Weekend Listomania (Special The Right Tool for the Job Edition)

Well, it's Friday and you know what that means. Yes, my Oriental Cialis Cutie interior decorator Fah Lo Suee and I are off to Boston, where we plan to hiss at anybody who has the poor taste to suggest that Teddy Kennedy was in fact a Liberal at his memorial service. That kind of shrill politicization will NOT be tolerated, thank you very much.

So posting by moi will more than likely be sporadic for a little while.

But in the meantime, here's another little project for us all:

Most Memorable Post-Beatles Song or Record Referencing a Musical Instrument in the Title or Lyrics!!!

No arbitrary rules this time, you're welcome very much. Seriously -- no arbitrary rules. Anything goes as far as I'm concerned.

Oh, and I'm pretty sure I've done a list like this already (I'm thinking that goddamn "Squeezebox") but I couldn't find it in the archives because I'm obviously senile AND tech illiterate. So one more time. (I'm pretty sure some of my choices are new this time out anyway).

And my totally top of my head Top Seven is:

7. Jimmy Silva and the Goats -- A Tin Whistle and a Wooden Drum





I know very little about Silva except that he was involved with the whole Young Fresh Fellows axis of Northwest coolness and that apparently he died not too long after making the absolutely gorgeous 1991 album this particular ecstatically Byrdsian song appears on. The rest of the album's really great, too, BTW...if you're curious you can download the whole thing free right here.

6. Tom Waits -- The Piano Has Been Drinking



Waits in '77, toward the end of his initial Beatnik period, and pretty damned funny.

5. The Tokens -- I Hear Trumpets Blow



I must confess to having a soft spot for these guys that goes way beyond "The Lion Sleeps Tonight" (get me drunk sometime and I'll bore you with my theory that their gorgeous Carole King-penned "He's in Town" is a major influence on the sound of Springsteen's E-Street Band). This one, one of the very best Brill Building blue collar romantic ballads of the 60s, is another of my real faves.

4. Mike Oldfield -- Tubular Bells



Is it cool to admit liking this again? I've lost track. In any case, Philip Glass and all his subsequent minimalist stuff can frankly bite me.

4. Joni Mitchell -- For Free



A great song about a clarinet player, as unlikely as that sounds. Truly gorgeous, but it has much to answer for, perhaps, when you consider she later hired the appalling Tom Scott and the fricking L.A. Express to back her up.

3. The Aliens -- Theremin



Holy shit, I finally got a song recorded in the 21st century into Listomania! Seriously -- a pretty cool tune, even if it doesn't feature the titular instrument.

2. Cheap Trick -- Mandocello





Rick Nielsen's ode to the theoretically obsolete title instrument, and one of the very best songs on their epochal debut album.

And the numero uno "A Tinkling Piano in the Next Room" tune obviously is --

1. The Morells -- That Mellow Saxophone





Said it before and I'll say it again -- if I was throwing a party and I could afford to hire any band in the world, it would be these guys in their better known incarnation as The Skeletons, and don't give me any of that NRBQ shit 'cause I don't want to hear it. Seriously -- this song is an absolute hoot, and they've got a million of 'em just as good they can play at the drop of a hat.

Alrighty then -- what would your choices be?

[Shameless Blogwhore: My parallel Cinema Listomania -- theme: most memorable autobiographical films -- is now up over at Box Office. As always, if you could see your way to going over there and leaving some sort of wise-ass comment, it would help cement my relationship with management. Thanks!]