Okay, tonight was spent investing in my iPod. It struck me that I must have at least one song from every iPod genre in my Library. But HA I do not. I am so not well rounded. People, I must be rounded, and rounded well.
My goal is to have at least one song of every genre, and I'm missing the genres below. Please leave a comment and recommend any really good music in any of these genres:
Country
Dance
Electronic
Latin (Yes! I have no Latin! And I took Latin in High School.)
Ok, not serious about the Latin thing - I know there's this Shakira woman. I might like her music if she wasn't so damn hot belly dancing all around like that. She can sing too, as I understand it. I just can't get over how hot she is.
Reggae
World
YES I KNOW. I like Reggae and World music, at least the snippets I've heard on NPR.
So, what's good out there.?
Ooh, where to begin?!
Country: There's SO much ground to cover, but I highly recommend anything by Johnny Cash (his American recordings - the last four or five albums - are brilliant, but his older stuff are classics, of course), Loretta Lynn's "Van Lear Rose," "Ultimate Dolly Parton" (it has the '9 to 5' theme!) and anything by Willie Nelson, especially if the album has "Stardust" on it. Sheer genius.
Dance/Electronic: Hmm. Of course I left my iPod in my car so I can't refer to it, but I love Fatboy Slim (if "The Rockefeller Skank" doesn't get you dancing, I don't know what will, and you can dance around like Christopher Walken to "Weapon of Choice") and Moby's album "Play" has a lot of super fast and slow tracks. You can also give DJ Tiesto and Armand Van Helden a look-see if you'd like. (Ooh - almost forgot! I love Massive Attack, Tricky and Zero 7, too.)
Latin: I LOVE Latin music. I highly suggest you rent the documentary "Buena Vista Social Club" (a Ry Cooder film featuring older Cuban artists) and then run out and buy the soundtrack. Also, Gloria Estefan's "Mi Tierra" is the best work she's ever done, in my opinion. Yes, the lady who brought the world "Conga" tears it up. As for Shakira, I prefer her Spanish-language work over her English-language work, but that's just me. "Donde Esta Las Ladrones?" or her MTV Unplugged album are good starting places.
Reggae: I think everyone starts with Bob Marley's "Legend" greatest hits album, and that's not a bad thing. I would also suggest anything with steel drums (I can't name any artists or groups off the top of my head), because they are so cheery-souhding.
World: Iceland's Sigur Ros is an unusual group in that they don't actually sing, but I really like them. Their music is very calming. Hector Zazou has the same effect on me.
I know that I'll read this and think, 'D'oh! Why didn't I suggest this group or that person?', but the comment is already WAY too long.
Hope this helps! Have fun!
Posted by: Catherine | May 13, 2006 at 11:05 AM
Well, good, I've made some progress. Thanks Catherine. I've added an old Country favorite (Folsom Prison Blues), Reggae (Bob Marley - Is This Love) and since iPod classes Fatboy Slim as Electronic I got the Rockefeller Skank, based on the short clip they had on iTunes. However, that short clip led me to believe there might be words OTHER THAN "Check it out now / Right about now / Funk soul brother." It sure made Gary and the dog Dance. And it made me laugh twice.
I'm going to keep researching Dance, Latin, and World. I'm listening to Bob Marley right now and I might to go buy me the whole CD!
Posted by: TheQueen | May 13, 2006 at 05:14 PM
May I also suggest some swing? Big Bad Voodoo Daddies totally swing as do the Royal Crown Review (http://www.rcr.com/ and http://www.bbvd.com/discography/index.htm)
How about Blues? got that covered? if not, we need to talk, way too much good stuff to cover in a single email.
Posted by: Catherine Carter | May 17, 2006 at 03:02 PM
Hmm... I have Squirrel Nut Zippers, Louis Prima, Keely Smith, and one Ella Fitzgerald. And MY GOD you just reminded me I don't have Gary and my SONG: Moonlight Serenade.
Posted by: TheQueen | May 17, 2006 at 03:16 PM
You must have some David Allen Coe, simply for the verse that made it the perfect country song.
Picture me in my wedding dress, in a group hug with about 20 friends and family members, belting this at the top of our lungs. Then picture me and five girls singing it at karaoke during my wedding shower. Then picture me and three friends singing it as we drove across Kansas after watcing Mizzou kick K-State's a$$ then hanging out with the drunk locals at Rusty's Last Chance Bar and Tattoo Parlor (or something like that).
Best. Song. EVER.
It was all that I could do to keep from cryin'
Sometimes it seems so useless to remain
You don't have to call me darlin', darlin'
You never even call me by my name.
You don't have to call me Waylon Jennings
And you don't have to call me Charlie Pride.
You don't have to call me Merle Haggard, anymore.
Even though your on my fightin' side.
CHORUS
And I'll hang around as long as you will let me
And I never minded standin' in the rain.
You don't have to call me darlin', darlin'
You never even call me by my name.
I've heard my name a few times in your phone book
I've seen it on signs where I've laid
But the only time I know, I'll hear David Allan Coe
Is when Jesus has his final judgement day.
CHORUS...
Well, a friend of mine named Steve Goodman wrote that song
and he told me it was the perfect country and western song.
I wrote him back a letter and told him it was NOT the perfect
country and western song because he hadn't said anything about
Momma, or trains, or trucks, or prison, or gettin' drunk.
Well, he sat down and wrote another verse to the song and he sent
it to me and after reading it, I realized that my friend had written
the perfect country and western song. And I felt obliged to include it
on this album.
The last verse goes like this here:
Well, I was drunk the day my Mom got outta prison.
And I went to pick her up in the rain.
But, before I could get to the station in my pickup truck
She got runned over by a damned old train.
CHORUS
So I'll hang around as long as you will let me
And I never minded standin' in the rain. No,
You don't have to call me darlin', darlin'
You never even call me, I wonder why you don't call me
Why don't you ever call me by my name.
Posted by: Caroline | May 28, 2006 at 09:35 PM