Spitball Army

Back in February, my cousin Margy announced that she had made me a music compilation for my birthday.  She even e-mailed me the playlist.  I was touched, and impressed.  Impressed because rarely does anyone make me mix tapes (or mix CDs).  I guess it’s just become a daunting proposition to do that for a guy who has to hack his way through CDs just to get to his kitchen.  They don’t realize how much I love receiving them.  So Margy had done a really terrific thing, in my view.

I was so excited, in fact, that I told her I’d make her one in return.  “Give me a theme, Margy.  What’s the first thing that comes to your mind, even if it’s just a word.”  “The moon,” she said.  It was late on my end of the line in Alabama, so it must have been a moonlit night in California where she was.  Done, I promised her.  I put together a “moon” playlist within 24 hours, burned it onto a disc and mailed it off.

That was in late February of this year.

Early last week, I had a brief Facebook exchange with Margy.  During it, I realized that I’d never gotten that birthday mix CD from her.  I wrote:

Say, speaking of sharing…where’s that CD you made (or maybe didn’t make) for my birthday? I got tired of sleeping by the mailbox outside waiting for it, and finally last week moved inside to my bed. It’s much more comfortable there.

Her reply was as roguish as my query:

I was just in iTunes putting a playlist together and saw your songs…I already have them on a DVD, but then when you said you preferred the CD [I had done this], I had to cut some of the songs out, which I then did, then didn’t cut enough, so it was still too long, and I couldn’t decide what to do next, then it must have turned into a Monday and I was lost in the world that is work and I have been working a million (or maybe more like 50) hours a week – some eves and weekends – then…seriously – so sorry – I was thinking of you when I saw your playlist in there and…

I should have said “returning from outer space where I have been since Feb. 27 and haven’t had access to iTunes.”

My cousin Margy is so funny.  And I know one day I will get that birthday mix CD from her, and it will be great.

In the meantime, here is what I sent to her.

Approximate playing time: 80 minutes.

1. Hem  “Lord, Blow the Moon Out Please”  (2000)
2. Neko Case  “I Wish I Was the Moon”  (2002)
3. Television  “Marquee Moon”  (1977)
4. The Blue Men  “Orbit Around the Moon”  (1960)
5. Los Zafiros  “La Luna en tu Mirada”  (1965)
6. Henry Mancini  “Moon River Cha Cha”  (1961)
7. Jonathan King  “Everyone’s Gone to the Moon”  (1965)
8. Jackson Browne  “Culver Moon”  (1996)
9. Paul Whiteman  “It’s Only a Paper Moon”  (1933)
10. Les Baxter  “Lunar Rhapsody”  (1946)
11. E*I*E*I*O  “When the Stars are Out and the Moon Is High”  (1986)
12. Pete Krebs & the Gossamer Wings  “Her Dress So Green in the Moonlight”  (2002)
13. Great Lake Swimmers  “See You on the Moon”  (2007)
14. Ethel Merman  “Moonshine Lullaby”  (1949)
15. Fats Waller  “Let’s Pretend There’s a Moon”  (1934)
16. The Boswell Sisters  “Shine On, Harvest Moon”  (1931)
17. Gillman Deaville  “Face in the Moon”  (1994)
18. Cat Stevens  “Boy with a Moon & Star on His Head”    (1972)
19. Robyn Hitchcock  “Full Moon in My Soul”  (2004)
20. The Out-Islanders  “Moon Mist”  (1961)
21. Josh Ritter  “You’ve Got the Moon (solo acoustic)”  (2008)

[audio:Fred_FM_playlist_071810.mp3]
Fred FM playlist (25 July 2010)

ADDENDUM: This is purely coincidental but, last night, driving, I noticed that the moon was nearly, if not completely, full.  I prepared this post weeks ago, without an eye on the lunar schedule.  It was, in fact, originally scheduled for posting last Sunday.