the banality blues

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Please help me think of more songs for this variety CD

"Baker Street"--?
"To Live and Die in LA"--Wang Chung
"The Lido Shuffle"--Boz Skaggs
"1979"--The Smashing Pumpkins
"The Captain of Her Heart"--Double
"Magic"--Jefferson Starship

Not bad songs so much as songs that evoke twice divorced, forty-five-year old bachelorhood, behind on child suport payments, hanging out alone at a smoky neighborhood dive on a rainy weekday afternoon, unemployed, staring into your pint of flat Schlitz. What songs should be on this bar's jukebox, that's what I'm hoping for, ILM, thanks. This CD should rule.

― Sour Jack Kid, Thursday, 5 August 2004 18:00 (twenty-one years ago)

"1979"--The Smashing Pumpkins

I protest this inclusion.

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Thursday, 5 August 2004 18:04 (twenty-one years ago)

4 Non Blondes 'What's Up?'
Pavement 'Major Leagues'
Incubus 'Drive'
Train 'Drops Of Jupiter'

― the neurotic awakening of s (blueski), Thursday, 5 August 2004 18:06 (twenty-one years ago)

"Here Comes A Regular" - The Replacements

― sexyDancer, Thursday, 5 August 2004 18:07 (twenty-one years ago)

"I Don't Care Anymore" - Phil Collins

― sexyDancer, Thursday, 5 August 2004 18:08 (twenty-one years ago)

Ned, I don't mean that's a bad song at all, but that a guy who was 20 in 1979 might hear it and defenestrate, know what I mean? That's the effect I'm looking for.

― Sour Jack Kid, Thursday, 5 August 2004 18:09 (twenty-one years ago)

"it's hard to kiss the lips at night that chew your ass out all day long" notorious cherry bombs

― Huck, Thursday, 5 August 2004 18:09 (twenty-one years ago)

Heheh. Okay, fair enough.

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Thursday, 5 August 2004 18:11 (twenty-one years ago)

Neil Young - Everybody Knows (This is Nowhere)

― earlnash, Thursday, 5 August 2004 18:13 (twenty-one years ago)

"too much on my mind" - kinks

― mtrst, Thursday, 5 August 2004 18:14 (twenty-one years ago)

Styx, "Too Much Time On My Hands"

― phil d., Thursday, 5 August 2004 18:17 (twenty-one years ago)

Johnny Cash - "Busted"

― earlnash, Thursday, 5 August 2004 18:18 (twenty-one years ago)

The real version of this archetype I know alternates between a Tom Waits tape and a Ramones tape.

― sexyDancer, Thursday, 5 August 2004 18:20 (twenty-one years ago)

Billy Bragg and Wilco - "One By One"

― Gear! (Gear!), Thursday, 5 August 2004 18:21 (twenty-one years ago)

all the the

― duke the, Thursday, 5 August 2004 18:46 (twenty-one years ago)

"I'm Tryin'" by Trace Adkins is BY FAR the song of the decade as far as this theme is concerned (not that I'm an expert or anything, honest.) "Baker Street" (by GERRY RAFFERTY, for crissakes - jeez, kids these days!) is perfect; don't really agree with many of the other choices above, but what the hell do I know. (There should probably be some Tim McGraw and Everclear and John Cougar Mellencamp and Bob Seger and Kid Rock on the tape though, if you want a hint.)

― chuck, Thursday, 5 August 2004 19:18 (twenty-one years ago)

And Pogues. And every version of "Whiskey in the Jar" ever recorded.

― chuck, Thursday, 5 August 2004 19:19 (twenty-one years ago)

Against The Wind - Bob Seger

― M@tt He1geson (Matt Helgeson), Thursday, 5 August 2004 19:23 (twenty-one years ago)

george jones, "ya ba da ba do"

― fact checking cuz (fcc), Thursday, 5 August 2004 19:26 (twenty-one years ago)

Tom Waits - "Innocent When You Dream (78)"
Montgomery Gentry - "Mexico" or "I Never Thought I'd Live This Long"
Wilco - "Kamera" (maybe)
Yo La Tengo - "Our Way to Fall" (maybe)
Amy Rigby - "Are We Ever Gonna Have Sex Again?" (or just about anything)

― frankE (frankE), Thursday, 5 August 2004 19:32 (twenty-one years ago)

I'd say "Living Too Late" or "Bill is Dead" by The Fall, but it's probably too knowing for inclusion here.

― sexyDancer, Thursday, 5 August 2004 19:37 (twenty-one years ago)

Thanks for all these suggestions, by the way.

― Sour Jack Kid, Thursday, 5 August 2004 19:43 (twenty-one years ago)

Oh fuck, of course: Gary Stewart's epochal "Single Again."

George Jones' "Ya Ba Da Ba Do (So Are You)." (as mentioned above, but one can never cite this one too much).

Nick Lowe's "Cruel to Be Kind," a hit in '79.

Steely Dan's "Hey 19."

something by Kenny Rogers!

Talking Heads' "Once in a Lifetime."

Chic's "Good Times" (then you fall off the barstool in a pool of tears...)

― eddie hurt (ddduncan), Thursday, 5 August 2004 19:50 (twenty-one years ago)

> "Magic"--Jefferson Starship

Do you mean "Miracles"? Infidel!

I'd put anything by Jimmy Buffett on here, especially "Margaritaville."

― Joseph McCombs, Thursday, 5 August 2004 19:56 (twenty-one years ago)

zevon - play it all night long [if possible the piano version from that one early 90s live solo cd]
judas priest -
jazz butcher - partytime, or maybe whaddya
mekons - beaten and broken [classic couplet: "the person i'd just spent the night with / just looked at me and sighed"]
nilsson - early in the morning
sinatra - in the wee small hours
sandy denny - i'm a dreamer
judas priest - epitaph [i'm thinking your guy might need some regretful metal ballads like this, but it's not really my area... every rose has its thorn maybe?]

― mig (mig), Thursday, 5 August 2004 21:10 (twenty-one years ago)

Also "Old Man Bar," Iron City Houserockers

― chuck, Thursday, 5 August 2004 21:31 (twenty-one years ago)

and "She Got the Goldmine (I Got the Shaft)," Jerry Reed

― chuck, Thursday, 5 August 2004 21:33 (twenty-one years ago)

anything by Glen Frey esp. "Smugglers Blues"

― Joseph Pot (STINKOR™), Thursday, 5 August 2004 21:46 (twenty-one years ago)

also see George Thorogood

― Joseph Pot (STINKOR™), Thursday, 5 August 2004 21:47 (twenty-one years ago)

Supertramp "dreamer"

― chad (chad), Friday, 6 August 2004 04:35 (twenty-one years ago)

Supertramp -- Take the Long Way Home
Loudon Wainwright III -- IDTTYWLM

― weather1ngda1eson (Brian), Friday, 6 August 2004 04:47 (twenty-one years ago)

Blue öyster Cult, "Burnin' For You"

― Myonga Von Bontee (Myonga Von Bontee), Friday, 6 August 2004 06:37 (twenty-one years ago)

Is there a good one by Gordon Lightfoot?

― Sour Jack Kid, Friday, 6 August 2004 14:32 (twenty-one years ago)

"sundown" or sumthin?

― sexyDancer, Friday, 6 August 2004 14:39 (twenty-one years ago)

Lightfoot? Probably "Sundown," "If You Could Read My Mind," "Rainy Day People," or "Carefree Highway," in either that order or some other order. But yeah, he definitely belongs on here.

And so do the Eagles, dammit. LOTS and LOTS of Eagles, before you put any damn wimpass college rock phony baloney on there. Believe me.

― chuck, Friday, 6 August 2004 14:40 (twenty-one years ago)

Billy Joel - "The Stranger"

― mike a, Friday, 6 August 2004 14:51 (twenty-one years ago)

Harry Chapin, "Cat's In The Cradle"

― mike a, Friday, 6 August 2004 14:51 (twenty-one years ago)

And oh yeah, "Running on Empty," Jackson Browne. Obviously. And a couple songs from the new Kenny Chesney album.

― chuck, Friday, 6 August 2004 14:55 (twenty-one years ago)

"Running on Empty" or maybe "The Pretender" should be the theme song. I'm thinking of Don Henley solo, too--"The Sunset Grill" and "The Heart of the Matter." If there's anything else by him like that I'd be glad to know it. This is becoming a box set I guess. Right now I can't decide between "The Southern Cross" and "Wasted on the Way" or throwing them both in.
This has been great. Thanks again for all the help.

― Sour Jack Kid, Friday, 6 August 2004 15:24 (twenty-one years ago)

you need to have a george jones/tammy wynette duet or two or three on there, too.

― fact checking cuz (fcc), Friday, 6 August 2004 15:25 (twenty-one years ago)

And so do the Eagles, dammit. LOTS and LOTS of Eagles, before you put any damn wimpass college rock phony baloney on there. Believe me.

You know, Chuck, the place where I heard Eagles songs most in my life *WAS* at college. Thank you, UCLA frat dudes.

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Friday, 6 August 2004 15:31 (twenty-one years ago)

A better Harry Chapin choice would be "A Better Place to Be," the song where the drunk schlub bangs a fat bartender and it doesn't change either's ennui.

― Joseph McCombs, Friday, 6 August 2004 15:55 (twenty-one years ago)

From my college experience, "college rock" meant Jimmy Buffett, the Eagles, Matchbox 20, Dave Matthews, Rusted Root, and Counting Crows. What shit.

― Gear! (Gear!), Friday, 6 August 2004 16:59 (twenty-one years ago)

Norah Fucking Jones

― sexyDancer, Friday, 6 August 2004 17:02 (twenty-one years ago)

"you better you bet" -- the who

― ||amateur!st|| (amateurist), Friday, 6 August 2004 17:09 (twenty-one years ago)

"Dusted" - Giant Sand
"Holocaust" - Big Star
"Thank You Friends" - Big Star
"Unsound" - Bettie Serveert
"The River" - Bruce Springsteen
"Atlantic City" - Bruce Springsteen
"Reason to Believe" Bruce Springsteen

― frankE (frankE), Friday, 6 August 2004 17:23 (twenty-one years ago)

also "Racing In the Streets" by Bruce.

― Gear! (Gear!), Friday, 6 August 2004 17:25 (twenty-one years ago)

so wait are these songs supposed to be about banality or are they supposed to embody banality or both? if both then yeah, i guess the eagles/don henley pretty much rule this thread.

― ||amateur!st|| (amateurist), Friday, 6 August 2004 17:27 (twenty-one years ago)

Actually Counting Crows (esp. "A Long December") is a great idea. And "Please Come to Boston" by Dave Loggins (almost the same song, except "A Long December" has more "Hotel California" in it!) too.

― chuck, Friday, 6 August 2004 17:31 (twenty-one years ago)

All three, ||amateur!st||--banal, about banality, and both--though not every song has to represent all three. There's probably not a whole lot of songs that do. I know this is a bit of a strange subject, and for the millionth time I appreciate the suggestions.

― Sour Jack Kid, Friday, 6 August 2004 17:33 (twenty-one years ago)

"South Tacoma Way" by Neko Case is a good one, sort of a depressing, looking back, hanging around a depressed old neighborhood from years past type of tune.

― Gear! (Gear!), Friday, 6 August 2004 17:37 (twenty-one years ago)

Rush - "Working Man"

― wetmink (wetmink), Friday, 6 August 2004 22:47 (twenty-one years ago)

"Dirty Old Man" and "Mean Mr. Mustard"

― o. nate (onate), Saturday, 7 August 2004 02:47 (twenty-one years ago)

"Fool if you Think It's Over," Chris Rea

and perhaps some Bachman-Turner Overdrive (so when does THEIR revival happen?? jeez..)

― chuck, Saturday, 7 August 2004 21:33 (twenty-one years ago)

Benny Mardones, "Into the Night"

Paul Davis, "'65 Love Affair"

― Joseph McCombs, Saturday, 7 August 2004 23:50 (twenty-one years ago)

the one to start the tape with:

kris kristoferson (or perhaps somebody who can actually sing and whose name i can actually spell, if you prefer) -- "sunday morning coming down"

― chuck, Sunday, 8 August 2004 11:59 (twenty-one years ago)

...the Johnny Cash version, perhaps?
"she's acting single I'm drinking doubles" gary stewart
"I've hurt her more than she loves me" conway twitty
or anything by these two guys. conway is the poet of infidelity.
"brother jukebox" keith whitley
"friends in low places" garth b or (much better& sadder) mark chesnutt
"too cold at home" mark chesnutt
if I heard Bruce Springsteen in this situation I'd kill myself (or probably just go to another bar).

― mc aka lbs, Sunday, 8 August 2004 17:36 (twenty-one years ago)

Romeo and Juliet-Dire Straits

― Joe Kay (feethurt), Sunday, 8 August 2004 19:50 (twenty-one years ago)

chuck is really good at this. if anyone ever makes a movie about a bunch of guys hanging out until late in the night at a bad chinese bar-restaurant, i suggest they hire him as musical consultant.

p.s. this is a sincere compliment.

― ||amateur!st|| (amateurist), Monday, 9 August 2004 01:36 (twenty-one years ago)

Thanks! (Being divorced and 43 years old and spending too much time in bars MIGHT have something to do with me being good at it, though.)

― chuck, Monday, 9 August 2004 13:57 (twenty-one years ago)

"All I Wanna Do" - Sheryl Crow. In this context (and, arguably, in this context alone), it would pierce the very soul.

― mike t-diva (mike t-diva), Monday, 9 August 2004 14:05 (twenty-one years ago)

"Life is A Highway"

― sexyDancer, Monday, 9 August 2004 14:31 (twenty-one years ago)

"Sunday Morning Comin Down" is a great idea. But now I'm torn. I've been thinking all along that "Baker Street"'s the perfect first song. He winds his way down Baker St. . . . drinks the night away, and forgets about anything . . . . That song is aching.
But better more than less! Please keep 'em coming.

― Sour Jack Kid, Monday, 9 August 2004 14:35 (twenty-one years ago)

Jerry Lee Lewis - What Made Milwaukee Famous

― earlnash, Monday, 9 August 2004 14:37 (twenty-one years ago)

to be more specific about a couple of my nominations above:

John Cougar Mellencamp -- "Check It Out" HAS to be on there, but mainly consider sundry mid '80s stuff
Bob Seger - late '70s stuff, especially "Hollywood Nights," "Mainstreet," "Still the Same," "Night Moves," and DEFINITELY "Sunspot Baby"
Tim McGraw - About half of *A Place in the Sun* would probably fit, starting with the title track
Everclear/Kid Rock -- any song where they talk about being a dad.

― chuck, Monday, 9 August 2004 14:47 (twenty-one years ago)

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