I had made a mix cd for an old friend I thought I was going to see. He didn’t show, but the cd remained in my car. “Gimme Danger” anchored the whole mess.
The goal was to make a playlist indicative of what I was currently really digging on, which, at any given time, is a mess; I sincerely like a little bit of everything(ironically, it makes me furious when I ask someone, “what kind of music do you like?” and they answer, “I like everything!” Then you say, “how about Fangs Anal Satan?” . .). I didn’t expect him to like everything on the list, but surely some of it.
And surely “Gimme Danger” included. Trying to be well thought out in my order, I used “Gimme Danger” to cleanse the stream-of-consciousness palette after “Gun for the Whole Family” from Aesop Rock, and to highlight the eventual electric guitar intrusion in “Evening on the Ground(Lilith’s Song)” from Iron and Wine. I know, a mess.
Regardless, he was a no-show. Still miss him. But the cd remained in my car, playing one night when I gave an associate a lift home. When “Gimme Danger” popped on, he said, “sounds like The Doors”. And I waited.
Then:
“Is the volume screwed up?”
“Who the fuck is this?”
“What the fuck is this?”
“This isn’t The Doors, is it?”
No, it was not. Thank God.
BTW, he thought the Aesop Rock song “didn’t make sense” and that the Iron and Wine song was “pretty”. Two reasons why I miss my friends and have no other ones. . .
The whole cd track listing:
“Classical Records”, Department of Eagles
“In a Radio Song”, Okkervil River
“Hives Hives”, Xiu Xiu
“Fucking with the Altimiter”, Brainiac
“Magic Doors”, Portishead
“Gun for the Whole Family”, Aesop Rock
“Gimme Danger”, The Stooges
“Evening on the Ground(Lillith’s Song)”, Iron and Wine
“The Unfaithful Servant”, The Band
“Tornado Longing for Freedom”, Music Tapes
“Black Jack David”, The Blake Family
“All By Electricity”, Shipping News
“Night Walks,” Black Mountain
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