from Ghost to Giving It All To You

Day 568, Session 105:
When/Where: Wednesday January 9th - Round and about the streets of Chicago.
First song: Ghost by Neutral Milk Hotel
Last full song: Giving It All To You by Oval Opus
Progress: 1568-1594 of 5624
Total Songs Heard: 1269

So much to write about. 2008 started out right as I've upgraded my headphone situation. Thanks to my friend Liv, I'm now doing all my listening with Bose in-ear headphones. I'm not exactly an audiophile, but these headphones are awesome. They provide a much richer sound. (can sound be rich? sure, why not?) The ear buds are also designed to go further into your earhole without being uncomfortable. The result? I can actually listen to things with the volume turned down lower. Anywho, the moral of this story is if you do a lot of headphone listening, you should definitely look into some fine Bose products. They're worth it.

Now to the music. Neutral Milk Hotel's 1998 cd "In The Aeroplane Over The Sea" is all sorts of fantastic (and another one of those music groups that is actually only one guy.) I bought the cd in 2005 while on my honeymoon in San Francisco. Every time I hear a NMH song I flash back to that trip and how great a time it was. For one, it was great because the wedding went off with out a hitch. If you've never been married, let me tell you, a big part of that great honeymoon feeling is relief that the months and months of pre-wedding stress are over. For two, the wife and I had never been to San Francisco before (together anyway,) so it was great to start our "new life" with a trip where everything we were experiencing was new for both of us.

The only downside of the memories... any prolonged thoughts of San Francisco cause ghost soreness in my calves. That town is hilly, and we did a lot of walking. My legs were pissed for days. Ghost is my second favorite song off the cd (and the new headphones really do the buzzing bass justice.)

Ghost - Neutral Milk Hotel

Once I was done my acid trip honeymoon flashbacks my attention turned to the three different versions of Gin And Juice. Three completely different versions of the same song? It's time for a breakdown.

Gin And Juice (original rap) vs. Gin And Juice (country) vs. Gin And Juice (spoken word)

Most street cred:
Original rap version is the winner here since I live in a city. I suppose this sort of depends on your locale. If you live on a farm, you may get more cred with the country version blasting from the speakers of your John Deere. (Tractors have speakers right?)

Most fun to sing along with:
Country version. Country wins by default here. It's really hard to sing along with a spoken word song, and I don't think you rap a duet with Snoop unless Snoop asks you too.

Best chance to understand the lyrics:
Spoken word version. It's not that either of the other versions are particularly hard to understand, but the slow steady delivery of the spoken word version clears up an issues you may have had with the lyrics.

Best at getting to the point:
Snoop doesn't have time for extended banjo breaks or long dramatic pauses. He's got hos to get to.

Best use of extended banjo break outs:
Country version. I know I just awarded Snoop points for the lack of banjo breaks, but the banjo breaks in the country version are fantastic. One more reason I may take banjo lessons in 2008.

Most fun:
Country version. Sipping on Gin And Juice should be a fun time for everyone. Snoop just doesn't seem like he's having as much fun as The Gourds. And sure the spoken word guy is funny, but he doesn't sound like the sort of person I'd enjoy getting my drink on with.

Winner:
Gin And Juice (country version) by The Gourds. In the end, the original is a classic and the spoken word version is funny, but the country version of Gin And Juice is both awesome musically and funny.

Feel free to judge for yourself:
Gin And Juice - Snoop Doggy Dogg
Gin And Juice - The Gourds
Gin And Juice - Beautiful music version (artist unknown)

There were even more stories in this set of songs, including a performance of Girl, You'll Be A Woman Soon by the 4 South Five and the night I got whip creamed in the face by the lead singer during a performance of Mink's Girl 17, but I'll save those for the book.

Edited to add - Check it out over on the right ---> I've added a poll so you can vote on your favorite version of Gin And Juice. Feel free to defend your vote in the comments section.

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.

Wednesday August 16th

Day 55, Session 19:
Location: Afterwork commute (notice a pattern?)
First song: Avalanche by Ryan Adams
Last full song: Baby Got Back by Jonathan Coulton
Progress: 261-270 of 3960
Total Songs Heard: 263

Hey look! It's the letter B! So, it only took 55 days to get through the letter A (and the numbers.) At that pace... I'd be looking at finishing this up... um... carry the one... June 2008. Right around the corner then.

The last song of the 'A's was Avery M. Powers Memorial Beltway by Ben Folds. Happily for all Ben Folds fans, turns out his Fear of Pop, Vol. 1, cd was just some crazy experiment. If Ben Folds had ended up giving up the Five for an entire solo career devoted to Shatner duets and crazy ass instrumentals that would have been extremely disappointing for everyone.

The first 'B' song was B.J. Don't Cry by Moxy Fruvous. This was the version from Bargainville. This will not be the last time this particular song appears, but the other versions are listed in my library as BJ Don't Cry. Apparently, the period makes a difference cause I didn't hear any of the other versions in this stretch.

Baby Got Back is an excellent folkified version of the Sir Mix-a-lot (R.I.P.) classic. It's part of Jonathan Coulton's "Thing a Week" series. He's releasing a new song every week. He's been doing so for the last 49 weeks. I highly recommend you subscribe to the "Thing a Week" podcast. More details, including free downloads of many Jonathan Coulton songs can be found here. This version of Baby Got Back is probably my favorite internet discovery of 2006.