Father Christmas

Occupy Xmas! First holiday song that's been in my head this season that I haven't actually heard in the Ethers yet.

Artist: The Kinks
Year: 1977
Rating: Luke Hot

Who's Crying Now? Redux, Deux

Last in my head on February 10, 2012. First blogged June 20, 2009.

Artist: Journey
Year: 1981
Rating: Warm

Splish Splash

How was I to know there was a party goin' on?

Artist: Bobby Darin
Year: 1958
Rating: Warm

Count It Higher

Fantastic song to wake up to! One of the very best from the Sesame Street oeuvre, in my head for no particular reason at all. Patterned after the ubiquitous 60's hit Twist and Shout, writer/singer Christopher Cerf completely commits to the rock 'n' roll vocal on this educational ditty. This is the kind of song that makes a kid feel fucking cool watching Sesame Street!

Artist: Little Chrissy and the Alphabeats (Christopher Cerf, Jeff Moss, and Jerry Nelson)
Year: 1973
Rating: Hot!

A Day In The Life

Artist: The Beatles
Year: 1967
Rating: Luke Hot

Sour Times

Emerged in consciousness after a night traipsing through the rain in the Mission, content, curious, and just a shade of lonely.

Artist: Portishead
Year: 1994
Rating: Warm

Sweet Home Alabama, Redux

Last in my head on July 30, 2009

Immediate upon waking, clear as a freshly pressed vinyl album in 1974.

Artist: Lynyrd Skynyrd
Year: 1974
Rating: Warm

If You Could Read My Mind

This is one of those songs that makes me so deeply grateful that I was a kid in the 70s and got to hear it on the radio in my mom's car, in my sisters' cars, over and over again. The words are so seemlessly embedded in my head and so beautifully constructed that the specific, sad beauty is easily glossed over.

Artist: Gordon Lightfoot
Year: 1970
Rating: Luke Hot

Superball

(You'll have to play this video once to be amused by the hamster, and once to actually hear the song! "Nibbler" is quite distracting, but cute.)

This song has been in my head for weeks, but today was the first time I woke with it. Unbelievably, this is the first Aimee Mann song hitting the blog, despite the fact that she's one of my faves, and that I've seen her at least three times live. This morning, the song was ushered in by a dream: I was having a conversation with Aimee (clearly, we were on a first-name basis in my dream), and with some 20-somethings who had never heard her stuff. I was recommending albums they should listen to. The dream, in turn, I'm sure, had been prompted by a false sense of intimacy I'm feeling with her and with another indie rock hero of mine, Ted Leo, who have been touring together and being all lovey on the Twitter. Damn, wish I'd seen them on stage together.

Artist: Aimee Mann
Year: 1995
Rating: Luke Hot

I Can't Help Myself (Sugar Pie Honey Bunch)

I love you and nobody else.

Since I'm not currently in a relationship, nor would I likely profess love to a One-and-Only, since I don't buy into that sort of thing, I have to assume that my unconscious is crooning for the love of coffee.

In and out my life/You come and you go
Leaving just your picture behind/And I've kissed it a thousand times

Oh, coffee.

Artist: The Four Tops
Year: 1965
Rating: Luke Hot