Weekend Listomania (Special Ain't It a Fweakin' Shame? Audio/Video Edition)

Well, it's Friday, and you know what that means, Yes, my Oriental drive-shaft adjuster (that's a metaphor) Fah Lo Suee and I will be heading off to an undisclosed location for a little Memorial Day weekend R&R.

And they better have plugged the damn hole (that's not a metaphor) before the weekend's over.

In any case, since things will be a little quiet around here for the forseeable future, here's a fun little project for us all:

Best or Worst Post-Elvis Pop/Rock/Soul Record or Song With the Word(s) Sorrow or Pity (or Variants Thereof) in the Title or Lyrics!!!

Self-explanatory, I think, and no arbitrary rules whatsoever, you're welcome very much.

And my totally top of my head Top Seven are:

7. Otis Redding -- Mr. Pitiful

	Otis Redding - Mr. Pitiful .mp3
	Found at bee mp3 search engine

One of my favorite Otis records, and whenever I hear it I want to say to him -- I know the feeling.

5. Gene Pitney -- Town Without Pity



Here rendered as "Bleib Bei Mir," because frankly this one could only sound more over the top melodramatic in the original German.

4. Faith No More -- Last Cup of Sorrow



To be honest, I thought these guys were kind of overrated back in the day, and I don't even much care for the song. But the homage to Hitchcock's Vertigo in this video has always kind of tickled me.

3. The Lovin' Spoonful -- Only Pretty What a Pity




An uncharacteristically nasty song from the group that practically invented the concept of Good Time Music. Written and sung by Spoonful drummer Joe Butler, presumably about a real woman of his acquaintance. "Everyone except a baby/answers for the face they wear" has always struck me as one of the most chillingly poetic lines in rock history.

2. The Merseys -- Sorrow




The sadly better known David Bowie cover of this is one of the only things on Pin-Ups I can tolerate, but the original is still the greatest.

2. Weezer -- This is Such a Pity



Because, as you know, we like to have something recorded in this century. A pretty cool song in any case.

And the Numero Uno miserabilist song of them all, please let's not quibble about this, is --

1. Warren Zevon -- Poor Poor Pitiful Me




The live version, which, although spirited, omits the great line about the girl at the Rainbow Bar who asks Zevon to beat her -- "I don't want to talk about it." Although the bit about Jesse James is now relevant in a way Zevon couldn't have predicted but I suspect would have appreciated.

Alrighty then -- what would YOUR favorites be?

[Shameless Blogwhore: My parallel Cinema Listomania -- theme: best or worst WWII-themed movie -- is now up over at Box Office. As always, it would help get me in good with management if you could kindly see your way to going over there and leaving a comment. Thanks!]