Haven’t done this in a while. iTunes Shuffle time. Not much to write about today that I hadn’t written about before.

These Things Take Time- The Smiths
I don’t know if this is from an album but it is from the compilation Louder Than Bombs. I enjoyed the Smiths. I saw them once with Hiroaki Kimura on their first US tour at the Beacon Theater and once again to enjoy a show at the Beacon, it all depends on the seats. We were in the upper balcony and we both found The Smiths to be dull. We left before the encore and went over to the east side to hang out with Andrew Feldman who was working at some restaurant as a cook. That was more enjoyable than The Smiths.

No Dancing- Elvis Costello
From My Aim Is True, his first album. Not with the Attractions but with Clover sans Huey Lewis. Obviously they’re going for a Be My Baby/Phil Spector feel. Phil Spector was sentenced to 19 years in prison for the murder of Lana Clarkson. It’s a good Elvis Costello album, not my favorite as I preferred his work with the Attractions, except for Goodbye Cruel World which was the worst.

Manhattan- Carmen Cavallaro
From the Mighty Aphrodite soundtrack. I got this as a gift from my sister a few years ago. Still quite good to listen to, especially on a Sunday morning, reading the papers and drinking coffee. I know my parents would have liked to hear me playing this. Marianne Faithfull covers this on her Strange Weather album. Carmen Cavallaro’s version is an instrumental. Cavallaro was known as the Poet of the Piano, and his style was modelled on Eddy Duchin, another name my parents would have recognized. Carmen Cavallaro died in 1989.

Red Paint- Neneh Cherry
A very good, and ultimately very sad song from Neneh Cherry’s second and last release in the US, Homebrew. Rand turned me onto this record and for years it was available in the cut out bins. It did not do well at all but I prefer it to her worldwide smash, Buffalo Stance. I believe the lyric is about how a boyfriend went to the store on his bike and was murdered and the assailant fled with his footprints in the boyfriend’s blood which resembled Red Paint. The album closer, accompanied by police sirens. It is a very good song, possibly a desert island song. I played it for Juan a few months ago and I think he dug it too.

Beauty and the Beast- David Bowie
From the Heroes album. First song on the album, classic song, totally off the wall. I loved playing this when I would DJ at McSwells. Reportedly the line ‘Someone fetch a priest’ was originally ‘Someone fuck a priest’ which was a phrase that Brian Eno was proud of then. RCA balked and they changed it. Robert Fripp is on it too.

You’re All I Need To Get By- Aretha Franklin
Classic Lady Soul. Oh Aretha sounds fantastic. The band behind her is great, the Sweet Inspirations singing back up. Jerry Wexler, Tom Down and Arif Mardin produced it, Arif doing the arrangement. It is as good as Marvin Gaye and Tammi Terrell’s version, but Aretha makes it her own. I bet you that’s the late King Curtis on saxophone too. She is the Queen of Soul, now and forever. Aretha’s 30 Greatest Hits is a must have. ♫Yeah ♪

Listen to Her Heart- Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers
That Classic Rickenbacker sound. Actually the first Tom Petty song I heard. You think you’re gonna take her away/with your money and your cocaine. Great line. I like Tom Petty. He gets my respect. I would shake his hand if I ever met him. Seems like a righteous dude. The Peter Bogdanovich documentary on Tom Petty is worth checking out if you have 3.5 hours to spare. WPIX FM used to play this a lot,which is how I first heard it. This is from Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers Greatest Hits.

Miss Chatelaine- k.d. lang
Oh k.d., such a voice, such a presence. Her finest album, Ingenue. Her worldwide smash hit. I can still listen to this from start to finish. This was a hit single for her, or at least it got lot’s of play on the jukebox at McSwells when the jukebox still played 45’s from Pier Platters.

Cool for Cats- Squeeze
Yet another WPIX song. Chris Difford sings this one. It’s also the first Squeeze song that I knew. I did my best to sing along cockney style while working in the book warehouse. I used to have my boom box all the time playing different songs. They probably all thought I was insane and an idiot since I could never fill out an invoice properly. I should have been fired I’m sure, but my mother was so well loved they would look the other way. Singing this loudly in a faux cockney slang did not make me a punk rocker though you know I tried.

Madeline, 1976- Bob Frank and John Murry
From World Without End. A collection of murder ballads. I first heard Bob Frank & John Murry on a free disc from one of the UK magazines I get every month. The song on it was beautiful and atmospheric and the lyrics were quite gruesome. Haven’t played this one that much but it really is worth a listen to. I bought it on iTunes. Frank and Murry are from out west somewhere. I think I would check them out if they ever came east of the Mississippi.

Jigsaw Feeling- Siouxsie & the Banshees
Great song from their first album, The Scream. I saw Siouxsie & the Banshees a handful of times. She’s a dynamic presence. This is my favorite album by them. I played this constantly. I heard it constantly coming back from the East Village in the back of Laszlo Papp’s Dodge Charger. Back then if Laszlo liked it, it was cool. Eventually I learned how to think for myself, but I was lucky since Laszlo had some good taste.