Thursday, September 08, 2005

i have the password to your...

I had another one of my crazy imaginary mix tapes going through my head the other day at work. It all got started when I was thinking about a fantastically brilliant song that I, unfortunately, can't share with you.
To explain:
I was thinking, because it's early September, about the song "September Gurls" by Big Star. Little did I know, but their frontman, Alex Chilton, lives in New Orleans and was rumored to have been washed away by Katrina. Fortunately, he's safe and well.

Anyway, thinking of "September Gurls", which is an incredible song, got me thinking about a month-name mix tape. I didn't quite finish off, and I had to stretch a little on some of these, but here's what I came up with without the benefit of access to my own library or to the internet:

    January -- "Happy New Year" by Camera Obscura. I know.. A bit of a Stretch.
    February -- "Valentine" by Lois (a really big stretch)
    March -- (I couldn't come up with anything)
    April -- "April 18" by Neutral Milk Hotel
    May -- "Cinco de Mayo" by Liz Phair
    June -- nothing
    July -- "Fourth of July" by Galaxie 500
    August -- nothing
    September -- "September Gurls" by Big Star
    October -- "October" by U2
    November -- "November Spawned a Monster" by Morrissey
    December -- nothing


Help me out here. I need one song for each month. This list isn't that good.

I was all set to come home and host an mp3 for "September Gurls", but then I realized that I don't own "Number One Record", so I can't do it. Curses!

now playing:
Big Star -- Third/Sister Lovers
Big Star Third/Sister Lovers

15 comments:

Reid said...

This is exactly where the iTunes search function comes in handy. That has to wait until I get home, though.

For now, I know that Dar Williams has a nice song called "February". I can also think off the top of my head of "April Come She Will" by Simon and Garfunkel and "April After All" by Ron Sexsmith.

Man, if it was in my hands, this year mix would be extremely wussy.

doug said...

well, if you wanted to "MAN IT UP" a little, you could always go with the G&R ballad: "November Rain". For December, maybe there's the depressing "A Long December" by the Counting Crows. And for March, you could always pick a march of some type. Man, if I had to do this mix, it would really suck. Oh, except for April, I'd go with the Stephin Merritt song "One April Day" - man, that's a good song. I got nothing for June - except for "Happy Birthday To Me".

Reid said...

Okay, here's my iTunes assisted mix:

January's Little Joke - Trash Can Sinatras
The Fourteenth of February - Billy Bragg
The Waters of March - Antonio Carlos Jobim
April Fools - Rufus Wainwright
Lazy May - Essex Green
Rainy Day In June - The Kinks
Winter In July - The 6ths
August Day Song - Bebel Gilberto
Oh! September - Mirah and Ginger
October - U2
Gone Til November - Wyclef Jean
December - Teenage Fanclub

On top of cheating by searching, I also cheated a bit on May (is actually a name) and on October (which you had already had, Dave). But it's pretty damn good in spite of the cheating

Brushback said...

Maybe you already know-- "Big Star" (more like Alex, Jody, and the Posies) has a new album coming out at the end of this month.

I once held a door open for Alex Chilton. Not that it's all that interesting or anything-- just thought I'd mention it. It's like my own "checking the stash by the trash in St. Mark's Place" story.

Kevin said...

For December, I wish you could use the Cure's "Last Dance." Walking through walls in the heart of December and what not.

There's always "December" by Exposé. Yes, the very same Exposé that brought us "Come Go With Me," "Point of No Return," and "Seasons Change."

Hey Dave, when I was trying to cheat, I found that Amazon.com references Throwing Muses as an example on their advanced music search page righcheer.

Anonymous said...

Yeah, Dar's "February" is a great song.

December's easy: Doug mentioned "A Long December" but there's also "December" by Collective Soul. Also, what about anything by The Decemberists?

I think The Church have a song called "June," but I don't know if it's any good.

DMB's "Ants MARCHing"? OK, that's a stretch.

August is tough. Good luck.

I tried a similar exercise recently, but using my coworkers' names. Gets frustrating when you get down to the last one or two and can't find anything.

d-lee said...

Yeah. I think a similar "name-song" project was tried once at one of my former workplaces. It's always easier to find song titles associated with ladies. The best they could come up with for me was "Mr. Lee" by the Bobettes.

Hans said...

"Air of December" by Edie Brickell and the New Bohemians. I was also going to say you could use anything by The Decemberists, but that pesky Scott got there first. Guess I should start waking up earlier.

Kevin said...

Damn. Nice going on the "Air of December." Great song.

Anonymous said...

You're right, Dave. It was immensely easier due to the fact that my coworkers are mostly all women. Half of them I could cover just using Allman Brothers songs.

Hey, for August you could just generalize and use the song "Summertime". Either the Will Smith or Sundays versions.

d-lee said...

but that's really lazy.

d-lee said...

I used to listen to this ambient band called An April March. One of their albums was "August Amarach". I could be really lazy and use them for April, March and August.
But, I think that doing that, and also using The Decemberists for December would also be pretty lazy.

d-lee said...

Oops. I remembered it wrong. The album "Agus Amarach" (I remembered the title slightly wrong) wasn't by An April March at all. It was by their Bedazzled label-mates Mistle Thrush.

Give me a break... I haven't listened to any of those records in probably five years.

d-lee said...

There's a song by Superchunk called "June Showers". I forgot about it because it's on "Come Pick Me Up". It's a decent song, but it's easy to forget because CPMU is far and away my least favorite Chunk record

Reid said...

There is actually a singer named April March, but I hated the one record of hers. Besides, I figured that the songs should be about the month of the year and not a name or by the artist. Otherwise, I would have included "Love On The March" by Belle and Sebastian.