Just a quick post today. I’m trying to remember that Monday is “Songs I Found Last Week” day, when I reflect on music that was particularly relevant to my metacognitive journey. There’s no real reason other than I just like to keep track of these things, and I enjoy over-sharing.
Once again, this is not a “best new music” column. Some of these songs are new. Some are old. Some may be extremely famous songs that everyone except me apparently knew. The main rule is that they were somehow thrust into my life last week, not because I intentionally played them or because someone else did. I mean … well, you’ll get the idea. I don’t need rules.
1. Lou Reed & Metallica — “Junior Dad”
The Song: From the much maligned Lulu double concept collaboration album, where Lou Reed mumbles excerpts from the two “Lulu” plays by Frank Wedekind while Metallica appears to be having an unrelated jam session.
How I Found It: I was watching a video called “10 Albums that Almost Killed Careers.” And thinking, I actually hadn’t listened to Lulu or a couple of the other ones in there. The setup made it seem like my kind of thing: Spoken word, avant-garde, metal soundscapes, art rock. If Metallica wants to be Velvet Underground for an album, that would probably work for me, but I can see it wouldn’t work for a Metallica fan. So I listened… and I gave up on track 2. Just awful. Then the infamous “Some Guy Who Knows” chimes in…
“You know, Darrin, David Bowie and Laurie Anderson said ‘Junior Dad’ was a masterpiece. Even Pitchfork, who rated the album 1 out of 10, admitted the last track was good.”
“It’s 20 minutes long!”
“Can you live with yourself if you never heard it? It may become your new favorite song…”
“Curse you, SoGuWK!”
Spoiler: it was better than the leadoff tracks, but I still don’t ever want to hear it again.
2. Ricochet Racers — Commercial Jingle
The Song: From a series of commercials from the early 70’s appearing during Saturday Morning cartoons. Successful enough that every kid had at least one version of this toy.
How I Found It: So this week, we have a new champion in the running for “dumbest earworm ever.” To my surprise, I have apparently retained the theme from a 1976 Hasbro commercial for Ricochet Racers for fifty years. At the same time, I often cannot remember why I walked upstairs. The human memory system has some questionable prioritization algorithms. I remember singing it while I played with mine. Honestly, is there a more quintessential All-‘Merica toy!? It’s a bolt-action sniper rifle, only instead of bullets, it shoots cars with names like “440 Magnum,” “Strip Shooter,” “Hemi Shot,” and “Hole Shot .38.” Oh, my God, we were so indoctrinated back then. I will also guarantee that, after the cars were lost and destroyed, 90% of 1970’s kids were, like me, exploring what else could be shot out of the gun; 75% learned that the gun made a dandy “bottle rocket delivery mechanism.”
3. Kate Bush — “Moments of Pleasure”
The Song: A 1993 composition by Kate Bush where she sings about dead friends and colleagues, including guitarist Alan Murphy, director Michael Powell, and Abbey Road engineer John Barrett. Michael Kamen (also now passed) did the orchestral arrangement. The chorus was a song written for Bush’s mother while she was ill, and who also passed away shortly after.
How I Found It: My four-times-a-week writer group has its own Discord server because hanging out with people four times a week isn’t enough; we need to be in contact 24/7. One of the many off-topic channels we keep is “Music.” This week, a friend offered up Kate Bush’s “Breathing” as an example of how good composition works like prose. Of course, being a major fan of the muse, I basically said, “Kate, let me hold your beer,” and threw up “Moments of Pleasure.” I thought I was demonstrating how Kate Bush could do even more with less than she put into “Breathing.” Then I listened and realized I had accidentally brought live ammunition to a composition discussion.
4. Rokas Yan — “Skauda”
The Song: A 2025 Lithuanian pop song. The title translates to “It Hurts.”
How I Found It: Yes, I was doing a little work on The Halferne Bodhi, my sci-fi humanist/think-piece novel set in a future utopian Kaunas, Lithuania. I’ve discussed it at length, so I won’t bore you here. Apparently, my research process now consists of writing science fiction while listening to Radijas Kelije in the background until something interrupts the fictional Lithuania in my head and demands admission, so I Shazam it and wonder why a guy is singing in a weird language on my playlist the next day.
5. Lambert, Hendricks & Ross — “Twisted”
The Song: Quintessential vocalese. Essentially Annie Ross writing lyrics to a Wardell Gray saxophone solo. The famous version was recorded by Lambert, Hendricks, and Ross as a trio.
How I Found It: I have a bit of a weird relationship with my digital assistants. Knowing that I have a tendency to fall asleep while reading, writing, or watching TV, I have them programmed at 3 A.M. to turn off the TV and all the lights, lock the front door, and play KCSM San Francisco at a low volume while I sleep. On weekends, AM America’s Old Time Radio Comedy Channel substitutes for San Francisco jazz. Apparently, last Friday Lambert, Hendricks & Ross wandered onto The Jack Benny Program … or possibly Burns and Allen … or maybe it was the “Johnson Wax Show” … Whatever. It woke me up. So I made a note and went back to sleep.
Bonus Noise: “Ladybugs’ Picnic”
The Song: A 1972 Sesame Street short. Music by Bud Luckey. Lyrics by Donald Hadley. Vocals by Jim Kweskin. According to the Muppet/Sesame archival record, it became the most frequently repeated Sesame Street segment, appearing in about 100 episodes between 1972 and 2001
How I Found It: Yes, guess how many items were in my cart at Costco Saturday morning. I can’t be the only one who breaks into song when I hear the number 12, right? Okay, the kid thought I lost my mind and swore I was making up the words, so I insisted on finding the video and playing it in the car on the drive home. Apparently this two-minute piece of children’s television has occupied permanent neural storage since the Nixon administration.
Meanwhile, I can stare at a right triangle for twenty minutes before remembering only that Pythagoras had some thoughts about it. Education works.
So, that’s where my brain is this week. Feel free to throw your own weird encounters in the comments. Bonus points if you earworm me.
