More Green Monkey Madness

Since I had so much fun with his Halloween mix, I participated in Splotchy's newest Green Monkey Mix Project, "Speed it Up." This mix required each participant to compile a list of 5-8 songs arranged by tempo - song #1 was used as the base and then each additional song had to be faster than its predecessor. Go here to review and download the entire playlist. You can also pick up tracks "a la carte," if you prefer.

Here's a little info on my contribution to the mix:


Elvis Costello, I Want You - This was the first song I thought of because it's almost painfully slow. A friend of mine introduced me to this tune about 7-8 years ago and it quickly became one of my favorite Elvis songs. It's gorgeous. Sting may think "Every Breath You Take" is the quintessential stalker song, but this song proves him wrong.

Pearl Jam, Come Back - Eddie Vedder trying his hand at some blue-eyed soul. *swoon*
I heard that he wrote this song about the death of his friend, Johnny Ramone. It's just sad and beautiful and Eddie's vocals twist my guts around. That's a good thing, really.

Ryan Adams, Halloweenhead - I felt bad for leaving this song off of the Halloween mix, but it's not creepy in any way, so I don't think it would have fit. This is one of my favorite songs right now. I'm not really sure what it's about, but I have a sneaking suspicion it may be about drugs. Whatever it means, I love any song in which the singer feels the need to tell us when the guitar solo is coming. What a delightfully '80s thing to do.


Guided by Voices, Twilight Campfighter - This will be really annoying if I keep saying "this is my favorite (insert artist here) song." But it is. I don't know what else to say except that I thought this would be a great mid-tempo, mid-list song.



The Bottle Rockets, Nancy Sinatra - What a groove! This song either makes me want to dance or ride a mechanical bull. I need to find a way to combine those two things.

Edwin Starr, 25 Miles - If you put a gun to my head and forced me to pick my favorite song ever, there's a good chance I would pick this one. No use hemming and hawing around when death is on the line. I could live with this choice.

Squeeze, Misadventure - I knew I wanted a Squeeze song as one of the fastest ones, because their old, fast songs are like perfect little pieces of New Wave gold. I picked this one after listening to it while watching Dancing with the Stars on mute and laughing/marveling at how the mambo went perfectly with the music. Plus, it's a fun little tune about drug smuggling. You won't find any Glenn Frey-style whining here!

Flogging Molly, Seven Deadly Sins - I didn't want a Ramones song for my last pick, because I figured there would be a lot of those. (As it turned out, there's only one. Maybe everyone else thought the same thing.) Quite simply, this was the fastest song I could think of. And, while Splotchy can't wait for Halloween, I can't wait for St. Patrick's Day!


Now, run on over to Splotchy's and download these awesome songs. What are you waiting for?? Go! Faster! Faster!!