Iris's Playlists

A day with no music session, the first in a long time.

• After the Rain, Live, Bruce Cockburn
• Will There Be Any Stars, The Cox Family, Down from the Mountain
• Veronica, Spike, Elvis Costello
• Hat and Feet, Utopia Parkway, Fountains of Wayne
• Splish Splash, Bobby Darin, Bobby Darin

Variation from yesterday. “Splish Splash” isn’t making much of a splash, actually, which might be just as well, since I’m already getting tired of it.

• After the Rain, Live, Bruce Cockburn
• Will There Be Any Stars, The Cox Family, Down from the Mountain
• My Dear Someone, Gillian Welch and David Rawlings, Down from the Mountain
• Picture in a Frame, Mule Variations, Tom Waits
• Come On Up to the House, Mule Variations, Tom Waits
• Splish Splash, Bobby Darin, Bobby Darin

All new songs today, mostly quiet ones. I thought that Iris would like anything by Gillian Welch, but the mournful violin in “My Dear Someone” upset her so we had to skip to the next song.

“Splish Splash” is supposed to lead into bath time.

• Hat and Feet, Utopia Parkway, Fountains of Wayne
• Humming Bird, Musings Of A Creek Dipper, Victoria Williams
• Why Look at the Moon, Swing the Statue, Victoria Williams
• Clothesline, Swing the Statue, Victoria Williams
• Wobbling, Swing the Statue, Victoria Williams
• Poor Boy, Minor Key, Transfiguration of Vincent, M. Ward
• Your Love Gets Sweeter, Maverick A Strike, Finley Quaye
• Me And Julio Down By The Schoolyard, Paul Simon, Paul Simon
• Rainsquall, Bloomed, Richard Buckner

We listened to several cuts from Swing the Statue today. That was one of our standbys when Iris was tiny. Victoria’s odd voice has always appealed to Iris, plus many of her songs sound like nursery rhymes, almost like they’re written for kids — except for the subtle themes in the lyrics. For some reason “Hummingbird,” even though it’s so simple.

Five of the strangest and most memorable concerts I’ve ever seen were Victoria Williams shows. We saw her with M. Ward shortly before Iris was born.

• Killing Floor, BBC Sessions, The Jimi Hendrix Experience
• The Driving of the Year Nail, 6- and 12- String Guitar, Leo Kottke
• Put a Lid on It, Hot, The Squirrel Nut Zippers
• My Doorbell, Get Behind Me Satan, The White Stripes
• Where Is My Love, The Greatest, Cat Power
• Ice Cream, Live, Preservation Hall Jazz Band
• Carrie Brown, The Mountain, Steve Earle and the Del McCoury Band
• Grandes Études de Paganini, S. 141: No. 3. Étude in G Sharp Minor ‘La Campanella’, Liszt: Paganini Studies & Schubert March Transcriptions, Marc-André Hamelin
• Grandes Études de Paganini, S. 141: No. 4. Étude in E Major ‘Arpeggio’, Liszt: Paganini Studies & Schubert March Transcriptions, Marc-André Hamelin
• Tango Till They’re Sore, Rain Dogs, Tom Waits
• All the Rage, Brutal Youth, Elvis Costello

• Symphony No. 41, New York Philharmonic, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
• Chick Habit, Paris in April, April March
• Honey, Play, Moby
• You Got It, Mystery Girl, Roy Orbison
• Maverick A Strike, Maverick A Strike, Finley Quaye
• Wolf Like Me, Return to Cookie Mountain, TV On The Radio
• Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da, The Beatles (aka The White Album), The Beatles
• Wake Me Up When September Ends, American Idiot, Green Day
• Feel Good Inc., Demon Days, Gorillaz
• Blue, Tomorrow the Green Grass, The Jayhawks
• Sweet Thing / Blackbird, Fisherman’s Blues, The Waterboys
• Acony Bell, Revival, Gillian Welch

We listened to some classical music while we were playing in the living room again today, before dinner, then started with the bouncy “Chick Habit” after dinner.

Lorraine figured out why it’s hard to find pictures of an acony bell: it’s more commonly spelled “oconee bell”. See some samples here.

• Jan the Weatherman, Rocket and a Bomb, Mike Knott
• Deep Dark Truthful Mirror, Spike, Elvis Costello
• Veronica, Spike, Elvis Costello
• Peggy’s Kitchen Wall, Stealing Fire, Bruce Cockburn
• Decatur, or, Round of Applause for Your Stepmother!, Illinois, Sufjan Stevens
• Wave Of Mutilation (U.K. Surf), Pump Up The Volume, Pixies
• Jungle Boogie, Wild and Peaceful, Kool & The Gang
• Hate to Say I Told You So, Veni Vidi Vicious, The Hives
• Death Letter Blues, The Original Delta Blues, Son House
• Respect, Live at the Fillmore West, Aretha Franklin

Several new discoveries today.

I’ve suddenly realized that Jan may have been a member of the Weather Underground. I can’t believe I never picked up on that.

We don’t pay much attention to the lyrics, but the Pixies make me think of Iris’s pile of sea creatures when Frank Blank sings, “walked the sand with the crustaceans.”

In the right mood, I believe this audience loves The Hives. And that slide thing that Son House does with his guitar makes Iris laugh, for some reason.

Sometimes during the longer songs we unload the dishwasher (Iris hands me one spoon at a time) or we name all the pictures on the fridge: Cora, Nate, Cal, …

And it’s official: “Veronica” is the preferred Costello song.

• The Kid from Red Bank, The Complete Atomic Basie, Count Basie
• The National Anthem, Kid A, Radiohead
• One Last “Woo-Hoo!” for the Pullman, Illinois, Sufjan Stevens
• Sunday Shining, Maverick A Strike, Finley Quaye
• Slip Slidin’ Away, Negotiations and Love Songs 1971-1986, Paul Simon
• Acuff-Rose, Anodyne, Uncle Tupelo

“Name me a song that everbody knows / I betcha it belongs to the Acuff-Rose”

I’m not sure how the seven-second Sufjan song got into our playlist today (I think I clicked the wrong item when I was wingin’ it), but it worked out: Iris loves a reason to applaud.

• Go It Alone, Guero, Beck
• Concerning the UFO Sighting Near Highland, Illinois, Illinois, Sufjan Stevens
• Telephone Book, 3, Violent Femmes
• Ain’t No Grave, Under Their Influence, Russ Taff
• Fast Train, Don’t Give Up On Me, Solomon Burke
• Everything is Broken, Oh Mercy, Bob Dylan
• Dixieland, The Mountain, Steve Earle and the Del McCoury Band
• Hat and Feet, Utopia Parkway, Fountains of Wayne
• Wayside / Back In Time, Soul Journey, Gillian Welch

We used to listen to this Sufjan album all the time when Iris was a few months old, but we haven’t listened to it as much lately. She still likes it, but she’s not so awed by trumpets.

She’s learned to identify harmonicas when we hear them, so when Dylan starts the solo in the middle of “Everything is Broken” she makes a little sign that she made up, her hand up by her jaw and ear. I think it helped that I played along with this song once. (It’s a really simple harmonica solo that I can duplicate.)

• Symphony No. 41, New York Philharmonic, Mozart
• Telephone Line, A New World Record, ELO
• Feel Good Inc., Demon Days, Gorillaz
• Hey Julie, Welcome Interstate Managers, Fountains of Wayne
• The Incredible Shrinking Man, Vox Humana, Daniel Amos
• Joy, Car Wheels on a Gravel Road, Lucinda Williams
• Blue, Tomorrow the Green Grass, The Jayhawks
• Charlie James, The Man With The Blue Postmodern Fragmented Neo-Traditionalist Guitar, Peter Case
• You Know the Rest, El Corazón, Steve Earle

Sometimes if I put on music to listen to while doing something else, Iris expects to dance. Hmm. I’m trying to play music a little more often while we do other things so she knows that’s another way to do it, but for now whatever I play needs to be a song she doesn’t instantly recognize. Something soft. Mozart works.

After dinner we switched to ELO, which reminds me of fourth grade skating parties.

• Little Plastic Life, Don’t Do Anything, Sam Phillips
• You Got It, Mystery Girl, Roy Orbison
• Ocean of Noise, Neon Bible, The Arcade Fire
• Puttin’ Out Fires (with Gasoline), Summershine, Vigilantes of Love
• Call Me, Call Me (EP), Blondie
• Far, Far Away, Being There, Wilco
• Even After All, Maverick A Strike, Finley Quaye

Mostly new songs today, trying to get out of a rut. Iris liked most of them very much, so I’ll add them to the rotation. The Arcade Fire song is a little slow, but we could probably listen to Roy Orbison every day for a month.

• Ice Cream, Live, Preservation Hall Jazz Band
• Feeling Blue, Vanguard, Finley Quaye
• Baby Brother, Icky Thump, The White Stripes
• This is the Sea, This is the Sea, The Waterboys
• Everything is Broken, Oh Mercy, Bob Dylan
• Dixieland, The Mountain, Steve Earle and the Del McCoury Band
• Hat and Feet, Utopia Parkway, Fountains of Wayne
• Maverick A Strike, Maverick A Strike, Finley Quaye

We started with several new songs. You scream, I scream, we all scream for ice cream is a keeper, and I’m realizing that Iris likes just about anything by The Waterboys.

• Chick Habit, Paris in April, April March
• All I Gave, Bang!, World Party
• I Put a Spell On You, Cow Fingers and Mosquito Pie, Screamin’ Jay Hawkins
• Honey, Play, Moby
• Rocky Racoon, The Beatles (aka The White Album), The Beatles
• Humming Bird, Musings Of A Creek Dipper, Victoria Williams
• Jungle Boogie, Wild and Peaceful, Kool & The Gang
• Maverick A Strike, Maverick A Strike, Finley Quaye
• Hat and Feet, Utopia Parkway, Fountains of Wayne
• The Driving of the Year Nail, 6- and 12- String Guitar, Leo Kottke
• Put a Lid on It, Hot, The Squirrel Nut Zippers
• My Doorbell, Get Behind Me Satan, The White Stripes
• Where Is My Love, The Greatest, Cat Power

“My Doorbell” would be a great little song if it were just two minutes long, but at four minutes it’s too repetitive. Iris seems to agree; she gets bored by the end and wants to move on. (We don’t skip ahead, though.) I’ve yet to find the perfect White Stripes song for our after dinner music.

Iris isn’t sure what to make of Screamin’ Jay Hawkins. A little too much screamin’.

We listened to another short, fast, virtuoso instrumental, this time by Leo Kottke.

Most of these songs are available on iTunes here.

• Killing Floor, BBC Sessions, The Jimi Hendrix Experience
• Look at Miss Ohio, Soul Journey, Gillian Welch
• Rock This Town, Built for Speed, Stray Cats

Iris hasn’t been feeling well lately, and her naps have been short. That means bed time comes earlier, so we didn’t have much time for music today. She helped me unload the dishwasher during the Gillian Welch song. She hands me the spoons, one by one.

Since Mitch Mitchell, drummer for the Jimi Hendrix Experience, died today in Portland, we listened to “Killing Floor” again, and we watched a video that highlights his drumming.

These songs are available on iTunes here.