25 Random Songs

, in Happening

I load up Facebook and what do I see?

"Once you've been tagged ... (1) Turn on your MP3 player. (2) Go to SHUFFLE songs mode. (3) Write down the first 25 songs that come up--song title and artist--NO editing/cheating, please. (4) Choose 25 people to be tagged. It is generally considered to be in good taste to tag the person who tagged you.

Damn! I've been tagged with the 25 Random Songs meme-virus. Oh well, here goes:

Beauty Has Her Way by Mummy Calls (The Lost Boys Soundtrack) I listened to The Lost Boys soundtrack religiously when I first got it, and while I still like it a lot there is no denying that it contains far too many sax solos. The whole CD could easily be the soundtrack to Saxophone:The Movie.

Who Put the Bomp (In The Bomp Ba Bomp Ba Bomp) by Barry Mann I grew up in a small town with only one radio station. Looking back they did a pretty good job of trying to satisfy everyone, but means that I know more about 50s and 60s music than I do about, say New York punk. Anyway, they used to play this song - basically a piss-take on DoWop bands. I still find it hilarious.

E=mcHawking I explode like a bomb. No one is spared; My power is my mass times the speed of light squared. I don't know where Stephen Hawking finds the time to be both the Lucasian Professor of Mathematics at Cambridge and a hardcore gangster rapper simultaneously.

Pulp Culture by Thomas Dolby I got this from a Thomas Dolby Best Of, pretty good stuff, although this is not one of the standout songs.

Como Sera by Edgar Joel I bought an album of salsa music a while ago. It is pretty cheesy.

Merry as a Grig by Van Philips (Ren and Stimpy Production Music) Ren and Stimpy made a point of plundering recording archives for old-old-timey orchestral music. Lots of muted trumpets and xylophones. I have just realised I have no idea what a Grig is, nor why one should be merry.

Jango's Escape by John Williams (Star Wars Episode 2 Soundtrack) The music was the best part about Star Wars, and this is one of the better pieces.

Christmas is Interesting by Jonathan Coulton From a CD I ordered online after I downloaded a couple of songs off his website after he was linked to the Wikipedia page on The Mandelbrot Set, of all things.

A Thousand Miles by Vanessa Carlton

Grieg: Peer Gynt Suite #2, Op. 55 - 3. Peer Gynt's Homecoming I have a whole bunch of classic CDs in my library, mainly for when I am working and I need to concentrate. I was debating whether to exclude the classical stuff from this list, but it seemed like cheating.

Gummi Bears Theme For a while I was collecting TV theme tunes. I cannot recall how I got started, but I still have them. This one always makes me smile when it comes up on shuffle - The Gummi Bears was a pretty good show.

The Sixth Sense Malcolm Is Dead - James Newton Howard (A History of Horror) One fine day about 8 years ago I walked into Borders with too much money. I solved that problem by buying A History of Horror, a two CD set of horror movie themes going back to the 1920s. It has some great music on it, but also some tedious muck (this track lies somewhere in between.) I recall that I was torn between buying this or BatBoy:The Musical original cast recording. I am still not sure if I made the right decision.

More Than A Feeling - Boston Sometimes you just have to close your eyes and drift awaaaay... Ironically a song about reminiscing over an old song has turned into an old song that reminds me about my youth. God that makes me feel old, but I bet not as old as it makes the members of Boston feel.

Swear It's True - The Mockers (25 Years of Kiwi Rock) I liked The Mockers, but Forever Tuesday Morning is a better song.

Second Solution - The Living End The Living End are still going, but rebellious punkesque bands really have a hard sell-by date (c.f. Green Day). This is them from their prime.

Crepe Suzette - Cyril Watters (Ren and Stimpy Production Music) More Ren and Stimpy

Org Con in B flat, Op.4, No.2 - Halleluja I once help win first place in a quiz by knowing that Handel's Messuah was first performed in Dublin. I also know it makes for good background music.

I Get a Kick Out of You - Felix Slatkin Ultra-Lounge Volume 3 - Space Capades The Ultra-Lounge series mines much the same vein as the Ren and Stimpy Music, just from a couple of decades later - lots of 40s and 50s cheese. This is from Space Capades, so there is lots of vibraphone.

Stravinsky: Pulcinella - Scherzino

Symphony No.1, Op.7 'Le Poème de la forêt' in D minor. II. Renouveau

Leave A Tender Moment Alone - Billy Joel Billy Joel is deeply, deeply uncool. I don't care, I like it.

Best That You Can Do - Christopher Cross There is going to be hell to pay when I find out who broke in and planted this in my iTunes library.

William, It Was Really Nothing - The Smiths You know how I missed out on whole musical trends growing up? One of those trends was The Smiths, the only song I knew was How Soon is Now which I liked. A few years ago I bought a 2CD Best Of The Smiths collection to see what I had missed. And you know what? I hate The Smiths. How Soon in Now is still pretty cool though.

I Could Be So Good For You - Dennis Waterman Not sure where this comes from, maybe from my TV Theme collecting days.

Ode To My Family - Cranberries Everyone of a certain age has either this or Wonderwall by Oasis in their collection.