Saturday, October 10, 2009

Five Random Songs

Unexpected sunshine today, which is great on the one hand but bad on the other, because I am crashing on several deadlines before I leave for Bouchercon next Wednesday. The character I play in Doubt, Sister Aloysius, has a line that resonates: "What good is a high IQ if you're staring out the window with your mouth agape? Be hard on the bright ones . . . Don't be charmed by cleverness. Not theirs. And not yours."

Shut up, Sister Aloysius.

1. “Box of Rain,” the Dave Nelson Trio. A cover of the Grateful Dead classic, recorded live; it is dreamier than the original, with a winding strings arrangement. I’m not sure where I got this track.

2. “Lip Lap Louie,” Buddy Guy. A little funk for a Saturday morning, excellent music to clean house by. Which I really ought to do . . .

3. “I Wouldn’t Mind,” Duncan Sheik. A wistful love song in ¾ time. This album (White Limousine) was one I played constantly for about three weeks, and then never listened to again. I haven’t heard this track in almost a year. Maybe it’s time to pull the CD out again.

4. “What a Wonderful World,” Joey Ramone. Possibly — no, probably — my all-time favorite cover version of any song. It’s a shot in the arm on the darkest day, a song to restore your faith in everything good about this planet. I used this iTunes track as an electronic birthday card to friends for a couple of years.

5. “Concrete Walls,” Fever Ray. A track from the solo project by Karin Dreijer Andersson, the female half of the Swedish art-rock group The Knife — in fact, this track’s sound is almost indistinguishable from The Knife’s, although some tracks on this record sound quite different. It’s a powerfully atmospheric sound; close your eyes and this track really does make you feel surrounded by gray concrete walls. Time to look out the window again . . .

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