Comments to Will

It's true, I did try to tailor the mix to your taste as much as possible - or as much as I knew or could guess of it. I had more confidence in some songs than others.


1. Breathless - X
No messing about, straight in with something that rocks! . . .

Great! I swiped this from Helly's Alan, punk rock aficionado, so I'll share the credit.

2. Ruby Soho - Rancid
The Clash. The Clash. The Clash [. . .] But this song has a great punk feel with the right amount of reggae backbeat mixed in

Another one from Helly and Alan's wedding CD. Apparently the reggae touch is too fine for my palate to detect - just sounds like stompin punk rock to me. Your story encourages me, as I assumed all kids are bound to attach to the music their parents hate the most.

3. Oh, Oh, I love Her So - The Ramones
"I met her at the Burger King.
We fell in love at the soda machine."
Two minutes of power packed energy. Tell the story and then get out.

Yeah, isn't this a great little tune? I miss the Ramones. And I really regret not having a clue who they were when they were still around. I wasn't cool that way in high school.

4. Ca Plane Pour Moi - Plastic Bertrand

I don't think you can be my age (or, um, older) and not at least once have jumped around to this song at a party. Sounds better in French, though, doesn't it?


5. Lipstick - Imperial Teen
It starts wonderfully, full of promise, the music has a wonderful raw edge to it and I really am liking this. The bass kicks in, the guitar rides over the top, heck, even the lyrics have an edge to them. I do feel like he needs to be more shouty. He needs an edge to his voice. In spite of this, I like the song, a plus, overall.

I agree with your comment - the vocals are definitely weak on this one. I like the singer better on another one, called Yoo Hoo, and that's got a little more going on in the chorus, too. Still, I like this song a lot anyway.

6. California - Little Red Rocket
Who are Little Red Rocket? A sort of cross between The Bangles and Veruca Salt with a little B52s thrown in. Have you ever heard "Come back to Texas" by Bowling For Soup, one of my favourite songs? The lyrics are very reminiscent of that. Liked it.

Funny you mention Bowling For Soup. I noticed a CD at Border's - never heard of them and wanted to listen just because I liked the CD cover, but they don't have the little headphone station anymore. Then I ran across them on someone's blog, and then in an article about something, and now here. I'll have to listen to them eventually. This group, Little Red Rocket, was an Athens group formed by two teenage girls - I don't think either one of them was old enough to get into the clubs they played in. They've since gone on to other projects.

7. Welcome to Tijuana - Manu Chao
Aaaaaaarrrrrrrrgggggggggghhhhhhhhhhhhhh! Don't get me wrong, I loved this song. However it is one of those songs that starts to creep up on you at totally the wrong time. And there is a time and place to sing songs that creep up on you unnoticed. It isn't a good moment when you are wandering around a classroom, checking up on kid's work, singing along:
Welcome to Tijuana,
Tequila, sexo y marihuana.
Thanks for that :^)

Ha ha - it happens to me all the time. At this point in the mix, we've moved onto a theme. I wondered if you'd like that laidback sound.

8. Mi Vida Brilla - Aterciopelados
My life shines - thanks for noticing! I'm sure that the lyrics to this are wonderful. I'm sure that you thought long and hard about choosing this. But (unfortunately for this track) I'm a music man first, lyrics guy second (actually, Maria will tell you that lyrics tend to come in a poor fourth after music, music, music). This was something that Phil Collins could have sung along to...sorry, because (in my world) it don't get much worse than that.

I did choose it for the lyrics, translating it to myself as "My life is brilliant," which seems like something you would say. :-) A friend of mine put me on to the group and it took a lot of listens before the songs started to grow on me. I agree that this one isn't remarkable musically, although this one has really grown on me over time.

9. Es Por Ti - Juanes
Ooooooooooo, I've just got a new mobile phone and it comes with Juanes wallpaper, Juanes themes, Juanes ringtones. I'm not using any of them! Are you scared about what I'm going to say next!!??!! I like this. It is on constant rotation, at the moment, on MTVMexico, which means that I was already familiar with it. However, it wasn't on my mp3 player before - 'tis now! Don't know how familiar you are with the works of Sr. Juanes but there are other songs that I do like more. But thanks for this - am scoring a certain amount of "street cred" points!

It's STILL on constant rotation? This was my souvenir from my last trip to Mexico in 2002, five years ago! And the song A Dios Le Pido was on the radio approximately every thirty seconds and I had it memorized before I bought the CD. That one CD is all I know of Juanes, but most of it I like a lot. This was my favorite love song and I thought you would like the words.

10. Crystal Frontier - Calexico
Johnny Cash, Nick Cave, anyone who has rocks in the back of his throat (hell, Edith Piaff) would have made this song brilliant. (Can I use the word edge again?) I know this isn't a country song, I know that it is trying to be Tex-Mex in its sound, but it just needs to be a little more rough in the vocals. It is a song that tells a pain-staking story (or two), it needs vocals that add to that pain. Now, if you can find me a cover version done by Rick Astley, I'd love it :^) And I am being serious! It needs to be more blues-y, more something.

Oh, too bad! I had more confidence in this one - it's a new acquisition to me and it about knocked me over the first time I heard it. I love the vocals, the understated quality of the voice that somehow makes the story more haunting and sad. Like he's holding it in so he can get it out at all, the way you tell awful things in a whisper or a toneless voice because if you let out any emotion you just lose it altogether. The way some of the men I know talk about their border crossings and the people they knew that died. This song/band is like a new crush for me, I'm still not over it at all. Don't talk to me about Rick Astley right now.

11. Mexican Moon - Concrete Blonde
This is going to be your favourite track on the whole CD - I know that because...because if this was playing in a supermarket I'd stop shopping and walk out the store. If this was playing in an elevator, I'd get out at the next floor. There is probably a nice way to say how I feel about this song but the words escape me for the moment. It takes 50+ seconds for the vocals to kick in and I don't blame the vocalist. If I was asked to sing along to this I'd hesitate a hell of a lot longer. Too harsh? Sorry. I knew you'd like it :^(

It's not my favorite track on the CD, but I like it a lot more than you do! I suddenly remembered it when I was trying to add to the southwestern theme and grabbed it off of iTunes. I'd had the album on cassette ages ago, and that was one of two songs that stood out for me. This one is so dreamy, gives me that peaceful feeling of two glasses of wine and a cigarette outdoors on a cool evening.

12. Mahna, Mahna - Cake.
Rule number one: Don't mess with The Muppets. There is one definitive version of this song and it is done by The Muppets. Nuff said!

This was the only one I regretted after I'd burned the CD. I kept going back and forth on Cake selections. I mean, you have to admire the daring, to tread on such hallowed ground.

13. David - Nellie McKay
Promise you won't tell anyone I said this? I liked this. I have no idea who this person is, never heard of her before. If you were to ask me, in public, about this song I would have to say that I spent most of the time with my head in a kitchen drawer, slamming it shut, repeatedly. However, between you and me, I liked it. Would this be the wrong moment to mention it made me think of "Belleville Rendez-vous", which I also liked. I'll go stand in the corner for a bit.

Why would you not want anyone to know that you like a song by the brilliant and delightful Nellie McKay?? What's Belleville Rendez-vous?

14. Private Suit - Bettie Serveert
Either I know this or it sounds like something I've heard before. Maybe that's it - it sounds like something I've heard before - and it just washed over me. I kept trying to listen to it, hitting rewind, sitting down, forcing myself to listen to it, and the next thing you know is that I'm in the next room doing something else. It just didn't hold my attention. Sorry. The word "generic" comes to mind. There is nothing in this to catch on to, nothing new, nothing different. I think I've heard it before. And I probably didn't listen to it then.

Oh, well. Chaqu'un a son gout. One of my favorite bands.

15. Nobody - Paul Simon
Paul Simon is a poet. These are lyrics that I would quite happily sing to Maria. Hell, so long as she doesn't read this I might just cut and paste them into an email! Yay me!

I chose it for just that reason! I won't say anything.

16. Secret Heart - Ron Sexsmith
This is a real person! That is his real name!! Damn, I was hoping he was a rapper with a made-up name!!! But no, it appears that: His first five albums are generally melancholic pop-folk with elegant melodies, accentuated use of guitars and economic application of other instruments. Nancy, I love you, I really do. We love you, we both do!! But this is a generally melancholic pop-folk song with elegant melodies, accentuated use of guitars and an economic application of other instruments. Me, I'm putting my head in the kitchen drawer again!!!!

Feist recorded this song and had (I think) a hit with it, but he's the one who wrote it. I like melancholic pop-folk with blah blah blah, wasn't sure if you would - clearly not.

17. Blue Magic - Kelly Hogan
Good News - this isn't Hulk Hogan's daughter. This song needs to be listened to at 11:37pm as you drive out the city on into the desert. The top down on your convertible, the music system on full, the sky full of stars, the wind in your hair. At some stage, you need to drive past Slash, doing the guitar solo, in the middle of nowhere. Wonderful guitar solos.

This, believe it or not, is the song I MOST hoped you wouldn't hate, and I'm very relieved to see that you don't. Kelly Hogan is my one long-enduring, unrequited girl crush. She's from Atlanta and I got to know her in a band called the Jody Grind - my first date with my husband, actually. Two of its members died in a car crash way too early on in their career, in the early 90s. This song came from some work she did with the remaining band member, Bill Taft, in the aftermath, but she didn't record this with him. I actually hate this recording of this gorgeous song because the vocal track is mixed way too low.

18. Into My Arms - Nick Cave
It's Nick Cave - do I have to say more? But I will. The lyrics are perfect. The vocals are perfect. The emotion in this song is wonderful. A fantastic end to the CD!

I was 99% sure you would love this song.

...but wait...what's this?....

19. Bonus Track
Promise that you won't tell anyone this? I have a weird love for Gilbert and Sullivan. I have performed in three of their operettas and produced one. I am that boring person who sings along when, Sideshow Bob or Bart, break into song in "The Simpsons". I love Gilbert and Sullivan!! I am also English! I am not British. I am not European. I am English!! So, the bonus track is from H.M.S. Pinafore by Gilbert and Sullivan. It is the song "For He Is An Englishman". Loved it!!

That makes me happy. There was the danger you'd think it was a bad joke.