hackthis_archive | This one's for you: a music post the size of a small country.

Last week's music post was so well received that I had to squeeze in one more. I'm sure there's a theme here, but I can't quite connect the dots, or perhaps I'm just unwilling. I want you to enjoy this purely for the sake of the music, because music is the best boyfriend ever, and not like real boyfriends at all.

This One's For You: A Music Post the Size of a Small Country

The 88 'How Good it Can Be' -- Do you remember when I used to talk about The O.C. like all the fucking time? Do you remember the days of Telegraph Avenue and Seth! Ryan! SethnRyan! Yeah, no, I don't remember that time either. If I did then this song would be a testament to that time, you know, before The O.C. sucked ass.

Al Green 'Love and Happiness' -- Every music post by

hackthis must have at least two of the following: Jeff, Johnny, Thom, Gary, Guy or who? AL! Yeah, Al is the man. I believe he's decided to return to secular music after his religious stint, too. Not that Al shouldn't be making the Lord's music, but I bet the Lord likes to nod his or her head to a little old skool Al, too.

Beastie Boys 'Girls' -- Oh Ad Rock. And Mike D. And MCA. How you have changed from the louts with inflatable penises and girls in cages on stage to the 'Free Tibet, Damn the Man, even though we are richer than the man' movement. It's so cute in a really sort of scary way. This song is just fun. Misogynistic as hell, but fun.

Badly Drawn Boy 'Something to Talk About' -- Badly Drawn Boy is just one boy, Damon Gough. He's short, a bit grubby looking, and he goes around wearing this knit cap which looks as though it hasn't been washed in about a decade. Or he did until he became a dad and changed his hat. Fatherhood does that to people; it makes you grow up. This song is the theme from About a Boy, a film about growing up, too.

Billy Joel 'Don't Ask Me Why' -- Someone somewhere is having a heart attack that I included Billy Joel in a music posting Actually, no, two people are definitely having heart attacks right now. One is my best mate who loves Billy Joel and thinks he's the second coming, the other person is probably just having a heart attack from the naff shame.

Bob Marley 'One Love' -- It occurs to me that I can't remember ever putting Bob in a music posting. I pray that this is not true, but I suspect it is. For the record Rastafari are not all about the weed-smoking -- they are all about the enlightenment, betterment of the people, and you know, a toke here or there.

The Charlatans 'Autograph' -- The Charlatans (or the Charlatans UK in the states) are survivors of the Stone Roses-Madchester era, but unlike, oh, say everyone else, they're still around. 'Autograph' is a song off of Up to Our Hips, one of the albums the Charlies prefer not to talk about or acknowledge for any host of reasons, but that doesn't make it any less fantastic. This song about what it's like to be on the other side of the adoring fan movement, the next time you think about harassing someone you idolize, stop for a moment first. PLEASE.

D12 'My Band' -- Eminem has had a hard year (rehab, re-divorce, the loss of his best mate). D12 has had a hard year (the loss of member Proof). This song was supposed to be the first in a string of hits, and even if all the promise comes to naught, you can still feel it in this song. Hell, I'm still waiting for Em to put out a single called 'My Salsa.'

Elbow 'Leaders of the Free World' -- Aren't Elbow that really emotional (for the Mancunians) band that

hackthis never stops pimping? The one with that one wooly-mammoth guy, with the sex-drunk voice, who always sounds like he's trying to be stoic and failing miserably? Yeah, that would be Guy and Co, but you can't talk about people fucking you over all the time. Sometimes you talk about politics.

John Williams 'The Imperial March' -- If you have no idea what this file is you are banished. Haw-purrrrr. Haw-purrrr.

Lyle Lovett 'M-O-N-E-Y' -- Prior to about, err, four months ago, my entire exposure to Lyle Lovett came down to him being that guy that Julia Roberts married that one time. As I don't think Julia Roberts (I keep typing Julian by the way) could act her way out of a paper bag this is not saying a lot. And then one day some random Criminal Mastermind was all 'Lyle is the shit and you are an infidel, listen to this right now!' So I did, and guess what, he's not bad – and by that I mean he kinda rocks. Who knew?

Nat King Cole 'Straighten Up and Fly Right' -- I've recently finished reading an autobiography on Mr Cole (originally Mr Coles), which was a little dry in places – I like music, but do not need whole pages about crescendos -- but overall quite engaging. This is my ode to him.

Nerina Pallot 'Idaho' and 'Everybody's Gone to War' -- Nerina is possibly my female vocalist for 2006. Every year I find one (maybe two (I suggest Corinne Bailey-Rae's 'Put Your Records On, too)), since I'm very VERY picky about these things. She first came to my attention with 'Everybody's Gone to War' which is a song about being jaded and wondering when the hell the world got shot to shit. Idaho sounds like Fiona Apple. Idaho sounds so much like Fiona Apple I thought it might be a duet <-- this is not a bad thing.

Prince 'How Come U Don’t Call Me Anymore' -- Alicia Keys sang this song on her debut album; I liked the song; I like Alicia Keys. So imagine my shock to find out that "Hey, bitch, Prince sang it first!' Nobody Compares 2 Prince, yo. Not Sinead. Not Alicia. Nobody. Did I mention that His Purpleness doesn't even like people covering his songs? But hey, never let a thing like principles get in the way of royalties.

Regina Spektor 'Samson' -- The first Regina song I introduced you lot to was 'Us,' and then a few months back I posted 'Reading with Pickle.' Today, we take a little trip back in time, like about 2000 years, to those crazy kids Samson and Delilah. Only this time you hear the story from Delilah's point of view, and then you realise this isn't 2000 years ago, it was probably last month, and no matter what people on the outside see, the only people who really know what happened are the two people involved.

Robbie Williams 'Sin Sin Sin' -- Ah, Robbie. You love him, you hate him, you think he needs to come out of the closet already. Whatever your feelings are about Mr Williams, you have to admit, the boy has talent. I mean you never would've thought it from the Take That days, but there you go. Hate the sin, not the sinner he says, but I think that's one of those things that's easier said than done.

The Rolling Stones 'Cocksucker Blues' -- Perhaps not one of the best well known Stones songs, but how could I not include it on name alone? Seriously.

Sia 'Sunday' -- Sia is one of the cadre of vocalists for Zero 7. You guys know who Zero 7 are, because I talk about them all the time. Well, she's gone solo and this is from her debut LP 'Colour the Small One.' Sia has this beautifully soothing voice, without resorting to vocal theatrics or studio tricks. In short, she has in spades what's missing from a lot of female vocalists these days: talent.

Sleepy Brown f/ Outkast 'I Can't Wait' -- First of all, I fucking hate 'Hey, Ya!' Seriously. Just the intro makes my skin crawl. This song is before that era, and there are no words for how fucking cool this song is. It's Dre and Big Boi, before Dre had his whole diva breakdown and stopped touring. It's old skool Outkast done for Sleepy Brown's debut single, it's slick and sleek and should appeal directly to your inner pimp.

Stevie Wonder 'Living for the City' -- This is a song about the things we do to survive, where you work to live and hopefully don't live to work. It's all about the slog, the long hard, 9 (half eight) to 7 slog. Does anybody even work 9 to 5 anymore? In what country does that occur, in what industry? Please, tell me about that industry.

Sufjan Stevens 'Jacksonville' -- I don't know how I feel about Sufjan Stevens. Sometimes I really like him, sometimes I'm just like 'meh.' He does have the best song titles you will find anywhere (see: They Are Night Zombies!! They Are Neighbors!! They Have Come Back From the Dead!! Ahhhhh!), but there's something about this particular song that grabs my insides and twists until I think I'm going to be sick. But in a good way.

The Vines 'Don't Listen to the Radio' -- I could write a whole blurb about the crack-addled, manic frontman for the Vines, Craig Nicholls, but I would rather go have a beer. Regardless of your feelings about Craig, just listen to what the song says, "For the fucking love of whomever is in heaven, don't listen to the shitty programming on the radio" – except for Virgin Radio late night.

Yes 'Owner of a Lonely Heart' -- I love this song. Nuff said.

Zip: A-M here; N-Z here <-- my apologies if there are duplication issues, my zip programme kept giving me shit when I was trying to split the original.

I didn't get to put Nerina in the original set of zips, and since I didn't want her to get lonely I added some other stuff, like Dolly Parton, Ella Fitzgerald, Keane and Griffin House. Extra gifts here.

*All music made possible through a grant from the

literaryll Corporation. No copyright infringement or harm intended, just looking to share the love.