Earworm CD: May 2008

We're Lost?
01. (You Don't Know) How Glad I Am - Nancy Wilson
from 1964 single Capitol 5198
02. Grade School - Helena Bonham Carter
excerpt from 2002 film, "Fight Club"
03. Little Wing - Jimi Hendrix
from 1967 Reprise album, "Axis: Bold As Love"
04. Didn't Leave Nobody But The Baby - Emmylou Harris, Alison Krauss, & Gillian Welch
from the 2000 Lost Highway soundtrack album, "O Brother, Where Art Thou"
05. The Youth - MGMT
from the 2007 Sony album, "Oracular Spectacular"
06. Rocky Took A Lover - Bell X1
from the 2005 Universal UK album AND 2008 Yep Rock US album, "Flock"
07. Blinded By The Stars - The Pernice Brothers
from the 2003 Ashmont album, "Yours, Mine, & Ours"
08. Bleed - The Negro Problem
from the 2002 Ariel Flipout album, "Joys and Concerns"
09. Believe In Me - Nick Heyward
from the 1995 Epic UK album, "Tangled"
10. I Just Wasn't Meant For These Times - The Beach Boys
from the 1966 Capitol album, "Pet Sounds"
11. Salome - Old 97's
from the 1997 Elektra album, "Too Far To Care"
12. Why Not Me - The Judds
from the 1984 RCA/Curb album, "Why Not Me"
13. The Man With The Cigar - Herman's Hermits
from 1966 single UK Columbia DB7791 (b-side)
14. Rockferry - Duffy
from the 2008 Mercury album, "Rockferry"
15. You Can't Come Home Again (If You Leave Me Now" - P.J. Proby
from 1967 single Liberty 55974 (b-side)
16. Left, Right and Center - Lord Large featuring Dean Parrish
from 2006 single Acid Jazz AJX185CD
17. This Ain't A Drive-In - Linda Darnell, Thelma Ritter, Connie Gilchrist
excerpt from 1949 film, "A Letter To Three Wives"
18. Sherry - 4 Seasons featuring Frankie Valli
from 1962 single Vee Jay 456
19. Jerry - Tracey Dey
from 1962 single Vee Jay 467
20. Push Push - Austin Taylor
from 1960 single Laurie 3067
21. NoHo - Christina Ricci and Gaby Hoffman
excerpt from 1999 film, "200 Cigarettes"
22. Party Train - Love Tractor
from the 1986 Big Time album, "This Ain't No Outer Space Ship"
23. Can You Feel It - The Jacksons
from the 1980 Epic album, "Triumph"
24. 4 Minutes - Madonna featuring Justin Timberlake
from the 2008 Warner Bros. album, "Hard Candy"

March 03, 2008 Earworm

The flowers were officially dead on Saturday - it was nice of them to hold on for so long - so Valentine's is over. I can't think of a more fitting song than "The Big Hurt" by Miss Toni Fisher to start the month. As much as it is admired for its sound, it's the image that the sound conjures that nails me to the wall: A bawdy blond, just past the point where lush turns to lumpen, in a dimly lit diner drinking from a lipstick smeared coffee cup. In front of an overflowing ashtray, she clings to the memory of the aftershave on another woman's husband, and while the world moves past her, she waits while wondering if that was the last time that she would see him.

Of course, you're free to create your own scenario because "The Big Hurt" is a piece of art, textured and layered, yet open to interpretation. It's been widely reported that Jimi Hendrix found this record to be an inspiration for his own artistry but I've not yet seen it in quotations.

For the less imaginative, "The Big Hurt" is recognized as the first record to use a phasing effect, the result of an accident, in this case. When hearing the playback, Miss Fisher's husband, songwriter Wayne Shanklin, felt that her vocal was buried too deep in the mix. Since the track was cut in mono, engineer Larry Levine made a copy of the tape and then fed them both through a third recorder. Fiddling with the frequencies, the slightly out of sync tapes created a staggered - some say staggering - effect and an innovation was born.