The Shuffler - vol. 2

Vol. 1 is here. The following songs were all belched out during yesterday’s evening commute and this morning’s commute:

What a Feeling – Heather Nova
On her Siren album this is second only to Winterblue as my favorite tune.

Oh Had I a Golden Thread – Eva Cassidy
One of my least favorite Eva Cassidy songs, actually, because the roller rink-esque organ music grates. But oh, that voice!

Uchu Ryoku – Yoko K.
Last year I went to a joint PostSecret/Found event and I thought the DC musician who performed the electronic background music for the PostSecret side of the show was just phenomenal. As soon as her CD was released by a local label, I snatched it up. This is a splendid groove from that album.

Upside Down – Tori Amos
Quite possibly my favorite Tori B-side. When I was at Goldsmiths I had Annida write my favorite line from this song (“I found the secret to my life: I’m okay when everything is not okay”) in calligraphy, and I hung it in my dorm room.

Running to Stand Still – U2
My favorite song from The Joshua Tree. I love the line “You got to cry without weeping, talk without speaking, scream without raising your voice.”

Schankheden – Swap
I really dig Nordic folk music, and this song in particular makes me want to get up and dance. So y’all better step back right now—you don’t want to lose an eye.

The Angel Song – Great White
Power ballads are so fabulously cheesy. Fallen angel ripped and bruised! Life is rude, treats you bad, tears your wings away! Hollywood ain’t paved with gold—it’s just a trick of light! A spider’s web of tangled lives lays stretched across the hills; from distances it’s glistening
like El Dorado’s halls! The streets are hard, they’re mean and scarred, where only fools find gold!

Vehicle – Bo Bice
I wish his post-American Idol career had been more fruitful. This is a fun tune and he has a nice voice, so where the hell is he?

Auf Achse – Franz Ferdinand
When I first heard them, they were the first new band I’d gotten excited about in a long time. This CD rocks!

Love Takes Over Me – Kylie Minogue
David, Kylie fan extraordinaire, exposed me to this great song.

Eye of the Tiger – Paul Anka
I just love Anka’s big band covers of ’80s and ’90s songs!

Love Montage (I Saw Him Once/In My Life/A Heart Full of Love) – Les Misérables
Aw, Les Mis. Fabulous musical. And fabulous book, too. I read the unabridged version on my own in 9th grade, then read abridged versions in my English and French classes later in high school.

Renaissance Affair – Hooverphonic
My first introduction to trance-pop. I miss your touch and your embrace…delicate and ethereal desire.

Meanwhile:
Missy and I have been raging Anglophiles lately, and I’m not quite sure what triggered this onslaught of fervor. Whatever the cause, tomorrow’s 10-year anniversary of Princess Diana’s death seems like as good an excuse as any to take the day off work and, with her Anglophiliac parents, be total dorks who spend the day watching Di’s funeral, reading Di memorial magazines, stuffing our gullets with British junk food, and watching her parents’ copy of Season 2 of Life on Mars. They have the capability of watching foreign DVDs, so they bought both seasons of Life on Mars from England. And since BBC America never bothered to play Season 2 of LoM, this’ll be my one chance to finally see it, while pounding back Ribena, choccie digestive biccies, Irn Bru, Heinz chocolate puddings, and more.

Viva la Britain!


song heard most recently before posting:
Renaissance Affair—Hooverphonic