Screw It, I'm Just Gonna Talk About Music Or Whatever

Here's a selection of songs featuring "If" in the title. We're getting conditional, baby (if you're into that).   Songs discussed in this episode: Blonde Redhead - If (2023) Cat Stevens/Yusuf - If You Want To Sing Out, Sing Out (1970) Guided By Voices - If We Wait (1996) Fever Ray - If I Had A Heart (2009) Bright Eyes - If Winter Ends (1998) Nolan Porter - If I Could Only Be Sure (1972) The Beatles - If I Fell (1964) Paul McCartney - If You Wanna (1997) George Harrison - If Not For You (1970) Aaliyah - If Your Girl Only Knew (1996) Gordon Lightfoot - If You Could Read My Mind (1970) Harold Melvin & The Blue Notes, Teddy Pendergrass - If You Don't Know Me By Now (1972) The Creation - If I Stay Too Long (1967)   Plus a few snippets of "Space Is Only Noise If You Can See" by Nicolas Jaar and "Freak, Go Home" by DARKSIDE.

Today's playlist contains all songs with finger-picked guitar parts! Or at least I'm pretty sure that's right, I don't play guitar. The songs are all good though.   Songs discussed in this episode: Elizabeth Cotten - Freigh Train (1957) Elliott Smith - Pretty Mary K (Other Version) (2007) Dando Shaft - Coming Home To Me (1971) Nick Drake - Which Will (1972) Lightnin' Hopkins - Shaggy Dog/Dad (1967?) Aldous Harding - The Barrel (2019) Labi Siffre - Cannock Chase (1972) Leo Kottke - Watermelon (1974) Fleetwood Mac - Never Going Back Again (1977) Dolly Parton - Jolene (1974) Nico - These Days (1967) Jacco Gardner - Brightly (2015)

Today's playlist features songs whose titles are people names (names only, not names in a phrase).   Songs discussed in this episode: Basement Jaxx - Romeo (2001) Pixies - Allison (1990) Jennie Lawless - Annie (2021) Ween - Gabrielle (2005) Paul Simon - Duncan (1972) Jack Ladder - Susan (2018) Weezer - Susanne (1994) Perfume Genius - Jason (2020) Boney M - Rasputin (1978) The Replacements - Alex Chilton (1987) Prefab Sprout - Faron Young (1985) David Bowie - Andy Warhol (1971) Gillian Welch - Caleb Meyer (1998) Paul McCartney - Jenny Wren (2005) Robert Palmer - Johnny And Mary (1980)  

My friend Joel Spence is here to talk about The B-52's 1983 album "Whammy"! We also talk a lot about The B-52's in general and I manage to also sneak in "Janitor" by Suburban Lawns.

Today's playlist is all songs featuring both male and female singers. Sometimes harmonizing, sometimes in unison, sometimes call and response, sometimes doing background for each other. Fun! Songs discussed in this episode: Marvin Gaye, Tammi Terrell - Ain't Nothing Like The Real Thing (1968) The Jesus and Mary Chain - Sometimes Always (1994) Dirty Projectors - Useful Chamber (2009) Emillia Contessa - Terbuka (1980) Suburban Lawns - Anything (1981) The Rosebuds - Shake Our Tree (2005) John Travolta, Olivia Newton-John - You're The One That I Want (1978) Pixies - I Bleed (1989) Kevin Ayers - The Oyster and the Flying Fish (1970) Ohtis, Stef Chura - Schatze (2021) The Fall - In These Times (1988) Shintaro Sakamoto - One Day (2022) X - Make The Music Go Bang (1983) Cults - Abducted (2011)

Today's playlist contains songs with numbers 1-10 in the titles! Kind of a flimsy theme but they're all good songs so I guess deal with it.   Songs discussed in this episode: The Lemon Twigs - The One (2020) Frank Black - Two Spaces (1993) Paul McCartney, Linda McCartney - 3 Legs (1971) Masumi Hara - 4 X A Dream (1984) David Bowie - Five Years (1972) The Cure - Six Different Ways (1985) Nancy - 7ft Tall Post-Suicidal Feel Good Blues (2021) Hüsker Dü - Eight Miles High (1990) Kitty Craft, Bonnie Koloc - Devil's Nine Questions (2020) XTC - Ten Feet Tall (1979)  

Today my friend Mel Cowan joins me to talk about a sampling of our favorite album openers! We didn't have time to play and talk about every possible entry in this list, but we mention a ton that weren't discussed and you should check out.   Songs discussed in this episode: The New Pornographers - Brill Bruisers (2014) Orange Juice - Rip It Up (1982) Beastie Boys - Sure Shot (1994) Portishead - Mysterons (1994) The Pogues - The Sick Bed of Cuchulainn (1985) Radiohead - Everything In Its Right Place (2000) Courtney Barnett - Elevator Operator (2015) Carole King - I Feel The Earth Move (1971) Marnie Stern - Vibrational Match (2007) The Stone Roses - I Wanna Be Adored (1989)

Today we're talking about time signatures - what are they, and why are songs with non-traditional time signatures so cool sounding? This is not super math heavy or expert-level analysis, but in it I share some of my favorite songs with weird time signatures and/or meter changes.   Songs discussed in this episode: The Beatles - I Saw Her Standing There (1963) (snippet only) OCS - Memory Of A Cut Off Head (2017) The Beatles - We Can Work It Out (1965) The Mad Capsule Markets - 公園へあと少し (1994) Wipers - Taking Too Long (1981) Ben LaMar Gray, Finom - Sometimes I Forget How Summer Looks On You (2021) Robert Palmer - Woke Up Laughing (1980) Genesis - It's Gonna Get Better (1983) Rihanna - Desperado (2016) Basement Jaxx - Distractionz (2009) The Stranglers - Golden Brown (1981) Pentangle - Light Flight (1969) Animal Collective - What Would I Want? Sky (2009) Ty Segall - To You (2024) The Chills - Don't Even Know Her Name (1989) Kassa Overall, J. Hoard, Angela Davis - Show Me A Prison (2020)  

This week we're exploring one facet of how stupid the written system of English is by featuring songs that feature words containing various pronunciations (all 6!) of "ough".    Discussed in this episode: Fleetwood Mac - Although The Sun Is Shining (1969) Stephen Stills - Thoroughfare Gap (1978) The Beatles - I'm Looking Through You (1965) The Creation - Through My Eyes (1967) Johnny Thunders & The Heartbreakers - It's Not Enough (1977) Beastie Boys - Tough Guy (1994) Misfits - Cough/Cool (1977) Butthole Surfers - Cough Syrup (1996) X - I Must Not Think Bad Thoughts (1983) Alanis Morissette - You Oughta Know (1995) Beyonce - Love Drought (2016)

Today's theme is doing something more than once, so all titles reference that concept. Musically repetitive songs will be a theme for another time!   Discussed in this episode: Grizzly Bear - Yet Again (2012) Ty Segall - Repetition (2024) Robert Palmer - Not A Second Time (1980) Roger Fakhr - Gone Away Again (197?, released 2021) Michael Kiwanuka - Home Again (2012) Daft Punk - One More Time/Aerodynamic (2007) Badly Drawn Boy - Say It Again (1999) The Durutti Column - Requiem Again (1989) Fiery Furnaces - Benton Harbor Blues (Again) (2006) Hot Chip - Over And Over (2012)

Today's theme is geography, so these are all songs with geographical names in the titles. And - get this - the songs are all good.   Discussed in this episode: Sufjan Stevens - Flint (For The Unemployed and Underpaid) (2003) Parquet Courts - Berlin Got Blurry (2016) Foxygen - San Francisco (2013) Brazilian Girls - St. Petersburg (2008) Ric Wilson, Terrace Martin, BJ the Chicago Kid - Chicago Bae (2020) Bob Marley, The Wailers - Zimbabwe (1979) Fugazi - Turkish Disco (1999) Stereolab - French Disko (1995) Amanaz - Africa (1975) The Psychadelic Furs - Sister Europe (1980) Wilco - Impossible Germany (2007) Sufjan Stevens, Angelo de Augustine - Fictional California (2021) Frank Black - (I Want to Live on an) Abstract Plain (1994)  

Here are a bunch of songs that would have been from my childhood if I had been born 40 years earlier. I say in the episode that the songs are in chronological order and now that I'm typing it out I see that that's only mostly true, please forgive me.   Songs discussed in this episode: Odetta - Santy Anno (1956) Buddy Holly, The Crickets - It Doesn't Matter Anymore (1956) The Del-Vikings - Come Go With Me (1957) The Everly Brothers - Bye Bye Love (1958) The Fleetwoods - Come Softly To Me (1959) Little Willie John - I'm Shakin' (1958) Chuck Jackson - I Keep Forgetting (1959) The Coasters - Poison Ivy (1959) Martin Denny - The Enchanted Sea (1959) The Melody Mates - Enchantment (1960) Brenda Lee - Wee Wee Willies (1960) Wanda Jackson - Funnel Of Love (1961) Patsy Cline - She's Got You (1962) Horst Jankowski - A Walk In The Black Forest (1964)

Today I'm joined by Will Hines (Screw It We're Just Gonna Talk About the Beatles, Comedy Bang Bang) to talk about the 2007 Of Montreal album "Hissing Fauna, Are You The Destroyer?"! Other Of Montreal songs played during the episode are "So Begins Our Alabee" (2005) and "Lysergic Bliss" (2004).

Here is a large handful of great songs that are not in English!    Songs discussed in this episode: Özdemir Erdoğan - Gurbet (1989) Marina Herlop - La Alhambra (2023) Volta Jazz - Bi Kameleou (1977) Emillia Contessa - Malam Minggu (1982) Cafe Tacvba - La Bas(e) (2024) Kishore Kumar, Asha Bhosle - Intaha Ho Gai Intezar Ki (1984) Françoiz Breut - Si tu disais (2000) Yat-Kha - Karangailyg Kara Hovaa (Dyngyldai) (1995) Fabrizo De Andre - Un ottico (1971) bob hund - Helgen v. 48 (1998) La Femme - Si un jour (2013) The Lijadu Sisters - Come On Home (1979) Kim Jung Mi - Blow Spring Breeze (1973) Gilberto Santa Rosa - Vivir Sin Ti (2010) Kourosh Yaghmaei - Ashiooneh (1973-79)  

I'm back! We're back! We all made this happen! Kicking off season two with a return to the theme of movin' and groovin'.   Songs discussed in this episode: Jorge Ben Jor - Africa Brasil (Zumbi) (1976) Yellow Magic Orchestra - 手掛かり (Key) (1981) Jean-Claude Vannier - La horse (1969) Incredible Bongo Band - Apache (1973) Shigeru Suzuki - パッション・フラワー (Passion Flower) (1978) Sharon Jones & The Dap-Kings - How Do I Let A Good Man Down? (2005) Cerro Verde - I Lost A Game (1977) Baby Huey - Hard Times (1971) Letta Mbulu - Mahlalela (1970) Funkadelic - You and Your Folks, Me and My Folks (1971) Blackrock - Blackrock "Yeah, Yeah" (1972) Yard Act - Dream Job (2024) Happy Mondays, Paul Oakenfold - W.F.L. - Think About The Future Mix (1993)

This episode is about pairs of songs that have the same title but are totally different (i.e. not covers or alternate versions of the same song). There are more examples than could be included in one episode, so maybe a part 2 is in the future! Speaking of the future - this is the last episode of season 1! I'll return with more after a 6-ish week hiatus.   Songs discussed in this episode: The Beatles - Come Together (1969) Spiritualized - Come Together (1997) Betty Chung - Bang Bang / 你怎能瞞過我 (1968) Dizzy Gillespie - Bang Bang (1966) Velvet Underground - Sunday Morning (1967) Margo Guryan - Sunday Morning (1968) R. Stevie Moore - Why Should I Love You (1986) Kate Bush - Why Should I Love You? (1993) Prince - Bambi (1979) Tokyo Police Club - Bambi (2010) Jacco Gardner - Face to Face (2015) Daft Punk - Face to Face (2001)

These are all songs that have opposite pairs in the titles (with the exception of one that has "opposite" in the title and that's good enough for me). I think I also misspoke and said that the Elliott Smith album was called "From A Basement On A Hill" rather than "From A Basement On THE Hill", so my apologies to all you definite article-heads out there.   Songs discussed in this episode: The Smile - The Opposite (2022) The Beatles - Hello, Goodbye (1967) Guided by Voices - As We Go Up, We Go Down (1995) Elliott Smith - Pretty (Ugly Before) (2004) Hot Chip - Night And Day (2012) Penny & the Quarters - You and Me (1970-1975, released 2007) D'Angelo, Redman, Method Man - Left And Right (2000) New Radicals - You Get What You Give (1998) Broadcast - Come On Let's Go (2000) Lazy Lester - I'm A Lover Not A Fighter (1958) Blondie - The Hunter Gets Captured By The Game (1982) Fiery Furnaces - Tropical Ice-land (2005)

Songs featuring keyboard/mallet percussion! We're celebrating the struck idiophones today - vibraphone, xylophone, glockenspiel, marimba, tubular bells, and more!   Songs discussed in this episode: Bobby Hebb - Sunny (1966) Harumi - Hurry Up Now (1968) Spoon - Everything Hits At Once (2001) Bright Eyes - Haligh, Haligh, A Lie, Haligh (2000) Fiona Apple - Sleep To Dream (1996) Field Music - Let's Write A Book (2010) Violent Femmes - Gone Daddy Gone (1983) Cornelius - Magoo Opening (1998) Cults - Walk At Night (2011) David Byrne - Glass, Concrete, & Stone (2004) Glasser - Home (2010) Deerhunter - What Happens To People? (2019) Erasmo Carlos - Agora Ninguem Chora Mais (1971) Trio da Kali, Kronos Quartet - Kanimba (2017) Philip Glass, Third Coast Percussion - Aguas de Amazonia: Madeira River (2018)  

Numbers - ever heard of 'em? All the songs in today's episode feature counting! Not count-ins, count-ins don't count as counting.   Songs discussed in this episode: Len Barry - 1,2,3 (1965) Feist - 1234 (2007) The Beatles - All Together Now (1969) Beyonce - Countdown (2011) Adam Ant - Apollo 9 (1985) Kendrick Lamar - DNA (2017) Philip Glass - Einstein On The Beach: Knee Play 1 (1976) The Smile - Wall Of Eyes (2024) Cornelius - Count Five Or Six (1998) Queen - Good Old-Fashioned Lover Boy (1976) Violent Femmes - Kiss Off (1983) Pixies - Monkey Gone To Heaven (1989) X - True Love Pt. #2 (1983) The Beatles - Kansas City / Hey-Hey-Hey-Hey (1964) Ty Segall - The Bell (2024)

Songs about friends! There are certainly other songs about friends, some very famous, that I didn't include, but that's fine because these are all really good. So be my friend about it why don't you!   Songs discussed in this episode: Adam Ant - Friend or Foe (1982) Ween - Friends (2007) Amanaz - Khala My Friend (1975) John Cale - Fear Is A Man's Best Friend (1974) Tubeway Army - Are 'Friends' Electric? (1979) Bobby Vee, The Crickets - Girl Of My Best Friend (1962) Grateful Dead - Friend Of The Devil (1970) Paul McCartney - Friends To Go (2005) Ty Segall - My Best Friend (2024) The Smile - Friend Of A Friend (2024)