Dave’s October Mixtape (Won’t You Lie Down?)

We watched the film Transamerica a fortnight ago. Quick re-cap: the movie is about a pre-op transgendered woman who discovers she has a son from a sexual encounter over a decade ago. There is a scene where actress Felicity Huffman has a wee in front of her car, accidentally exposing her male equipment to her unsuspecting son sitting inside. It is classic camp and there is no better woman to narrate her struggles than Dolly Parton, who penned the movie’s closing song.

God made me for a reason
And nothing is in vain
Redemption comes in many shapes
With many kinds of pain

One thing that I always ask people back home in the States is whether so-and-so is famous. Is Lily Allen famous? Have you ever heard of The Slow Club? Etc. When I Go, the lead song, is a touching marriage pact just as The Beatles’ When I’m 64 is a touching plea for friendship at life’s twilight:

If we’re both not married by 23
Will you make my year and ask me?

- versus -

Will you still need me
Will you still feed me
When I’m 64?

Incidentally, we watched David Lynch’s Blue Velvet the other night and the name of the film’s cabaret bar was, yes, The Slow Club.

One of the goals I had when creating this mix was to plan a mixtape dinner party, where most of the artists would have cheerful conversation as they passed the roast. I think Dolly Parton would sit at the head of the table. Certainly Lucinda, Jenny, and Laura, have some sort of debt to to Ms Parton. Perhaps Nashville residents Jack White and David Berman would want to discuss Music Row news or BBQ joints.

I can vouch that Jack White has an adoration for Dolly; Jolene was a concert staple. Their tune here, It’s Not My Fault For Being Famous, is a pissy woe-is-me tune that belongs to the tiring anti-paparazzi genre. But Jack White’s snarky kiss-off is hilarious and almost affectionate in some strange way: (it’s not her fault for being brainless… it ain’t his fault for being nameless… it’s not her fault for being toothless…) Mr White: Autographs are a natural byproduct of that million dollar contract you sign

The name of this October mix comes from the Silver Jews song. It is David Berman at his witty best and his genius at expressing his hormonal impatience in an innocent way is either brilliant or disturbing (you decide):

Time is a game that only children play well
How can I love you when you won’t lie down?

Lee Hazlewood is forever going to be known as the not-so-easy on the eyes guy whose funny voice got to bump up against Nancy Sinatra’s. (He even wrote These Boots Were Made for Walking for her). The infamous Jackson is a War of the Roses style rant about a couple’s meltdown and their singular plans to move to Jackson, in order to spite one another.

Lee’s Threat:

I’m going to Jackson
I’m gonna mess around
Yeah I’m going to Jackson
Look out Jackson town

Nancy’s RetortL

Well go on down to Jackson
Go ahead and wreck your self
Go play your hand you big talking man
Make a big fool of yourself

Classic.

Mixtape.me rant follows: I am not sure how much I like Mixtape.me beyond the fact that is provides easy streaming access to songs. The big beef is their limited library, which is a casualty of how I create my mixes: I pick a couple different reference points and then fill the rest of the mix with complementary songs. Usually a sprinkling of hits/classics, deep album cuts (as a local Detroit radio station used to say), and obscure songs that I want the world to hear but will likely fade into oblivion as time stomps on.

Joe Henry is a man that no one knows. Sure, he is Madonna’s brother-in-law. His albums are incredible while being incredibly obscure, and one of his named classics, Shuffletown, is out-of-print. If someone can find me a streaming Shuffletown song on the Net then these virgin ears will mail you a pound. Because of his surprising obscurity, the song King’s Highway was left off the mix since Mixtape.me cannot find it in any the seed websites that it uses to source the music for its music library. Oh, the disappointment! (Aside: #1: Joe Henry’s brand new album, Blood From Stars, was released last month and is not even available on last.fm #2: King’s Highway appears as Track #9 in my mix).

It gets worse. There are some songs that aren’t even labelled properly. Of the 12 songs on my mixtape, I had troubles with four of the songs. When I created the playlist several weeks ago, the track listed as Uncle Tupelo’s No Depression was actually The Carter Family original, which was not intended. This was actually a welcome change since I found out that I really like the original much better. However, by the time I reviewed the playlist again before publishing, this same song was labelled incorrectly as an entirely different: Uncle Tupelo’s Screen Door. The Slow Club’s When I Go is a different mix and has strange orchestral and percussive flourishes added to it.

And I haven’t even mentioned how finicky Mixtape.me’s search engine is…

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