Spitball Army

The very first song I thought of this week was The Spinners’ “They Just Can’t Stop It (The Games People Play)” so, naturally, I didn’t include it in the playlist.

Approximate playing time: 79 minutes.

1. Ryan Adams  “Games”  (2005)
2. Dave Berry  “The Crying Game”  (1964)
3. Cosmic Rough Riders  “The Game”  (2003)
4. The Moody Blues  “A Simple Game” (Justin Hayward version)  (1968)
5. Todd Rundgren  “The Waiting Game”  (1989)
6. Thievery Corporation with Chuck Brown  “The Numbers Game”  (2008)
7. Amy Winehouse  “Love is a Losing Game”  (2006)
8. Buddy Holly  “Learning the Game”  (1959)
9. Hall & Oates  “Guessing Games”  (1982)
10. The Marvelettes  “The Hunter Gets Captured by the Game”  (1966)
11. The Redwalls  “Game of Love”  (2007)
12. Crow  “Evil Woman Don’t Play Your Game with Me”  (1970)
13. Sharon Jones & The Dap-Kings  “The Game Gets Old”  (2010)
14. Ian & Sylvia  “The Circle Game”  (1966)
15. Charles Brown  “Baby Do You Know the Game”  (1949)
16. The Jerky Boys  “Ball Game Beating”  (1994)
17. Sister Wynonna Carr  “The Ball Game”  (1953)  with intro and outro by DJ Bob Dylan
18. Wayne Fontana  “The Game of Love”  (1965)
19. Daniel Tashian with Gabe Dixon  “Pawn in the Game”  (2007)
20. Bob Dylan  “Only a Pawn in Their Game”  (1964)
21. Bobby Womack  “Games”  (1981)
22. Barry White  “Playing Your Game, Baby”  (1977)
23. The Music Explosion  “Sunshine Games”  (1967)
24. Nick Lowe  “It’s All in the Game”  (2004)

[audio:Fred_FM_playlist_082910.mp3]
Fred FM playlist (29 August 2010)

• Utilize the term “games” 24 times at once, and you can’t avoid making a reference to sports.  Tracks 15 through 17 offer a baseball wafer sandwich with a creamy basketball filling.
• Dave Berry’s 1964 rendition of the Geoff Stephens-penned “The Crying Game” was the first version of the song released.  It features a rhythm guitar part played by one Jimmy Page, then a relative unknown.
• “A Simple Game” was the b-side to The Moody Blues’ single “Ride My See-Saw.”  I first heard it on the LP This Is The Moody Blues as a kid.  That version contained a lead vocal by Mike Pinder.  The version on this playlist was released as a bonus track on the CD of In Search of the Lost Chord, and has a lead vocal by Justin Hayward.
• Bob Dylan’s hour-long playlist radio program entitled “Theme Time Radio Hour” provided some great tunes plus a usually hilarious narration by Dylan himself.  From a broadcast that focused completely on baseball, Zimmie introduces Sister Wynonna Carr’s “The Ball Game,” and closes the number by giving a recitation of some of the song’s lyrics.  Classic.
• Daniel Tashian of The Silver Seas occasionally posts working demos and semi-finished tracks on his blog.  “Pawn in the Game” came from one such posting.
• iTunes lists 60 available versions of Joni Mitchell’s song “The Circle Game.”  How was I to choose one?  I closed my eyes and picked Ian & Sylvia’s.