from Hero In Me to Hey Now Everybody

Day 646, Session 118:
When/Where: Thursday March 27th - Sitting around the house after an afternoon spent at Crate & Barrel (where we purchased neither a crate nor a barrel.)
First song: Hero In Me by Jeffrey Gaines
Last full song: Hey Now Everybody by They Might Be Giants
Progress: 1869-1880 of 5803
Total Songs Heard: 1516

Live blogging the way through some of the H's.

Hero In Me by Jeffrey Gaines is a remnant from high school. I found the cd during the process of moving into this house. There's nothing wrong with it, and I'm not going to delete it, but at the same time I probably would never have noticed if I hadn't found it.

Hero Of Canton (The Ballad of Jayne) by Adam Baldwin - My friend Ryno was the first one to tell me how awesome Firefly was. For some reason I didn't immediately run out and watch all I could. Before Firefly I would have considered myself a moderate Joss Whedon nerd. The Wife and I had watched Buffy, but never bothered to watch Angel. After Firefly, consuming more things Whedon has become more important. Angel is on the Netflix list... right after we finish Battlestar Galactica. Hero Of Canton is probably my favorite scene from all of Firefly.



Hesitating Beauty by Billy Bragg & Wilco - I gotta be honest, this song kinda washed over me without really gaining my attention. I do fully support the Mermaid Avenue releases.

Hey Everybody by Jonathan Coulton - Hey JoCo!

Hey Georgie by Wally Pleasant - I agree with pretty much all of the views expressed in this song. Unfortunately, the one-term president part didn't work out.

Hey Girl by O.A.R. - I used to like O.A.R., then I found out they all went to Ohio State. Now they can sit and spin as far as I'm concerned. I really dislike Ohio State. This causes some issues with The Wife because she grew up in C-bus cheering for OSU. In fact, she claims her dad graduated from there (although I'm not sure I believe her.) Columbus, Ohio is a nice enough town that is unfortunate in that the entire city's priorities are totally out of whack. If the president were to be shot during football season, there's a 98% chance the top story on the local news in Columbus that night would be about the battle for 3rd string quarterback, while the presidential shooting would be reduced to a footnote story they sneak in between the weather report and the going-to-commercial banter. To make matters worse, last night my beloved Dayton Flyers lost to the team from C-bus. That only makes me hate them more.

Hey Hey What Can I Do by Hootie & The Blowfish - Confession time... I like Hootie & The Blowfish. I know their first cd got overplayed to death, but with the distance of 10+ years I have to say I'm always pleased when they come up on the ole iPod.

Hey Jude by The Beatles - A few years ago my parents took us all to Vegas to see Paul McCartney play. I remember being absolutely amazed by the energy in the building and the energy he brought to the stage (he is over 60 after all. By the time I get to 60 I'll be lucky if I'm not using a rascal to get to the kitchen from the living room.) When I was in 3rd grade I bought one of the Truly Tasteless Jokes books... I think it was volume 3. I don't remember many of the 'jokes' but I remember this one:
Q: What will it take for The Beatles to reunite?
A: Another 3 bullets.
Truly tasteless indeed (not to mention out of date now.)

Hey Kind Friend by Indigo Girls - My friend Margaret saw the Indigo Girls walking around New Orleans once. She's right, you can tell it's them, even from the back.

Hey Ladies Night by djBC - Who doesn't like a well constructed mash-up? Actually I suppose plenty of people don't, but I'm not one of them.

Hey Man (Now You're Really Living) by Eels - Just Eels? Should I still call them the Eels even though the isn't part of the name? This song was on the soundtrack to some Judd Apatow project right? Also, am I the only one who in his head envisions Judd Apatow as looking just like Paul Rudd?

Hey Now Everybody by They Might Be Giants - A 5 second song's a good way to end the day.

from Downsizing to Dr. Worm

Day 211, Session 74:
When/Where: Friday January 19th - Coming home from work.
First song: Downsizing by Moxy Fruvous
Last full song: Dr. Worm by They Might Be Giants
Progress: 1017-1022 of 4808
Total Songs Heard: 869 (1 skipped podcast)

Only 5 songs today:
Downsizing - Moxy Früvous
Downtown Train - Tom Waits
Dr. Jerome (Love Tub, Doctor) - The Bogmen
Dr. Stephen - Stephen Lynch
Dr. Worm - They Might Be Giants

3 songs about doctors? There's only one thing to do.

Dr. Jerome vs. Dr. Stephen vs. Dr. Worm

What type of doctor?
Dr. Jerome is a love tub doctor. I don't know exactly what that is, but it sounds kind of slimy.
Dr. Stephen is a gynecologist. The song is performed by a stand up comedian singing as a gynecologist, that's even slimier.
Dr. Worm is not a real doctor, but he is a real worm. Oscar the Grouch's pet worm was named Slimy.

Representative Lyric:
Dr. Jerome - "When I snap my fingers you'll remove your clothes and climb into the tub with me..."
Dr. Stephen - "There's not a lip that I can't read. A pap that I can't smear..."
Dr. Worm - "Good morning. How are you? I'm Dr. Worm. I'm interested in things. I'm not a real doctor, But I am a real worm; I am an actual worm."

Who would I want as my doctor?
Dr. Jerome seems to have something on his mind other than traditional doctoring. Being a guy, I have very little use for Dr. Stephen. Plus, the idea of a gynecologist who loves the job so much he sings about it seems kind of creepy. Dr. Worm may not be a real doctor, but at least he's up front about it. Anyway, I haven't actually been to the doctor's office in 5 years so I probably don't even need a real doctor. The fact that he's a drummer (and a real worm) is a bonus as I don't currently have any friends who are practicing drummers (or worms.)

Verdict:
Dr. Worm in a landslide. It doesn't hurt at all that I love the song. Back when I used to have to wake up for work at 4:45 in the morning I would use my stereo as a back up alarm. I found that no song was better at waking me up on a positive note than the opening horn section of Dr. Worm.

from Depot to Diamonds

Day 180, Session 66:
When/Where: Tuesday December 19th - Evening. Heading home on the train.
First song: Depot Depot by Tom Waits
Last full song: Diamonds On My Windshield by Tom Waits
Progress: 873-883 of 4617
Total Songs Heard: 774

So this worked yesterday, and in my efforts to continue catching up, I'll lazy out again.

Songs from today's session:
Depot Depot - Tom Waits
Description - De La Soul
Desert Winds - John Williams
Desire - Toad The Wet Sprocket
Destination Moon - Dinah Washington
Destination Moon - They Might Be Giants
Devil Boy - Seven Mary Three
Devotion - Weezer
Diamonds and Gold - Tom Waits
Diamonds For Duke - The University of Dayton
Diamonds On My Windshield - Tom Waits

I'd like to include the "Songs Heard" section every day, but it kind of mucks up the look of things. What I really want to do is include it as a expandable list, but I can't for the life of me find an easy way to create something like that in Blogger. I have the feeling I'm out of luck unless I become a lot better at programming. If you have any (simple to implement for an idiot) suggestions let me know.

Let's see, we had two different songs called Destination Moon, so it must be time for another song breakdown!

Destination Moon by Dinah Washington vs. Destination Moon by They Might Be Giants:

What's it about?
Dinah Washington wants some time away with her man. Apparently the moon seemed like the most convenient place to get away. Sure, this doesn't seem practical now, but back when this song was released in 1962 I'm sure moon based honeymoons seemed like something that was just around the corner. I'm not quite sure what TMBG is talking about in this song. But they do give detailed instructions on how to get from your bed to the moon. Perhaps that's the point. Maybe they're saying if you can just get out of bed in the morning, anything is possible.

Representative lyric:
Dinah Washington - "So away we steal in a spacemobile. A supersonic honeymoon. Leave your cares below, pull the switch, let's go! Destination moon."
TMBG - "By rocket to the moon, By airplane to the rocket, By taxi to the airport, By front door to the taxi, By throwing back the blanket, Hanging down the legs"

The music:
Dinah Washington uses a lot more horns. TMBG uses a lot more electric guitar.

Verdict:
As cool as moon based honeymooning seems, it's just not practical, especially with gas prices being what they are these days (something Ms. Washington surely did not foresee in 1962.) Combine that with TMBG's can do attitude and electric guitar and it's as apparent as a full moon on a clear night... They Might Be Giants has the better version of Destination Moon.

Monday December 18th - During the day

Day 179, Session 63:
Location: Sitting at my desk. 8th floor. Cube C43A (that's right, I don't even get a full cube.)
First song: Day Tripper by The Beatles
Last full song: Dead Man's Hill by Indigo Girls
Progress: 839-847 of 4617
Total Songs Heard: 739

Dead by They Might Be Giants may just be one of my all time favorite songs. In high school we used to drive around singing this at the top of our lungs. I proudly knew all of the harmony part. We were nerds.

As much as I love They Might Be Giants, I still hold a little bit of a grudge towards them. My senior year in high school I hosted a radio show every Friday right after school. Part of the bit of the show is that every week I would call up the TMBG Dial-A-Song hotline live on the air. It was a bit because every week I would call the Brooklyn based phone number, and every week it would be busy. Then suddenly, one Friday the phone started ringing. I was excited because for the first time in 3 months, we were actually going to get to play a song on the air. I was then even more excited when instead of a song, a voice came on the line and said "If you're in New York, hang on the line for a special message." Sure, I wasn't from New York, but broadcasting a special message was even better than a song.

The excitement reached it's peak when, after a second or two, a voice came on a live voice came on the line and said, "Hey, this is John -- (I forget which John it was) from They Might Be Giants. Who's this?" Holy crap! I called up for a song and got one of the guys from the band live on the air! I explained to John that I was calling from WHHS and I unfortunately was not from New York, but that he was in fact being heard live on the air on both sides of Mill Rd. in Havertown, PA.

John seemed non-plussed. He said he didn't really have time to talk right then because he was giving away tickets to a show in New York that night, but that he'd be happy to call me back in about an hour to do an interview. I said that sounded great and we gave him the station's phone number. I spent the next hour hyping the interview and telling everyone around the station to tell everyone they knew. This was going to be the station's biggest moment since... well... possibly ever (at least as far as those of us around that studio that day were concerned.)

Of course he didn't call back.

In retrospect, that makes perfect sense. They had a show that night and he probably ran out of time. But at the time I remember being exceedingly disappointed in the way things turned out. I hung around the station for an extra 2 hours in case he called back. No such luck.

Years later when I was a radio "professional" Owen Wilson pulled the same thing. At that point it seemed par for the course.

Thursday September 28th

Day 98, Session 29:
Location: On the train, leaving work late. Why am I leaving work at 6:30?
First song: Bingo Addict Grandma by Wally Pleasant
Last full song: Bitter Boy by Truck Stop Love
Progress: 413-419 of 4413
Total Songs Heard: 359

I've updated the template around here. The last one was beginning to look a little too... blue. I think this looks cleaner and is hopefully easier on the eyes. If you have an opinion on this change, or there's something else you'd like to see on the page, please use the comments section.

Birdhouse in Your Soul, from "Flood" by They Might Be Giants is one of my all-time favorite songs. I'm not sure why exactly, the lyrics don't make a whole lot of sense. I only know that whenever I hear that song I end up feeling happier for the 3:20 it's on. Well, almost all of the 3:20. When I first got "Flood" I owned it on cassette, which meant most of the time I was listening to it in my car. Just over half way through the song, there's a car horn that plays. Every time I was listening in the car and got to that part of the song I'd hear the car horn and immediately scan all mirrors to make sure I hadn't just cut someone off or run over a kid or something. If I had been crossing the street when this song came on I would have whipped my head around nervously at the horn. Lots of time in high school was spent driving here or there, always with a destination in mind. We weren't the types to 'cruise' we just happend to be lucky enough that 2 or 3 in our group had cars which meant lots of driving around singing along to tapes.

The only thing I miss about tapes is the mix tape. There's nothing wrong with the mix cd, but the mix tape gave you more time for music, and 4 different opportunities for statement songs (the first and last of each side.) I made mix tapes very rarely, but when I made them, they were very good. I had to have a specific reason to make one (almost always meaning "I needed a girl to make them for.") I've meant to go back and attempt to recreate some of those tapes on cd, but it wouldn't be the same.

Bitches Ain't Shit by Ben Folds is part of my continued love for rap songs that aren't performed as rap songs (see also the previously mentioned Back, Baby Got by Jonathan Coulton.) I'll put together a mix cd for you once I've got enough tracks to fill it up.

Tuesday July 18th - Heading Home

Day 26, Session 13:
Location: On the Brown Line, heading home
First song: American Tune by Simon & Garfunkel
Last full song: Anatevka by The Original Broadway Cast of Fiddler on the Roof
Progress: 177-193 of 3937
Total Songs Heard: 197

Kind of a cheating day where I skipped the last 8 tracks before Anatevka. There was a good reason though, they were all titles starting with the word "Anakin" from the Star Wars Episode 1 soundtrack. Why do I have the Star Wars Episode 1 soundtrack? You never know when that sort of things gonna come in handy! At least that's my theory.

Heard Ana Ng today from the They Might Be Giants cd Lincoln. That happens to be the very first cd I ever bought. Picked it up at a used music store one of my first weekends at college. It was that day that I first discovered what I has suspected all along... downtown Dayton had absolutely nothing to offer on the weekends (at least nothing on a Saturday afternoon to someone under 21.) On that same walk downtown (carrying Lincoln the whole way) we managed to get ourselves locked in a stairwell in the second tallest building in Dayton. I think it was 14 stories high.

The building I work in now has 22 stories. I also own a lot more cds.

Everything is bigger in Chicago!