A few months ago we launched a new weekly playlist series called The Sunday 25 Mix, aka, S-25. The idea behind the playlist mix is to choose 25 songs we love that are not necessarily “indie,” thereby giving us the chance to share music from any era and genre of music, including, but not limited to, classic rock, pop, new wave, psychedelic rock, punk, post punk, folk, jazz, blues, hiphop, and so on. Many of the S-25 mixes (dig the archives and find music jems) also included a spotlight band, and in the future, many others will. If you’re a regular listener/reader of IRC, you’ve probably already streamed some of the S-25 mixes, such as the special mix, or the Love Songs We Love, and Winter Songs mixes.
The first few S-25 mixes were randomized, and well-received. Yet, in subsequent weeks, we found that our regular visitors were showing even more interest for songs in a playlist mix that share a common characteristic or theme – whether implied or direct. Therefore, the weekly S-25 mixes from here on out will have specific subject matter that is reflected (often, not always) in the song title of every track in the playlist. A couple of good examples would be one of the most popular S-25 mixes so far this year, the Egyptian Revolution mix. For that mix, the songs were not directly related to each other, but when put together, tell a bigger story.
The other type of S-25 mix is much more targeted and granular when it comes to the theme or the subject matter, and it requires that whatever the subject matter is – from something completely mundane to something gripping – each song title in the mix must share the same highlighted word. This week’s S-25 theme is the color red. It’s always fun to put together playlist mixes, but the best part is sharing them with other hundreds of thousands of other people across the globe.
In the meantime, enjoy these 25 – plus some extras for good measure – songs that have ‘red’ in the song title, ranging from UB40 and The Decemberists to Jimi Hendrix and Nick Cave. The live version of “Red House” is a bootleg from the old Winterland Theatre in Palo Alto (today ijust another piece of evidence, even 40 years later, of why Hendrix is considered one of the – if not the – best electric guitarists ever. Let’s kick off this mix with one of our favorite songs from one of our favorite albums by one of our favorite bands of 2008, “Red and Purple” by The Dodos.
You may notice some other common themes in this playlist mix other than the fact that all of the song titles have the word ‘red’ in them; notice the number of songs about ‘red ankles’ and ‘red hands,’ plus ‘red rain’ and ‘red wine’.
Note: You can click on the artist/band name to see another post playlist and click on the album title to purchase the entire album directly from Amazon on a secured server. Often times, Amazon’s prices are lower than iTunes, and each time you make a purchase using our link, we get a small referral fee which doesn’t amount to much, but helps pay our server costs.
“Red and Purple” – The Dodos from Visiter (2008)
“Little Red Corvette” – Prince from Purple Rain [Explicit] (1987)
Originally, we were going to post a list of songs with any color in the song title. The problem is that there are so many great songs with a color in the title that we needed to get even more granular and simply pick a color. The choice of going with a specific color – in this case, red – is not meant to be symbolic at all for anything other than the fact that it is one of many naturally occurring colors; red is found deep in the oceans, in the veins that travel throughout of our bodies, across the great expanse of the universe, and in countless other forms, shades and designs, from rocks and flowers to feathers and fruits.
We scoured our music collections to gather up, filter out, and post 25 great songs containing the word ‘red’ in the song title. We realize the whole idea might be a little corny to the oh-so-serious among you, but come on, man, we’re just trying to make sharing great music just a little more playful and interesting. Afterall, it’s Sunday.
Among our personal music playlists – which have been under development for years – are many different categories and themes; dozens upon dozens of intriguing playlists, spanning the gamut of themes, ranging from Songs About The Moon, Songs About New York City, and Songs For Moms, to genre-based playlists, like dream-pop, garage rock, Americana and post punk, to name a few. As we’ve done in the past, more of these mixes will be posted in the ensuing months, including the weekly S-25 Mix. Of the many playlist categories in our iTunes is one of our favorites themes: ‘Songs About Colors’ which contain literally hundreds of great songs with at least one color in the song title. Still sounds corny? That’s cool, we totally get it, but hopefully you’ll enjoy this mix even if you think it’s corny.
“Red Wine On White Pants” – Terry Ohms from What Do You Mean What Do I Mean? (2010)
“Red Right Hand” – Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds from Let Love In (1994) – special: only $5.99 on AMZ
Cover Version: “Red Right Hand” – Arctic Monkeys* from Cryin’ Lightning
“Deep Red Bells” – Neko Case from Blacklisted (2002)
“Red Rain” – Peter Gabriel from So (1986)
“Red Curbs” – Admiral Radley from I Heart California (2010)
“Red Dress” – TV on the Radio from Dear Science (2008)
“They’re Red Hot (Robert Johnson)” – Eric Clapton from Me & Mr. Johnson (2004)
“Red-Eyed and Blue” – Wilco from Being There (1996)
“Red Ankles” – Matt Pond PA from Four Songs EP (2004)
“Reds” – Houses from All Night (2010)
“Red Berries” – Angus & Julia Stone from Hollywood (2008)
Don’t miss new songs, videos, news, contests and giveaways, plus other cool stuff and links that we often post only via our Twitter and Facebook accounts – it’s a way to stay in touch with what’s happening on a hourly and daily basis.
“Red House” (Live) – Jimi Hendrix from Live at Winterland (1971)
“Red Light Green Light” – The Fresh & Onlys from Play It Strange (2010)
“99 Luft Red Balloons” – Nina Hagen from Nina Hagen (1984)
“Red Right Ankle” – The Decemberists from Her Majesty, The Decemberists (2005)
“Red Rain” – The White Stripes from Get Behind Me Santa! (2005)
“Red Skies” – The Fixx from Shuttered Room (1982)
“Red Red Wine” – UB40 from 12 inch (1988)
“Red Red Wine” – The Russian Futurists from The Method of Modern Love (2010)
“Red” – Miles Davis from Aura (1985)
“Red Sky” – Please The Trees from Please The Trees (2009)
Lastly, we need your help. We want you guys to pick the songs for the next S-25 Mix using the Comments box below. The theme will be cars. Do you have one or more songs about cars that you really dig? Remember, for this mix series, your song suggestions are not restricted to the indie genre – whatever that means to you.