Workers of the World Unite Edition

1. If I Ruled the World (Imagine That)- NaS

• "Imagine smoking weed in the streets without cops harassing, imagine going to court with no trial, lifestyle cruising blue behind my waters, no welfare supporters more conscious of the way we raise our daughters." In 1996 Nasir Jones teamed up with Lauryn Hill of Fugees fame to record this crossover hit. "If I Ruled the World" is based on a Kurtis Blow song of the same name. It also references The Delfonics song "Walk Right Up to the Sun". If you want to get a feel for Kurtis Blow's original "If I Ruled the World" look no further than the 1985 film "Krush Groove". Not only will you see Kurtis Blow rock the mic but you'll get a look at a 17 year old LL Cool J and pre-"Licensed to Ill" Beastie Boys. If you like NaS and reworked old school hip hop you should check out his cover of Slick Rick's "Hey Young World" from Levi's Pioneer Sessions 2010 Revival Recordings.

2. I Wanna Be Your Lover- Prince

• "I wanna be your lover, I wanna be the only one who makes you come running, I wanna be your lover, I wanna turn you on, turn you out, all night long, make you shout." Shakedown 1979. The purple one kicks off his self tittled sophomore release with this pop classic. The album also features "I Feel For You" which would become a big hit for a Rufus-less Chaka Khan 5 years later. "I Wanna Be Your Lover" fits in with the disco style of the time yet it stands up years later much better than most of the music from that era. If you didn't know any better you'd peg this for a mid 80s hit. An aging Marvin Gaye started to view Prince as a threat after the success of "I Wanna Be Your Lover" as critics framed Prince as the era's new sex symbol. I'd be remiss if I didn't comment on the "Prince" LP cover- a shirtless long haired Prince complete with mustache. What a sight to behold.

3. Hot Blooded- Foreigner

• "You don't have to read my mind, to know what I have in mind, honey you ought to know, now you move so fine, let me lay it on the line, I wanna know what you're doing after the show." I spent the better part of my sophomore year in college playing NHL 96 and listening to Foreigner's greatest hits. Songs like "Double Vision" and "Head Games" found their way into our hockey vocabulary. If you gave me a week to prepare I'm fairly confident that I could beat anyone with the 96 Florida Panthers. The lads in Foreigner were some randy fellows. Songs like "Urgent", "Feels Like the First Time" and "Hot Blooded" are all about shagging in the sheets. Foreigner tours to this day and while the band has gone through countless line up changes, the band's founding guitarist Mick Jones has been a constant. 1977''s Hot Blooded" is built on Jones's hot guitar riff and lead signer Lou Gramm's hormonally charged lyrics. These days Lou is hot blooded for the Lord; his band released an album of Christian music in 2009.

1. Brain Damage- Pink Floyd

• "And if the cloud bursts, thunder in your ear, you shout and no one seems to hear, and if the band you're in starts playing different tunes, I'll see you on the dark side of the moon." I'm pretty sure Pink Floyd's "Dark Side of the Moon" album spent more time on the charts than any other LP in history. Songs like "Money", "Time" and "Brain Damage" help explain why. I'm not the type to smoke drugs, but if I did this would be a pretty great album for enhancing the experience. For me not many lyrics can top, "the lunatic is in my head". If you play acoustic guitar you know that some songs never sound quite as good as the record whereas some sound just right. Some even have specific chords/moments that sound perfect. The C7 in the bridge to "Different Drum" is an example and in this case the G7 in the verse of "Brain Damage". If you don't play guitar it's never to late to pick one up and get frustrated.

2. Gone Away From Me- Ray LaMontagne

• "For a while I sat there staring at the photograph, for a while I cried and tried not to make a scene, there was a time when we were young, but life is long, my love has gone away from me." If you like feeling depressed (I know I do) then "Gone Away From Me" is right in your wheelhouse. The intro to "Gone Away From Me", with it's mellow acoustic guitar and horns has a Gram Parsons/"Cant Always Get What You Want" feel. Lyrically it's the stuff of slitting your wrists ala James Taylor's "You've Got a Friend" and R.E.M.'s "Everybody Hurts". All jokes aside, "Gone Away From Me" is quite gorgeous. This past week I was talking to a friend about the pleasures of being a working stiff. I recalled Ray LaMontagne's comments from his Live at Abbey Road studio performance. I paraphrased then but I'll quote here- "you go to work, you do your robot bit for the day, you come home turn the TV on, you hypnotize yourself for 4, 5,6 hours and then you go to bed and get up and do the same thing. It's just a crazy world." Amen.

3. Lonely Computer Screen (live)- Mason Jennings

• "One day you'll wake up to find, the world is full of things you left behind, babies crying steal you from your sleep, the love you feel is now twice as deep." What a timely selection. Mason Jennings released "Live at First Ave" this past Tuesday. It features three new songs including "Lonely Computer Screen". The album largely focuses on material from Jennings's last studio effort "Blood of Man"; 9 of that album's 11 songs are represented here. "Blood of Man" threw me for a loop when it came out last fall. It's mostly built around electric guitars and is much louder and darker than Mason's previous work. As an example the "your scripture won't save you when my gun's in your mouth" lyric from "Black Wind Blowing" comes to mind. Once the record sank in I realized how many great songs it featured "Live at First Ave" drives that point home. "Lonely Computer Screen" isn't destined to be one of my favorites but "Live at First Ave" does a great job capturing the feel of a live Mason Jennings show.

1. Legalize It- Peter Tosh

• "Singers smoke it, and players of instrument too, legalize it, yeah, yeah, that's the best thing you can do." Peter Tosh was the original guitar player for The Wailers, who also featured Bob Marley and went on to become the most famous reggae band of all time. "Legalize It" comes from Tosh's mid 70's solo debut of the same name. If anyone was confused about what Tosh wanted to see legalized he helped the audience out with the album cover. He appears smoking marijuana, surrounded by marijuana and upon first release the album featured a marijuana scented sticker. I think I've got it. I don't have much reggae in my collection but the "Scenario" reference to Tosh (courtesy of Busta Rhymes) alone made me want to have something from him on my iPod. Quite recently I added an early Wailers cover of "What's New Pussycat" to said iPod. I acquired this as a part of a "Sex Bomb" compilation from a Tom Jones 70th birthday celebration party. The cover has me wishing I could hear more Tom Jones in the Trenchtown style.

2. Lying In The Hands of God- Dave Matthews Band

• "Save your sermons for someone that's afraid to love, if you knew what I feel then you couldn't be so sure, I'll be right here lying in the hands of God." If I'm not mistaken, Dave Matthews claims that he's not a person of faith. If that is the case he spends an awful lot of time singing about God, Jesus, and making biblical references for someone that doesn't believe. "Lying In The Hands of God" comes to us from DMB's latest album "Big Whiskey And The GrooGrux King". The album is great from top to bottom. "Lying In The Hands of God" isn't one of my favorite songs from the collection but it's not bad. This happens to be the song Dave stretched to new lengths with jamming when I saw him in concert most recently. The summer before "#41" got the marathon treatment at the show I saw. I have a number of great memories from the latest DMB show from earlier this summer. The show itself was amazing, our tailgate wasn't far behind and I inadvertently walked in on a girl in a port-o-pottie while her dress was half way above her head. It was hilarious, horrifying and taught her a lesson about locking the door.

3. Nothing- Mason Jennings

• "Things that I buy and things that I think, haven't made this a better place to be, drugs that I try and drinks that I drink, haven't made this a better place to be." Great song from a great artist. Period. "Nothing" is one of the stand out songs from Jenning's self titled debut. Mason has come up fairly often on the blog and I've talked at length about how much I enjoy his music. I haven't talked about my first introduction to his music. My ex has been a music supplier for years. If you listen to "I'm Your Pusher" by Ice-T you'll get an appreciation for how getting hooked on great music is better than drugs...but probably just as addictive. She boiled 4 Mason Jennings albums into a best of mix, akin to turning cocaine into crack rock. I can remember listening to that mix over and over in the summer of 06. Of course I now purchase his albums, learn his songs on guitar and see him in concert. I'm hooked.

1. Body Movin'- Beastie Boys

• "Now let me get some action from the back section, we need body rockin' not perfection. I'm so sweet like a nice bon bon, came out rapping when I was born." I have two fond memories of this song that involve my friend Mike D. "Body Movin'" was one of the first songs played at his wedding reception back in 2007- not the 1st song which would have been "Scenario" by A Tribe Called Quest as the new couple was introduced. Fresh off surgery Mike was the best dancer on the floor but I also remember his wife throwing down as well. The other memory would be when the song first came out in the summer of 98. We were somewhere at the Jersey shore (Sea Isle? Avalon?) and decided to take one night off from heavy drinking. I got new strings for my guitar and Mike picked up "Hello Nasty" at midnight. I remember Mike cracking a beer open early the next morning to the disgust of our housemates who were hurting from the night before. "Hello Nasty" got heavy play the rest of our time at the beach.

2. Praying For Time- George Michael

• "I may have to much but I'll take my chances, cause God's stopped keeping score, and you cling to the things they sold you, did you cover your eyes when they told you, that he can't come back, cause he has no children to come back for." George Michael's solo debut "Faith" wasn't lacking for serious material; songs like "Father Figure" and "Hand To Mouth" showed his maturity. Most of this was lost as the most recognizable image from this era was Michael shaking his ass in tight jeans in the video for "Faith". His follow up album "Listen Without Prejudice" sought to move beyond his sex symbol status with songs like "Freedom 9o" and "Praying For Time". In "Praying For Time" Michael sings about things like poverty and injustice with an apocalyptic tone. The song manged to reach #1 on the singles chart without a video which is fairly remarkable by 1990 standards given how many people wanted their MTV and relied on it for popular music.

3. I'm So Tired- The Beatles

• "You'd say I'm putting you you on, but it's no joke, it's doing me harm, you know I can't sleep, I can't stop my brain, you know it's three weeks, I'm going insane, I'd give you everything I've got for a little piece of mind." If you don't have a copy of "The Beatles (White Album)" you should remedy that as soon as possible. It's like the line in the film "High Fidelity": (Barry) " Don't tell anyone you don't own 'Blonde on Blonde'. It's going to be ok." "The Beatles (White Album)" happens to be the first Beatles album I added to my collection and remains one of my all time favorite records. "Abbey Road" may be a more brilliant cohesive statement but "The Beatles (White Album)" is a treasure trove with more than it's fair share of musical gems. This particular version of "I'm So Tired" comes from the Anthology series. It's quite similar to the version on the "The Beatles (White Album)" with a few exceptions. There is no organ part which helps to give the song an even grittier feel. My favorite thing about this version is when John Lennon sings the "I wonder should I call you, but i know what you do" vocal and takes it in a different melodic direction than what I'm used to in the "The Beatles (White Album)" version. It sounds sooo good.

1. Squeeze Box- The Who

• "Well the kids don't eat and the dog can't sleep, there's no escape from the music in the whole damn street, cause she's playing all night and the music's alright, Mama's got a squeeze box, Daddy never sleeps at night." Pete Townshend was surprised that this dirty little joke became a big hit for The Who. Here are his reflections on "Squeeze Box" from the "The Who By Numbers" album liner notes: "Intended as a poorly aimed dirty joke. I had bought an accordion and learned to play it one afternoon. Amazingly recorded by The Who to my disbelief. Further incredulity was caused when it became a hit for us in the USA." A squeeze box is of course slang for an accordion. The lyrics in the song are nothing more than euphemisms for hanky panky, or making whoopee if you prefer. "Squeeze Box" spent the most time on the Billboard top 100 singles chart out of all The Who singles. Speaking from personal experience, unless you are Pete Townshend don't bother trying to teach yourself accordion.

2. Sweet City Woman- The Stampeders

• "Like a country morning all smothered in dew, ah she's got a way to make her man feel shiny and new, and she sing in the evening, oh familiar tunes, and she feeds me love and tenderness and macaroons." If you dig the banjo and nice harmonies then you'll have a hard time resisting "Sweet City Woman". It's a fun song in the vein of "In the Summertime" by Mungo Jerry. My favorite memory of this song is from last summer. I was making a 2am drive in Ocean City Maryland from Seacrets to Tugos for some late night pizza. My friend and I, windows down, blasted "Sweet City Woman" for our own amusement but also for the pleasure of the girls in the car next to us at the traffic light. Amazingly these girls (young 20s I'd guess) were not feeling "Sweet City Woman". Sadly the Stampeders were lost on them. Another fond memory of this song involved eating Bunny Burgers (no macaroons...sorry) on the way to State College. "Bon c'est Bon!"

Childlike Wildlife- Jason Mraz

• "Well I guess I'll treat her right, I guess I'll treat her more right this time, I'll try not to rely, try not to rely on the perfect line." This is a somewhat obscure Mraz song. It appeared in studio form on two early independent releases- 1999's "A Jason Mraz Demonstration" and 2001's "From the Cutting Room Floor". It showed up again in 2007 on the live "Selection For Friends" online release. The most notable thing about "Childlike Wildlife" is the 2nd half of the song which is based on a groove that sounds oh so much like the riff from "Curbside Prophet". Speaking of "Curbside Prophet" there is a great live version on 2002's "Sold Out (In Stereo)" which contains a number of brilliant lyrical references including one about the Stevie Wonder episode of The Cosby Show. "Jammin' on the one!". I have tickets to see the "geek in the pink" at the University of Delaware in September. I planned on going with a hot married friend but when she proved unavailable I resorted to taking a hot single friend who has no interest in me. It's great to have options.

San Diego Edition

1. Fakin' It- Simon & Garfunkel

• "I'm such a dubious soul, and a walk in the garden...wears me down, tangled in the fallen vines, pickin' up the punch lines, I've just been fakin' it, not really makin' it." My favorite Simon & Garfunkel album would have to be "Bookends" despite the brilliance of the group's follow up and final studio album "Bridge Over Troubled Water". What "Bookends" lacks in "Greatest Hits" material (there is some) it more than makes up for with gem after gem. Songs like "Fakin' It", "Save The Life Of My Child" and "At the Zoo" are great songs that showcase the duo at their best. Most bands split up too late, years after they've run out of material. These guys were getting better with each album.

2. I'm Yours- Jason Mraz

• "Well open up your mind and see like me, open up your plans and damn you're free, look into your heart and you'll find love love love love. But I won't hesitate, no more no more, it can not wait, I'm yours." It's hard to imagine anything being better than LeAnn Rimes but "I'm Yours" topped "How Do I Live" to set the record for the longest run on the Billboard "Hot 100" chart at over 70 weeks. The song first appeared on an iTunes-only EP released in conjunction with Mraz's 2nd commercial full length album "Mr. A-Z". The song would disappear only to re-emerge (re-recorded) as the lead single to the follow up album "We Sing, We Dance, We Steal Things". "I'm Yours" lost out to John Mayer's "Say" for the Best Male Pop Vocal Performance Grammy in 2009 despite being the biggest song from that year. Perhaps as a make up Mraz was given that award in 2010 for his song "Make It Mine". The original version of "I'm Yours" (now labeled as a demo) is once again available on iTunes. After seeing how this song has been embraced internationally it dawned on me that this is one of the great pop songs of all time.

3. Jesus Gave Me Water- Sam Cooke

• "...Jesus gave me water, I want let his praises swell, Jesus gave me water, Jesus gave me water, Jesus gave me water, and it was not in the well." Before Sam Cooke was Sam Cooke he was a teenage member of the gospel outfit The Soul Stirrers. "Jesus Gave Me Water" is from Sam's 1st recording session with the group when he was just 19. The results are wonderful. Given the content of the Soul Stirrers music Gospel may be the best tag but this music is 50's doo-wop at it's finest...they just happen to be singing about Jesus. "Jesus Gave Me Water" has made it way onto a number of Sam Cooke compilations including "Portrait Of A Legend 1951-1964" which has to be the authoritative single disc greatest hits collection. That being said, "Jesus, I'll Never Forget" to me is a much better Sam Cooke/Soul Stirrers song. It was used in the Cohen Brothers film "The Ladykillers". The less we say about that movie the better.

1. War of My Life- John Mayer

• "Come out angels, come out ghosts, come out darkness, bring everyone you know, I'm not running and I'm not scared, I am waiting an well prepared. All the suffering and all the pain never left a name." Everyone has trials in their life- suffering and striving are universal. "This album is dedicated to....all the n*ggas in the struggle". That of course was Biggie Smalls introducing us to "Juicy" but the sentiment here is about the same. "War of My Life" (from John Mayer's latest album "Battle Studies") is meant to be accessible; we should all be able to relate to this. I'm not sure who I am to question Steve Jordan's production choices given the fact that he helped mastermind the sound on "Continuum" but the studio version of "War of My Life" sounds a bit murky, as if the guitar leads were recorded under water. That being said the overall feel of the record hits the right emotional notes. John Mayer debuted this song this time a year ago in a small venue in Los Angeles. Where did the last year of my life go?

2. Purple Pills- D12

• "I take a couple uppers, I down a couple downers, but nothing compares to these blue and yellow purple pills." It's always nice to have a few songs in your collection that glamorize recreational drug use. D12 features Eminem and a handful of his boys from Detroit. To help commercialize the song (i.e. get it played on radio and TV) the song was reworked as "Purple Hills" with a few lyrical modifications. Searching for old records to sample is known to many in hip-hop as "digging in the crates". It really is an art form. The quest for that moment in an old record that can be reworked into something new and different is some people's life work. In the case of "Purple Pills" I must say bravo. "Purple Pills" is based on a sample of Ray (Oh yes they call him the streak) Steven's "Jeremiah Peabody's Polyunsaturated Quick-Dissolving Fast-Acting Pleasant Tasting Green and Purple Pills". We're not exactly sampling James Brown or Parliament Funkadelic here.

3. Red Bus Needs To Leave!- DJ Shadow

• (instrumental) Speaking of "digging in the crates" we have come to one of the masters. Josh Davis a.k.a. DJ Shadow has made a career out of blending moments from obscure and long lost records into brand new music. His breakthrough "Endtroducing...." was reissued several years ago as a "Deluxe Edition" with a bonus disc of material. The bonus disc has a number of cool moments. "Red Bus Needs To Leave!" is not one of the more notable selections but he bonus disc is labeled as "excessive ephemera" so it's not like we haven't been warned.