Five Random Songs

We had a hard freeze last night, and the outside temperature is still only 35F (it sounds worse if you say 2C). Dizzy is still in bed, having hollowed out a nest at one end of the duvet; he is smarter than I am.

1. "Side by Side by Side," from the 2007 Company revival. I like a lot of this revival better than the original, and this arrangement in particular feels cleaner and sharper.

2. "Cranked Up Really High," Slaughter and the Dogs. A thrashing punk rock song off the compilation Zero: A Martin Hannett Story, which I got for Christmas a couple of years ago. Excellent music to beat one's head against the wall, which is unfortunately appropriate for my current mood.

3. "Jump Into the Fire," Harry Nilsson. This is from the collection of Nilsson — All-Time Greatest Hits, but in my mind it's permanently attached to the movie Goodfellas, where it's part of a manic, cocaine-fueled montage.

4. "Everybody Takes a Tumble," The Waterboys. It borrows its opening riff from the band's biggest hit, "Fisherman's Blues," but hey — why not build on success? A genial, bouncy reel about the beginning of a love affair that probably won't work out, but will be fun while it lasts.

5. "You Make Me Like Charity," The Knife. A spooky, mysterious sound from a deeply strange electronic music duo from Sweden, a brother and sister; they rarely perform in public, and when they do, they wear masks. This track is from a live performance in Gothenburg, on April 12, 2006. I told the friend who gave me this CD that it makes me wish I lived the kind of life that would make me cool enough for this music . . . I'd be a performance artist if I could, except that I wouldn't have anything to perform. The female half of The Knife, Karin Dreijer Andersson, is now recording as Fever Ray, and the same friend gave me that CD, too.