March "car CD"

Here's part of the play list -- see if you recognize anything:

One Night in Bangkok (Murray Head) Perhaps the finest song ever written about the trials and vagaries of the international chess circuit.

Cruel to be Kind (Nick Lowe) God Bless Nick. As much as I loved Elvis Costello in the 80s, we all suspected he was a joyless bitter wanker. His Stiff labelmate Nick was all cheer and upbeat glee with a mordant twist. With age came wisdom. And the essence of the wisdom: lighten up, fer chrissakes.

You Will Always Find Me in the Kitchen At Parties (Jonah Lewie) Another Stiff fave. Loose, goofy. Almost impossible to cover, too – you’d need Lewie’s voice to sell the song, and he sings like someone who has no idea what his range is, and will never stick around long enough to find out. A song to flatter those of us who, well, always found ourselves in the kitchen at parties.

Traffic Jam (Artie Shaw) Grown-up music.

Cat’s Eye (Godley + Creme) What kept these guys from fame? Two big hits – “I’m Not in Love” with 10cc was the first. (I still remember a high school argument in which I insisted that the song’s proposition was actually intended to cover up the fact that singer was, in fact, in love. I did not convince my friend. He just couldn’t see it.) Years later, that overproduced but achingly heartfelt “Cry,” which had a video of morphing faces. (Remember when morphing was the new thing? You’re old.) What killed these guys was the Smart Guy Ironic Distance – Steely Dan projected the same aura, but most people didn’t pick up on it. (Unless they were Smart.) Whereas everyone figured out that G + D were quite pleased with themselves, and that what we called rain they called pissing off the balcony during the Masque of the Red Death.

The rest of the play list is here (scroll down): each month James Lileks burns a CD for the car. This is part of what he will be listening to in traffic during March. He looks forward to it.