Music: Guess the connection

Time for another game of sorts.

Here’s the playlist for a CD-R I made just over a year ago. All of the cuts are connected by a single clear connection.

Your task: Guess the connection. Prizes: Limited glory, no fame. If we ever have another C&I “in person” get-together, you’ll get a handsome 8.5×11 print from one of my wife’s travel photos. (So will everyone else there, but you’ll get first choice.)

Two clues–one of them a red herring:

1. One cut features an instrument that’s not heard all that often, played by the creator of a particular playing technique for that instrument. The only time I was ever on the radio (other than a “Talk of the Nation” hour a few years back in which I probably said 200 words total), I was singing and playing that instrument using that technique.

2. It would not have been possible to make this particular CD-R in the days of LPs (not for technological reasons; a mix tape wouldn’t have worked either)–but the connection would have made even more sense, in a somewhat different instance.

  • “Wildwood Flower”–the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band with Mother Maybelle Carter and others
  • “Golliwog’s Cakewalk”–Julian Bream & John Williams
  • “Jesse James”–Ry Cooder
  • “Marie Christine”–Gordon Lightfoot
  • “You Can Leave Your Hat On”–Randy Newman
  • “Mendocino County Line”–Willie Nelson & Lee Ann Womack
  • “It’s Worth Believin'”–Gordon Lightfoot
  • “Invention in C Minor”–Billy Joel
  • “When Irish Girls Grow Up”–Tom Russell
  • “Amazing Grace”–Judy Collins
  • “(They Long to Be) Close to You”–The Carpenters
  • “Crossroads”–Gordon Lightfoot
  • “You’ve Got a Friend in Me”–Randy Newman
  • “If You Could Touch Her At All”–Willie Nelson
  • “Old Dan’s Records”–Gordon Lightfoot
  • “Aladdin’s Word”–Aladdin soundtrack
  • “April Come She Will”–Simon & Garfunkel
  • “All of Me”–Willie Nelson
  • “Mona Lisas and Mad Hatters”–Elton John
  • “Our Prayer”–the Beach Boys
  • “El Testamen de Amelia”–John Williams
  • “Ragtime”–Randy Newman, solo piano version

First correct answer within the next week wins. Otherwise, I’ll annotate this entry with the answer, on or after October 26.

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This entry was posted on Tuesday, October 18th, 2005 at 9:29 pm and is filed under Stuff. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.

One Response to “Music: Guess the connection”

  1. walt says:
    October 30, 2005 at 3:39 pm

    Since Laura Crossett came up with the organizing principle for the other example, I’ll annotate it here as well.

    All these cuts are Track 16 on the source CD. It would not have been possible to make the CD-R or an equivalent mix tape in LP days for the obvious reason: Very few (if any) LPs had 16 tracks!