Hey nineteen

Cullen said that I was tagged, so here I go, somewhat slowly. The rules of the tag:

1. Choose 19 of the songs you like best, regardless of artist or genre.
2. Put them all together in a CD.
3. Make 5 other copies.
4. Post your playlist on your blog.
5. Choose 5 people and send them a copy of your CD each. Send the first copy you made to the one who tagged you.

The thing is, if I took this literally, I'd never actually finish because it's going to take a while to carve out spare time to put 19 songs on a CD, much less actually boil down all the faves to a cohesive list. I tend to have so many favorites that I organize my playlists by genre. Then I have lists that mix genres for variety's sake. It must the same for many people - part of me just wants to take the ol' PC and set it on shuffle, and grab the first 19 songs. Problem with that is that not everything I own is on the PC, and something's going to get left out.

Enough whining about the meme? Good, I agree. To the list, in no particular order.

1. "In the Mood," Ernie Fields and His Orchestra - since the last time Cullen and I pulled a CD swap, I added a few more instrumental compilations, and this is on one of them. I included this mostly because he included the original Glenn Miller version. This is a fun take.
2. "Go Where No One's Gone Before," Billy Preston - from the soundtrack of Licensed By Royalty. I go in for these heavy brass numbers, but I'm working hard not to make this monotonous.
3. "Too Good Too Bad," Seatbelts - one of the hundred awesome songs of Yoko Kanno.
4. "Casino Royale," Herb Alpert - swank and fun; I love the six-note baritone figure in the background of the chorus. Really, almost anything of his could be here.
5. "Proud Mary," Ike and Tina Turner - genius. Does Fogerty even bother to play it?
6. "A Little Less Conversation [JXL Remix]," Elvis Presley - I hope this doesn't make me cliché, because it was everywhere for a while, but I love this thing.
7. "Bold as Love," Jimi Hendrix - it's like a Prince song, fifteen years early.
8. "Archie's Theme," The Anderson Council - local Jersey band. They rock. I hope the new album's out.
9. "Come Home," Back Door Slam - a power blues trio from the Isle of Man, and they rocketh exceeding fine. None of them can yet draw a legal pint in the United States. Someday they will rule the world, especially since they got a recent shout-out in John Buccigross' ESPN.com column.
10. "Starship Trooper," Yes - probably my favorite of all of their stuff, ever.
11. "Rio," Duran Duran - likewise, my favorite of theirs. (True fact - VH-1 once ran a long list of the greatest albums ever, compiled by ranking the five best as given by a variety of musical folk. Simon LeBon's list had "Rio" third. I absolutely love that.) I took time to track down the unedited version since I love the last 45 seconds of this song.
12. "King George Street," Squeeze - I have an admission: the end of this song usually makes me cry. I'm such a sap.
13. "I Can't Get Next to You," The Temptations - ain't it funky now? (Wait, wrong singer.) My college buddy Nick used to joke that if the Temps put out a Christian album, they would have to change their name to The Near Occasions.
14. "Pearl of the Quarter," Steely Dan - I'm a big fan of the band in general, but I love this song from their second album; kind of a country twang they went after very rarely, and it's a sweeter song than Fagen's usual fare.
15. "Your Poppa Don't Mind," Supertramp - early song of theirs, and probably the first time they sounded like the band they were capable of being.
16. "Yomiko About Town," Taku Iwasaki - it's from the Read or Die soundtrack. The main theme is yet another swank spy brass number, but I'm going to resist and give this; it's audio sunshine.
17. "Detroit Swing City," Alien Fashion Show - yes, a remake of the old KISS song, only - you guessed it! - brassier. I'm through resisting.
18. "Love You Inside Out," The Bee Gees - yup, it's official. I love the Brothers Gibb. They really were terrific, and the harmonies! Gracious me.
19. "Everybody is a Star," Sly and the Family Stone - a gorgeous and overlooked song.

Odd, the post title is not in here. I had a built-in gimme and I left it out. Them's the breaks. But I can't leave out Johnny Cash, who is THE MAN, so all y'all get a bonus track - but which song? Heh. Not telling until you see it. (And jeepers, I hope it fits, I have a couple of long plays on here.) Ah, but who gets the CD's (and the tags)? Well, the tag part is up to whomever is listed - I'm not angling for giveaways here. These are the five, however. If you see yourself down here, email me a PO Box or what-have-you for your amazing award; unless, of course, you think my choices are a festering pile of dog snot.

Ken Summers (It Comes in Pints) - the song trivia master. Interested to see what he says.
SarahK - the mistress of snark, Queen of Infidels, and a music lover.
Sheila - her obsessions cover more than just movies. Sorry I couldn't get any Dean Martin on here for you.
Kate P - once classes are over, of course.
The Barking Spider - I can't leave my co-blogger out of the fun, should he wish to participate.

Don't feel badly if you were left out of the great CD Pyramid Scheme of 2008; there were a lot of people I was thinking of that I wish I could have included, but I'll go broke making CD's if I'm not careful.