Dan the List Guy: The iPod Shuffle
The List Guy is Dan Reed, Music Director for WXPN. Three times a week, Dan gives his spin on Top 10 musical moments in pop culture.
OK – here’s what I did: I put my iPod on the shuffle mode, and wrote down the first ten songs that popped up. Below is what happened. I would love for all of you to do the same thing and list your results, but it’s the honor system in effect here! I’m actually pretty proud of this one, lots of different things, not even too embarrassed about the Bread track. I currently have 11,429 songs in my library, so I was pretty surprised that this list didn’t have too much weirdness:
1. Drive-By Truckers – Let There Be Rock
2. E.L.O. – Rockaria!
3. The Specials – Rudy, A Message To You
4. David Vandervelde – Nothin’ No
5. Nick Drake - Parasite
6. The Del McCoury Band – A Far Cry
7. Bread – Everything I Own
8. The Jam – In the Street, Today
9. The Kinks – A Well Respected Man
10. Guided By Voices – Father Sgt. Christmas Card
Robin Trower - Too Rolling Stoned
August 6th, 2007 at 1:33 amJuno Reactor - Insects
New P*rnographers - Graceland
Tom Tom Club - Genius of Love
Spoon - Someone Something
Calexico /Iron & Wine - Burn That Broken Bed
Sundays - Here Is Where the Story Ends
Paul Thorn - Ain’t Love Strange
Susan Tedeschi - Lord Protect My Child
John Butler Trio - Zebra
Dan - maybe this would be a fun feature for WXPN. Play 10 random ipod songs - from your list, I’d venture a guess that only The Kinks and The Specials tracks have ever been played on WXPN, yet all of them would fit comfortably within your format.
August 6th, 2007 at 11:48 amPretty bizarre snapshot of the 10,765 tunes on mine
Not That Funny - Fleetwood Mac
August 6th, 2007 at 3:24 pmGreen Grass and High Tides - The Outlaws
Turn It Around - Husker Du
Dance All Night - Ryan Adams
The Rest Of The Night - Warren Zevon
Johnny Thunder - The Kinks
Burgundy Shoes - Patty Griffin
Pickled Mushrooms - Vincent Price (spoken word)
Digital Ghost - Tori Amos
Movemnet Of Fear - Tones On Tail
The One I Love-David Gray
August 6th, 2007 at 7:39 pmLittle Black Backpack-Stroke 9
Lightness- Death Cab For Cutie
Luka-Suzanne Vega
People Gonna Talk-James Hunter
The Space Between-Dave Matthews Band
Brother Lee-Citizen Cope
Save Me-Queen
Cinnamon Girl-Neil Young
Little Earthquakes-Tori Amos
An interesting experiment, Dan. When using I’ve often been curious when two songs from the same artist, or even album, come up close to one another. But I’m pleasantly surprised when a nice depth track from an album I haven’t listened to in years comes up. Maybe one of my guilty pleasures? (Man I hope this isn’t too embarrassing. If any of my kids or wife’s songs got into one of my playlists, it could be a real blow to the persona I’ve carefully built up over the years. This is why iPods have headphones!)
Here goes….
1. Michael Hedges - Running Blind, from Watching My Life Go By
2. Son Volt - Tear Stained Eye, from Trace
3. Sufjan Stevens - Redford (For Yia-Yia & Pappou), from Greetings from Michigan
4. Santana - Jin-Go-Lo-Ba, from Santana
5. Vigilantes of Love - Offer, from Blister Soul
6. Sufjan Stevens - Vito’s Ordination Song, from Greetings from Michigan
7. Sam Roberts - Higher Learning, from We Were Born In Flame
8. Blind Melon - New Life, from Soup
9. Ryan Adams - This Is It, from Rock N Roll
10. Tortoise - Night Air, from Tortoise
Some variety, though not as much variety as is on my iPod. (Something over 6,000 songs from hundreds of albums.) Two from one Sufjan Stevens albums. (Hmmm. At least it wasn’t one of the songs with the incredibly long titles.) Nothing embarrassing from the closet of guilty pleasures.
I once read an article about a digital jukebox in a bar that played an annoying, minimalist song by Brian Eno for something like 40 minutes. The patrons were ready to take an axe to the device. The punchline was that the bartender had put it on as retribution for some of the songs the patrons had been playing. And the point was that this can happen when you’re not spinning just 3:50 songs, but using the technology of today.
The suffle on my iPod serves as a (truly) commercial free radio when XPN is out of range.
August 6th, 2007 at 9:23 pmToday’s SEPTA ride into town:
1. Eye In The Sky - Jonatha Brooke
August 7th, 2007 at 8:11 am2. Sing, Sing, Sing - Benny Goodman
3. Top Of The World - “Last of the Mohicans” Soundtrack
4. The Trawlerman’s Song - Mark Knopfler
5. I Put A Spell On You - Creedence Clearwater Revival
6. Sparks - Coldplay
7. Back Home To Me - Sophie Milman
8. Ain’t No Other Man - Christina Aguilera
9. Mary, Did You Know - Hayley Westenra
10. Antonia - Stefano Bollani
1. Over The Rhine - All I Need Is Everything
August 7th, 2007 at 10:46 pm2. Jason Collett - Bitter Beauty
3. Counting Crows - Hangin’ Around
4. Bruce Springsteen - Tunnel Of Love
5. Bob Dylan - Highlands
6. Porter Wagoner -A Place To Hang My Hat
7. Willard Grant Conspiracy - Ballad Of A Thin Man
8. M. Ward - Poor Boy, Minor Key
9. Clem Snide - Every Moment
10. T-Bone Burnett - Every Little Thing
I agree with Teek… this *would* be fun on the radio. I saw something about some sort of live version of this at WCL only with some ridiculous number of bands playing randomly. Philly Song Shuffle, I think. Can you imagine?! Here’s mine — not embarrassing at all……
Jungle Song - Sonia Dada
August 9th, 2007 at 12:27 pmHi-Desert Biker Meth Lab - Cracker
Man Enough - Lloyd Cole
Why Didn’t you Call Me - Macy Gray
Leavin’ - Shelby Lynne
Just Wait - Blues Traveler
In My Own Eyes - Brandi Carlile
Changes in Latitudes, Changes in Attitudes - Jimmy Buffett
Tupelo - The Subdudes
In the Garden - Susan Tedeschi
Keep in mind I only have a Mini (yes, it’s a dino, but a lovely purple covered one that still works), so here goes:
1. Le Moulin - composed by Yann Tiersen (from the Amelie Soundtrack)
2. Hyena - R.E.M.
3. Il Largo from “Winter” composed by Vivaldi, as performed by Yo-Yo Ma
4. The Baudelaire Orphans - composed by Thomas Newman, The Series of Unfortunate Events Soundtrack
5. Born on a Train - The Magnetic Fields
6. Boulevard of Broken Dreams - Green Day
7. Virginia Woolf - The Indigo Girls
8. Temper Temper - Tuscadero
9. Foolproof - composed by Thomas Newman, The Series of Unfortunate Events Soundtrack
10. The Fire Thief - Hem
Hmmmm…I haven’t done shuffle in a while. Methinks I may do so tomorrow for the subway…
August 9th, 2007 at 1:48 pm(You can so tell that I am not skipping any tracks.. haha)
Let’s Call It Off- Peter Bjorn and John
August 9th, 2007 at 2:26 pmRoam- B-52’s
Rain Came Down- Eastmountainsouth
Who Are You- Cray Brothers
Even if you Don’t- Ween
Fame- David Bowie
I Was Doing Alright- Diana Krall
The Crane Wife 1 & 2- The Decembrists
Dancing Queen- ABBA
Low Rider- War
Interesting..
1. Hanson - Yearbook
August 9th, 2007 at 2:53 pm2. Jeff Buckley - Je N’en Connais Pas La Fin
3. Tristan Prettyman - Love Love Love
4. Rufus Wainwright - Not Ready To Love
5. Wolfmother - Joker & the Thief
6. Led Zeppelin - Houses of the Holy
7. Speechwriters LLC - Blood on the Frets
8. Pearl Jam - Animal
9. Death Cab For Cutie - I Will Follow You Into the Dark
10. Brandi Carlile - Closer to You
Orange Crush - REM
Delirious - Prince
Bitch - Meredith Brooks (What Women Want soundtrack)
Kyoto Song - The Cure
Django - The Modern Jazz Quartet
Grass - XTC
The Max - Prince and the New Power Generation
Jive At Five - Count Basie
Rufus Xavier Sasparilla - Schoolhouse Rock
Between the Bars - Madeleine Peyroux
I started using shuffle about a month ago when I had a severe corneal injury and couldn’t do anything all day except sit, so I listened to my iPod and re-enjoyed all the songs I haven’t listened to in forever. I have a wide variety of music tastes, from classic jazz to 80s rock to XPN to classic rock, etc. It is nice to hear my own station playing all of that, though I love listening to streams of XPN and other stations to hear what I don’t have.
Thanks for posting this blog
August 9th, 2007 at 3:53 pmThere should be a way to download these list directly.
August 9th, 2007 at 4:03 pmHmmmm.
Gotta Serve Somebody - Bob Dylan
Beautiful - India.arie
Precious Things - Tori Amos
Some Other Spring - Billie Holiday
What’s the Buzz/Strange Thing Mystifying - Andrew Lloyd Webber (JC Superstar)
Late Night in Zion - Matisyahu
Running to Stand Still - U2
Wind it Up - Gwen Stefani (maybe a little embarrassing)
Talent Show - The Replacements
Come On - Hoodoo Gurus
Thank goodness the kids High School Musical didn’t come up….
August 9th, 2007 at 5:05 pmOops! I mislabeled #9 from my post. It’s from the Finding Nemo Soundtrack. Though still the same composer. (Sorry!)
August 9th, 2007 at 5:18 pmCool idea, I haven’t heard some of these songs in a while.
1) #41, Dave Matthews Band
Trouble Me, 10,000 Maniacs
August 9th, 2007 at 5:22 pm2) In this Love, Ron Sexsmith
3) Can’t Stop Now, Keane
4) Helpless, Sugar
5) Blue Caravan, Vienna Teng
6) Happy Birthday, Cracker
7) It’s Alright, Big Head Todd
9) World in Motion, New Order
10) Carolina in My Mind, James Taylor
out of 915 songs:
1. hallelujah - jeff buckley
2. within you - ray lamontagne
3. smile - lily allen
4. f-stop blues - jack johnson
5. pass and fail - heartless bastards
6. charming - jonatha brooke
7. the way young lovers do - jeff buckley (live at sin-e)
8. hallelujah - jeff buckley (live at sin-e)
9. don’t hold your breath - calla
10. hypnotize - the white stripes
(and…just because)
11. under my voodoo - sublime
**** how weird to have jeff buckly listed 3 out of 10 times! and two different versions of the same song - i wonder what the actual odds are of that?
August 9th, 2007 at 6:22 pmOkay, here goes!? :
Pretty Donna - Collective Soul
August 9th, 2007 at 10:05 pmStockholm Syndrome - Muse
I Don’t Love You - My Chemical Romance
FIgure 09 - Linkin Park
Steppin’ Out - Joe Jackson
Warehouse - Dave Matthews Band
Old Soul Song - Bright Eyes
Owner of a Lonely Heart - Yes
Get Away - O. A. R.
Mr. Brightside - The Killers
I don’t own an iPod, but this is one of the more thoroughly satisfying ways I’ve seen them used yet. I wish I did just so I could’ve participated. Excellent idea.
August 10th, 2007 at 11:14 amHere goes:
1. A Farándula - Susana Seivane
2. I Just Wanted to See You So Bad - Lucinda Williams
3. Misterioso - Thelonious Monk
4. Muiñeira De Alén - Susana Seivane
5. My God Called Me This Morning - The Fairfield Four
6. Saudade Da Bahia - Luciana Souza
7. Last Of The Good Straight Girls - Susan Werner
8. Didn’t It Rain - Golden Gate Quartet
9. Sygyt: Lament Of The Igil - Huun-Huur-Tu
10. Baião Medley - Luciana Souza
Kind of surprised to see a couple of artist repeats.
August 11th, 2007 at 5:12 pmNot cheating is difficult, but here it is-
September 19th, 2007 at 9:49 pm1. Daughter -Pearl Jam
2. I’m Looking Through You- Beatles
3. The Maker- Dave Matthews cover of Daniel Lanois
4. Nigerian Marketplace- Oscar Peterson
5. The Good Life - Weezer
6. I Turn My Camera On - Spoon
7. Song for Sharon- Joni Mitchell
8. Kokomo- Bonnie Raitt
9. Free Man in Paris- Sufjan Stevens cover of Joni
10. Rag Doll- Aerosmith