Analysis Of A Mix CD, Part 4 (the final chapter): Been To Georgia And California

Parts 1, 2, and 3 can be found by scrolling down. Keep scrolling. There you go.

So, after a too-long delay, I will continue the analysis:

14. Me Gustas Tu - Manu Chao

Nice song.

15. Streets Of Laredo - Prefab Sprout

You would think it takes a lot of gall for an intellectual soft-voiced Brit like Paddy Macaloon to cover a classic American cowboy song and change the lyrics "As I walked out, on the streets of Laredo" to the more "proper" English-y sounding "As I walked out, in the streets of Laredo." But when you consider that this is what Paddy looked like when the song came out, you realize two things:

He's come a long way (perhaps too long) from Appetite.

Dude's a cowboy. He can do what he wants.

16. Get Myself Arrested - Gomez

The best (and catchiest) song of the 1990s. Enough time has passed since that most interesting of decades for me to be able to make this seemingly outlandish statement. It might seem strange that I would champion a song that follows up the brilliance of these lines

Got a haircut, got a silver tooth
Gonna get myself arrested

with this

Got some friends in my BMW
Gonna get themselves arrested

Still, how can you not get chills when the otherwise slightly above-average British literate bluesy jam band hits the chorus for the third time? How?

(I can't find an actual video of the song, except for some drunken live versions. But you can listen to it as you view this Brazilian's lovely photo essay)

17. Rhiannon - Langley Schools Music Project

Canadian schoolchildren from 1977 cover a Fleetwood Mac song. An otherwise smoothly flowing mix CD has its momentum destroyed.

18. Kyle Took A Bullet - Tenacious D

An unreleased gem from the comedy-and-music legends. It's 66 seconds long. And it's perfect.

Just remember what you said
The medallion's made of bulletproof lead

19 through 21:
You're Sexy / Moons In June / An Accident - Lock Up Your Daughters

Whatever happened to these guys?

They were a pretty cool twee-core band out of Minneapolis around the turn of the century.

Listening to it now, I realize they had some chops.

(Disclaimer: I write screenplays with the singer of the first song. I was once married to the singer of the 2nd song. I'm a friend and was once the roommate of the singer of the 3rd song.)

But this isn't about my personal connections. This is about the music.

This is about these three songs, all taken from their unreleased second album I Am The Orange Prince.

You're Sexy is a swing-out sassy dance romp, with breathy vocals from a guy named Mike and a bouncy sound that wouldn't sound out of place in a large dance hall festooned with streamers and populated by men in hats and women in puffy clothes.

Moons In June was written at LaGuardia Airport on the day after Halloween 2000. Laurel wrote the verses. Despite NEVER being invited to be part of the band, I wrote the chorus. And, though I had not written about crossdressers in the Greenwich Village Halloween Parade before (or since), I'm proud of what I came up with as I sat in the Starbucks seating area:

Like stars in May or moons in June
That boy will be a woman soon
And all the waves will rip and curl
And make the boy a little girl

Finally, An Accident starts out with one of the best couplets ever written:

I was an accident and I can never run from that
My older brother told me as he tied me to the track

Holy crap, John, that's good! The rest of the song rocks (in a gentle rocking chair way) too.

The band was eventually crushed by the weight of expectations, the move of one member to Santa Monica, and the tenuous roommate situation of the other two (male) members. Their fan base eagerly awaits a reunion.

22. Never Been To Me - Charlene

Wow. Just listen. You'll thank me.