An Evening With A Schizophrenic iPod

With my luck, it'll play a 26-minute Tangerine Dream track, 13 minutes' worth of Meatloaf and Yes' album-side-filling opus "Gates of Delirium," but come what may, we're doing this.  I have nearly 10,000 tracks on my old-timey iPod, and I'm listening to it - on shuffle, of course - for an evening and sharing the playlist with you.  You might be surprised at what comes up.  It surprises me all the time, and it's my iPod.

1. Aerosmith - "Sweet Emotion."  People who know me are already scratching their heads at the appearance of this crusty old thing in my collection.  I like the old stuff.  This song was already a classic before I learned to like it.  I always liked it, but it took a 1990s arcade game called "Revolution X" to get me to love it.
2. Ladysmith Black Mambazo - "Baba Wethu Singenile."  Yes, these are the guys who backed Paul Simon on his "Graceland" album.  They're neat and can work a harmony like nobody else - plus they're named for an AXE, more or less - so I like them.
3. Ziggy Marley & The Melody Makers - "One Bright Day."  Oh, Ziggy.  You'll never be your father, will you?  That's okay, you seem like a nice guy.
4. Andrew Gold - "Lonely Boy."  What?  Sounds like something that would have come out of my little panda-shaped AM radio in the 70s - and it probably did.  I think [Maris] gets credit for this one.
5. David Bowie - "Slip Away."  Of all the Bowie songs in my library (which is almost all of them), it picks this one?  Oh well.  2000's Bowie is still Bowie, right.  Bowie.
6. Vince Guaraldi Trio - "Greensleeves."  It's a Charlie Brown Christmas!
7. Simple Minds - "Kaleidoscope."  Eleventy-gazillion Simple Minds songs in my collection, and this one comes up now.  *sigh*  Long before their big year on U.S. radio, this band was weird and experimental - sometimes to the point of aural discomfort - and that's where this piece comes from.
8. Dropkick Murphys - "This is Your Life."  [jumps around instead of writing]
9. Rush - "Turn The Page." I remember seeing Rush in 1987 at the Cap Centre, and feeling the bass in my ribcage, but now... *skip*
10. Blind Guadian - "Otherland."  We discovered these guys when we looked up some other band we saw on the MTV Europe awards show, and iTunes suggested B.G.  Queen meets Renaissance Faire Metal.  I don't know.  Guitars!
11. Zydeco Boneshakers* - "Put It Under The Tree."  Zydeco music and Christmas!  Boom.  That just happened.
12. John Waite - "Missing You."  I love the 80s, but *skip*
13. Massive Attack - "Karmacoma."  Do you have to be high or having tantric sex in order to enjoy Massive Attack?  Probably.  *skip*
14. N-Trance - "Set You Free."  Ooh - melodramatic techno!  It's 1996, all over again.  Okay, the vocal on this song makes me all goose-bumply.
15. Gary Numan - "M.E."  "He's a pop star, AND he's got his pilot's license.  Can you imagine that?"  (thanks, Mighty Boosh) Yes.  Yes, we can.  He had no idea how influential he was going to be, when he turned his back on punk and fell in love with a synthesizer.
16. Talking Heads - "City of Dreams."  *skip* - because [Maris] likes to deliberately mistake them for Simple Minds.  Or was that Tears For Fears.  Either way - she's mean.
17. Kathleen Madigan - "Religion."  Finally, some comedy.  Kathleen is funny, and we like her.
18. Van Halen - "Little Guitars."  I wanna be Eddie Van Halen.  From the mid-70's until about 1984.
19. Paula Poundstone - "Pokin' at Ya, Pokin' at Ya."  Another funny lady, doing what she does best.  She once autographed our ticket stub and let me finish the joke she couldn't remember, after the set.
20. Elvis Costello - "Oliver's Army."  Thanks to my good friend Godfrey Ozzenbarq III (not his real name), I can't see or hear the name Oliver without mentally adding "clothes off."
21. Sleeze Beez* - "Stranger Than Paradise."  WHAT???
22. KISS* - "Shout It Out Loud."  iPod, you're not representing yourself very well, tonight.  Nothing against KISS, but we have so much more to offer.  This clip is from the Capital Centre, though!
23. Brian Regan* - "Chess."  Funniest.  Comedian.  Working.  Today.  
24. Stan Ridgway* - "Can't Stop The Show."  His one hit, three decades ago, wo, was "Mexican Radio."  He's evolved SO much since those days, although this particular song is about strippers.
25. Burning Spear* - "Jah Say."  Nice reggae tune, but really I'm just looking for a stopping point. *skip*
26. AC/DC - "Shot Down In Flames."  Ooh - metal!  Okay, one more...
27. Tom Jones - "Delilah."  Holy shit it's Tom Jones!
28. Vangelis - "Spiral."  I knew if I listened long enough, it would play something that I discovered, albeit indirectly, through Carl Sagan's "Cosmos."
29. OMD - "Crush."  If your only exposure to OMD is that movie song ("If You Leave") or their classic "Enola Gay," then this track will make you go "wha?"
30. Bruce Springsteen* - "Glory Days."  That should do it.  

Harrumph.  The only thing weird about my iPod's mood tonight was how weird it wasn't.  I should have cheated.  Maybe next time it will pull out something truly bizarre.  I know Barnes & Barnes' "Fish Heads" is on there, somewhere...

*Note:  These links, which work beautifully in my draft, refuse to work (or even show up as links) for anyone else.  Google these artists/songs.  You might not be sorry.,