Dave Heaton: December 31, 2006

Random

ipod on shuffle, first 10 songs to come up. With comments this time…

1. John Prine – “Far from Me”

   From Souvenirs, the album a couple years ago where he went back and re-recorded classic older tracks, with his older, wiser voice. A great melancholy song, with a touch of hope: “Ain’t it funny how an old broken bottle / looks just like a diamond ring.”

2. Jonathan Richman & the Modern Lovers – “Hi Dear”

   The Modern Lovers incarnation that I care most about. Listen to how devoted he sounds to a possibly false notion of romance (“I know you still care about me / even when you don’t let it show”), and how he channels that into a giddy rock-along, sing-along number.

3. Byrds – “So You Want to Be a Rock N’ Roll Star”

   What to say, what to say…

4. Vic Chesnutt – “Great Buffet”

   A bonus track on the Drunk reissue. I remember him singing this one real slow and drawn-out in concert once. Warped poetic lyrics, very ‘Vic Chesnutt’. It starts out, “sheep are eating their shite grass / cow is chewing crud / chickens are sitting in excrement / pigs are dripping blood.”

5. Masta Killa – “Iron God Chamber”

   Best track on Masta Killa’s killer second album Made in Brooklyn. Try to make sense of the disjointed backdrop, with its chopped horns. All the MCs here blaze, especially Johnny Blaze himself, Method Man, but also RZA and even U-God.

6. N.W.A. – “If It Ain’t Ruff”

   A classic, with a funky groove, and MC Ren reminding us how sharp he once was: “the sound of my voice in their ear / and they’re frozen.”

7. Pants Yell! – “New #4”

   Abrupt transition. Vague title, great song. Keeps one tone most of the way through, and then ends with a children’s singalong: “I’m never gonna leave my street.”

8. Waylon Jennings – “The Wurlitzer Prize (I Don’t Want to Get Over You”

   So brilliant: two songs fused into one, full of sorrow and a great hook about using music to cover it up.

9. Sloan – “Gimme That”

   Canada’s rock superstars, with a song from Action Pact. Love the harmonies on the chorus.

10. Tom Waits – “Green Grass”

    My favorite living ballad singer. “Lay down your head where my heart used to be / hold the earth above me / lay down on the green grass / remember when you loved me.”