This Is Not A Blatant Plea For Comments. As Such.

Because you folks have been more than nice in that respect.

However, I was listening to some songs the other night, well, last night to be exact, and I happened upon a goodie indeed. That would be the Old 97s take on the Marty Robbins classic "El Paso." You know, I hope Marty's up there at the big Grand Old Opry In The Sky, singing way late, making the Opry run long, and ruining the opening of Ernest Tubb's record show. And pissing Ernest off. Just like he used to do down here on Earth.

But that's neither here nor there. Here's where we are. I was driving along listening to "El Paso" and singing along and realized that, yes, this is a "Sunset Boulevard" type of song. That means the person who's singing the song is actually dead when they're singing it.

And then, since I'd had a couple of cups of coffee at Mr M's, I got to thinking. Dead People Songs.

I thought of two right off the bat bing-bing. "Who Done It" by Nilsson, and "God's Comic" by Elvis Costello. Both of those are sung by dead narrators. But after those two I went completely blank.

There have to be more than three songs sung by dead people. Anyone know of any more? With this crowd, I know I'm bound to get a few more.

And now, on to part two of this musical but mundane entry. Without further ado may I throw out a random list:

10 of the 76,491 Songs I Couldn't Live On This Earth Without (in random order):
* "The Mercy Seat" - Nick Cave
* "The Delivery Man" - Elvis Costello
* "Fool In Love" - Ike & Tina Turner
* "Carrie Brown" - Steve Earle & the Del McCoury Band
* "In My Room" - the Beach Boys
* "Elvis Presley Blues" - Gillian Welch
* "Dear Prudence" - the Beatles
* "Clove Cigarette" - Steven Ashbrook
* "MTA" - the Kingston Trio
* "Dirty Deeds Done Dirt Cheap" - AC/DC

And so, what are a few of the songs you couldn't live without? Don't have to be your favorite songs of all time, just ones you hear that make you sigh and be happy that you're alive. Come on, we all have them.

Betland's Olympic Update:
* Well, the crab cake and green beans that were pre-empted by the Monday headache came off tonight. And may I say a more lackluster meal you'd be hard pressed to find. I seem to be losing my cooking touch. I think it's because I don't care anymore.