Michael Penn's Playlist
Michael Penn
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"In a Mist" (Track 16): ""
"When I Get to the Border" (Track 17): ""
"Waiting for a Train," "Always Late (With Your Kisses)," "Mud," and "Nothin' 'Bout Love Makes Sense" On Tracks 18 - 21: "I don't know s**t about modern country music. I mean, most of what I hear or stumble across is just manufactured, empty, glossy Pop like everything else on the radio . . . except that a lack of irony and the right kind of accent and twang might let you know which part of the dial you landed on. Then I heard these songs on the radio and I thought that thought . . . the one that gives me hope. Every once in a while something good gets past 'em.
Who doesn't love an English eccentric? Am I right, people?"
"South Africa" (Track 22): ""
"Sea Song" (Track 23): ""
"Any Old Time of Day" and "Wichita Lineman" (Tracks 24 – 25): " "
"Lodi" (Track 26): "
"Back of a Car" (Track 27): ""
- 2. "I Drink" by Mary Gauthier: "You know it's coming but it doesn't matter. The lyric perfectly captures it, with sadness and resignation and the humor of mundane truth."
- 3. "The Great Nations of Europe" by Randy Newman: "Why this album didn't set the world on fire is hard for me to understand. There are a lot of things about this world that are hard for me to understand, and that is one of 'em."
- 4. "Between the Bars" by Elliott Smith: "Just when you thought it couldn't get any sadder . . ."
- 5. "Does He Love You?" by Rilo Kiley: "I love that these guys are from my neighborhood. I feel civic pride."
- 6. "Can't Let Go" by Lucinda Williams: "Everyone knows what a great writer Lucinda is so I thought I would include her Randy Weeks song. This has got to be one of the most seductive anthems of codependence ever."
- 7. "A Worm Is At Work" by Slapp Happy & Henry Cow: "Slapp Happy was an odd and wonderful mid-'70s Pop group consisting of an Englishman (Anthony Moore), an American (Peter Blegvad), and a German (Dagmar Kraus). On Desperate Straights they merged with the Avant-Garde band Henry Cow to produce one of the most unique Pop records I know of. Kraus's voice is an admittedly — acquired taste. Suffice it to say, she has gone on to become a well respected interpreter of Brecht in Germany and that may clue you in to what these guys were doing."
- 8. "Suite bergamasque: Clair de lune" by Francois-Joël Thiollier: "Several things just make me cry. Even my foreknowledge of this fact is not enough to ward off the waterworks. I think it's important to always make a note of the things that 'just make you cry.' The film City Lights for example. I think I understand what's going on there for me. It's a bit harder to get to the psychology of a piece of instrumental music. And all the more magical for it."
- 11. "Pleasures of the Harbor" by Phil Ochs: "Oh man, Phil Ochs. Why his story hasn't been made into a heartbreaking movie is yet one more thing I don't understand."
- 13. "When I Get to the Border" by Linda Thompson & Richard Thompson: "This was the song that made Richard Thompson my favorite living guitarist. It's as if, merely by plugging a guitar into an amp, he created an entirely new instrument. Move over, Krummhorn."
- 15. "South Africa" by Roy Harper: "I spent a lot of time listening to Roy Harper's albums growing up. I know I've ripped him off more than once."
- 16. "Any Old Time of Day" by Dionne Warwick: "The thing that amazes me most about Burt Bacharach and Jimmy Webb is that despite my young perception of them as relatively 'square' hipsters from the swinging '60s,"
- 18. "Moral Kiosk" by R.E.M.: "I have absolutely no idea what Stipe is talking about. But it didn't matter. I had been a musician. I had a band in High School. I had written some music. Out of school, I was in a working indie band. But not until somewhere between Costello's Imperial Bedroom and R.E.M.'s Murmur did I finally decide that it's really what I wanted to do.""
$18.72
Name Artist Time Price 1 Things Have Changed Bob Dylan 5:08 $0.99 View In iTunes 2 I Drink Mary Gauthier 4:30 $0.99 View In iTunes 3 The Great Nations of Europe Randy Newman 3:26 $0.99 View In iTunes 4 Between the Bars Elliott Smith 2:21 $0.99 View In iTunes 5 Does He Love You? Rilo Kiley 5:13 $0.99 View In iTunes 6 Can't Let Go Lucinda Williams 3:28 $1.29 View In iTunes 7 A Worm Is At Work Slapp Happy & Henry Cow 1:52 $0.99 View In iTunes 8 Suite bergamasque: Clair de lune Francois-Joël Thiollier 5:12 $0.99 View In iTunes 9 Brilliant Disguise Bruce Springsteen 4:14 $0.99 View In iTunes 10 Court and Spark Joni Mitchell 2:46 $0.99 View In iTunes 11 Pleasures of the Harbor Phil Ochs 8:08 $0.99 View In iTunes 12 In a Mist Ry Cooder 2:09 $0.99 View In iTunes 13 When I Get to the Border Linda Thompson & Richard Thompson 3:26 $0.99 View In iTunes 14 Nothin' 'Bout Love Makes Sense LeAnn Rimes 2:57 $1.29 View In iTunes 15 South Africa Roy Harper 4:06 $0.99 View In iTunes 16 Any Old Time of Day Dionne Warwick 3:18 $0.99 View In iTunes 17 Wichita Lineman Glen Campbell 3:08 $1.29 View In iTunes 18 Moral Kiosk R.E.M. 3:32 $0.99 View In iTunes 19 Some of Them Are Old Brian Eno 5:11 $1.29 View In iTunes Total: 19 Songs
