Window Songs

This morning we washed the windows. I've said it before, and I'll say it again: There is no household chore that's more rewarding that washing windows.

I chose a playlist to serve as a soundtrack for the work:

1. A Window, A Room, A Voice - Carl Weingarten & Joe Venegoni
2. Angel's Window - Nicholas Gunn
3. At My Window - Townes Van Zandt
4. Big Windows - Bet Williams
5. Cars Hiss By My Window - The Doors
6. Go In and Out the Window - Owen "Snake" Chapman
7. Go 'Way From My Window - George Winston
8. How Much Is That Doggie In The Window? - Patti Page
9. Looking Out of the Rear Window - Tierra Negra
10. North Window - Paul Horn & R. Carlos Nakai
11. Raise Your Window High - Cleoma B. Falcon
12. She Came In Through The Bathroom Window - The Beatles
13. Sign On The Window - Bob Dylan
14. Sitting At My Window - The Son Seals Blues Band
15. Sitting in the Window of My Room - Alison Krauss
16. Smash The Windows - Craig Duncan
17. Smash The Windows - Donald Zepp
18. Take The Star Out Of The Window - John Prine
19. The View From Your Window - Peter White
20. The Window - David Elias
21. The Window - Leonard Cohen
22. Through An Open Window - Chris Botti
23. Window - Fiona Apple
24. Window Of The Soul - Chuck Loeb
25. Window on the World - John Hiatt
26. Window Shopping - Hank Williams
27. Window Sill - Aphex Twin
28. Window to the World - Shawn Colvin
29. World Outside Your Window - Tanita Tikaram

Christmas Songs, Tabulated

I ran across an old post from 2005: Analyzing Christmas Songs.

It was a list of the most popular Christmas songs in our library. Four years ago we had 360 such songs. Now we have 664.

Here's a list of the most popular Christmas songs in my collection (at least six different recordings):

1. Silent Night (19)
2. Santa Claus is Comin' to Town (15)
3. Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas (15)
4. God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen (14)
5. Jingle Bells (14)
6. Winter Wonderland (13)
7. White Christmas (13)
8. I'll Be Home For Christmas (12)
9. Joy To The World (12)
10. It Came Upon A Midnight Clear (12)
11. O Holy Night (11)
12. The Christmas Song (10)
13. The First Noel (10)
14. Baby, It's Cold Outside (9)
15. Let It Snow! Let It Snow! Let it Snow! (9)
16. Greensleeves (8)
17. Deck the Halls (8)
18. Away In A Manger (8)
19. O Come All Ye Faithful (8)
20. Sleigh Ride (7)
21. Hark the Herald Angels Sing (7)
22. O Little Town Of Bethlehem (7)
23. Angels We Have Heard on High (6)
24. Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer (6)
25. We Three Kings (6)
26. O Come, O Come Emmanuel (6)

In 2005, Silent Night also topped the list. Somehow, in the last four years, we acquired nine more recordings of Jingle Bells.

Surprisingly, we have only one recording of these songs:

• The Twelve Days of Christmas

• It's Beginning To Look A Lot Like Christmas
• Al I Want for Christmas (Is My Two Front Teeth)
• Jolly Old St. Nicholas

Vatican Playlist

Songs on the Vatican's MySpace Playlist.

The Vatican has contributed a list of tracks for MySpace Music, an ad-supported audio and video streaming service which launched today.

• Advocata Nostra - Music From The Vatican. From the album Alma Mater featuring the voice of Pope Benedict XVI.
• Uprising - Muse. Single from the album, The Resistance.
• Causa Nostrae Laetitiae - Music From The Vatican. From the album Alma Mater.
• Il Mare Mi Salva - Rossomalpelo. Song from the band led by contemporary Italian singer songwriter Serge Gaggiotti
• After The Rain - Dame Shirley Bassey. From the album The Performance.
• Coexist - Nour Eddine. Song from Moroccan Musician, based in Italy.
• Don Giovanni - Mozart.
• Rafaele Merry Del Val - Lorenzo Perosi Inni Mottetti e Canzoni, Pablo Colino & Coro Academica Filarmonica Romana.
• He Doesn't Know Why - Fleet Foxes.
• Changes - Tupac Shakur.
• Regina Coeli - Music From The Vatican. From the album Alma Mater.
• Mi sarete Testimoni - Santo Subito! (DVD). Music DVD embodying the voice and image of The Pope.

Number that I have: 0

Singers Who Can’t

A stupid music list: Top ten great singers who can't sing.

1. Bob Dylan
2. Lou Reed
3. Tom Waits
4. Johnny Cash
5. John Lydon
6. Ian Dury
7. Leonard Cohen
8. Nick Cave
9. Siouxsie Sioux
10. Jarvis Cocker

Lost Highway Sampler

Free at Amazon. A 6-track MP3 download: T For Texas T From Tennessee. I've heard of half of the artists: Robert Earl Keen, Lyle Lovett, and Willie Nelson.

You probably need to have an amazon.com account to download them.

(via A Truer Sound)

In The In The Title

Here are 31 old time tune names that are in the form x in the y, where x and y are both nouns.

1. Beasties In The Sugar
2. Billy In The Low Land
3. Bird In The Wood
4. Black Cat In The Briar Patch
5. Bumblebee In The Jug
6. Bush In The Shucks
7. Cat In The Pear Tree
8. Cattle In The Cane
9. Chicken In The Barnyard
10. Devil In The Woodpile
11. Dogs In The Dishes
12. Edward In The Treetop
13. Glory In The Meetinghouse
14. Hogs In The Tater Patch
15. Jaybird In The Ashbrook
16. Jenny In The Cotton Patch
17. Jimmy In The Swamp
18. Maggots In The Sheep Hide
19. Mole In The Ground
20. Monkey In The Dogcart
21. Rabbit In The Log
22. Rabbit In The Pea Patch
23. Rose In The Mountain
24. Rush In The Pepper
25. Sally In The Garden
26. Ship In The Clouds
27. Spring In The Valley
28. Sugar In The Coffee
29. Sugar In The Gourd
30. Turkey In The Straw
31. Wild Hog In The Woods

Not included are tunes such as Walking In The Parlor and Jump In The Well, Pretty Little Miss.

The photo illustrates #19.

Countin’ Down The Hits

At Billboard, the Top-10 songs for the week of October 3, 2009:

1. I Gotta Feeling - The Black Eyed Peas
2. Run This Town - Jay-Z, Rihanna & Kanye West
3. Down - Jay Sean Featuring Lil Wayne
4. You Belong With Me - Taylor Swift
5. Empire State Of Mind - Jay-Z + Alicia Keys
6. Party In The U.S.A. - Miley Cyrus
7. Paparazzi - Lady Gaga
8. Forever - Drake Featuring Kanye West, Lil Wayne & Eminem
9. Use Somebody - Kings Of Leon
10. Whatcha Say - Jason DeRulo

Has anyone heard any of these?

I was sampling these songs, and played #4. Pamn said, "That's Taylor Swift." I have no idea how she knew that.

Pride Songs

How many songs do you have with pride in the title? I have 13:

1. A Whole Lotta Pride - The Robert Cray Band
2. Ain't Your Memory Got No Pride at All - Ray Charles
3. Cowboy Pride - Michael Martin Murphey
4. Foot Of Pride - Lou Reed
5. If I Had Any Pride Left At All - John Berry
6. Long On Lonely (Short On Pride) - Randy Travis
7. Love & Pride - Alana Davis
8. Love Has No Pride - Bonnie Raitt
9. Love Is Stronger Than Pride - Ricochet
10. My Sin Is Pride - Adrienne Young
11. Pride And Joy - Albert King With Stevie Ray Vaughan
12. Pride And Joy - Bonnie Raitt
13. Pride and Joy - Stevie Ray Vaughan

Mexico Songs

Our playlist tonight consists of songs that contain the word Mexico (or Mexican):

1. Amancer En Nuevo Mexico (Granadinas) - Ruben Romero
2. Beer in Mexico - Kenny Chesney
3. Down In Mexico - The Coasters
4. Down Into Mexico - Delbert McClinton
5. Flower Of Mexico - Johnny Gimble
6. Italians in Mexico - The Renovators
7. Mexican Blue - Jolie Holland
8. Mexican Cowboy - Otis Taylor
9. Mexican Divorce - Drifters
10. Mexican Home - Iris DeMent
11. Mexico City - I Am Robot And Proud
12. Mexico City - Jolie Holland
13. No Mexico - Nancy Falkow
14. Road to Mexico - Ken Perlman
15. South Of The Border (Down Mexico Way) - Chris Isaak
16. South Of The Border (Down Mexico Way) - Patsy Cline
17. The Seashores Of Old Mexico - George Strait

I want that hat.

Cried Songs

I found this great old Julie London video at Stax o' Wax, and I was going to go with cry songs tonight. But listing 87 songs is something only Hui would do.

So I settled on cried, which produced a more reasonable list:

1. All Cried Out - Fink
2. I Cried - Cookie & The Cupcakes
3. I Cried For You - Harry James
4. I Heard You Cried Last Night - Eddie Lockjaw Davis
5. I Sat And Cried - Jimmy Nelson
6. Momma Cried - Alison Krauss
7. Sat Down On My Bed And Cried - R.L. Burnside
8. Sonny Cried - Harry Connick, Jr.
9. The Angels Cried - Alan Jackson
10. The Boy Who Never Cried - Steve Earle
11. The Little White Cloud That Cried - Johnnie Ray

Soup Songs

Today, in between Excel 2010 Bible chapters, I was counting my soup songs. I have six songs with soup in the title.

1. Noodle Soup - Four80East
2. Noodle Soup - Leggo Beast
3. Primordial Soup - Esther Golton
4. Salty Soup - Artie Traum
5. Snake Soup - Rabih Abou-Khalil
6. Tortilla Soup - Bill Conti

Believer Songs

How many songs do you own that have believer in the title? I have five:

1. Daydream Believer - The Monkees
2. He's a Believer - Voice of Golden Eagle
3. I'm A Believer - The Monkees
4. Made A Believer Out Of Me - Bonnie Bramlett
5. True Believer - Irma Thomas

Somewhat amazingly, two are by The Monkees.

Drop Songs

Do you have any songs that have drop in the title? I do:

1. A Drop Of Silence - Kitaro
2. Brother Drop Dead - Tex Williams
3. Drop - Akira Kosemura
4. Drop Dead Blues - Ultimate Guitar
5. Drop Down Daddy - Lucinda Williams
6. Drop Down Mama - Robin Henkel
7. Drop Down Mama - Sleepy John Estes
8. Drop The Pilot - Joan Armatrading
9. Green Drop - Hot Buttered Rum String Band
10. Life By The Drop - Stevie Ray Vaughan
11. One Drop - Ernest Ranglin
12. One Drop Of Love - Ray Charles
13. Shop 'Till You Drop - Larry Carlton
14. Single Drop Of Honey - Abigail Washburn
15. The Drop - Four80East
16. The Drop & The Dream - Kris Delmhorst

Where's Toots? I used to have Pressure Drop.

Dress Songs

Tonight we'll be discussing songs that have the word dress (including dresses, dressing, and dressed) in the title.

I have these:

1. All Dressed In You - Kate York
2. Devil With a Blue Dress On - Shorty Long
3. I Was Dressed as an Ant, You Dressed Up as a Beehive - Signer
4. Little Girl with the Ragged Dress On - Melvin Wine
5. Long Cool Woman in a Black Dress - The Hollies
6. Mama Don't Get Dressed Up For Nothing - Brooks & Dunn
7. Pretty Little Girl With the Blue Dress On - Thomas Bailey
8. Red Dress - Ray Wylie Hubbard
9. Sequined Mermaid Dress - Dave's True Story
10. Sharp Dressed Man - Brad Paisley
11. Short Dress Woman - Muddy Waters
12. This Old Dress - Pieta Brown
13. Wedding Dress - Tom Joad

Musical Test For Middle Age

This is from Eric Zorn: Take the musical test -- when did you get old?

Reader Mike Carniello sent me a list several years ago of top summer songs of each year going back. He maintained that by "using this list, you can pinpoint exactly when middle age kicked in" by identifying the first song on the list for which you can't kind of hum the melody.

Here's the list, starting from 1964:

• August 1964 "A Hard Day's Night" The Beatles
• August 1965 "I Got You Babe" Sonny & Cher
• August 1966 "Summer in the City" The Lovin' Spoonful
• August 1967 "Light My Fire" The Doors
• August 1968 "People Got to Be Free" The Rascals
• August 1969 "In the Year 2525" Zager and Evans
• August 1970 "(They Long to Be) Close to You" The Carpenters
• August 1971 "How Can You Mend a Broken Heart?" Bee Gees
• August 1972 "Alone Again (Naturally)" Gilbert O' Sullivan
• August 1973 "The Morning After" Maureen McGovern
• August 1974 "(You're) Having My Baby" Paul Anka with Odia Coates
• August 1975 "Jive Talkin'" the Bee Gees
• August 1976 "Don't Go Breaking My Heart" Elton John & Kiki Dee
• August 1977 "I Just Want to Be Your Everything" Andy Gibb
• August 1978 "Miss You" Rolling Stones
• August 1979 "My Sharona" the Knack
• August 1980 "Magic" Olivia Newton-John
• August 1981 "Jessie's Girl" Rick Springfield
• August 1982 "Eye Of The Tiger" Survivor
• August 1983 "Every Breath You Take" the Police
• August 1984 "Ghostbusters" Ray Parker Jr.
• August 1985 "The Power of Love" Huey Lewis & the News
• August 1986 "Papa Don't Preach" Madonna
• August 1987 "I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For" U2
• August 1988 "Roll With It" Steve Winwood
• August 1989 "Right Here Waiting" Richard Marx
• August 1990 "Vision of Love" Mariah Carey
• August 1991 "(Everything I Do) I Do It for You" Bryan Adams
• August 1992 "Baby Got Back" Sir Mix-A-Lot
• August 1993 "(I Can't Help) Falling in Love With You UB40
• August 1994 "Stay (I Missed You)" Lisa Loeb & Nine Stories
• August 1995 "Waterfalls" TLC
• August 1996 "Macarena" Los Del Rio
• August 1997 "I'll Be Missing You" Puff Daddy & Faith Evans
• August 1998 "The Boy Is Mine" Brandy & Monica
• August 1999 "Genie in a Bottle" Christina Aguilera
• August 2000 "It's Gonna Be Me" 'N Sync
• August 2001 "Bootylicious" Destiny's Child
• August 2002 "Hot In Herre" Nelly
• August 2003 "Crazy In Love Beyonce featuring Jay-Z
• August 2004 "Confessions Part II" Usher
• August 2005 "We Belong Together" Mariah Carey
• August 2006 "Promiscuous" Nelly Furtado featuring Timbaland
• August 2007 "Big Girls Don't Cry" Fergie
• August 2008 "Leavin'" Jesse McCartney

For me, it's 1987, when I was 35. I know a few after that, but not many.