Malcolm Gauld
Yesterday, thanks to daughter Scout, I got the chance to check off yet another item on my Bucket List: DJ on a college radio station. (My own alma mater no less!) One of my regrets about my own college “daze” (pun intended) is that I never got my act together to have my own show. By contrast, Scout followed her own muse and is now in her third year of spinning tunes as one half of a dynamic duo: “Scout & Jasmine’s Variety Hour.” Thanks to Jasmine’s need to meet a paper deadline, I got my chance yesterday.
I had a blast! The hour seemed like a minute. In fact, the 16 songs I played barely put a dent in the 70+ song playlist I had carefully assembled for my debut. So… that means I’ve got plenty of material for a return appearance… hint, hint…
Anyway, here’s the playlist (in order of appearance).
– “Six Days on the Road” by Taj Mahal. Off his classic 1969 Take a Giant Step/De Ol’ Folks at Home release. “I’m pullin’ out of Pittsburgh and I’m rollin’ down the Eastern Seaboard…”
– “You Know the Rest” by Steve Earle. Off El Corazon (1997). An irreverent history lesson from the quintessential country rocker.
– “Monkey In Your Soul” by Steely Dan. Off Pretzel Logic (1974), an album that helped me get though my sophomore year at Bowdoin.
– “Don’t Get Me Wrong” by The Pretenders. Off Get Close (1986). Ah, nothing beats Chrissie Hynde in top form.
– “Howard Johnson’s Got His Ho-Jo Workin'” by NRBQ. Off the classic Scraps (1972) by the band Rolling Stone calls “America’s Greatest Bar Band.” I call them The Greatest Band that Never Hit the Big Time.
– “Whammer Jammer” by J. Geils Band. Off Full House (1972)… “Lemme hear ya’, Dickie!!!”
– “This World” by Staples Singers. Off Be Altitude – Respect Yourself (1972). Mavis and family take the wheel and drive that Stax/Memphis sound.
– “Back on the Block” by Quincy Jones w/Ice-T, Melle Mel, Big Daddy Kane, Kool Moe D & Others). Title track off Quincy’s 1989 take on rap. “But tears came to my eyes when he showed me my block.”
– “Me & the Boys” by Bonnie Raitt. Off NRBQ tribute album The Q People (2004). “Just a bunch a’ guys gettin’ in the car, no matter who’s drivin’ or for how far.”
– “New York Telephone Conversation” by Lou Reed. Off Transformer (1972). “Who is on the other end talking? Am I even home?”
– “Bright Side of the Road” by Van Morrison. Off Into the Music (1979). “Into this life we’re born, baby, sometimes I don’t know why.”
– “Political Science” by Randy Newman. Off Good Ol’ Boys (1974), the album that most informed the soundtrack of my college years. “Let’s drop the ‘Big One’ now.”
“Too Much Stuff” by Delbert McClinton w/Lyle Lovett and John Prince. Off One of the Fortunate Few (1997). An amusing ode to consumerism served up be three old pros.
“I’m Not the Same Without You” by Donald Fagen. Off Sunken Condos (2012). Classic Fagen irony (i.e., He utilizes a conventional title and then catches you off-guard by claiming that he’s better off…without her) off his brand new album.
“Coffee Monkey” by The Bottle Rockets. Off Leftovers (1998). Great all-nighter song. “I got a’ coffee monkey on my back…”
“Evening Train” by Chuck Leavell. Off Back To The Woods: A Tribute To The Pioneers of Blues Piano. Session man extraordinaire goes solo to expert effect.
Rock On(ward), Malcolm Gauld
