Friday, March 21, 2008

GOOD FRIDAY RANDOM TEN

It’s Friday, time once again for Blog d’Elisson’s Friday Random Ten, the weekly collection of crap spewed out by the iPod d’Elisson.

Today is a day that abounds in Religious Significance. For Christians, it’s Good Friday, the opening shot of Easter Weekend, the day on which Jesus was crucified. For Jews, it’s Purim, a holiday that celebrates our deliverance from destruction at the hands of Haman as related in the Book of Esther.

That’s an unusual juxtaposition: Good Friday and Purim. Usually, Good Friday and Easter are more-or-less coincident with Passover, the major Jewish spring festival, for obvious historical reasons. But this year, owing to the peculiarities of both the Christian ecclesiastical calendar and the Jewish calendar, the Easter season is exceptionally early this year...and since this is a Jewish leap year, Passover will be observed next month.

In centuries past, Jews would keep a low profile this time of year: Attracting the attention of Gentiles whipped into an anti-semitic fury by Passion plays and sermons was a good way to get yourself killed. But that was then, and this is now...and we have other people seeking our destruction to be concerned about. So it’s perfectly OK for us to enjoy our Purim silliness - it’s traditional to enjoy a liberal taste of the grape or even of Yakov Barleycorn, and to dress in costumes - while our Christian friends celebrate the more solemn joy of their holiday today.

Purim is, in a way, a perfect day for a Random Ten. Or a random anything, for that matter...because purim literally means “lots.” As in “casting lots.” Throwing the dice. Relying on randomness to help make a decision.

What does the Little White Choon-Box have to say about all this? Let’s find out:
  1. Loser - Richard Cheese

    Richard Cheese’s Vegas lounge-style cover of the Beck classic adds an extra layer of dementia to an already-demented tune.

    In the time of chimpanzees I was a monkey
    Butane in my veins and I’m out to cut the junkie
    With the plastic eyeballs, spray-paint the vegetables
    Dog food skulls with the beefcake pantyhose
    Kill the headlights and put it in neutral
    Stock car flamin’ with a loser in the cruise control
    Baby’s in Reno with the Vitamin D
    Got a couple of couches, asleep on the love-seat

    Soy un perdedor
    I’m a loser, baby, so why don’t you kill me?

    Someone keeps sayin’ I’m insane to complain
    About a shotgun wedding and a stain on my shirt
    Don’t believe everything that you breathe
    You get a parking violation and a maggot on your sleeve
    So shave your face with some Mace in the dark
    Savin’ all your food stamps and burnin’ down the trailer park
    (Yo. Cut it.)

    Soy un perdedor
    I’m a loser, baby, so why don’t you kill me?
    (Double-barrel buckshot)

    Soy un perdedor
    I’m a loser, babe, so why don’t you kill me?
    (Kill me, baby)

    (Get crazy with the Cheez-Wiz)
    (Drive-by body pierce)
    (Sprechen Sie Deutsch, baby?)
    (Yo, bring it on down)

    Soy un perdedor
    I’m a loser, baby, so why don’t you kill me?
    (I can’t believe you!)

    Soy un perdedor
    I’m a loser, baby, so why don’t you kill me?


  2. MacArthur Park - Richard Harris

    One of the truly nutty - and unexplainable - hits of the 1960’s.

  3. V.T.T.L.O.T.F.D.G.F. - Fishbone

    According to Wikipedia, the initials stand for “Voyage To The Land Of The Freeze Dried Godzilla Farts,” and is about a government attempt to convince the public that Hiroshima was actually caused by Godzilla farting. I’ll try to test that hypothesis four weeks from today, when I plan to be in Hiroshima with Elder Daughter.

  4. One Note Song - Tenacious D

  5. Tankkaustunti - Alamaiilman Vasarat

  6. L’Dor Va-Dor - Josh Nelson

  7. New Jersey - Red House Painters

  8. Day Tripper - The Beatles

  9. Act II, Scene 1: This Is Prophetic - John Adams, Nixon in China

  10. Bleeker Street - Klaus Badelt, The Time Machine (2002)

It’s Friday. What are you listening to?

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