Screw It, I'm Just Gonna Talk About Music Or Whatever

I'm joined for this episode by my close friend Kate Riley! We each contributed songs whose lyrics strike us as very funny and don't seem to be a joke on purpose (i.e. unintentionally funny). Send us your picks for songs on this theme! Buy Kate's amazing debut novel "Ruth", out 8/19/25!   Songs discussed in this episode: The Beach Boys - Wouldn't It Be Nice (1966) Bob Lind - Elusive Butterfly (1966...

Back again with more songs that have the same titles but otherwise have nothing in common!   Songs discussed in this episode: Dion & The Belmonts - A Teenager In Love (1959) The Pains Of Being Pure At Heart - A Teenager In Love (2009) Arthur Alexander - Soldier of Love (1960) Sade - Soldier of Love (2010) Wye Oak - Holy Holy (2011) Geordie Greep - Holy, Holy (2024) Moondog - Do Your Thing (1978) B...

This is a pretty flimsy theme BUT all the songs are good so let's all just cool it. The theme is prepositions. Songs that have prepositions in the title. That's it. Anyway, they're good songs.   Songs discussed in this episode: Viagra Boys - Down In The Basement (2018) Klaus Johann Grobe - Between The Buttons (2014) Cannonball Adderly Quintet - Inside Straight (1973) Brewer & Shipley - One Toke Ov...

We're all gonna die someday! Also it's almost spring, and that's nice.   Songs discussed in this episode: Arthur Lee - Everybody's Gotta Live (1972) Sufjan Stevens - Fourth of July (2015) William Onyeabor - Try And Try (1979) Yard Act - 100% Endurance (2022) Tol-Puddle Martyrs - Time Will Come (1967) Viagra Boys - Worms (2018) Paul Williams - The Hell Of It (1974) Neutral Milk Hotel - In the Aerop...

This is the 50th episode of this podcast! I'm joined by friend Eric D. Johnson (Fruit Bats, Bonny Light Horseman) to talk about handclaps. We talk about handclaps in the songwriting and recording process, play some of our favorite songs featuring handclaps, and also have a bunch of digressions about other stuff.   Songs played in this episode (maybe not exactly in this order): The Shins - Kissing...

This episode features all songs whose titles are questions, even though some aren't punctuated as such. There are many songs that would qualify for this theme that aren't included, but I tried to gather a bunch that are all pretty different from one another.   Songs discussed in this episode: Them Two - Am I A Good Man (1967) Captain Beefheart & His Magic Band - Who Do You Think You're Fooling (19...

Songs in this episode feature two-part harmony for most of the song! Also, they're all good. Hopefully it isn't new information that the songs on this podcast are good.   Songs discussed in this episode: The Beatles - There's A Place (1963) Ween - What Deaner Was Talking About (1994) The B-52's - Topaz (1989) Peter & Gordon - A World Without Love (1965) Unknown Mortal Orchestra - From The Sun (201...

Here are pairs of songs that share some feature (melody, chord progression, instrumentation, etc) and therefore remind me of each other. I hope that when you hear them you also go "hey!" or maybe just "oh yeah, okay", that works too.   Songs discussed in this episode: The Tonettes - I Gotta Know (1965) Yumi Arai - Ruju no Dengon (ルージュの伝言) (1975) Elliott Smith - Sweet Adeline (1998) Ty Segal...

All songs in this episode feature use of chromatic scales. Have you thought about doing a bunch of half steps lately? Something to consider!   Songs discussed in this episode: Andrew Lloyd Webber, Michael Crawford, Sarah Brightman - The Phantom of the Opera (1987) Fever Ray - Even It Out (2023) Fat White Family - Touch The Leather Redux (2014) Nina Simone - Tomorrow Is My Turn (1965) Paul McCartne...

Here's a selection of songs featuring "If" in the title. We're getting conditional, baby (if you're into that).   Songs discussed in this episode: Blonde Redhead - If (2023) Cat Stevens/Yusuf - If You Want To Sing Out, Sing Out (1970) Guided By Voices - If We Wait (1996) Fever Ray - If I Had A Heart (2009) Bright Eyes - If Winter Ends (1998) Nolan Porter - If I Could Only Be Sure (1972) The Beatle...

Today's playlist contains all songs with finger-picked guitar parts! Or at least I'm pretty sure that's right, I don't play guitar. The songs are all good though.   Songs discussed in this episode: Elizabeth Cotten - Freigh Train (1957) Elliott Smith - Pretty Mary K (Other Version) (2007) Dando Shaft - Coming Home To Me (1971) Nick Drake - Which Will (1972) Lightnin' Hopkins - Shaggy Dog/Dad (1967...

Today's playlist features songs whose titles are people names (names only, not names in a phrase).   Songs discussed in this episode: Basement Jaxx - Romeo (2001) Pixies - Allison (1990) Jennie Lawless - Annie (2021) Ween - Gabrielle (2005) Paul Simon - Duncan (1972) Jack Ladder - Susan (2018) Weezer - Susanne (1994) Perfume Genius - Jason (2020) Boney M - Rasputin (1978) The Replacements - Alex C...

My friend Joel Spence is here to talk about The B-52's 1983 album "Whammy"! We also talk a lot about The B-52's in general and I manage to also sneak in "Janitor" by Suburban Lawns.

Today's playlist is all songs featuring both male and female singers. Sometimes harmonizing, sometimes in unison, sometimes call and response, sometimes doing background for each other. Fun! Songs discussed in this episode: Marvin Gaye, Tammi Terrell - Ain't Nothing Like The Real Thing (1968) The Jesus and Mary Chain - Sometimes Always (1994) Dirty Projectors - Useful Chamber (2009) Emillia Contes...

Today's playlist contains songs with numbers 1-10 in the titles! Kind of a flimsy theme but they're all good songs so I guess deal with it.   Songs discussed in this episode: The Lemon Twigs - The One (2020) Frank Black - Two Spaces (1993) Paul McCartney, Linda McCartney - 3 Legs (1971) Masumi Hara - 4 X A Dream (1984) David Bowie - Five Years (1972) The Cure - Six Different Ways (1985) Nancy - 7f...

Today my friend Mel Cowan joins me to talk about a sampling of our favorite album openers! We didn't have time to play and talk about every possible entry in this list, but we mention a ton that weren't discussed and you should check out.   Songs discussed in this episode: The New Pornographers - Brill Bruisers (2014) Orange Juice - Rip It Up (1982) Beastie Boys - Sure Shot (1994) Portishead - Mys...

Today we're talking about time signatures - what are they, and why are songs with non-traditional time signatures so cool sounding? This is not super math heavy or expert-level analysis, but in it I share some of my favorite songs with weird time signatures and/or meter changes.   Songs discussed in this episode: The Beatles - I Saw Her Standing There (1963) (snippet only) OCS - Memory Of A Cut Of...

This week we're exploring one facet of how stupid the written system of English is by featuring songs that feature words containing various pronunciations (all 6!) of "ough".    Discussed in this episode: Fleetwood Mac - Although The Sun Is Shining (1969) Stephen Stills - Thoroughfare Gap (1978) The Beatles - I'm Looking Through You (1965) The Creation - Through My Eyes (1967) Johnny Thunders & Th...

Today's theme is doing something more than once, so all titles reference that concept. Musically repetitive songs will be a theme for another time!   Discussed in this episode: Grizzly Bear - Yet Again (2012) Ty Segall - Repetition (2024) Robert Palmer - Not A Second Time (1980) Roger Fakhr - Gone Away Again (197?, released 2021) Michael Kiwanuka - Home Again (2012) Daft Punk - One More Time/Aerod...

Today's theme is geography, so these are all songs with geographical names in the titles. And - get this - the songs are all good.   Discussed in this episode: Sufjan Stevens - Flint (For The Unemployed and Underpaid) (2003) Parquet Courts - Berlin Got Blurry (2016) Foxygen - San Francisco (2013) Brazilian Girls - St. Petersburg (2008) Ric Wilson, Terrace Martin, BJ the Chicago Kid - Chicago Bae (...

Here are a bunch of songs that would have been from my childhood if I had been born 40 years earlier. I say in the episode that the songs are in chronological order and now that I'm typing it out I see that that's only mostly true, please forgive me.   Songs discussed in this episode: Odetta - Santy Anno (1956) Buddy Holly, The Crickets - It Doesn't Matter Anymore (1956) The Del-Vikings - Come Go...

Today I'm joined by Will Hines (Screw It We're Just Gonna Talk About the Beatles, Comedy Bang Bang) to talk about the 2007 Of Montreal album "Hissing Fauna, Are You The Destroyer?"! Other Of Montreal songs played during the episode are "So Begins Our Alabee" (2005) and "Lysergic Bliss" (2004).

Here is a large handful of great songs that are not in English!    Songs discussed in this episode: Özdemir Erdoğan - Gurbet (1989) Marina Herlop - La Alhambra (2023) Volta Jazz - Bi Kameleou (1977) Emillia Contessa - Malam Minggu (1982) Cafe Tacvba - La Bas(e) (2024) Kishore Kumar, Asha Bhosle - Intaha Ho Gai Intezar Ki (1984) Françoiz Breut - Si tu disais (2000) Yat-Kha - Karangailyg Kara Hovaa...

I'm back! We're back! We all made this happen! Kicking off season two with a return to the theme of movin' and groovin'.   Songs discussed in this episode: Jorge Ben Jor - Africa Brasil (Zumbi) (1976) Yellow Magic Orchestra - 手掛かり (Key) (1981) Jean-Claude Vannier - La horse (1969) Incredible Bongo Band - Apache (1973) Shigeru Suzuki - パッション・フラワー (Passion Flower) (1978) Sharon Jones &...

This episode is about pairs of songs that have the same title but are totally different (i.e. not covers or alternate versions of the same song). There are more examples than could be included in one episode, so maybe a part 2 is in the future! Speaking of the future - this is the last episode of season 1! I'll return with more after a 6-ish week hiatus.   Songs discussed in this episode: The Beat...