Friday Morning Run

My Friday morning, pre-dawn run, featured an excellent and varied playlist courtesy of the "shuffle songs" setting on my iPod:

• "Mean Old Frisco Blues" by Muddy Waters--One of the truly great voices in American music, and one of my all-time favorite musicians, even if he was a White Sox fan.
• "Englishman in New York" by Sting--Best decision he ever made was to bring jazz saxophonist Branford Marsalis into his band. Great soprano solo!
• "Housequake" by Prince--From the album Sign o' the Times, his last album that I really like. "The kickdrum is the fault!"
• "Good Time, Bad Times" by Led Zeppelin--From one of the finest debut albums ever.
• "Every Picture Tells a Story" by Rod Stewart--Back when he was still hip, singing the musical travelogue of a young vagabond.
• "Wicked Game" by Chris Isaak--Never knew that the tuning peg on a guitar could be so expressive.
• "A Girl Like You" by The Smithereens--Bringing that early 60s Kinks-style garage rock into the late 80s.
• "Sleepyhouse" by Blind Melon--Alternative meets Indian classical music.
• "White Wedding, Pt. 1" by Billy Idol--A bit of a guilty pleasure here, but nice vocal stylings.
• "Cinnamon Girl" by Neil Young--"Ten silver saxes, a bass with a bow, the drummer relaxes and waits between shows for his Cinnamon Girl." The most economical guitar solo of all time.
• "Stay Up Late" by The Talking Heads--David Byrne discovers the joys of fatherhood.
• "Loves Me Like a Rock" by Paul Simon--Always reminds me of my mom driving us around town as kids. Love you too, Mom!
• "Electric PowWow Drum" by A Tribe Called Red--Canadian First Nation deejays combine tribal chants and dubstep. Dig it!