Arcane Gazebo

Hmmm... I feel like I shouldn't read the description until I get a chance to hear the CD. Maybe you'll still be accepting comments on this post by then? ;)

Crazy-long post!

First of all, I finally found my stack of CDs, so I can hand them out to whoever else wants them.

*SPOILERIFFIC WARNING*

"Ring of Fire"
Did you know Johnny Cash is one of only a handful of individuals to be inducted into both the Rock & Roll and Country Music halls of fame? He's one of the few artists where my father's tastes and mine overlap, so I've been exposed to a bit of Johnny Cash trivia, such as the fact that something most people think of as one of his definitive songs is a cover. He changed the timing of the chorus and added some spanish brass, and it gave the song a whole new feel. It has always been a favorite of mine.
Also, I specifically opened with a more "subtle" cover to throw people off the trail a bit.

"Turn the Page"
Shep actually introduced me to this cover, though I hadn't heard the original Seger version at that point. I just happen to think it's a particularly good song, and Metallica did it justice. I placed it early on the CD because, yes, it does feel like more of a "beginning" to me, though I'm not sure why.

"Come Together"
Allegedly just about the only good thing that came out of the Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band movie was Aerosmith's cover of "Come Together". I can't help but think of their version as the definitive one--the style of the song resonates so very well with Aerosmith's vibe that it's just right.

"This Magic Moment"
I like Lou Reed's style, and keep meaning to listen to more of his work. His vocal style reminds me of Cake, a band that holds a special place in my heart. I originally bought this soundtrack (it's from the Lost Highway soundtrack) for a single song by the Pumpkins, but this has long since become my favorite from that CD.

"Sugar, Sugar"
Not much to say, but it's a damn fun song, isn't it?

"Somewhere Over the Rainbow"
Beautiful.
If I try to add more words to the description of this song, it just waters it down. Iz kicks some monstruous ass with this one, because I don't think there exists a mood bad enough that his recording doesn't make you feel a fair sight better.
I do actually have both versions by the way--this one and the one that transitions to "What a Wonderful World", and was torn between which one to include.

"Knowledge"
Okay, deep breath...
This has been one of my favorite songs all-around for a very long time. Back in high school, when Dookie first came out (the album that catapulted Green Day onto the scene), I scrounged up what money I could find in my room and headed down to the record store. Not only was I going to buy an album for the first time, but it was also a big step for me in parental defiance--don't laugh! In any case, when I finally got there, I realized I couldn't afford Dookie. I sure as hell wasn't going to walk away empty-handed, so I picked up a copy of 1,039 Smoothed Out Slappy Hours, another strangely-titled album by the same group. To this day, I listen to it far more than I listen to Dookie.
The album is actually a combination of two earlier albums that were never mass produced--"1,000 Hours" and "Slappy". For the most part, all of the songs feel a bit awkward and amateurish, but nonetheless have a great deal of charm. "Knowledge" stands out from the rest of the album, however, with far more polish than any other track. Oh, it's because someone else wrote it. :)
Green Day have refined their skills at songwriting over the years (American Idiot has earned them dietyhood as far as I'm concerned), but "Knowledge" is still a very special track. They still play it at every single concert, and it's always been (in my experience) a high point in an already reliably-awesome show. Sadly, I haven't personally been to a Green Day concert in a long time.

"The Joker"
"Carefree" is dead-on. While it's a departure in some ways from the original, the mood is spot-on for me, which is why I like this cover so much. Sure, the music is quite a bit different, but the emotion hits me in almost exactly the same way, so this version had me hook, line and sinker from the first listening.

"The Show Must Go On"
I had trouble finding a good place (not sure I did, at that) for this on the CD. The context of the movie is actually part of why I included it--it's an already-powerful song that becomes much moreso when you know a bit of the history behind it, and the presentation in the movie isn't much of a departure from that. The context in the movie was appropriate enough that I actually felt the song was able to pull a lot of the pre-existing emotional response to the song into the story, which worked very well. When I finally watched Moulin Rouge, the moment this song came on I went, "Oh shiiiiit."

"Auld Lang Syne"
The fusion style actually works surprisingly well for this song, don'cha think?

"Istanbul (Not Constantinople)"
I don't need to tell anyone about this song, but it would have been a crime not to include it.
Oh, and I gotta disagree with you--I would have in the past, but I no longer think it's their best song. It took a while to grow on me, but at this point "Angel" is the TMBG song to me.

"Cotton-Eyed Joe"
First off, I grew up listening to traditional versions of this song. At some point I think I knew both the standard line dance and the clogging version.
Another flashback to high school. The "other" alternative rock station had a nightly musical showdown, I think at 8pm every day. They would play two songs, and whichever song got the most call-in votes would be the returning champ the next day. Pretty much every new song would get a shot.
The second-longest winning streak I can recall was somewhere between one and two weeks. The longest winning streak I ever heard was "Cotton-Eyed Joe", which held it's spot for approximately three months (IIRC).
Oh, and yes, I've used it as a chaser. Who wouldn't?

"The Time Warp"
Yeah, it's a bit ridiculous. I still can't get over the notion of Alvin & The Chipmunks covering a song from Rocky Horror--I used to watch the cartoon as a little kid, so I really associate The Chipmunks with childhood innosence. So much for that!

"Hotel California"
The Gipsy Kings are very talented musicians. It's easy to get so caught up in the novelty of this cover that you miss out on the fact that it's actually rather well performed. Huh.

"Rebel Rebel"
Yeah, so I've been on a Seu Jorge shtick lately--you would be too if you'd seen him at Coachella.

"Mahna Mahna"
Are you fucking serious? An Italian porno? Now *that's* hilarious. Anyway, I still find the song amusing, and was pleased when I heard Cake do their own spin on it.

"Higher Ground"
You know, it really irks me that in Guitar Hero the screen says, "Made famous by: Red Hot Chili Peppers". If not for RHCP's bassist's god-like powers of low-frequency rocking, I'd like the Stevie Wonder version better.

"Mad World"
This song single-handedly slowed down my preparing this mix CD by several months. I was focused intently on including it, but was unwilling to make the dreaded "Album Only" purchase on iTMS. It also proved to be hard to find through other, *cough* networks, but I eventually found a satisfying solution--a few months ago someone served up a torrent of the full soundtrack, along with some of the songs included in the movie but never released on the soundtrack.

"Last Kiss"
I really like this song, except for one thing:
"The Lord took her away from me,"
What, the Lord? THE F&#$KING LORD?!? You killed her with your reckless driving, you irresponsible fucktard!
But yeah, I like the song.

"Hurt"
I think it takes a man like Johnny Cash to take a NIN song and make it sound like it belongs to him. It is one of the most powerful songs written by NIN, and Cash really takes it and runs with it. I still remember the resounding jaw-dropping on the blogosphere when it came out a few years back.

Anyway, I don't know how serious you were being, but your interpretation actually hit right on. I wasn't conciously thinking of the word "relationships" in particular, but I was thinking, "the people and things that move us emotionally in life", so you're close enough for me. I'm also not 100% satisfied with the track ordering, and occasionally have second thoughts about the selection as well, but I think it worked out alright.

I'm impressed, and now I doubly owe you cookies--I bought cookie-making goodies a few weeks ago, and was going to have them ready for Coachella, but forgot. I forgot again last weekend, pulling a massive "D'oh!" when I walked into my kitchen Monday evening to see the bag of ingredients on top of the fridge.

I've been thinking about what songs I would include on a CD like this. I would have a number of choices available from Yo La Tengo, Cat Power, and Ted Leo... I'd probably also use Iron & Wine's "Such Great Heights", and TV on the Radio's a capella "Mr. Grieves" (which I have yet to hear myself, but I'm told it's good. I need to find a copy of Young Liars for this reason). And of course, the Futureheads' brilliant "Hounds of Love", which has already appeared on several of my mix CDs...

I can respond for real now because Tim dropped off the CD this afternoon (or "morning," according to when I woke up today) and I finished listening to it a few minutes ago.

I caught the cover thing too. I caught it for sure at song 3. I hadn't heard this version of "Turn the Page" before. I prefer the original.

For "Ring of Fire," why is the original version listed as Anita Carter instead of June Carter? Was Anita her real name? I didn't realize Cash didn't write it until I saw Walk the Line, but I was under the impression that Carter wrote it at least partially about her relationship with Cash. I take it the 1962 version is an actual recording of it? I knew she wrote the song, but I never knew she recorded it.

I prefer the original version of "Come Together" (granted, I've also never been an Aerosmith fan, so this is more of a statement of stylistic differences than anything else).

The Green Day song is one of the ones I didn't previously know.

This is my favorite TMBG song (even though it's not originally theirs), although "Why Does the Sun Shine?" holds a special place in my heart as well. It's funny that my favorite two songs of theirs are both covers. In each case, I greatly prefer their version to the original.

The Chipmunks version of "Timewarp" is simply wrong on many, many levels.

The Gypsy Kings' cover of "Hotel California" is bloody awesome.

As soon as I realized this was an album of covers, I was waiting for which Seu Jorge song would occur and when it would occur. In other words, your obsession has been noted. (And the revolution will be televised...)

Tim and I were discussing this version of "Mad World" recently. The original is one of my favorite Tears for Fears song, and it is sadly not as well-known as it should be. (It wasn't commercially successful and was doomed to obscurity, aside from devotees like me.) I very much appreciate having a copy of the cover, although I need to figure out if the hiccups I heard were from the CD or from computer.

I remember this Pearl Jam song. I remember DJs discussing how they found it odd that this group had chosen to cover that song. I've never actually heard the original version, or at least I don't remember having heard it.

This Johnny Cash song is another one Tim and I discussed recently briefly (after his version of "Personal Jesus" came up). Beginning and ending with Cash was a very nice touch. It's also worth noting that Cash is a young man in track 1 and an old one in track 20. I don't know if this and the possible implications thereof were pointed out above. (I don't remember seeing this written down, but maybe it was there and flew under my radar.)

At some point, I was thinking of making a blog post listing the songs that form a sort of soundtrack for my life. Tim's CD made me think that maybe I should make a CD of it instead, but on further thinking, I like his MO of not giving any titles or artists, so maybe I'll come up with another theme (perhaps a specific one within the theme of my entire life's soundtrack) and do that. I'll need to think a bit more (maybe more than a bit) to see what I actually want to do.

Anita Carter was June's sister, and was the first to record "Ring of Fire" (June Carter was indeed the songwriter). Johnny Cash then recorded his version, adding the mariachi horns (as Lemming noted above).