Spitball Army

List time! Here are my favored music releases for the year so far, with a proviso: though these records have been introduced to me during the first half of 2009, they were not necessarily released in 2009. As always, please share your lists and thoughts in the comments below, as I (and other readers here) am always on the lookout for something new and good to tickle my eardrums.

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The Golden Age of American Popular Music: The Jazz Hits from the Hot 100 1958-1966;
Whale Rider;
readthewords.com

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The Smithereens Play Tommy;
The Doobie Brothers’ Toulouse Street;
The Church’s El Momento Siguiente

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People of a certain age will tell you that they remember exactly where they were when they heard the news that President Kennedy had been shot. I was only three years old then, but I do remember where I was when I heard about John Lennon.

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Anyway, in the other room the TV is on, and the channel is tuned in to the Grammy Awards. I know, I’m a loser, and I said earlier that it would have to take something really special to get me to tune in. In a way, I am kind of glad I did, as I got to hear Kanye West complain about getting rushed off the stage, and how he “owns” the Grammys and all. As if some people only put out records so that they can win awards. If you had heard him “sing” earlier in the evening (I had the pleasure of only having to hear him), you would know that he won’t be winning any awards at Juilliard (if they even give out awards for what he does) or some other such institution that knows what excellence in music really is.

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It is charming, quirky, sung not entirely in tune, and contains the phrase “shook a little turd out of the bottom of your pants.” How many songs can claim that?

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Every year I look forward to watching the broadcast of this annual event, then do a Homer Simpson DOH! when I hear about it the day after it aired. Not that it should be difficult to catch – the show traditionally airs during the week between Christmas Day and New Year’s Day. But my brain gets wiped clean after the Christmas retail season, and the week after is spent stumbling along, trying to remember my name and where I put the car keys.

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This evening, after finally locking the doors, we were cleaning up with the store iPod playing in shuffle mode (yes, we use an mp3 player at a CD store…what of it?! 23,191 songs, by the way), when this came on:

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Being a Beatlemaniac, my claws were out when I first realized what America seemed to be doing with this song, but it is so well done – and such a trifle at 2:42 – that I will give it the “all clear.”

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