FRIDAY RANDOM TEN - SCHOOL’S OUT EDITION

It’s been over six months since I’ve posted a Friday Random Ten, that weekly (or less-frequent) post in which I list a series of tunes spewed out randomly by the iPod d’Elisson.

Fact is, I don’t listen to the iPod much these days. The iPhone, while it has much less Tuneage Storage Capacity, has a better, more intuitive interface than my old-school ’Pod - a black-and-white model from the pre-video days. I give up a chunk of my musical library, but there’s plenty to listen to, even so.

Anyway, it’s been a while since I put up one of these, and what better occasion than SWMBO’s first day of summer vacation? Let’s take a look and see what Old Mr. iPhone has for us today:

1. Cruisin’ for Burgers - Frank Zappa
   
   A live version from the Make a Jazz Noise Here album.
   
   
2. Act II, Scene 2: Whip Her to Death! - John Adams, Nixon in China
   
   Richard and Pat Nixon watch a performance of “The Red Detachment of Women” and get caught up in the action.
   
   
3. Roland the Headless Thompson Gunner - Warren Zevon
   
   Only Zevon could get away with performing a song about a zombie Thompson gunner...
   
   
4. The Famous Polka - They Might Be Giants
   
   One of the most bizarre groups ever to come out of Brooklyn.
   
   
5. Freedom Rider - Traffic
   
   The second cut on the John Barleycorn Must Die album released in July, 1970. The minor chords of this song, along with the rest of the John Barleycorn disc, formed a major part of the soundtrack of my freshman year in college.
   
   
6. Yaphet - Miles Davis
   
   From The Complete Bitches Brew Sessions, this cut did not appear on Bitches Brew. Like most of the material in this box set, it was not actually recorded during the Bitches Brew sessions, but featured (mostly) the same personnel.
   
   
7. I’m an Old Cowhand (From the Rio Grande) - Dan Hicks & His Hot Licks
   
   Dan Hicks covers the 1936-vintage Johnny Mercer tune.
   
   
8. Evaporated - Ben Folds Five
   
   From Whatever and Ever Amen, Ben Fold Five’s sophomore effort.
   
   
9. Mr. P.C. - John Coltrane
   
   This piece from the 1960 album Giant Steps is over a half-century old, and it hasn’t aged a bit.
   
   
10. Brazil - Chick Corea and Béla Fleck
    
    The song “Aquarela do Brasil” (Watercolor of Brazil), written in 1939 by Ary Barroso, became internationally famous three years later when it appeared in Walt Disney’s Saludos Amigos. That movie (remember José Carioca, the Brazilian Jitterbird?) is largely overlooked today, but “Aquarela do Brasil” is still one of the most recognizable tunes ever to come out of South America.
    
    

It’s Friday. What are you listening to?