Ough, or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love English Orthography

Here's a selection of songs featuring "If" in the title. We're getting conditional, baby (if you're into that).   Songs discussed in this episode: Blonde Redhead - If (2023) Cat Stevens/Yusuf - If You Want To Sing Out, Sing Out (1970) Guided By Voices - If We Wait (1996) Fever Ray - If I Had A Heart (2009) Bright Eyes - If Winter Ends (1998) Nolan Porter - If I Could Only Be Sure (1972) The Beatles - If I Fell (1964) Paul McCartney - If You Wanna (1997) George Harrison - If Not For You (1970) Aaliyah - If Your Girl Only Knew (1996) Gordon Lightfoot - If You Could Read My Mind (1970) Harold Melvin & The Blue Notes, Teddy Pendergrass - If You Don't Know Me By Now (1972) The Creation - If I Stay Too Long (1967)   Plus a few snippets of "Space Is Only Noise If You Can See" by Nicolas Jaar and "Freak, Go Home" by DARKSIDE.

Today's playlist contains all songs with finger-picked guitar parts! Or at least I'm pretty sure that's right, I don't play guitar. The songs are all good though.   Songs discussed in this episode: Elizabeth Cotten - Freigh Train (1957) Elliott Smith - Pretty Mary K (Other Version) (2007) Dando Shaft - Coming Home To Me (1971) Nick Drake - Which Will (1972) Lightnin' Hopkins - Shaggy Dog/Dad (1967?) Aldous Harding - The Barrel (2019) Labi Siffre - Cannock Chase (1972) Leo Kottke - Watermelon (1974) Fleetwood Mac - Never Going Back Again (1977) Dolly Parton - Jolene (1974) Nico - These Days (1967) Jacco Gardner - Brightly (2015)

Today's playlist features songs whose titles are people names (names only, not names in a phrase).   Songs discussed in this episode: Basement Jaxx - Romeo (2001) Pixies - Allison (1990) Jennie Lawless - Annie (2021) Ween - Gabrielle (2005) Paul Simon - Duncan (1972) Jack Ladder - Susan (2018) Weezer - Susanne (1994) Perfume Genius - Jason (2020) Boney M - Rasputin (1978) The Replacements - Alex Chilton (1987) Prefab Sprout - Faron Young (1985) David Bowie - Andy Warhol (1971) Gillian Welch - Caleb Meyer (1998) Paul McCartney - Jenny Wren (2005) Robert Palmer - Johnny And Mary (1980)  

My friend Joel Spence is here to talk about The B-52's 1983 album "Whammy"! We also talk a lot about The B-52's in general and I manage to also sneak in "Janitor" by Suburban Lawns.

Today's playlist is all songs featuring both male and female singers. Sometimes harmonizing, sometimes in unison, sometimes call and response, sometimes doing background for each other. Fun! Songs discussed in this episode: Marvin Gaye, Tammi Terrell - Ain't Nothing Like The Real Thing (1968) The Jesus and Mary Chain - Sometimes Always (1994) Dirty Projectors - Useful Chamber (2009) Emillia Contessa - Terbuka (1980) Suburban Lawns - Anything (1981) The Rosebuds - Shake Our Tree (2005) John Travolta, Olivia Newton-John - You're The One That I Want (1978) Pixies - I Bleed (1989) Kevin Ayers - The Oyster and the Flying Fish (1970) Ohtis, Stef Chura - Schatze (2021) The Fall - In These Times (1988) Shintaro Sakamoto - One Day (2022) X - Make The Music Go Bang (1983) Cults - Abducted (2011)

Today's playlist contains songs with numbers 1-10 in the titles! Kind of a flimsy theme but they're all good songs so I guess deal with it.   Songs discussed in this episode: The Lemon Twigs - The One (2020) Frank Black - Two Spaces (1993) Paul McCartney, Linda McCartney - 3 Legs (1971) Masumi Hara - 4 X A Dream (1984) David Bowie - Five Years (1972) The Cure - Six Different Ways (1985) Nancy - 7ft Tall Post-Suicidal Feel Good Blues (2021) Hüsker Dü - Eight Miles High (1990) Kitty Craft, Bonnie Koloc - Devil's Nine Questions (2020) XTC - Ten Feet Tall (1979)  

Today my friend Mel Cowan joins me to talk about a sampling of our favorite album openers! We didn't have time to play and talk about every possible entry in this list, but we mention a ton that weren't discussed and you should check out.   Songs discussed in this episode: The New Pornographers - Brill Bruisers (2014) Orange Juice - Rip It Up (1982) Beastie Boys - Sure Shot (1994) Portishead - Mysterons (1994) The Pogues - The Sick Bed of Cuchulainn (1985) Radiohead - Everything In Its Right Place (2000) Courtney Barnett - Elevator Operator (2015) Carole King - I Feel The Earth Move (1971) Marnie Stern - Vibrational Match (2007) The Stone Roses - I Wanna Be Adored (1989)

Today we're talking about time signatures - what are they, and why are songs with non-traditional time signatures so cool sounding? This is not super math heavy or expert-level analysis, but in it I share some of my favorite songs with weird time signatures and/or meter changes.   Songs discussed in this episode: The Beatles - I Saw Her Standing There (1963) (snippet only) OCS - Memory Of A Cut Off Head (2017) The Beatles - We Can Work It Out (1965) The Mad Capsule Markets - 公園へあと少し (1994) Wipers - Taking Too Long (1981) Ben LaMar Gray, Finom - Sometimes I Forget How Summer Looks On You (2021) Robert Palmer - Woke Up Laughing (1980) Genesis - It's Gonna Get Better (1983) Rihanna - Desperado (2016) Basement Jaxx - Distractionz (2009) The Stranglers - Golden Brown (1981) Pentangle - Light Flight (1969) Animal Collective - What Would I Want? Sky (2009) Ty Segall - To You (2024) The Chills - Don't Even Know Her Name (1989) Kassa Overall, J. Hoard, Angela Davis - Show Me A Prison (2020)  

This week we're exploring one facet of how stupid the written system of English is by featuring songs that feature words containing various pronunciations (all 6!) of "ough".    Discussed in this episode: Fleetwood Mac - Although The Sun Is Shining (1969) Stephen Stills - Thoroughfare Gap (1978) The Beatles - I'm Looking Through You (1965) The Creation - Through My Eyes (1967) Johnny Thunders & The Heartbreakers - It's Not Enough (1977) Beastie Boys - Tough Guy (1994) Misfits - Cough/Cool (1977) Butthole Surfers - Cough Syrup (1996) X - I Must Not Think Bad Thoughts (1983) Alanis Morissette - You Oughta Know (1995) Beyonce - Love Drought (2016)

Today's theme is doing something more than once, so all titles reference that concept. Musically repetitive songs will be a theme for another time!   Discussed in this episode: Grizzly Bear - Yet Again (2012) Ty Segall - Repetition (2024) Robert Palmer - Not A Second Time (1980) Roger Fakhr - Gone Away Again (197?, released 2021) Michael Kiwanuka - Home Again (2012) Daft Punk - One More Time/Aerodynamic (2007) Badly Drawn Boy - Say It Again (1999) The Durutti Column - Requiem Again (1989) Fiery Furnaces - Benton Harbor Blues (Again) (2006) Hot Chip - Over And Over (2012)