In honor of “Refudiate-gate”, here are ten songs from my collection that feature words not found in nature:
1. Abacab – Genesis
2. Billy-A-Dick – Bette Midler
3. Boogie Oogie Oogie – A Taste of Honey
4. Boplicity – Miles Davis
5. Connjur – School of Seven Bells
6. Destrokk – MGMT
7. Harmonicar – Carolyn Wonderland and The Imperial Monkeys
8. Momamma Scuba – John Cale
9. Riu Chiu – The Monkees
10. Skokiaan – Bill Haley & The Comets
Genesis and Phil Collins, with songs like “Squonk”, “Paperlate”, and “Sussudio” in their catalog, may be the champion word-maker-uppers of the music biz. For the curious, “Billy-A-Dick” is a Hoagy Carmichael song, from the “For The Boys” soundtrack; it’s the onomatopoetic representation of a drummer doing his thing. I tried to be careful to avoid proper names and words that actually mean something in another language in compiling this list. I made an exception for “Skokiaan” because it’s such a cool word. “Riu Chiu” probably meant something at one time, but being archaic I figured it fit. The rest you can figure out. What nonsense do you have on your iPod?
Entire song list report: Started with “Jukebox On My Grave”, by Ellis Paul. Finished with “Kodachrome/Maybelline” by Simon and Garfunkel, from their historic “Concert in Central Park” album. That was song #2718, for a back-to-normal 103 tunes this week. I should note that this song came after the three other versions of “Kodachrome” that I have, by Conor Oberst, the Tufts Beelzebubs, and the original Paul Simon solo version. Finally, the last J song was “Justify My Love”, by Madonna, and the first K song was “Kansas City/Hey Hey Hey”, by The Beatles.
Ripping vinyl report: It’s back! I finally had the chance to break out the USB turntable, and committed the first Van Halen album to digital land. That one too is from Greg Wythe’s collection, and he must really like it because it’s got a clear plastic cover on it. I’d forgotten how many of their well-known singles came from their debut record – I don’t think they had as many hits again until “1984”. All that and leather pants, too.
I think I picked that one up somewhat recently (last 5 years or so), intending to frame it. Never got around to that project since I always talk myself out of it once I see the price of album frames.
Seems like a good concept, hanging artwork that costs <$5. Following through with a frame that costs triple that? Not so much.