gts010 “countsheep”
Get out your slide rule, it’s time to interpolate your butts off! Integers are nice and discrete, they come at regular times like a steady tympani backbeat, and then along comes Kate Bush to blow that all up.
01-01 Phil Harris & Alice Harris – ARA 136 – One-Zy Two-Zy (1946)
— the song goes back 25 years earlier to Eddie Cantor, but this version is cute as a rug in a bug’s ear. In fact the B-side is “Some Little Bug”. Have 2 copies of this disc, first attempt to buy it, got cracked shipping from San Francisco. Great eBay lady, always adds extra bonus 78’s to your order, can’t order from her, everything arrives broken.
01-02 Aimee Mann – Magnolia OST 01 – One (1999)
— sure do like me some Three Dog Night, but a rare case where the cover is just as good as the orig.
01-03 Lene Lovich – Stateless 01 – Lucky Number (1979)
— something in the air besides the atmosphere!
01-04 Blur – Blur 02 – Song 2 (1997)
— classic parlor game song, try writing down the lyrics then compare them to the actual lyrics.
01-05 Josie & The Pussycats – JATPC OST 01 – 3 Small Words (2001)
— listened to this 50 times before catching that “for” stands in for “four”.
02-01 Kate Bush – Aerial 02 – Pi (excerpt) (2005)
— full song is much longer, the lyrics are as predictable as they are irrational.
02-02 Schoolhouse Rock – Best Of SR 02 – Three Is A Magic Number (1973)
— still looking for an excuse someday, to play Conjunction Junction.
02-03 Loudon Wainright III – Loudon Wainwright III 07 – Four Is A Magic Number (1970)
— and makes a tricycle even more stabler.
02-04 Swingle Singers – The SS Christmas Album 10 (excerpt) – Dag Visen (1980)
— a capella shout to Brubeck.
02-05 Architecture In Helsinki – Gideon Coe 2005-10-25 – It’s 5! (2005)
— out of all these songs, this is the one which pops into my head most at odd times.
02-06 5 6 7 8’s – Kill Bill OST 11 – Woo-Hoo (2003)
— another one where the J-Pop cover is better than the original.
03-01 Steps – Step One 03 – 5, 6, 7, 8 (1998)
— line dancing had an afterlife in Holland long after it mercifully died out in the States.
03-02 Scooter Lee – Walking On Sunshine 09 – 634-5789 (2004)
— subjugates the tune for shameless self promotion, wonder what happens if you call her 800 number today?
03-03 John Lee Hooker – Live At The Cafe Au Go-Go 08 – 7 Days (1967)
— Cafe Au Go-Go is the commissary at Soledad Prison.
03-04 Slim Gaillard – Laughing In Rhythm 105 – 8, 9 and 10 (1945)
— 25 years later, Slim was a favorite on Sesame Street.
04-01 Beatles – Revolution 9 [take 22] (1968)
— included for the line “the sheep were sheeping”
04-02 Suzanne Vega – 99.9F 04 – 99.9 F° (1992)
— one of 2 songs which got play, from an album with no crappy tunes.
04-03 Plugz – Repo Man OST 11 – Reel Ten (1984)
— as this plays, the glowing radioactive Ford Fairlane ascends.
05-01 Negativland – Escape From Noise 15 – Time Zones (1987)
— 35 years, been waiting to hear this on the radio. Had to do it myself.
05-02 Film School – Film School 08 – 11:11 (2006)
— only relevant due to the title, but a pretty good one.
05-03 Aria – Hero Of Asphalt 04 – 1100 (1987)
— wonder if playing this earns royalty payments for the band, and if so, does that make them ‘foreign agents’ under Russia’s goofy new laws?
05-04 Genesis – Wind And Wuthering 01 – Eleventh Earl Of Mar (1976)
— highest epic from the minus-Gabriel band while they still had Hackett.
05-05 Kokomo Arnold – Decca 7083 – The Twelves (1935)
— think he just insulted your Mother.
06-01 Nick Lowe – Untouched Takeaways 11 – 12 Step Program (2004)
— wisdom to see what you can and can’t do.
06-02 Jesus Jones – Liquidizer 06 – Song 13 (1989)
— hear a shade of Collective Soul.
06-03 Beat Happening – Beat Happening 09 – Fourteen (1985)
— nerdfolk as only 1985 could produce.
06-04 Uncle Tupelo – Anodyne 09 – Fifteen Keys (1993)
— no King, no Honey, just pure drippin’ Tupelo.
06-05 Tom Waits – Swordfishtrombones 05 – 16 Shells From A Thirty-Ott-Six (1983)
— he’s a pro, don’t try at home.
06-06 Mary Martin & Lauri Peters – Sound Of Music OST – Sixteen Going On Seventeen (reprise) (1965)
— apologies for mistake in the mic-break, this is the reprise with Mary Martin, not the main song with Brian Davies.
06-07 Pete Wingfield – Breakfast Special 01 – Eighteen With A Bullet (1975)
— finally know what Kiss was talking about 10 years later, about a Love Gun.
06-08 Kaia – Kaia 01 – 19 (1996)
— bring it down with a pluckin’ good ballad.
06-09 Robert Gordon & Danny Gatton – The Humbler 12 – Twenty Flight Rock (2000)
— not sure, but think this is a cover. Have a bright mental post-it of hearing this long before 2000.
… and the bonus track
07-01 Who – Tommy 03 – 1921 (1969)
— from childhood, this has always been my favorite song on the double album. Think it’s the concurrent contradiction of the Townsend/Daltrey duet.