Desert Island CD

It’s completely off-topic, but we can use a few excursions to the off-topic every now and then, in between our discussions of abortion, gay marriage, and the evils of Sunstone. Besides, it’s a fun mental exercise, and it’s also fun to see other people’s musical tastes. So here are the rules: You have a CD with 20 22 songs, and it’s all that you will have to listen to as you’re stranded on a desert island. What are your song choices?

Here are my own:

The Police – Every Breath You Take (the best stalker song ever written)
OMD – If You Leave (one of my two or three all-time favorites)
Simon and Garfunkel – I Am a Rock (some of the best lyrics ever written — very John Donne)
Don McClean – American Pie (just beautiful lyrics, and some great piano as well)
U2 – With or Without You (they’ve never topped it)
Three Dog Night – Shambala (just a fun song)
Celine Dion – To Love You More (stop laughing, everyone!)
Cure – Just Like Heaven (another of the all-time favorites)
Bob Dylan – Tangled Up in Blue (how can you not like a story like this?)
Guns ‘n Roses – Sweet Child o’ Mine (starts out with that really great guitar riff)
When in Rome – The Promise (I’m not sure why, but I really like this one. It’s high-school music for me)
Laura Pausini – La Soledad (her voice is just enchanting, and this one has a great tune too)
Ricardo Arjona – Jesus, Verbo no Sustantivo (the lyrics are great, and his voice really grows on you. Oh, and as an added bonus, he mocks Mormons just a little)
Billy Joel – Always a Woman to Me (with some great lines, just barely edging out a lot of other worthy songs from Joel)
Creedence – Cotton Fields (barely edging out lots of worthies here, too)
Indigo Girls – Closer to Fine (so I like folksy stuff — is that apparent yet?)
Eagles – Hotel California (as discussed in a prior thread)
Simon and Garfunkel – The Boxer (so I couldn’t just keep one S & G here. Even just two was painful — how do I leave out so many good songs?)
John Denver – Poems, Prayers and Promises (that seventies mix of guitar and lyrics gets me every time)
Madonna – Spanish Lullaby (she has a very pretty voice, and a real musical talent)
Sixpence None the Richer – Kiss Me (a voice that is impossible to ignore)
Styx – Come Sail Away (no one makes songs like this anymore)

Wow, that was harder than I thought. I left off a lot of songs that surprised me — it’s a lot easier to _say_ “20 songs” than it is to actually choose them.

This game becomes more fun and interesting as more people join in, so I hope that readers poss their own song choices in the comments. If you want to give a brief explanation, that’s fine as well (though not necessary). Enjoy!

71 comments for “Desert Island CD

  1. To some extent, I am giving exposure to underappreciated songs, but I could be quite content with this list.

    The Beatles – Ticket to Ride
    The Beatles – And Your Bird Can Sing
    The Knickerbockers – Lies
    The Left Banke – Pretty Ballerina
    The Guess Who – Star Baby
    Steely Dan – My Old School
    Fleetwood Mac – Coming Your Way
    Fleetwood Mac – Never Going Back Again
    Cake – Pretty Pink Ribbon
    Green Day – Poprocks and Coke
    Collective Soul – Shine
    Grey Eye Glances – The Better Part of Me
    Beth Gibbons – Mysteries
    The Proclaimers – I’m Gonna Be (500 Miles)
    Donna the Buffalo – The Funky Side
    The Stanley Brothers – Angel Band
    October Project – Be My Hero
    Pablo Cruise – Ocean Breeze
    Kansas – A Song for America
    Yes – Into the Lens

    These last two would fill a CD by themselves:
    Mike Oldfield – Ommadawn I
    Pink Floyd – Atom Heart Mother

  2. Kaimi that’s a difficult task and I had to do the best I could in limited time. Here goes:

    Pop / Ballads

    1. Beatles — I Will (favorite Beatles song)
    2. Beach Boys — Wouldn’t It Be Nice
    3. Hall and Oates — Sara Smile
    4. Mary Chapin Carpenter — Grow Old With Me (originally written and 5. performed by John Lennon)
    6. Billy Joel — Just the Way You Are
    7. Billy Joel and Ray Charles — Baby Grand
    8. Paul Simon — Under African Skies

    R&B

    9. Sam Cooke — You Send Me
    10. Martha and the Vandellas — (Your Love Is Like A) Heatwave

    Reggae (I’m stuck on on island, right?)

    11. Bob Marley — Redemption Song

    80s Rock

    12. The Police — Driven To Tears
    13. U2 — Bad
    14. The Smiths — Back to the Old House (acoustic version of the Hatful of Hollow album)

    Rap

    15. Run DMC — It’s Tricky
    16. Snoop Dogg and Dr. Dre — Ain’t Nuthin’ But A G Thang (clean edit)
    17. Notorious B.I.G. and Puff Daddy — Hypnotize (clean edit)

    Rock/Hard Rock/Metal

    18. Dire Straits — Why Worry
    19. Jimi Hendrix — The Wind Cries Mary
    20. Led Zeppelin — When the Levee Breaks
    21. Metallica — For Whom The Bell Tolls

    Protest Song

    22. Woodie Guthrie — Alice’s Restaurant (I have to listen to this every Thanksgiving — it’s a tradition)

    And if I could just cram one more on:

    23. The Beatles — Her Majesty (this song only lasts about 10 seconds and I usually put it on the back end of any compilation I put together)

  3. You realize, of course, that this is a different list of what we consider the greatest songs. There are some all-time great songs that I couldn’t listen to over and over. That being said, this is my list:

    Aimee Mann – Wise Up (just plain beautiful)
    The Beta Band – Dry The Rain
    Bob Dylan – Positively Fourth Street (the greatest song of bitter indifference)
    Maná – Me Vale (the second-greatest song of bitter indifference)
    Cyndi Lauper – Time After Time (greatest song of the 80’s)
    David Bowie – Space Oddity
    Frente – Bizarre Love Triangle (New Order’s was good, this version is beautiful)
    James – Out To Get You
    Joe Cocker – A Little Help From My Friends (Beatles’ was good, this version is incredible)
    Kid Rock – Bawitdaba (okay, I’m a loser, I know)
    Lauryn Hill – Killing Me Softly (how do you beat Lauryn’s version of this song?)
    Led Zeppelin – Kashmir (only because I’m trying to choose one per artist, otherwise they’d fill half this list)
    Maná – Vivir Sin Aire (see above)
    Massive Attack – Daydreaming
    Mazzy Star – Flowers In December (gorgeous song)
    Neil Young – Old Man
    Pink Floyd – Wish You Were Here
    Radiohead – Fake Plastic Trees (if I could only take one album, it would be OK Computer)
    LL Cool J – I Can’t Live Without My Radio (the original rap song by the original rapper)
    Shakira – Antologia (before she sold out)
    Smashing Pumpkins – Disarm (how do you choose just one?)
    U2 – One (this song tops With or Without You)
    Weezer – Undone/Sweater Song (greatest song of the 90’s)

  4. Kaimi–

    You’re my kind of guy.

    Off the top of my head:

    Elvis Costello–Alison, Every Day I Write The Book
    Beatles–Blackbird
    Squeeze–Tempted or Up the Junction
    James Taylor–Carolina on my MInd
    Bryan Adams–Summer of ’69
    Emerson, Lake and Palmer–Lucky Man
    Simon and Garfunkel–America
    Steely Dan–Reelin’ in the Years
    Doobie Brothers–Black Water
    Deep Blue Something–Breakfast At Tiffany’s
    Eagles–Desperado or Hotel California
    The Kinks–Lola
    Supertramp–The Logical Song
    Yes–Owner of a Lonely Heart
    Derek and the Dominoes—Layla
    Police–King of Pain
    Crosby, Stills & Nash–Helplessly Hoping
    Billy Joel–The Longest Time
    Arlo Guthrie–Alice’s Restaurant

    Not in any particular order, and missing lots of stuff I would probably rather have.

  5. Rusty,

    Good call on the Maná. Vivir sin Aire was inches away from making my list. (On any given day, it’s probably more likely than not to be on the list, but I felt more like Arjona today. For that matter, Como Diablos was also pretty close, and so were Buscándola — one of the best rhythms ever — and Rayando el Sol.)

    Also, Me Vale always makes me chuckle. At one point, when we were feeling rebellious, my compa and I sang our own version of Me Vale — “que piensa mi compa de mi, que piensan los zonis de mi, que piensa el presidente de mi, solo tengo que decir . . .” Of course we didn’t actually say that to the mission president, but it was fun to sing and pretend that we were bada** enough to do so.

  6. Lol. Thanks for the correction. How could I have gotten Woody mixed up with Arlo? Good grief.

    Kaimi, I failed to notice your “Jesus es Verbo” addition on your list. I’ll never forget those lines:

    “Jesus siempre puso en hecho todos sus sermones,
    Para tomar cafe es pecado dicen los Mormones!”

    First time I heard that I was on a bus heading out of Esquipulas. I don’t think that town was too crazy about that song for some reason … (and it wasn’t because of the criticism of Mormons either)

  7. Well, if I were on a desert island and had to listen to the songs over and over again, no question I would take jazz. Great jazz stays fresh and vibrant through repeated listenings better than even the best popular music. If I add up the tracks from Miles Davis’ Kind of Blue, Bill Evans’ Portrait in Jazz, and My Favorite Things and A Love Supreme by John Coltrane, I get 22 tracks (more or less, depending on how many bonus tracks are on the release), although there’s no way they would even come close to fitting on one CD. (Of course, I doubt you could fit that many on any CD with American Pie or just about any Led Zeppelin song, so I take it we’re being generous.)

    But assuming we’re going popular music (to be more congruent with others), one possible narrowing-down might go like this (it would certainly be different on another day):

    The Who: Behind Blue Eyes
    Led Zeppelin: Kashmir
    Lynyrd Skynyrd: Sweet Home Alabama
    BTO: Taking Care of Business
    Van Halen: Ice Cream Man
    AC/DC: Back in Black
    AC/DC: Rock and Roll Ain’t Noise Pollution
    Roxette: The Look
    Mr. Big’s version of Cat Stevens: Wild World
    Digable Planets: Rebirth of Slick (Cool Like Dat)
    Barenaked Ladies: The Flag
    Barenaked Ladies: Am I the Only One?
    Eric Clapton: Alberta
    Ben Harper: Steal My Kisses
    Lenny Kravitz’ cover of the Guess Who: American Woman
    Radiohead: Karma Police
    Radiohead: No Surprises
    Red Hot Chili Peppers: Californication
    Sublime: Caress Me Down
    Backstreet Boys: I Want it That Way
    Incubus: Drive
    Jack Johnson: Flake

  8. What?? Nobody wants Sultans of Swing? Man, that was a top contender for my funeral song, for a long time. Then, Magic Carpet Ride took over. Now I think Fake Plastic Trees is the contender. Kudos to Rusty for Wise Up.

    Is there going to be any making out with hot chicks on the island? If so, I’d better bring my Coldplay along. Man, that stuff is GOLD!!

  9. Billy Joel – Still Rock N’ Roll To Me
    Flogging Molly – Devil’s Dance Floor
    Led Zeppelin – D’yer Mak’er
    Led Zeppelin – Ramble On
    Iron Butterfly – In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida (Full Version)
    Jethro Tull – Locamotive Breath
    The White Stripes – Girl, You Have No Faith In Medicine
    Reel Big Fish – Sell Out
    Squirrel Nut Zippers – Hell
    Squirrel Nut Zippers – Memphis Exorcism
    The Big Six – Who Put The B In The Boogie
    Big Bad Voodoo Daddy – Jumpin’ Jack
    Rush – YYZ
    Violent Femmes – Kiss Off
    Cake – I Will Survive Cover (Clean Edit)
    Goldfinger – Superman
    Louis Prima’s Sing Sing Sing with Gene Krupa on Drums
    The Aquabats – Idiot Box
    The Toasters – Mona (live)
    James Gang – Funk #49
    Green Day – Hitchin’ A Ride
    Ben Folds Five – Underground

  10. Ebenezer, truly some great, great songs. Of course, you realize that if these artists read your blog and found out you liked them, they would serve you up beatdown. Except perhaps for the Aquabats.

  11. Steve, I love the song Sultans of Swing … I threw in Why Worry just because it’s not as lauded a song (but still great).

    Bryce, right on with Squeeze’s Tempted.

    Logan, I’m so glad you put Van Halen’s Icecream Man on there… love that song.

    I’m going to have a lot of fun going through people’s lists and figuring out what to listen to that I haven’t heard before. There’s tons of stuff here.

  12. Heh. You’re right Steve.

    I tend to like specific songs rather than artists though. I do like a lot of songs by the Squirrel Nut Zippers, Big Bad Voodoo Daddy, and, curiously enough, Rush, but for the rest of them it is only a song or two. Hopefully they will spend so much time hunting down file-swappers that they’ll never get around to reading my blog! ;-p

  13. I am reminded of the easter egg from this classic Teen Girl Squad.

    Watch to the end and then click on the words “snooty independent record store.”

    No one’s comment in particular prompted this association. Just the fact that I purposely didn’t put on some of my real favorite songs because they’re too obvious.

  14. Mmm, I wonder what will be implied about me from reading my list?

    :)

    1. Somewhere Over The Rainbow (Arlen/Harburg, sung by Judy Garland)
    2. The Moon’s A Harsh Mistress (Jimmy Webb, sung by Linda Ronstadt)
    3. I Could Have Danced All Night (Lerner/Loewe, sung by Julie Andrews)
    4. Embraceable You (Gershwins, sung by Ella Fitzgerald)
    5. Fire and Rain (James Taylor)
    6. A Natural Woman (by Carole King, sung by Aretha Franklin)
    7. Thunder Road (Bruce Springsteen)
    8. Here, There and Everywhere (Paul McCartney)
    9. You’ve Got To Hide Your Love Away (John Lennon)
    10. One For My Baby (Arlen/Mercer, originally sung by Fred Astaire)
    11. My Lord And Master (Rodgers/Hammerstein, sung by Doretta Morrow)
    12. Losing My Mind (S.Sondheim, sung by Dorothy Collins)
    13. Send In The Clowns (S.Sondheim, sung by Judy Dench)
    14. Another Hundred People (S. Sondheim, sung by Pamela Myers)
    15. Brown Sugar (the Rolling Stones)
    16. Won’t Get Fooled Again (the Who)
    17. Message In A Bottle (The Police)
    18. With Or Without You (U2)
    19. Every Time We Say Goodbye (Cole Porter, sung by Annie Lennox)
    20. Free Man In Paris (Joni Mitchell)
    21. Both Sides Now (Joni Mitchell)
    22. Weepin’ Mary (by me, sung by Sarah Asplund)

  15. 1. Beatles-Here Comes the Sun
    2. Pixies-Here Comes Your Man
    3. Old 97’s-Timebomb
    4. Old 97’s-If My Heart Was a Car
    5. Chomsky-Straight Razor
    6. the Deathray Davies-Chinese Checkers and Devo Records
    7. Foxymorons-Irene
    8. XTC-Summer’s Cauldron
    9. the Church-Under the Milky Way
    10. Badly Drawn Boy-the Shining
    11. Cowboy Junkies-Blue Moon Revisited (Song for Elvis)
    12. Housemartins-Bow Down
    13. the Beautiful South-Old Red Eyes is Back
    14. Ben Harper-Forever
    15. Big Star-the Ballad of El Goodo
    16. Paul Simon-St. Judy’s Comet
    17. the Flaming Lips-Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots
    18. Camper Van Beethoven-She Divines Water
    19. the Shins-New Slang
    20. the Specials-Guns of Navarone
    21. Robyn Hitchcock & the Egyptians-Airscape
    22. James-Sometimes (Lester Piggot)

    My list is heavy on local bands (Dallas). I won’t apologize for this. Also, my list assumes it’s summer when I’m stranded on a desert island. If it’s in December, I’d need to add the Nutcracker Suite and subtract Summer’s Cauldron, which would only depress me in that case.

  16. Kaimi, I hope I’m stuck on a desert island with my i-Pod, rather than a cd. 22 songs simply would not do. But here’s the most frequently played 22 songs on my iPod:

    More Like the Moon – Wilco
    A Salty Salute – Guided By Voices
    Art Star – Yeah Yeah Yeahs
    Retrieval of You – Minus 5
    Burned – Wilco (Neil Young cover)
    Silence Kit – Pavement
    Fight Test – The Flaming Lips
    Letter From an Occupant -The New Pornographers
    My Kind of Soldier – Guided By Voices
    You’re Pretty Good Looking – The White Stripes
    Division Day – Elliott Smith
    Punch Drunk – Uncle Tupelo
    I See a Darkness – Will Oldham
    New Partner – Will Oldham
    Color Me Impressed – The Replacements
    Call the Doctor – Sleater Kinney
    Good Vibrations – The Beach Boys
    Colors and the Kids – Cat Power
    White Man in Hammersmith Palais – The Clash
    Bird Stealing Bread – Iron & Wine
    Right in Time – Lucinda Williams
    Timorous Me – Ted Leo/Pharmacists

  17. That you have extremely good taste, D. Fletcher. One doesn’t expect to see Dame Judy Dench on these kinds of lists.

  18. D., I haven’t heard Weepin’ Mary (unless in was performed in Manhattan 1 during 1998-2001), but Sarah Asplund’s version of Joni Mitchell’s “River” is amazing. Is there an MP3 available of your piece?

  19. I guess this is as good as any place to show how out of touch I am…

    John Denver: Wild Montana Skies
    Elton John: Tiny Dancer
    Los Kjarkas: El Picaflor (folklorico from Bolivia)
    Los Kjarkas: Por Un Mundo Nuevo
    Cal Smith: Country Bumpkin
    George Jones: He Stopped Loving Her Today
    Johnny Cash: Folsom Prison Blues
    OMD: If You Leave
    Led Zepplin: Black Dog
    Los Lobos: La Bamba
    Unknown: Way Out There (the opening yodeling sequece from Raising Arizona)
    Everly Brothers: Dream
    Elvis Presley: Love Me Tender
    Hank Williams: I’m So Lonesome I Could Cry (I’m stranded on an island, for crying out loud!)
    Roy Orbison: Dream Baby
    I’d have to find a nice Sacred Harp choral number
    I’d need a good Polynesian choral number
    I’d pick a native flute number by Carlos Nakai
    Deep Purple: Smoke on the Water
    And, don’t laugh…All Glory, Laud, And Honor by the MoTab

    A short list but I’m outta time…

  20. That’s me playing the piano accompaniment under Sarah’s “River.”

    I don’t have an Mp3 of “Weepin’ Mary” though I suppose I could make one. Is such a thing uploadable here?

  21. Aha! I figured it was Peter. Great track.

    I don’t think we can host mp3s, but Kaimi can let me know if I’m wrong. I could probably host it on my (currently unused) personal homepage, and link to it from T&S, though.

  22. Aaack! This makes the fourth independent reference to the Squirrel Nut Zippers I’ve heard in the past 24 hours. Maybe it has something to do with Election Season (I was about to do “wabbit season/duck season” with election season, but then heard in my head what that would sound like spoken out loud and thought better of having Elmer Fudd say “election season”)

    Any, time to dig out my cassette of “HOT” and listen to “Hell” again. That song is an earworm if there ever was one!

  23. D and Greg, I have no idea what the technical requirements are, but Bob and Logan have some sort of mechanism at Sons of Mosiah for hosting music over there. Maybe see if you could upload it there.

  24. I’m with D. on “Somewhere Over the Rainbow” being at or near the top.

    There are so many great tunes. It’s too painful to think about what would not be included on the list.

  25. Here are mine:

    Airscape – Robyn Hitchcock and the Egyptians
    R.E.M. – So. Central Rain
    The Replacements – Alex Chilton
    The Old 97s – Big Brown Eyes
    The Velvet Underground – Sunday Morning
    Elvis Costello & The Attractions – Beyond Belief
    Centro-Matic – Fountains of Fire
    Pleasant Grove – I Couldn’t Withstand the Damage of an Evil and Wicked Divorce
    The Jazz Butcher – Next Move Sideways
    Husker Du – Could You Be the One?
    The Connells – Hey Wow
    Modest Mouse – Black Cadillacs
    The Shins – Kissing the Lipless
    The Jesus and Mary Chain – Head On
    The Pixies – Debaser
    Dukes of The Stratosphere – Vanishing Girl
    Badly Drawn Boy – Silent Sigh
    Love & Rockets – If There’s a Heaven Above
    New Order – Ceremony
    Ben Folds Five – Narcolepsy
    The Cure – Jumping Someone Else’s Train
    Talking Heads – Naive Melody (This Must Be The Place)

  26. Scary how close my list would be to Kaimi’s. I would have to bump a few things for R.E.M., tho.

  27. Oh my gosh, D.–YOU WROTE “Weepin’ Mary”?!?!?!

    I officially adore and admire and praise and honor you. I love that song. I’ll never forget the moment when it was performed at Eugene England’s funeral. Somehow I got hold of it before it was published (in Clayne Robison’s collection first, right?), and I’ve tried to get it performed by worthy performers at every possible occasion since.

    Your place in heaven is secure.

  28. By the way, I have since purchased the music legally, so I’m not cheating you of your royalties anymore. :)

  29. Dire Straits – Sultans of Swing
    Jethro Tull – Nursie
    Incubus – Drive
    Jack Johnson – Flake
    Duran Duran – Come Undone
    The Cure – Love Song
    Barenaked Ladies – Am I the Only One?
    Sammy Haggar – Little White Lies
    Yes – Owner of a Lonely Heart
    Led Zepplin – Babe
    Cake – Never There
    Marc Anthony – I Need to Know
    Blur – Song 2
    Blur – Tender
    Live – Lightning Crashes
    Stevie Ray Vaughn – Mary Had a Little Lamb
    Collective Soul – Run
    Three Dog Night – Momma Told Me Not to Come
    Backstreet Boys – I Want it That Way
    The Monkies – I’m a Believer

    Whew! That’s me for today… I apologize in advance for any spelling errors.

  30. Maybe you should just pick a bunch of really depressing songs, like “Love Stinks.” Then eventually you would be depressed enough to kill yourself. And you wouldn’t be on a deserted desert island anymore.

    Just kidding.

  31. Bob Caswell–

    That’s “Led Zeppelin” :)
    And by the way, isn’t that an apology after the fact?

    I like the list a lot, at least the stuff that was released before 1990. I haven’t listened to much new music since then.

  32. Mardell (and others)–

    Does anyone else have the “Love Stinks” album by the J. Geils Band? It has one of my favorite tracks of all time: No Anchovies, Please.

    I highly recommend it.

  33. I’ve been reading T&S for a long time. I don’t know what it says about my testimony that this is the topic it took to actually bring me out of the shadows, but…in no particular order:

    1. Peter Gabriel – Red Rain
    2. Sting – Shape of My Heart
    3. Led Zeppelin – Ten Years Gone
    4. Lyle Lovett – Step Inside This House
    5. Bruce Springsteen – The River (Live 1975-85 version)
    6. The Black Crowes – Descending (awesome piano)
    7. Marvin Gaye – Inner City Blues (Make Me Wanna Holler)
    8. Miles Davis – Flamenco Sketches
    9. Bob Dylan – Subterranean Homesick Blues
    10. P.O.D. – Set Your Eyes to Zion
    11. Paul Simon – Hearts and Bones
    12. Soundgarden – Superunknown
    13. Aerosmith – Sweet Emotion
    14. Robert Plant – Big Log
    15. Natalie Merchant – Beloved Wife
    16. Johnny Cash/Willie Nelson – Ghost Riders in the Sky
    17. Bruce Springsteen – The Ghost of Tom Joad (I could do a full list on Springsteen alone)
    18. Beck – Loser (everyone has a guilty pleasure)
    19. Styx – Blue Collar Man
    20. Cassandra Wilson – I’m So Lonesome I Could Cry
    21. Stevie Ray Vaughan – Voodoo Chile
    22. Don McLean – Vincent

    Ask me again next week, and the list would probably be at least 30% different!

  34. Yes, I wrote Weepin’ Mary. I can hardly believe I wrote it (because it has become so well-known), but I did.

    It has a couple of other settings, a Sacred Harp shape-note tune, very angular, and a spiritual by Burleigh. I used the words and made up a new folk-tune. I also changed the words around, a little.

  35. Bryce I-

    It looks like you caught me on two accounts. By the way, at my blog we don’t have to say things like “it’s completely off-topic” when discussing music. :-) We have a nice new radio addition to the blog in which we’ll be rotating five songs. You pre-nineties music people should especially check it out (if you want to stay hip and cool). http://www.bobandlogan.com

    P.S. Two other songs I could listen to over and over:

    Blues Traveler – Hook
    Robbie Williams – Angels

  36. Hey Bob, we dont’ usually talk about music in quite these terms, but it’s interesting to see your list. I’m just glad I got in a few of those unknown gems (like BNL’s Am I the Only One) and songs most people are too cool to like (like BSB’s I Want It That Way) before you did, making YOU look like the copycat. ;)

  37. In no particular order, and probably subject to drastic change. The ones with asterisks indicate songs with lyrics that, I realized after compiling the list, might convey a bitter irony if I were actually listening to them while stranded on a desert island.

    John Hyatt–Seven Little Indians
    Tom Waits–Time (great song–perhaps not the best for keeping one’s spirits up, though)
    Carlos Vives–Pa Mayte (peppy, to counterbalance Tom Waits)
    Echo and the Bunnymen–Ocean Rain*
    Parahia doing Busoni doing Bach–Wachet auf
    Public Enemy–Bring the Noise
    Webern–Symphonie, Op. 21 mvt. 1
    Agent Orange–In your head
    Bach–Et in spiritum sanctum from B minor mass
    Messiaen–“Louange a l’eternite de Jesus” from Quartet for the End of Time*
    Rufus Wainwright–April Fools
    The Cure–Just Like Heaven
    Annie Lennox–Why
    Britten–“Now the Great Bear” aria from Peter Grimes***
    Shumann–Im wunderschonen monat Mai
    Radiohead–Idioteque* (asterisk for the incessantly repeated line “women and children first”)
    La Monte Young–The Well-Tuned Piano (excerpt–it takes up 6 discs by itself)
    Arvo Part–Credo from Berliner Mass
    Low–Starfire (not a classic, but I can’t seem to stop putting in heavy rotation on my MP3 player)
    Susana Baca–Panalivio
    Miles Davis–So What
    Coltrane–My Favorite Things

  38. Woops. I left off all Talking Heads. Tell you what, I trim the piano intro off of “So What,” and maybe axe some of the artsy-fartsy stuff, to make room for a couple of tracks from Stop Making Sense.

  39. I remember losing an argument with a friend in which he asserted that the Talking Heads were the greatest band currently producing albums.

    I left them off of my list too.

  40. I didn’t think we could include longish classical pieces. I’d trade in my entire list for one Durufle Requiem.

  41. L’invitation au voyage — H. Duparc
    Von ewiger Liebe — J. Brahms
    Das Wirtshaus — F. Schubert
    Puisque l’aube grandit — G. Faure
    Die Taubenpost — Schubert
    Befreit — R. Strauss
    L’exstase — Duparc
    Die Kraehe — Schubert
    Die Nachtigall — A. Berg
    Kennst du das Land — H. Wolf
    Dein Angesicht — R. Schumann
    Avant que tu ne t’en ailles — Faure
    Thraenenregen — Schubert
    Gestillte Sehnsucht — Brahms
    L’ombre des arbres — C. Debussy
    Das Fischermaedchen — Schubert
    Ich grolle nicht — Schumann
    Ganymed — Schubert
    Der Rattenfaenger — Wolf
    Gefasster Abschied — E. W. Korngold

  42. Bill — I thought about Ich grolle nicht too, but thought the dark humor would turn too depressing after a couple of listens on a desert island…

  43. Counting Crows – Anna Begins
    Lead Zepplin – Ramble On
    Ben Folds Five – Brick
    Elton John – Tiny Dancer
    Simon and Garfunkel – Sound of Silence
    Dave Brubeck – Take Five
    Bill Evans – Peace, Peace
    Sinead O’Connor – Nothing Compares 2 U
    U2 – Bloody Sunday
    Ben Harper – Forever
    Indigo Girls – Galileo
    Pearl Jam – Wish List
    Ella Fitzgerald – At Last
    Wilco – Jesus, etc.
    Counting Crows – Omaha
    REM – Nightswimming
    Tori Amos – Cornflake Girl
    Radiohead – Fake Plastic Trees
    Fiona Apple – Shadowboxer
    Pearl Jam – Daughter
    Dar Williams – What Kind of Lover Am I?
    Wyclef – Stripper Song (what can I say? it makes me laugh)

  44. 1. This Corrosion – Sisters of Mercy
    2. Millimillenary – Cocteau Twins
    3. Pennyroyal Tea – Nirvana
    4. 1945 – Social Distortion
    5. Sleep Like Breathing – Allison Moyet
    6. Under the Milky Way – the Church
    7. Veloria – The Pixies
    8. Last Night I Dreamt Somebody Love Me – the Smiths
    9. Death of a Disco Dancer – the Smiths
    10. Love Will Tear Us Apart – Joy Division
    11. Atmosphere – Joy Division
    12. Twenty Four Hours – Joy Division
    13. Ceremony – New Order
    14. True Faith – New Order
    15. Take My Hand – Dido
    16. A Forest – the Cure
    17. Love Song – the Cure
    18. Just Like Heaven – the Cure
    19. Ruby Tuesday – the Rolling Stones
    20. Gloria – U2
    21. Alex Chilton – the Replacements
    22. Hunger Strike – Temple of the Dogs

    I must admit to a second or two of hesitation after looking at my list (composed last night on the BART ride home) and noticing how monochromatic it is in comparison to many of the others already posted. But I wasn’t willing to give up any of the songs on the list in the interest of genre diversity so I guess I’ll just have to go ahead an reveal what a pseudo-Goth, mopey young poet, 17-year-old-reading-Camus type I still am.

    In my defense, I did give up the black turtlenecks several years ago.

  45. William,

    That resolves it! At the future meeting of the East Bay bloggernacle, Pleased to Meet Me will provide the soundtrack.

  46. I always love these sorts of questions. It’s cool to see someone on the list who enjoys October Project. I was just now listening to their ’93 self-titled album. Too bad it feels like late August here in Louisiana.

    1. “Caribbean Blue” – Enya
    2. “The Door Into Summer – The Monkees
    3. “Time Capsule” – Matthew Sweet
    4. “Lost in the Supermarket” – The Clash
    5. “The Mayor of Simpleton” – XTC
    6. “Pure” – The Lightning Seeds
    7. “Oliver’s Army – Elvis Costello
    8. “Blown a Wish” – My Bloody Valentine
    9. “If You Need Someone” – The Field Mice
    10. “Mr. Roboto” – Styx
    11. “Like the Weather” – 10,000 Maniacs
    12. “I Think About” – Toad the Wet Sprocket
    13. “Wellsville” – The Embarrassment
    14. “I Carry Your Heart” – Michael Hedges
    15. “Just Let Me Know” – The Ocean Blue
    16. “God Made Me” – The Sundays
    17. “Machine Gun” – Slowdive
    18. “Metropolis” – The Church
    19. “Cult of Personality” – Living Colour
    20. “Grade 9” – Barenaked Ladies

  47. Nice.

    Nos. 5, 6 and 18 were all strong candidates for my list.

    And while Toad the Wet Sprocket seems to be rather popular among Mormons ages 20-40, I don’t know that The Ocean Blue is. If you like some of the other bands on Andrew’s list and haven’t head The Ocean Blue, then check ’em out.

  48. William,
    Yes, I love Toad and picking just one of their tunes wasn’t easy. In fact, that list is only scratching the surface. I loved your choices, by the way — Cocteau Twins, Smiths, New Order … right up my alterna-pop alley.
    As for the Ocean Blue, well, I’ve been a fan since their first album. A month or so ago I got to interview David Schelzel, the lead singer, for a feature story I wrote for The Town Talk. Needless to say I was one happy camper.

  49. I would be happy with a cd full of one artist’s songs: Tori Amos. I’ve been listening to her almost exclusively for 2 years now. I know it’s kind of psycho, but so is the thought of having only one disc of music on a desert island. Any trip anywhere requires that I take 2 whole cases of cds. So 22 Tori Amos songs that I couldn’t live without (because I really do think that I could survive on just her music):

    Bliss
    Precious Things
    In the Springtime of His Voodoo
    Playboy Mommy
    Raspberry Swirl
    Tear in Your Hand
    Space Dog
    The Wrong Band
    A Sorta Fairytale
    Northern Lad
    Sweet Sangria
    The Waitress (live)
    Landslide
    Rattlesnakes
    Bug a Martini
    Siren
    Iieee
    Caught a Lite Sneeze
    Father Lucifer (live)
    Mr Zebra
    Sugar
    Cruel

    That was painful. I had to do some serious soul-searching to wittle her catalog to 22 can’t-live-withouts.

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