Analysis Of A Mix CD, Part 3: Ali Thought About His Destiny

Go here for Part 1 and here for Part 2. There will be one more part.

6. I See A Darkness - Johnny Cash Now we're getting dark. Now we're reaching depths. It's Johnny Cash covering a Will Oldham (aka Bonnie "Prince" Billy, aka Palace) song, with Will himself appearing to back Johnny up on the chorus. This is analogous to the Lawnmower Man helping John Deere fix up[ the yard. In other words, it's poetic. I put this songs a lot of mixes. I don't know what I was trying to convey with lines like this:

Well, you're my friend
And can you see
Many times we've been out drinking
Many times we've shared our thoughts
Did you ever, ever notice, the kind of thoughts I got?

Dude. Johnny of course takes ownership of this song and makes it
religious.

7. Tennessee - Silver Jews

I've written about this song before. Here, I'll just quote David Berman's apt description of Tennessee and why it's better than Kentucky:

We're off to the land of club soda unbridled
We're off to the land of hot middle-aged women
Off to the land whose blood runneth orange

I've never been to Tennessee but I know what he means.

8. Dr. Cat - Mary Timony You don't want to know how much research I had to do to find the title of this song. It took me more than 10 minutes. It's one of Mary's gentle rolling mystical songs. It's about cats and falling snow. You wouldn't know it from this particular song or her album but Mary Timony is the greatest live guitarist I've ever seen (in her band Helium, at First Avenue in Minneapolis, on a cold night in early 1998). She got into a groove. I was alone that night.




9. Let The Music Play - Mercury Rev

I put this song on ever mix I made between 2002 and 2007. I never want to hear it again. It's beautiful but I think I'm finished with it now.

10. I'm Waking Up To Us - Belle & Sebastian

Possibly the greatest song of the '00s by the best band of the past 12 years. I could say so much about this song. In fact, I once called it the third greatest song of all time (the Boogie Nights of music). Anyway, any song that starts out with the line "She was the one love of my life and I let her go" is alright by me. Stuart Murdoch makes the important stuff known right away and then backs it up.





11. Tribute - Tenacious D

"It was the best song in the world." Nothing more to say.

12. Pocketbook - Me'Shell Ndegeocello

Whatever happened to Me'Shell? What purpose does the apostrophe in her first name serve? I miss her. Still, this song doesn't give me insight into my soul, heart, etc., which is what I promised you. So on to...

12. Shams - Brazzaville

This song doesn't start out being my life story (I'm not a sailor, never done heroin.) Then, the second verse nails my 1998-2002 life, except for the sailor part:

As the years rolled by, it seems
Ali thought about his destiny
Tired of the sailor's life
Ali thought he's find himself a wife

Then, after the only recorded sax solo in a pop song this millennium and another verse that doesn't pertain to me, the song ends with:

When the typhoon struck at dawn
Ali had his finest civvies on
All the crew were cramped below
With a smile, into the sea he goes

Sad ending. But I like the sea.