 (From “When Life Gives You Lemons, You Paint That Shit Gold”, the first of several Atmosphere tracks on this list)
98t. Oh No – Andrew Bird 16 (From “Noble Beast” the first of several Bird tracks on this list)
98t. “broke my heart” – Al Pacino 16 (Audio clip of the kiss of death from The Godfather part II)
86t. Gunpowder – Wyclef Jean 17 (A pretty good track from Wyclef’s first solo effort, “The Carnival”)
86t. Solitaire – Wilco 17 (From “Wilco (the album)” one of the first songs I really liked off this album)
86t. Down There By the Train – Tom Waits 17 (rounding out the trio of Waits songs that start this list, this one, off of the “Orphans” box set is a beautiful piece of songwriting, about a train that carries off sinners to forgiveness… “I saw Judas Iscariot carrying John Wilkes Boothe” can you think of a more beautiful vision?)86t. Glenn Tipton – Sun Kil Moon 17 (From “Ghosts of the Great Highway” I really like almost every Sun Kil Moon/Red House Painters song I’ve ever listened to more than about twice. The guy’s a great songwriter, and some of those lyrics filter into you and get stuck there.)
86t. Lightning Crashes – Live 17 (Still one of the best songs I’ve ever heard. Tragic)
86t. I Got One For Ya – Kid Rock 17 (This and “Wasting Time” at 75 track are kind of embarrassing to have in my top 100, but they’re actually pretty good songs. The trick is really not to take Kid Rock seriously… he’s only a half step above Tenacious D, I think, when it comes down to it. Some of his lyrics are pretty humorous, “spent a couple a months in this smokey room/ eatin’ shrooms, drinkin’ Boones/ Writin’ tunes…” and I like Robert Bradley (of the Blackwater Surprise) who I once saw in concert, in this song)
86t. The Cuckoo – HEM 17 (This song, from the album “Rabbit Songs” is a fav of Melissas. While I like some HEM songs, I can’t take credit for most, if any of the 17 plays this song is showing)
86t. Famous Blue Raincoat – The Handsome Family 17 (The first of, I think, 4 Handsome Family tracks on this list. This one is a Leonard Cohen cover off of a tribute album.)
86t. Slow Like Honey – Fiona Apple 17 (From the album “Tidal” which is a really damn good album when you go back and listen to it.)
86t. Alcoba Azul – Elliot Goldenthal 17 (From the “Frida” soundtrack. I’ll acknowledge that this is a good soundtrack, but the playcount for this song is attributable to Melissa when we shared a laptop and an Itunes)
86t. We Are All Connected – Carl Sagan, Richard Feynman, Neil DeGrasse, Bill Nye “the Science Guy” 17 (Another excellent track by the Symphony of Science folks. See “A Glorious Dawn” a bit further down the list)
86t. “A Nice Warm Glass…” – Ben Stiller 17 (Audio clip of Stiller from “Happy Gilmore”)
86t. Fitz & Dizzyspells – Andrew Bird 17 (From “Noble Beast” another excellent track from Andrew Bird, who if I’d been counting plays back when “The Mysterious Production of Eggs” came out, would probably occupy about half of the top ten places in this list)
75t. “Morons” – Wallace Shawn 18 (Audio clip of Fezzini from “The Princess Bride”)
75t. Dead and Lovely – Tom Waits 18 (From his most recent studio album “Real Gone” another typically great song by Waits, also opens the movie “Wristcutters: A Love Story” (warning: because of adult content, you’ll need a youtube account to watch this link))75t. Come Rain or Come Shine – Ray Charles 18 (One of several songs on this list by Brother Ray)
75t. Man in the Mirror – Michael Jackson 18 (Say what you will about the man, this is a great song.)
75t. Hallelujah – Leonard Cohen 18 (From “Various Positions” I read about this song in an article by a guy who had been a prisoner in Iran, who in order to endure his torture and interrogation thought of the lyrics to this and other Cohen songs)
75t. Wasting Time – Kid Rock 1875t. “Big Gulps, huh?” – Jim Carey 18 (Audio clip of one of my favorite scenes from the film “Dumb and Dumber”)
75t. Weightless Again – The Handsome Family 18 (Off the excellent album “Through the Trees” I saw the Handsome Family in concert a while back and they told the story of how this song was inspired, which was a time when they were staying at a hotel in the red wood forest. There was a couple in the room above them having a really horrible, violent sounding fight. So in the morning, Renny Sparks walked outside to look up and see if anyone was dead up there or anything and was chagrined to see that the hotel had no upstairs)
75t. The Apology Song – The Decembrists 18 (It’s taken me awhile to really get into the Decembrists, but I think I’m there. This song, however, from the “5 songs” EP, I’ve always liked because it refers to various places in Missoula Montana, where I used to live, like “The Orange Street Food Farm.” It’s a tragicomic little song about the loss of a loved “one”.)75t. Washington County Blues – David Zollo 18 (A great little blues song by the most underrated musical artist of all time. Off of the album “Uneasy Street”)
75t. Piano Man – Billy Joel 18 (I think everyone knows this one)
72t. Cantaloupe Island – Herbie Hancock 19 (A classic Jazz song. I’m sure you’ve heard it. I always loved this song, and never knew who played it or what the name of it was, but via Pandora radio, I was able to track it down)
72t. Alchohol – Gogol Bordello 19 (A song off the album “Super Taranta!” I’ve gotten into recently after hearing it in concert in Des Moines last summer. Eugene Hutz, maybe the greatest frontman going right now… and his turn as Alex in “Everything is Illuminated” was off the charts)
72t. Blind Willie McTell – Bob Dylan 19 (From volume 3 of the Bootleg Series. Not sure exactly what it’s about, but it’s haunting with lots of pre and post Southern Antebellum imagery… I kept hearing this song as I was reading Faulkner’s “Absalom, Absalom!”)
67t. Lonely Teardrops – Jackie Wilson 20 (Off his Greatest Hits album. What a voice! no kidding)
67t. Fight Test – The Flaming Lips 20 (From “Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots” a great track, with great lyrics… “I don’t know where the sun beams end and the star lights begin…”)67t. Into White – Cat Stevens 20 (To be honest I’m not much of a Cat Stevens fan. The play count on this track is a holdover from when Melissa and I shared a laptop and thus, our Itunes. Look for this one to slip out of the top 100 eventually.)
67t. The Waitress – Atmosphere 20 (From “When Life Gives You Lemons, You Paint That Shit Gold. Again, I got interested in this track because Waits does some beat boxing in the background… have to really pay attention to hear it, but it’s a great track, good story, and a twist ending. Slug shows off his songwriting chops here.)
67t. 3.2 Red Dog – Atmosphere 20 (From an Atmosphere mix I got from a good friend, this song stood out because of the Tom Waits sample at the start… but a good track, too short.)
57t. Summerteeth – Wilco 21 (Great track off of album of the same title. This one was forgotten by me until I heard it getting some play by buddies on a road trip I took last summer through the south. Another subtly beautiful piece of songwriting by Jeff Tweedy)
57t. Swordfishtrombone – Tom Waits 21 (Excellent track of the album of the same title, gotta hear it. One of the best songs by my favorite artist of all time)
57t. The Government Totally Sucks – Tenacious D 21 (Standout track off of “The Pick of Destiny” hard not to like a song that alleges Ben Franklin “liked to get naked while he smoked on the weed”)
57t. Can’t Take My Eyes Off of You – Lauryn Hill 21 (From the (in my opinion) overrated “The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill” a pretty good cover of the classic song Frankie Valli made famous)
57t. Red House – Jimi Hendrix 21 (Great blues tune, Hendrix at his finest)
57t. “The Most Annoying Sound in the World” 21 (Audio clip from the movie “Dumb and Dumber” by Jim Carey)
57t. “Royale with Cheese” 21 (A segment from an old Chicago morning radio show in which Harry Caray (impersonated by Jim Volkman) and Jerry Lewis (I don’t know who’s doing the impersonation here) reenact a great dialogue from the film “Pulp Fiction”
57t. “Damn Dirty Ape” 21 (the famous Audio clip of Charleton Heston in the original Planet of the Apes)
57t. “Kick his ass, Seabass” 21 (Audio clip from the film “Dumb and Dumber” and the scene with former NHLer Cam Neely as the loogie hawking Seabass… great character)
57t. Moonshiner – Bob Dylan 21 (From volume 1 of the Bootleg Series, the slow sad lament of a character whose lived a life ruled by drink)
53t. Low Light Low Life – P.O.S. 22 (The song from the album “Never Better” introduced me to Dessa, who takes a great verse in the middle of this song. Looking forward to seeing both of those artists in a few weeks)
53t. Take What I Can Get – Dr. John 22 (A pretty hysterical song from the man who inspired the Muppets’ Dr. Teeth. From the album “Creole Moon”)
53t. For Hire – David Zollo and the Body Electric 22 (This is actually an as-of-yet unreleased track that I ripped off his MySpace page a while back. It’s going to be the title track of his forth coming album… if it ever comes forth)
53t. Guns and Cigarettes – Atmosphere 22 (From the artist who opened the door to hip-hop for me. This is from the Lucy Ford album, I came by it on a mix cd from a friend)
49t. I’ve Got a Woman – Ray Charles 23 (From the Genius & Soul box set)
49t. White Winter Hymnal – Fleet Foxes 23 (I listened to this song on repeat from Chicago to Iowa City about a year ago… unfortunately because it was on a CD none of those plays got counted… so it comes in tied for 49th)
49t. Train Song – Feist + Ben Gibbard 23 (A good track from the “Dark Was the Night” compilation, which is recommended)
49t. Imitosis – Andrew Bird 23 (From Armchair Apocrypha)
40t. Gin Soaked Boy – Tom Waits 24 (From “Swordfish Trombones” great guitare riff)
40t. Whistlin’ Past the Graveyard – Tom Waits 24 (From “Blue Valentines” tied for the highest rated Tom Waits track… which is deceptive… but that will all work itself out, eventually)
40t. Fidelity – Regina Spektor 24 (Super catchy song from the album “Begin to Hope”)
40t. Hey Stella – Marlon Brando 24 (classic audio clip from “A Streetcar Named Desire”)
40t. Sixteen Maybe Less – Iron & Wine w/Calexico 24 (A great song about ‘what if’ from the excellent album “In The Reins”)
40t. Lord, Blow the Moon Out Please – HEM 24 (From the album “Rabbit Songs”)
40t. Difference is Time – Conor Oberst & The Mystic Valley Band 24 (From their album “Outer South” this song, written and sung by Jason Boesel, the drummer for Rilo Kiley)
40t. Swingtime in the Rockies – Benny Goodman 24 (From the “Swing Kids” soundtrack)
36t. I’ll Fight – Wilco 25 (My former favorite track from “Wilco (the album)”)
36t. Taun Tauns Stink – Harrison Ford 25 (a humorous audio clip from “The Empire Strikes Back”)
36t. Bob Dylan’s 115th Dream – Bob Dylan 25 (The entire track, with the false start, from “Bringing it All Back Home” pretty funny stuff)
36t. This is Just a Modern Rock Song – Belle & Sebastian 25 (off the “Push Barman to Open Old Wounds” EP compilation. A great song by a group who I’m growing to like more and more.)32t. Damn (What a Beautiful Man) – Mason Jennings 26 (A live unreleased track by Mason Jennings. Great, funny song. One time when I saw Mason in concert he introduced this song by saying that a woman once requested it at one of his shows and he had no recollection of ever writing or playing it and insisted that she was mistaken. Later she sent him a bootleg recording of himself singing it, at which point he was forced to embrace it.)
32t. A Glorious Dawn – Carl Sagan (featuring Stephen Hawking) 26 (From the Symphony of Science website, this song (and video) are so awesome, you just have to see it.)
32t. Is Anybody Going to San Antone – Coffee Creek 26 (Live track of a song that I’ve always liked a ton when covered by Dave Zollo, but never really cared for the polka-esque Charlie Pride version. So while looking for some decent cover versions, I came upon this live track from “Coffee Creek” which was a short-lived side project for Tweedy and Farrar when they were in Uncle Tupelo)
32t. Seatbelt – Luke Wilson 26 (a short audio clip from the beginning of the movie “Old School”)
30t. Country Disappeared – Wilco 27 (My current favorite track from “Wilco (the album)” Great lyrics)
30t. Empty – Ray Lamontagne 27 (Tied for 30th and rising, this has been my favorite song for most of this winter. From the album “Till the Sun Turns Black.”)
25t. Whoop – Big Foot 28 (audio clip of Big Foot, yes the creature, whooping it up.)
25t. Tarzan Yell – Johnny Weismuller 28 (audio clip of the awesome noise that is still hard for me to believe came out of a human being’s mouth.)
25t. Goin’ to Acapulco – Jim James & Calexico 28 (From the “I’m Not There” soundtrack. Great movie, great song.)
25t. The Magician – Jason Isbell 28 (A track that has gradually grown on me, from “Sirens of the Ditch” the first solo album by Former Drive-by Truckers member, and great songwriter Jason Isbell)
25t. Highway 16 – Haley Bonar 28 (From the album “Big Star.” Good road tripping song.)
24. Walls (Circus) – Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers 29 (From the soundtrack to the movie “She’s the One”)
23. Angelyne – The Jayhawks 30 (From “Rainy Day Music”)
20t. Inconceivable – Wallace Shawn 31 (A two second clip from the film “The Princess Bride”)
20t. Burn On – Randy Newman 31 (A great song about the Cuyahoga River in Cleveland starting on fire from all the oil spilled in it (true). Featured in the film “Major League”)
20t. The Giant of Illinois – The Handsome Family 31 (From the album “Through the Trees.” I first heard this song covered in concert by Andrew Bird, which lead me to the Handsome Family who have several songs on this list)
18t. Members Only – Sheryl Crow 32 (From “The Globe Sessions” which is a pretty good overall album)
18t. The Woman Downstairs – The Handsome Family 32 (From “Through the Trees,” A good song about a woman dying from anorexia during a depressing Chicago winter)13t. Sing, Sing, Sing (With a Swing) – James Horner 34 (Made famous by Benny Goodman, this particular version is from the movie “Swing Kids” makes me wish I knew how to dance)
13t. The Diva Dance (Lucia Di Lammermoor) – Inva Mulla Tchako w/The London Symphony Orchestra 34 (From the movie “the Fifth Element” this is also a track that I made by combining two adjacent tracks on that soundtrack, but it’s a pretty good scene from that movie, and even though Tchako’s pipes are doctored a bit, she’s still impressive.)
13t. At the Bottom of Everything – Bright Eyes 34 (From the album “I’m Wide Awake, It’s Morning” this song has climbed all the way up to number 12 in just a few months, and will continue to climb, I’m sure. I love the little story at the beginning and I especially love that last line, “I’m happy just because, I found out I am really no one.” Whenever I hear this song I think of that plane bound for Paris from Brazil that crashed into the Atlantic last summer, and they never found it. When I think how terrified everyone on that flight must’ve been in their last minutes, I like to think that maybe somebody, just one person was enlightened enough to know that there is no such thing as death, only whatever’s next, and had no fear. Anyway, great song.)
13t. Flume – Bon Iver 34 (Off the album “For Emma, Forever Ago” I was playing this song on repeat for about a week after I first heard it back in early 2009)
13t. Groundhog Day – Bill Murray 34 (audio clip of an excellent quip from Bill Murray about the hypocrisy of Punxatawnians)
12. I want you to hit me as hard as you can – Brad Pitt, Edward Norton 35 (Audio clip from this great scene in “Fight Club”)
10t. Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots (pt1) – The Flaming Lips 36 (From the album “Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots” a great album top to bottom)10t. How Long Blues – Count Basie 36 (From the soundtrack to Ken Burns’ “The War”)
9. ORBF Sierra Growl – Big Foot 38 (And I’m not talking about a band called Big Foot… I’m talking about the actual creature, Big Foot. Brought to you by Oregonbigfoot.com, check it out!)
8. Angel Dream (No.4) – Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers 39 (From the soundtrack to the movie “She’s the One”)
6t. Welcome Back – John Sebastian 40 (The theme song from “Welcome Back Cotter” if you don’t like this song, then up your nose with a rubber hose.)
6t. Happy Birthday – Concrete Blonde 40 (From the album “Free” I actually got it off their greatest hits album “Recollection” Johnette Napolitano’s a great singer)
5. Fantastic Ordinary – Martha Berner 44 (From the album “… This Side of Yesterday” I saw her at the Mill, in Iowa City several years ago and became a fan.)
4. Sundown – Gordon Lightfoot 46 (Released originally as a single, I think, I got it off the greatest hit’s album “Gord’s Gold.” “”Sundown” was inspired by his then girlfriend, Cathy Smith, later more infamously known for her involvement in the death of John Belushi. Lightfoot has commented in interviews that she was “the one woman in my life who most hurt me.”” (From the wikepedia page for Sundown (Gordon Lightfoot song)))
3. Oh No! – Ron Santo 47 (A four second clip of Ron Santo’s agonized reaction to Brant Brown dropping a routine flyball which would have been the final out of an important game late in the ‘98 season)
2. (take one) Bob Dylan’s 115th Dream – Bob Dylan 50 (This track is also doctored. I just cut out the first take where Dylan comes in off cue and everyone in the booth starts dying laughing. The entire track is also on this list, but I found myself just listening to that first part so often that I cut it out and made a separate track out of it. You gotta love that laugh)
1. Old Man River – Ray Charles 56 (I actually doctored this particular track so that the beginning just starts with Brother Ray coming in on Vocals. There was about a minutes worth of choral singing by the background singers but I cut it. Great song, reminds me of Grandpa.)
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