Mix Six: Politics and…Stuff

While trolling eMusic on Monday, I found three songs in a row that had political themes! I thought I had full theme for this week’s mix, but my winning streak didn’t last. But I did find some other “stuff” to put into the mix that I hope you’ll enjoy.

Okay, here we go...

“Have You Had Enough?” ROTFLMAO (Listen HERE) Are you a Squirrel Nut Zippers fan? Did you like their song “Hell” and maybe bought their CD Hot back in the day? Do you put that one on the CD player if there’s a party at your house or while you’re cooking dinner? Oh, maybe that’s just me. Okay, I need to focus. What were we talking about? Oh yeah, politics is half the theme of this week’s mix. This song is a reworking of SNZ’s “Put a Lid On It” for Democratic candidate Larry Kissell – who lost his 2006 bid to become the representative of the 8^th congressional district in North Carolina by a little over 300 votes. He said he’ll run again in 08.

“My Free Will Just Ain’t Willin’” Mojo Nixon (Listen HERE) I don’t know if you were a college radio head back in the 80s, but if you were, you’ll certainly remember this guy. Even though the album title is “Whereabouts Unknown,” Mojo is known to be hosting a show on the “Outlaw Country” channel on Sirius satellite – where he’s proudly proclaiming he ain’t going to be George Bush’s whore (listen to the song, and you’ll know what I mean).

“Adlai Stevenson” Sufjan Stevens (Listen HERE) Two time political loser during the “Ike” years of the 1950s. Ike was a likable WWII General who was mildly Republican, and Stevenson was the mildly Democratic candidate from Illinois who had a shot of winning the second presidential campaign when it was revealed that Eisenhower had heart problems. But Ike’s doctors said he was fine, and there were two conflicts (Suez Canal and the resistance to Soviet domination in Hungry) that shifted support away from Stevenson to Ike. This song is from Sujan’s “outtake” album culled from the session for his critically acclaimed “Illinoise” CD.

“Where Our Love Grows” Swing Out Sister (Listen HERE) Here we enter “stuff” land where it’s just songs that I think have legs. If you consider yourself a 80s person, then you’ll certainly remember Swing Out Sister for their hit “Breakout.” Well, this song isn’t “Breakout (Part II),” but it is a pleasant little number that might go well with that early evening cocktail.

“Hallelujah, I Was Wrong” David Mead (Listen HERE) Our buddy Jefito was the first to introduce us to the music of David Mead when he did a Mix Six featuring the wonderful song “Robert Bradley’s Postcard.” I liked that song so much, I bought the CD and then downloaded Mead’s latest album, Tangerine. While Tangerine doesn’t have the commercial pop of his first CD, there are some very good songs that I’m warming up to (can you guess which one?)

“Life With You” Ravi Peruman (Listen HERE) Ravi is a friend of mine who is 1. My neighbor. 2. A former boss/co-worker. 3. The guy I share my practice space with. He recorded an album of original material in 2005, and this song is my favorite. In particular, I loved his furious/subtle guitar work, the way he weaved in Indian influences, and also the odd time signature in there, too. Nice! This is my own edited version that is just the instrumental portion of the song which features Ravi’s wonderful guitar work.

And that’s it for another week kids! I hope you found some interesting tunes this month since, you know, March is boycott the RIAA month. I’m still going to feature non-RIAA artists on this blog, but some RIAA artists may make an appearance every now and then. Okay…Have a great weekend!

–PK