Thursday, October 16, 2008

The Center Of The World (Day 146)

Pavement - "Reagan's Dead""Box Elder" (live)
This one is a bit of a mystery. Today's first song starts out as a messy jam and I can clearly identify Stephen Malkmus' voice over the noodling. No problem, it's clearly a live Pavement tune, probably from one of the recent reissues. In a few minutes, after saying "ready to freak out" over and over, Malkmus calls out "Box Elder" and the band launches into that very song. (A cool rendition, by the way.) So what's so mysterious you ask. Well, I'll tell you: When I get to work and go over the playlist, iTunes says this song is called...wait for it..."Reagan's Dead." Huh? Was that the name of the jam before the song proper? I look at the track listing for Wowee Zowee: Sordid Sentinels Edition (the album that this mystery track is from) and there's no such thing as "Reagan's Dead," but there is a live version of "Box Elder" (recorded live on Australian radio in July 1994). So how did this song come to be called "Reagan's Dead" on my iPod? Did I mix it up with another Pavement song. (As much as I love them, so many of the band's song titles, even some of my favorite songs, are still unknown to me.) I search. Nope. There is no song called "Reagan's Dead" by Pavement. In fact the only "Reagan's Dead" I can find in the universe is by punk noisemakers the Primma Donnas off their only album, Drugs, Sex & Discotheques. I don't even own this album. Seriously, WTF. Time to get Robert Stack on the case. I have a theory, and it's political. It's the day after the last presidential debate of 2008 and this song mysteriously comes up on the playlist with this mysterious name. I hope it means what I think it means and Reagan is just a proper noun that can also be spelled G.O.P.



Lucinda Williams - "Still I Long For Your Kiss"
Jeff Tweedy - "Not For The Season" (live)
Rilo Kiley - "Smoke Detector"
My Morning Jacket - "Xmas Curtain"
Sufjan Stevens - "Holland"
The Lemonheads - "Poughkeepsie"
Bright Eyes - "Center Of The World"

And then I got to work.

Today's Stats
Total songs listened to: 8
Total minutes of music (approx.): 33
Song with the most previous plays: "The Center Of The World," "Holland" (tie) - 10
How I Rate Today's Playlist (1-10): 7
Miscellaneous factoid about my trip to work today: This is what I learned before work today. You can't take a nearly 3-year-old girl who was ravaged by mosquitoes at the playground and has about 15 bites on her face and hands to pre-school. They turn you right around and make you go to the doctor for a note that reads: "Not contagious." Sure I got to work an hour late, but on the bright side, she's not contagious.

2 comments:

comoprozac said...

I had never noticed the title for this track differed on the iPod from the packaging. I reviewed this song once. Did you put in your order for the new Brighten the Corners redux?

GE said...

It's not. That's the weird part. On no Pavement release is this the name of that song. And yet on my iPod, that's what it's called. (Shrugs.)