Tuesday, August 12, 2008

To The Workers Of The Rock River Valley Region, I Have An Idea Concerning Your Predicament (Day 103)

Yardbirds - "Never Mind"
Sufjan Stevens - "To The Workers Of The Rock River Valley Region, I Have An Idea Concerning Your Predicament"
The Twilight Singers - "Powder Burns"
Robert Pollard - "Kensington Cradle"
Nirvana - "Hairspray Queen"
Low - "California"
Sorry about the short playlist. I was joined by a friend for most of the commute, and, yes, occasionally human interaction is better than listening to music. (Although not often.) In any case, I squeezed in a few songs. Including one of Sufjan's legendary tunes that can give typesetters a nightmare. (For the record that song title is 74 letters long, but the song is only 100 seconds in length!) Also, this is a nice Low tune from 2005's The Great Destroyer, which is a bit more upbeat than most of their stuff. The lyrical refrain is about going "back to California where it's warm." How often is California the stand-in for the good life? In literature, music, art, etc, it might as well be nirvana. Even in our house, ipodwidow is often pining for mythic California (she has relatives there), and we've halfheartedly considered moving ourselves. In the meantime, there are probably hundreds of songs about California.
An allmusic search pulls up 369 recordings called "California". And on my iPod alone I have 5 (Low, Rogue Wave, Dr. Dog, Rufus Wainwright, Josh Ritter); and 10 others titled "California [something]" (i.e. Gram Parson's "California Cottonfields"). What's your favorite California song?



And then I got to work.

Today's Stats
Total songs listened to: 6
Total minutes of music (approx.): 19
Song with the most previous plays: "To The Workers Of The Rock River Valley Region, I Have An Idea Concerning Your Predicament" - 12
How I Rate Today's Playlist (1-10): 3
Miscellaneous factoid about my trip to work today: I got nothing, but I felt like sharing with you this Estonian meat commercial from 1980. (Make sure you've finished your lunch.)



7 comments:

Anonymous said...

Do you think there's something wrong with me if I really want to taste a tasty fried Kana loaf?

comoprozac said...

Two days in a row with Sufjan Stevens as the top track? Hmmm...

"Two States" by Pavement is my favorite California song.

What's funny is that I started a post on my Pavement blog on this very track. It should be done this evening.

Also, I started a post on blog names if I were to move to different states. I used "Two States" for a hypothetical title California blog.

Anonymous said...

Surfer Girl by the Beach Boys and Mendicino by the McGarrigle Sisters. I have no doubt that CA is wonderful place but it depends on where you are. LA would drive the IPod Widow batty in a NY minute but in LA it would be more like a really laid back, later dude minute. If the commute to the country gets her down, try a few miles on the 10 or the Hollywood Freeway.....the CityKid song by DZ would start looking real good

sarah said...

"California Demise" by the Olivia Tremor Control and "California (All the Way)" by Luna. (I have 10 California-type songs on my iPod.)
I've never wanted to live in California. I'm too East Coast (All the Way.)

Shaholla said...

My fav is California by Copeland. The song just makes my life sometimes. Love your blog by the way. I check it every (week) day!

Anonymous said...

check out "California" by Dr. Dog. They have a fun video of that song on youtube. They are doing it all on the street after a concert.

GE said...

Wow. Thanks for all your favorite California tunes (and blind meat lust).

CP, looking forward to your "Two States" post.

Anon 1, weren't you born in CA? Where's the love?

Sarah, "California (All The Way)" - - nice one!

Shahala, thanks for reading. Don't know that tune, but I'll check it out.

Anon 2, I like it. Very CSN&Y.