Feel Good, Inc. (Day 50!)

Fugazi - "Promises"
Silver Jews - "Blue Arrangements"
Ry Cooder - "Soy Luz y Sombra"
Nirvana - "Don't Want It All" (home recording)
The Replacements - "I Don't Know"
The Silos - "Just This Morning"
The Beatles - "I've Got A Feeling"
Today mark's fifty straight days of blogging about what I listened to on the way to work...feels like 500! I kid. Actually, it's still fun so I guess I'll keep at it. I was hoping to mark today with some anniversary stats, like how many songs I've listened to in 50 days, how many minutes of music, song with the most plays over the span, etc. But who has time to crunch those numbers? Not me, sadly. It looks like The Beatles stopped by to say Happy 50th with a rare back-to-back appearance on the shuffle. (See, if only I had those stats I'd know exactly how rare.) Not much to add to The Beatles scholarship, obviously, but I will tell you that this version of "I've Got A Feeling" is from the Let It Be (The Alternate Mono Mixes) bootleg which I got from a former co-worker. That means it's an original, live studio recording that was made during a rehearsal for a possible live show - - an idea that was later scrapped. The version definitely sounds looser and it's pretty cool to hear. Again, I'm no Beatles aficionado, so I had to go to Wikipedia where I learned this about "I've Got A Feeling":
It is actually a combination of two unfinished songs strung together: Paul McCartney's "I've Got a Feeling" and John Lennon's "Everybody Had a Hard Year", with the main guitar riff coming from Lennon's unfinished "Watching Rainbows". McCartney's song was written for his girlfriend Linda Eastman, whom he soon married, telling her that she was the girl he had always been looking for. Lennon's song was a litany where every line started with the word "everybody".
The world's first mash-up, perhaps?
The Beatles - "Oh! Darling"
Thelonious Monk - "Epistrophy (Theme)"
Gorillaz - "Feel Good, Inc."
Back in the mid 90s there was a divide greater than the vanilla/chocolate debate. Even more spirited than Clinton/Obama. And more clear-cut than Mets/Yankees. Of course, I'm talking about Blur/Oasis. It seemed as if you couldn't really be a fan of Brit pop without choosing a side. Somehow I managed to remain above the fray. A good friend swore by Oasis, but I just saw them as an obvious Beatles rip-off with an a**hole for a lead singer. And Blur, the less popular of the two bands, didn't really cross my radar too much. Well, somewhere along the way (and it may not be until hearing that uber-catchy single, "Song 2"), I realized Blur was a lot better. I mean seriously, how was it even a debate? They were a much more interesting and diverse band that used The Beatles as a jumping off point, not a destination. And one of the biggest reasons was obviously frontman Damon Albarn. Unlike Liam Gallagher, he seemed to channel the rebellious spirit into the music and not cussing on stage. I think the fun hip-hop/rock virtual side project Gorillaz only reinforces that. Does Liam have a side project - - besides feuding with his brother? I also like the Gorillaz second album Demon Days a lot, after most people seem to get bored of the whole thing. This song has a whopping 10 plays, enough to put it in the Top 200 on my iPod. Why not? It's got a fun summertime vibe with it's "Shake It! Shake It!" chorus. Somebody get me a beer.
The Wrens - "Thirteen Grand"
The Polyphonic Spree - "Middle Of The Day"
Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds - "She Fell Away"
Destroyer - "Sick Priest Learns To Last Forever"
Mercury Rev - "I Collect Coins"

And then I got to work.

Today's Stats
Total songs listened to: 15
Total minutes of music (approx.): 54
Song with the most previous plays: "Feel, Good Inc." - 10
Miscellaneous factoid about my trip to work today: I had to pretend not to see a co-worker on the train. If I stopped to talk, I would have had to stop listening to the iPod - - and stop reading this engaging article about walruses. That was just too much to give up.