Category Archives: random weekends

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Song of the Day #3,901: ‘Phoenix’ – Aimee Mann

In one of those moments of sublime serendipity, the Random iTunes Fairy has offered up an Aimee Mann track exactly one week after the last random Aimee Mann track. You won’t hear me complaining.

In fact, back before Random Weekends, when I dedicated weekend posts to specific artists (The Beatles, Bob Dylan and Elvis Costello, among others), Aimee Mann was one of the artists I considered. At the time I was looking for artists with voluminous discographies and hers was a little on the lean side, but she easily could have carried several months’ worth of posts.

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Song of the Day #3,900: ‘She’s Out of My Life’ – Michael Jackson

My second Michael Jackson post in a little over a week, this one comes from Jackson’s classic 1979 album Off the Wall, arguably his overall best release.

Written by Tom Bahler, ‘She’s Out of My Life’ became the fourth top ten single from Off the Wall. Producer Quincy Jones originally intended to give the song to Frank Sinatra but he wanted to see what Jackson could do with a mature ballad. Jackson famously couldn’t help but tear up during the song’s final lines, and you can hear his voice cracking on the final version.

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Song of the Day #3,894: ‘Philly Sinks’ – Aimee Mann

Hard to believe it’s already two years since Aimee Mann released her last album, the gorgeously melancholy Mental Illness. This was the sweetest, saddest Aimee Mann album an Aimee Mann fan could ever hope for.

Mann’s lyrics are always beautifully evocative even when they’re maddeningly inscrutable. Today’s SOTD, ‘Philly Sinks,’ appears to be about a man who abuses both alcohol and women, but that’s just a guess.

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Song of the Day #3,893: ‘Role Model’ – Eminem

This is a very timely Random Weekend selection, as Eminem’s 1999 The Slim Shady LP celebrated its 20th anniversary exactly one week ago.

This was Eminem’s second full-length album and his first with Interscope records. While his debut album, 1996’s Infinite, sold only 1,000 copies, this record was a massive success, going quadruple platinum and kicking off a period where he was the most talked about and listened to rapper in the industry.

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Song of the Day #3,887: ‘Sue Me Jack’ – Pavement

This is the third Pavement song served up by the Random iTunes Fairy in the past two years, and not a one of them has been worth a damn.

That might be because the only Pavement album in my library is the extended two-disc version of their celebrated 1992 release Slanted and Enchanted, which contains 49 songs, most of which are outtakes and unreleased tracks.

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