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Do the Shuffle

Posted at 12:05 PM on December 28, 2007 by Tony Lopez (4 Comments)

"What do we want?"
"The Shuffle!"
"When do we want it?"
"Now!"


"Children of the Grave," Black Sabbath
When I was a kid, I found Ozzy Osbourne very strange. But who would have thought that nearly a quarter century later he’d be starring in a very warped (Master of?) reality TV series with his family? Now, that was disturbing! With its menacing riff “Children of the Grave” was not your father’s anti-war song! Here’s Sabbath live in 1974, with Ozzy’s signature maniacal clapping. And listen to the song alongside Blondie’s “Call Me.” You won’t be disappointed.

“Boplicity,” Miles Davis
Finally, jazz makes its first appearance on the Shuffle. To me, Miles Davis is the avatar of cool. In fact, this tune is from the 1949 sessions that were called The Birth of the Cool. It marked a new chapter in the history of jazz. The so-called “Cool School” wasn’t as aggressive as bebop, which was the dominant form at the time. On these sessions, Davis played with a nonet which included Gerry Mulligan, Lee Konitz and Max Roach. Gil Evans served as arranger. Here he is, over 40 years later, in 1991, playing "Boplicity" at the Montreux Jazz Festival, with Quincy Jones conducting the orchestra. Davis was dead less than three months later.

“Don’t Think Twice, It’s Alright” (Witmark demo), Bob Dylan
From Volume 7 of the Bootleg Series, “No Direction Home.” Genius.

“War,” Bob Marley & The Wailers
Another anti-war song, this time in a Rastafarian vein. The source for the lyrics is part of a speech given by Emperor Haile Selassie I of Ethiopia to the U.N. in 1963. The song is both a call for basic human rights and a tribute to Selassie, who was revered by Rastafarians and referred to as The Lion.

“Memory Lane,” Elliott Smith
Another in a long line of artists who have “What if…” as part of their legacy. This is from From a Basement On a Hill, released a year after his death.

Comments (4)

now that I can do the "iPod Shuffle", things are looking up, but still have a very limited set of tunes to choose from until I can start filling it up.

Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan - Shamas-Ud-Doha, Badar-Ud-Doja
Pakistan's Qawwali master, he was on a par with being a rock star in his country. Kind of poignant given the unrest in Pakistan this week. I only wish I knew what the lyrics for this song mean. Although the instrumentation is only tabla, harmonium, hand claps and singing, this song rocks out.

Arctic Monkeys - Teddy Picker
My fave rave song of the moment. Love the nod to Duran Duran's "Save A Prayer". Alex Turner is going to have a long career ahead of him if he keeps up the quality of songs he's writing now. He's on a par with Ray Davies and Paul Weller as one of the foremost "English" songwriters.

The Fratellis - Chelsea Dagger
These Scottish Glam boys make me laugh.

Luna - Tiger Lily
From Bewitched . Don't have much to say about this one.

Mott The Hoople - All the Way From Memphis
Sing it with me folks... "I Got my six string razor....."

Posted by Frick | December 28, 2007 1:15 PM

Sorry to hijack the thread right off the bat, Tony, but when you mention Ozzy's "maniacal clapping," I have to offer once again a link to this parody overdub of Ozzy and guitarist Jake E. Lee (easily one of the funniest things of 2007):

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Eqtk6kKTlDM

Here's the link the the explanatory article, for those who missed it earlier in the year:

http://www.wired.com/entertainment/music/news/2007/10/shredders

Posted by Steve Seel | December 28, 2007 1:28 PM

I was thinking of exactly that parody but couldn't think of the guy's name! Thanks for that link Steve. Talk about HI-larious!

Posted by Tony Lopez | December 28, 2007 1:39 PM

And nice one with the Nusrat, Frick!

Posted by Tony Lopez | December 28, 2007 1:40 PM

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