I’m typically not very excited when I am given a hypothetical question along the lines of ‘If you were on a desert island what five things would you want with you?’ My answer is always something along the lines of ‘A Coast Guard ‘copter, fuel for it, a book on how to fly a ‘copter, enough food and water for two months, and Elsa Benitez.’
So the hypothetical you are about to read about, one that I assigned myself, is a bit unnatural. It does come as the result of some very deep pondering that I have been engaged in lately in regard to a list I am making of my all-time favorite songs.
Here is how it goes. You have been convicted by a police state for a crime that doesn’t matter since you didnt commit it. Before they strand you on a desert island without a Coast Guard helicopter, a strange quirk in the legal system forces you into the following situation: You have at your disposal a digital library of all music and the means to burn it onto a CD. You only have one CD. You must fill it with your favorite songs, in a format that can be played on the original Sony Discman that is in a bag next to your lone CD‑R. [That means you can’t stuff the CD with mp3s, bozo]. You cannot have more than one song by an artist, or else you will be flayed by superintelligent marmosets and then dipped in salt. What songs do you put on the CD?
Here is what I would put on.
Plush [Acoustic] — Stone Temple Pilots — 3:54
Down to the Waterline — Dire Straits — 3:56
Tin Pan Alley [AKA The Roughest Place in Town] — Stevie Ray Vaughan — 9:08
Dangerous Mood — Joe Cocker and B.B. King — 4:54
Fool in the Rain — Led Zeppelin — 6:12
Ziggy Stardust — David Bowie — 3:13
Nothing Else Matters [Acoustic] — Metallica — 6:23
For Martha — Smashing Pumpkins — 8:17
I Burn — Toadies — 3:31
The Soft Collision — Machines of Loving Grace — 4:50
Specialist — Interpol — 6:34
Have You Ever Seen the Rain? — Creedence Clearwater Revival — 2:39
Bohemian Rhapsody — Queen — 5:59
Total Run Time — 69:20