Friday Five : |ˈfrīdā – fīv| : On the sixth day of every week, I hit the shuffle button in iTunes and share the first five tracks and thought for each track. Sometimes there is a playlist involved, occasionally we’ll have a guest, but most of the time it’s just me. The rest is up to you, our friends and readers! Fire up the media player of your choice and share the first five random track of your shuffle in the comments.
The Five:
“I Guess That’s Why They Call It the Blues” by Elton John (from Greatest Hits 1970-2002, 2002)
I don’t have a single bad thing to say about this song. Despite my overall ambivalence towards John’s career in the ’80s, I quite love this tune. It could very well be the product of over saturation, as my local pop station played this hourly for the better part of the year.
“Greensleeves” by John Coltrane (from The Classic Quartet: The Complete Impulse! Studio Recordings, 1998)
Nearly every time “Greensleeves” shuffles up my wife asks why I’m listening to Christmas music. I blame Charlie Brown. That said, ‘Trane’s take on the standard is perfectly sublime; taking the major / minor tonalities and weaving his lines to form a coherent thought. McCoy Tyner is credited with the arrangement, and plays a significant role in shaping the tune, which I’ll admit gets played a few times more than normal around the holidays.
“Cool It Now” by New Edition (from Gold, 2005)
If there ever was a rollerskating tune, this might be it. Now, I was too damn clumsy to ever strap wheels to my feet and be able to stand upright (unassisted) for more than a few seconds, but I’ll be damned if I didn’t try. I’m certain that this was the soundtrack to a few of my embarrassing turns at the roller rink, and despite that it remains a favorite.
“Some Might Say” by Oasis (from Time Flies… 1994-2009, 2010)
For a moment I was going to suggest that this tune spawned after I stopped caring about Oasis, but a quick fact check proves that this was actually the first single from (What’s the Story) Morning Glory?, which would place it smack dab in the middle of my time with Oasis. I don’t, however, recall this song.
“Miss World” by The Afghan Whigs (from Somethin’ Hot, 1998)
I’m a sucker for Greg Dulli covering anything, really. I normally would draw the line at anyone covering the train wreck called Hole, but the pseudo-after dark jazz vibe actually suits the tune.
What’s on your shuffle today?
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