Mixing It Up

Lefty is hosting a contest to win a Darth Tater toy, and yours truly has entered. The task was to create a CD mix, with the selections picked to fit any of three criteria (see here for details). I elected to go the alphabetical route, and, selected a set of songs united by their mellow vibe, the intent to get away from the alterna-, indie-, and cult-rock selections that so often pop up on these types of mixes and instead present some classics and some beautiful new music. I was pretty liberal in my application of the alphabetical dictum, using the last names of composers and/or artists indiscriminately to get the songs I wanted. I also limited myself to one disc, so some letters, alas, were left without representation. Did I succeed? Lefty's response is here; suffice it to say I most likely won't be winning the dastardly Darth in question (damn my eternal love for Audra McDonald!!).

Anyway, here is the mix I sent off to Lefty:

Tosy and Cosh's Mellow Mix for a Lazy Summer Day

1. Louis Armstrong--"Summer Song" (written by Dave Brubeck)
The defining summer song for me; just an exquisite piece of writing with a beautifully laconic melody.

2. Audra McDonald--"Stars and the Moon" (written by Jason Robert Brown)
A wistful little cabaret number that has, in its short life, already become something of a standard. A sad song about the choices people make in life. The first of many Audra appearances. The Audra overload wasn't by design so much as the natural result of wanting to include several of the "new" musical theater composers, and of Audra's interpretations of their songs being so definitive in so many cases.

3. Elvis Costello--"God Give Me Strength" (written by Elvis Costello and Burt Bacharach)
Elvis hits just completely nails the high note at the end of this song. Painted from Memory, the Bacharach-collaboration album from which I pulled this track, is a wonderful album full of twisty, melancholy melodies sung beautifully by Costello (for a look at why Costello ranks as one of the great rock singers, see here)

4. Bob Dylan--"Sugar Baby"
Possibly my favorite Dylan song. So suffused with feeling and sadness, and one of the great vocals.

5. Ella Fitzgerald--"Love Is Here to Stay: (written by George Gershwin)
One of my favorite Gershwin songs, this version is second only to Nat King Cole's sublime rendition, which was my wife and I's wedding song.

6. Audra McDonald--"How Glory Goes" (written by Adam Guettel)
A remarkable song, sung from the point of view of one about to die asking God what heaven will be like.

7. k.d. lang--"Hallelujah" (written by Leonard Cohen)
As Lefty says, a rendition to challenge the much-beloved Jeff Buckley cover.

8. Audra McDonald--"Tom" (written by Michael John LaChiusa)
One of LaChiusa's best, off of the Hello Again score. A woman sings about an affair, with highly sustained tension and longing.

9. Audra McDonald--"You Don't Know this Man (written by Jason Robert Brown)
A bitter song off of Brown's Parade score, in which a woman lashes out at a community who has judged her husband for a crime he didn't commit.

10. Sinead O'Connor--"Sacrifice" (written by Elton John)
Lefty didn't care for it, but this is one of my favorite covers, ever. O'Connor starts off at barely more than a hush, and over the course of the song builds to a passionate finale.

11. Mandy Patinkin--"Loving You" (written by Stephen Sondheim)
Controlled, not belting, Mandy. One of my favorite songs in any genre, ever.

12. Queen--"Who Wants to Live Forever?"
Lefty notes the awesome transition between this and the previous, but to be honest it's completely accidental.

13. Radiohead "True Love Waits"
One of my favorite Radiohead songs, a quiet acoustic number.

14. Nina Simone--"Little Girl Blue" (written by Rodgers and Hart)
Simone completely makes this song hers by scrapping the original accompaniment and instead singing the melody over a softly playing tender piano rendition of "Good King Wenceslas." Sounds bizarre, but in practice it's beautiful.

15. U2--"Miss Sarajevo"
A lost U2 gem they've resurrected for the current tour.

16. Cassandra Wilson--"Shelter from the Storm" (written by Bob Dylan)
Another superb cover, with Wilson wrapping her vpice around the song's tenderness and fully bringing it out.

17. Neil Young--"Harvest Moon"
An autumnal song, apt for ending a lazy summer disc, I thought.

Until Whenever