Celebrity Playlist Podcast (CPP)

I'm a huge fan of this podcast, which hosts a different celebrity (musician, actor, etc.) who shares about 15 of their favorite songs and the significance of each. After mentioning this to Steph, she suggested that us PCVs do the same. After all, we are all sort of local celebrities in our respective towns. I wholeheartedly agreed and kicked off the first CPP. Here it is:

1. You Really Got a Hold on Me – The Beatles

I grew up listening to the Beatles so I had to include one of their songs, though this one technically isn’t truly theirs. Smokey Robinson and the Miracles wrote it, but it’s one of my favorites of the Beatles’ lesser-known songs.

2. No Diggity – Blackstreet

I was 11 and had just gotten my first CD player. My birthday was approaching so my mom went to Wal-Mart and asked someone in the electronics section for the most popular CD. I was soon listening to No Diggity on repeat and I’ve been listening to it ever since.

3. Furr – Blitzen Trapper

One of my favorite songs ever. Discovered it and Blitzen Trapper in the last couple years and got to see them in concert while I was living in DC. One of their band members has a red ‘fro with a rat-tail. It was awesome. The concert was good, too. Check ‘em out.

4. The Wind – Cat Stevens

Best song by a terrorist, under 2 minutes, ever.

5. Long As I Can See the Light – Creedence Clearwater Revival

Awesome song by an awesome group, once known as the Golliwogs. John Fogerty is a beast and one of my favorite vocalists of all time.

6. No One Takes Your Freedom (mashup) – DJ Earworm

Too many mashups try to do too much, jumping from one artist to the next every 5 seconds. Can’t ever get into a good groove. This one keeps it simple and mixes Scissor Sisters, Aretha Franklin, George Michael, and the Beatles really well. Plus, what’s more American than singing about Freedom?

7. The Load Out – Jackson Browne

Really beautiful song tells the story of a musician’s life on the road. Not easy and often lonely, but Browne shows how much the music carries him through when Richard Pryor can’t.

8. Heart of the City (Ain’t No Love) – Jay-Z

My favorite Jay-Z song. He gets angry in this one, hating on his haters. My favorite line: “Respect the game/that should be it/what you eat don’t make me shit.” Boom.

9. Animal (Crookers Remix) – Miike Snow

I’m continuing the theme of transforming into animals (Furr) with this one. The original version of this song is good, but this remix is the real deal. Also, making animal sounds is encouraged while listening to this song.

10. That’s How Strong My Love Is – Otis Redding

Otis is one of my favorite singers ever, largely because he sang with so much pure emotion (read: soul). Also, unlike a lot of talented singers, he could also write his ass off, coming up with such songs as Respect (of Aretha Franklin fame), Hard to Handle (Black Crowes), and of course (Sittin’ on) The Dock of the Bay. He died when he was 26. Fuck. The song I chose here isn’t my favorite of his, but again, a solid, lesser-known one.

11. The Next Movement – The Roots

From the album Things Fall Apart, this is maybe my favorite song by one of the best (live) hip-hop groups ever. With drummer ?uestlove and sousaphone-player Tuba Gooding, Jr. among their band-members, they have awesome music and awesome names. I saw them live in the summer of 2008 – best concert I’ve been to.

12. Firecracker – Ryan Adams

Ryan Adams writes too many songs to keep up with. But this one has always been a favorite of mine.

13. Jesus Gave Me Water – Sam Cooke & the Soul Stirrers

My ultimate goal as a PCV: grow out the hair/beard, build a flawless water system, and have my caserío blast this song out of their USB-speakers every time I pass by. Sam Cooke is a beast. Check out Live at the Copacabana when you get a chance.

14. Surf Wax America – Weezer

I love the ocean and I’ve always been a big Weezer fan. I went through a big faze during freshman year of college when I listed to their album Pinkerton on repeat. The small college I went to never had the money to attract big-name musicians to our campus, but they got a Weezer cover band my senior year. I was in the front, screaming the words to every song. Don’t underestimate the power of a good cover band.

15. Brooklyn – Youngblood Brass Band

Just when you think this instrumental song is winding down, it keeps rocking your socks off. It never gets skipped when it pops up on shuffle, which can’t be said for every 7-minute song.