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I don't like this idea, first because it will only lead to fifty or sixty song suggestions that all have merit and all couldn't possibly be on a single CD, and second because it runs up against my own cunning plan to finally put together my own long-threatened "cool songs" cd as a bonus disc in the next swap, which bonus disc was intended to include only those songs which everyone knows, but everyone always says "cool song" when it comes on. So, boo, Miguel!

That said, I'll lead off with "Lust for Life" by Iggy Pop. Cool song; and you will need some Iggy.

Commish: the good beings of Saturn - or whatever alien planet is curious about us - just want to know what we sound like; if they can boogie to it; if we have any talent to speak of and other important considerations. On the other hand, Iggy's "Lust For Life" is about as good as it gets.

I'd have to choose Wagner's Act 1 Prelude to Lohengrin, conducted by Claudio Abbado, as the most beautiful and moving piece of music ever written.

For Volume 2, perhaps Tim Buckley's rendition of "Dolphins".

I would include "I'm the Man" by none other than Joe Jackson.

I could easily pick a dozen or so songs that I like better, but I doubt anyone else will put it on here, so I'll go with "Fight the Power" by Public Enemy. It just needs to be there.

Second coming: I'll go with Hendrix's "Castles Made of Sand".

One song? ONE? Good lord.

Zep, "Achilles Last Stand"

Because it is the sort of music one might imagine themselves going out in a blaze of glory to.

But as an alternative, I am often set back in my chair by the subtle, 12-string beauty of Joni Mitchell's "Help Me." It reminds me of a time of moonshots, potato chips and ketchup, and uncles, long now mouldering in the earth.

I can choose only one track?

I Walk The Line by the man in black.

I'm gonna have to throw in "Sex Machine, Pt. 1" by James Brown, Soul Brother Number One and the Hardest Working Man in Show Business.

Stand Up by Ludacris.
Because you're all so carefully selecting only hip-approved safe music, and I think there needs to be at least one thing that's all style and no substance which runs the risk of smelling bad five minutes from now.
Plus it's got a good beat, and a dwarf in the video.

We did this exercise once in one of my acting classes. What you choose now may not be what you choose tomorrow? With that said, today, this morning, if I were scheduled to be stranded on a desert island, because I am in a good mood, I would choose The William Tell Overture by Rossini.

Wild, Wild Life by Talking Heads. Is there a mood it doesn't suit? I don't think so.

Yeah. Wild, wild life. That's good.

"Drift Away" by Dobie Gray. That song never fails to make me feel better, no matter how badly I've been kicked around.

Marry had a little lamb...you get three tunes in one, A B C ... & Bah Bah black sheep ;P

"Happy Together" by The Turtles : always makes me feel happy to be alive

I think you are thinking of Twinkle Twinkle Little Star.......not Mary had a little lamb.....

this morning, I choose "Last Goodbye" by Jeff Buckley. I would probably answer differently some other time, but I'd still end up choosing some other drunken sad song.

In Mr. Catspike's mind, you can sing Baa Baa Blacksheep to the tune of Mary Had A Little Lamb. :-)

Ummmm...Miles Davis' version of "Bess, You Is My Woman Now".

"Master of Puppets" by Metallica.

I think you are thinking of Twinkle Twinkle Little Star.......not Mary had a little lamb.....

Your right valerie, guess I needed more coffee...; changing my my selection to, Icicle Works: Whisper to a Scream.

I'd have to go with "Here" by Pavement or "Under the Milky Way Tonight" by The Church.

hedging: volume II maybe "Tom Traubert's Blues" by Tom Waits, "Famous Blue Raincoat" by Leonard Cohen or "Pale Blue Eyes" by the Velvet Underground.

Of course, that's all the crazy rock'n'roll music. It's hard to say what the most perfect piece of music is when you haven't heard them all. I'm not much of a classical buff just yet, but I do like Tabula Rasa by Arvo Pärt.

Nelson, "More Than Ever."

Seriously. Have you listened to it? It rocks hard, it's a total singalong, and even they can't believe how gloriously silly it sounds.

And I would totally serenade someone with it, especially if I could grow the platinum extensions.

Then again, there should be room for Jim Backus' "Delicious" somewhere. Especially if there's lots of hipsterfucker & hoitytoity on there already.

PS - I second those Ludacris & Miles songs. (Yes, dong, I'm taking you seriously.)

This should be included, hell, this could be the offical 9622 theme song:

"(Drinking in) Heaven" by Loudon Wainwright III

There'll be lots of drinking in heaven
and smoking and eating and sex
what you didn't do in this life bad for you
will be totally cool in the next
in heaven there'll be beer for breakfast
at lunch it's tequila and wine
and the soup served with dinner is made with paint thinner
and the morning hereafter feels fine, oh...

(more)

Honorable Mentions: (yes I'm breaking the Stalinist rules. Send me to the Gulag, Joe)

"Cornbread & Butterbeans" by The Carolina Sunshine Trio and "Bang Shang-A-Lang" by the Archies.

I'm not kidding either.

(sorry, O/T)

Fes, you still down for Happy Hour on Friday? Check your hotmail, eh?

I intended it sincerely, Chico. Sometimes it gets no better than the vulgar mainstream.
Plus, you know, the dwarf.

This CD would be used as an example of all that human music could achieve

I missed that bit earlier. Sounds pretty high-fallutin'.

I think I better add some Ralph Stanley for my "round two" choice.

Although the other night when I stared into the campfire for a really long time and emptied my mind of all conscious thought, I realized that the only thing left was Steely Dan's "Katy Lied."

Go figure.

True dat, dong, but I just remembered. Busta brings the video dwarf too, and his is the creepy oompa-loompa horndog upskirt dwarf. I think that's my favorite. Maybe for Volume 3.

And jon, to paraphrase Cyndi Lauper, if the Gulags 'R' good enough for you, they're good enough for me, yeah yeah yeah yeah.

Lest we forget the original rapping dwarf.

First one I remember, anyway...

*pours out a 40*

Dwarf videos would make a good compilation.

I'm trusting your vast knowledge here, jon et al:

All I can come up with is "The Safety Dance" by Men Without Hats

And didn't the Geto Boys have a dwarf too?

There's that one blink-182 video where they have dwarves running through the streets naked. Not sure which one.

And "Tres Delinquentes" by the Mexican-American trio Delinquent Habits had a dwarf skateboarding on a bar.

I think that video that Eminem did with, what was it, D12 or something? Something about purple hills/pills, that had a dwarf or two in it.

And likely all of the Bloodhound Gang video library.

I'm also thinking that the Chili Peppers' song from the Coneheads movie, Soul II Squeeze (which really is a good song) had a dwarf. There was a whole circus sideshow in that video.

I think that's all I got right now.

I hope someone remembers to pack some Al Green for the trip.

Kid Rock of course had Joe C. and if we're being liberal with the definition of "dwarf" I suppose we can include the entire ouvre of Ronnie James Dio.

Dio...
Does rickets count as dwarfism?
Eh. Either way.

Dio is either a tall dwarf or a short elf.

I will admit to liking that Ludacris video, mostly because of the 4-foot tall 'fro at the end, plus the Outkast one that looks like it could have been on the Ed Sullivan show.

I thought the PC term was little person.

Lupo: Yes, you're right about Miles Davis. Can I substitute my Wagner for "Blue On Green" from Kind Of Blue?

Kaf: How uncanny that all your choices, down to each song, are the same as mine. Strange, strange feeling...

Question for the studio audience: was my writing (here and elsewhere) better during that period when I wasn't drunk all the time?

I'm feeling kinda blocked lately, just looking for clues.

Be brutally honest.

It's better, Jon. Believe me. Though the drunk writing was good too. What spoiled it, in my (friend's) opinion was a discordant note of rancour and even anger - though only towards people you didn't like. But this was not good, as most people truly like you and were taken aback.

Excessive alcohol is awful towards (I'd say) 75% of people (my father and brother included, so you don't think I'm distancing myself) in that it encourages aggression, self-pity turned into anger, paranoia, jealousy and, worst of all, defensiveness, i.e. the feeling that everyone is out to criticize/take advantage of you. Which, being the most subtle form of paranoia, is also the most dangerous.

In your case, being the sensitive soul that you are, it made you too sensitive. So you lashed out. Sometimes cruelly. And always surprisingly, as you are such a good man.

Sorry if I've talked too much, chum, but you kinda asked for it and I thought you'd like to know a single, sincere opinion from someone who really likes you, with good reason, and respects your honesty.

Hey, is this gay or what? ;)

I have to agree with Miguel here. Pretty much verbatim. The drinky drinky drinky thing gets old quick, and always seems to lead to self-absorption.

Hardly surprising of course, since the musical similarities noted above prove that he is indeed posting FROM INSIDE MY HOUSE!

aaaaaaaa!

But hell, I've been known to go bendering on occasion.

You make sense, but I always have a lot more fun when I am drinking and feel less strained around people. Plus when I was younger, (and this was probably an outgrowth of my rock and roll obsessiveness, too) I always loved hanging around with (and wanted to be admired by) older man-of-the-world types*. They had the best stories. They were the wisest people. They had the best taste in music. And most of 'em were drinkers and dopers, reformed and otherwise. But, I'm an older guy now, and I'm not especially wise and most of the stories I tell are stories of haplessness . It makes me feel kinda pathetic sometimes, which makes me wanna get hammered.

I'm babbling. Worse I'm psychobabbling. Please return to your regular scheduled joviality.

*the reasons for this I don't quite understand but would probably pay for some therapists lamborghini

You make sense, but I always have a lot more fun when I am drinking and feel less strained around people.

I know exactly where you're coming from, caballero. But I think you already realize how dangerous that solution is.

What mystifies me is that you've been able to stay off smoking while continuing to drink.

I cheat occassionally. Usually when drinkin'.

Oh dear god, if you have to pick only one to quit - it's much better to quit smoking. Just my opinion, of course, and I'm just me... but smoking is so insidious.

I have friends who just can't quit, absolutely cannot - so anyone who does gets my full admiration and sordid sex acts upon request.

At the moment, it'd be "Beyond Belief" by Elvis Costello.

To paraphrase something Johnny Cash said about drinking: "For a long time, it's you drinking the beer, and then one day it's the beer drinking you." I think that's really true.

Nothing wrong with a good bender, the trick is to avoid turning into a Flexo.

Jon, you've probably made me laugh out loud a half-dozen times this week between here and other places. For a while you weren't doing that. For a while there I would read one of your comments and think, "man, he's angry...and probably drunk." Of course, that period coincided with a time in my life when I was frickin' angry about Life and most definitely soused pretty much every waking moment, so I found it oddly comforting.

I actually thought to myself last week reading something you wrote on The Blue, "Jon seems to be feeling much better." (And so am I, thanks for asking.) So, I don't think the quality of your writing has changed, but the booze probably wasn't helping the tone.

For a long time I was drinking because I felt like I needed to which, as some have mentioned, is self-absorbed, dangerous and pathetic. I hope you never got that far gone. Now when I have a drink it's because I want to and that's definitely the better way.

Tizzie,

I never STARTED smoking. (And I'm from the #1 tobacco-producing state in the country.)

Does that count?

Please?

I dunno. Let me see if it's my best offer.

*wink*

We're not going to have to hug at the end of this thread are we?

Not if I can help it. I didn't wear deodorant today. You don't wanna hug me!

I dunno. Let me see if it's my best offer.

I'm still here, baby!

*swoon*
*thud*

We're not going to have to hug at the end of this thread are we?

Hug? It sounds like most of us are gonna play the singing telegram game.

I also like to write when I drink.

I don't know if that counts as support or condemnation, Jon. That's for you to decide.

We're not going to have to hug at the end of this thread are we?

*oils chest*

*tweaks nipples*

*drops pants*

What!?! Waddaya looking at? That's how we hug where I'm from...

"I did not hug that woman." -Former President Clinton

I've been listening to The Postal Service non-stop for almost four months now. I included "This Place is a Prison" on the last cd I sent out and I think it would fit perfectly on a 9622 cd if only for the refrain: "What does it take to get a drink in this place? What does it take? How long must I wait."

The rest of the song is about HATE!ing the people around you while you're drinking. Which really isn't the attitude around here. Most days leastways.

Eyeball, eyeball, where have you been?

The Postal Service is indeed very cool. (It sounds like the result of a menage a trois between a drum machine, a sensitive indie rocker, and a Nintendo game.) When I heard their track on eyeball's mix CD, I marched out and got their album and have had it in heavy rotation ever since.

Eyeball, eyeball, where have you been?

He's been to London to visit the Queen.

You wanted to see a Queen? Why'd you got to London? They only got one. Down in the village, we got thousands of 'em.

*crickets*

Did everyone just stay in bed today hoping that when they do wake up, it will all have been a bad dream?

Just curious.

I've been working on my plan to destroy the state of California. The first phase was completed last night.

Man, if you screw with my plan to set off a 500 megaton bomb on the San Andreas Fault I am so gonna kick your ass!

Up to my ass in alligators, Tiz.

Corporate thuggery is no picnic here at Wolfram and Hart.

I was thinking of something more subtle, but your plan has its benefits.

By the way, EBK (and Witchy, and Kaf), you have my condolences.

Fes, honey, corporate thuggery is never a picnic for us thugs in the trenches.

Do we get the champagne and the Waterman pens? I think not. It's YooHoo and Sharpies for us.

Ever dip a Sharpie in YooHoo?

MMMmmmm, that's Yoohoopielicious.

"we're losing California, inch by inch sit back and watch it go."
No, no Sloan. I'll have to go with 'I might be wrong' by Radiohead as my desert island song. Ya, ya, small children drawing sad pictures, obnoxious music critics pissing their pants every time Thom York farts, but I like that song.

"Learn to swim, I'll see you down in Arizona bay."
-Tool

Back to the topic-- I'd have to say the theme from Shaft.

just because.

He's a baaad mutha -

Hush your mouth!

I'm talkin 'bout Shaft ...

I can dig it.

He's a complicated man,

And no one understands him but his woman.

Miguel Cardoso...

Isaac Hayes, South Park notwithstanding, is an unsung genius of popular music. In the 90s I got into highly amusing critical-polemical trouble because a group of friends got together to elect the five greatest albums ever recorded and "Hot Buttered Soul" was No.3. Mainly because of "Walk On By". His "By The Time I Get To Phoenix" cover was also stupendous.

Vidiot

Is this a new Intrawabby thang?

nah...but in the original there's a chorus of women singing "John Shaft" at that point in the song. Seemed to fit, somehow. ;-)

Oh, crap. Off the top of my head? Black Flag's cover of 'Louie Louie'.

*nods to jonmc*

What mystifies me is that you've been able to stay off smoking while continuing to drink.

Almost 4 years since I quit the pack-a-day (holy bugshit!) and I still have either a cigar or (max 3 if I'm at home) ciggies when I drink. That's steady state for about the last 2 years, so I'm pretty sure I'm good with it. Worked for me, but I've always been lucky to have iron will with regard to my addictions.

Excessive alcohol is awful towards (I'd say) 75% of people in that it encourages aggression, self-pity turned into anger, paranoia, jealousy and, worst of all, defensiveness.[...]

Miguel's pretty much got it here, I'd say. Excess drink will inevitably drag you down, but 'excess' is a very different quantity for different people. Unless you find the level (and for some people the level is 'none at all') that you can sustain and not damage yourself and others around you, you are lost.

What many proselytizers against the demon drink (or weed or what-have-you) consistently deny (or miss in their fervor) is that there is that irreducible 25% (or less) for whom the drink or the drug is not so much a poison as a benediction.

These sanctimonious nanny types annoy the fuck out of me, needless to say.

They would say that the above is all self-justificatory fantasy. They may even be right.

Well, fuck 'em.

Post, you bastard!

I smoke and I'm proud!

dammit.

Is that the best ever and most apposite image-within-a-thread or what?

Hint: it's definitely not what.

the best part is the punky hotness in the background.

those jeans look acid washed to me, baby.

No, no - the best part is the monkey's flat-top.

L to R : Wonderchicken, some few years hence; imaginary monkey, briefly off my back, tempting, ever tempting, with imaginary smoke-o; mrs wonderchicken, wearily amused. (out of shot : mrs wonderchicken's new boyfriend)

So can comment spam, asshole.

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