Doin' the Friday Shuffle

And away we go.

1.) "In Need of Love Today," Stevie Wonder, America: A Tribute to Heroes

The only Stevie I have, alas, from the fund-raising concert done on TV a few days after 9/11.

2.) "Keep the Customer Satisfied," Paul Simon, sung by Liz Larsen, The Paul Simon Album: Broadway Sings the Best of Paul Simon

When Simon did his Capeman musical on Broadway, Varese Saraband put out this CD of Broadway singers covering Simon classics in "Broadway" style. Most of it is not very good, including this track, which actually manages to be less energetic and brassy than the original.

3.) "I'm Free," Pete Townsend, The Who's Tommy (Original Broadway Cast)

This track is one of the one that suffers most from the translation to Broadway in the musical; that crunchy guitar riff is just lost.

4.) "Incidental Music," Stephen Sondheim, Unsung Sondheim

Background music written for the Arthur Laurents' play Invitation to a March.

5.) "Embassy Lament," Andersson-Ulvaeus, Chess (Original Concept Album)

Great piece of patterish lyric writing by Tim Rice, with two US embassy bureaucat grumbling about the paperwork caused by a Russian defecting.

6.) "Town Cryer," Elvis Costello, Imperial Bedroom

Pretty ballad, from the album most often referenced as Costello's most Tin Pan Alley-influenced.

7.) "Do You Love Me," Bock and Harnick, Fiddler on the Roof (Original Broadway Cast)

I will never be able to listen to this actually very touching song from Fiddler again without thinking of its highly comical rendition on a recent episode of Gilmore Girls.

8.) "Ain't a that Good News," a traditional spiritual, sung by the Rutgers Glee Club, Let Thy Good Spirit

I'm on this CD, actually--while I was a member, the Rutgers Glee Club cut a CD and this is one of the tracks, a rollicking spiritual.

9.) "A Rumblin' and a Rollin'," Jason Robert Brown, Parade (Original Broadway Cast)

Great musical from Brown about a Jew who was falsely accused of raping and murdering a little girl in Atlanta. This number is sung as the man is being railroaded into jail.

10.) "Highway 29," Bruce Springsteen, The Ghost of Tom Joad

Some of Tom Joad is a little too conversational, as if the song itself has been lost and Bruce is just doing spoken-word poetry over some guitar noodling. This is one of those songs.

Until Whenever