before i put this day to sleep … this the last friday of the summer …

ha … Mappemunde lists me three times in the blogroll …

Tom Murphy
Tom Murphy also
Tom Murphy too

leading one to reflect on the irony (and foolishness) of one who has so little to say so busy saying it in so many venues …

thanks, tim

i’ve been playing the party shuffle on my iTunes for about a month now … here’s the Top 25 Most Played list … since “shuffle” is random, i’ve had next to no control over what gets played … so out of the current 396 items on tap these keep turning up … for some reason

1. no depression … uncle tupelo

with 20 plays, this leads over “fish” by 3 … i’d never heard of this version (or the album by the same name) until i’d read greg kot’s wilco: learning how to die last winter … but i had heard the carter family’s original some time ago … off the harry smith volume 4 … as with the best gospel tunes, you don’t need to have religion to know & feel the message … as much about this world as the next

2. fish ain’t bitin’ … corey harris

i’m just in love with the opening tuba … such gut-deep attitude … one wonders why more blues don’t use it … tuba blues … but look here!!

3. candle … sonic youth

from daydream nation … to my way of thinking this is quintessential sy … starts with somber guitar twiddling then kicks some speed & the dys/interested vocal

4. i’d rather go blind … etta james

for a while “at last” was way on top … & you can’t grouse about that … in spite of its commercial abuse … but i’m a big fan of this one … “you see i love you so much & i just don’t wanna watch you leave babe”

5. other dogs remain … robert pollard

maybe i liked guided by voices so much because i knew most ordinary people wouldn’t like them/him at all … i jumped on the bee thousand wagon … this from from a compound eye is moody mad …

6. tombstone blues … bob dylan

dylan dominates the list possibly because i loaded all of highway 61 revisited … but i did the same with shirley horn and andrew hill albums & where are they (well, shirley’s coming)

7. just like tom thumb’s blues … bob dylan

8. boogie woogie country girl … bob dylan

but this one is not from h 61 … it’s from that great doc pomus tribute album … this one gets me going every time … and i made sure to load big joe turner’s version once i’d seen/heard it featured in lackawanna blues … see it if you get the chance

9. helpless … neil young

howling in the woods with a really good pal … long ago … my birthday present

10. the tears of a clown … smokey robinson

don’t know if smokey was ever the best poet in america (it certainly wasn’t he that bob was mocking …if answering the question was a mock) but smokey here is like that scent … that brings a whole lost world back

11. what a wonderful world …joey ramone

everybody hears & mostly loves louis armstrong on this … but the late great joey works it just fine … without the corn syrup

12. burning hell … john lee hooker

have to admit i’m a big fan of john lee’s attitude here … his disgust with the way notions of the afterlife become a heavy stick in the hands of some … makes me think of a similar tune (a cover?) by the fleshtones way way back

13. hurt … johnny cash

i don’t know what to say about this one … maybe that’s best

14. ohio … neil young

15. after the gold rush … neil young

two more tiny time capsules from young mr. young … but what time … where

16. i’ve been loving you too long (to stop now) … otis redding

i’ve always felt this more than “dock of the bay” … maybe i’m just a sucker for killer soul vocal genius

17. a boy in motion … robert pollard

what happens to the boy in line … all lined up & ready to go

18. yesterday … shirley horn

i’m sorry to know that shirley horn is gone … once there was a day when i wouldn’t let myself listen to stuff like this … good quiet stuff … must be the new metabolism

19. i zimbra … talking heads

i’m paper this showed up near the top … you come, hugo ball … right on into the 21st century … & welcome

20. rake … townes van zandt

from his late beatdown musical self … when he was my age now he’d been dead for three years … the myth of bad hard living

21. hell is chrome … wilco

it is … i’m sure of it … stil not sure what to think of a ghost is born … but it’s got some real nice pathetic sadboy tunes … classy opening piano here

22. from a buick 6 … bob dylan

yeah him again

23. war … edwin starr

good god y’all! a tune for all time … listen to me

24. at last … etta james

singing this good should never never ever be used to turn anything into money

25. song … john ashbery

i’ve loaded some poems … certain spoken words help one mind arrange all this noise … don’t you know