If You've Got Leavin' On Your Mind

Sometimes I just start making playlists for no discernable reason, until a hazy theme begins to emerge. With this one, most of the songs had to do with a dissatisfaction about one's relationship. I'm not actually in a relationship right now, so I don't know where that came from, but the songs are still good.


The Orchids - Mr. Scrooge

Christ! How could I not have posted the Orchids already! They're so good. And yes, that is really them. In 1963, three fifteen year old girls from Coventry won a talent contest in the local Orchid Ballroom, and one thing led to another and pretty soon they're cutting singles for Decca. They had a microscopic career, only recording a handful of singles in England, but pretty much every one of them is gold. They sound a little like the Crystals, and a lot like a twentysomething girl group of black chicks, instead of some mousy Brit girls barely old enough to date.


Richard Hell & the Voidoids - Betrayal Takes Two

I can't say that I'm a huge huge Richard Hell fan, but I do seem to wind up listening to him an awful lot. Mostly it's because he wrote a handful of songs that I really, really like, e.g. "Blank Generation," and, of course, this broken Bowery take on infidelity.


Buddy Ebsen - Your Cheating Heart

Halfway through uploading this song, I realized I was actually uploading Buddy Ebsen's cover version, not Hank Williams's. I thought it was funnier and more interesting that way, so I let it finish. You all probably own the Hank Williams version anyway, right?


Prince - New Position

My affection for Prince waxes and wanes, and it's currently at a lower ebb than usual, but this song's still pretty awesome.


Peetie Wheatstraw - No Good Woman (Fighting Blues)

"Peetie Wheatstraw" is, in old negro folklore, the evil half of a good/evil set of twins, the "High Sheriff of Hell" vs the "Lord God Stingerroy." You know that old meme of a southern black blues player at a crossroads selling his soul to Satan for musical skill and success? That's mostly due to this guy here (born William Bunch, although he took the name Wheatstraw at a young age), as he actually claimed that he had sold his soul to Satan for just such a bargain.

Deep in the night of his 39th birthday, he decided to drive to the liquor store to get some more booze. At a crossroads, he tried to beat an oncoming train across the tracks. He didn't make it.


Patsy Cline - Leavin' On Your Mind

My friend's boyfriend broke up with her the other day. By text message. Classy, right? I did break up with a girl once over the phone, I admit, but that was a long time ago, and it was kind of an accident.

Tell me about your terrible break-up!