Here are a few songs that recently came up on my iPod’s shuffle play.

The Beat Farmers “Beat Generation” (Rod McKuen)
The Beat Farmers are criminally underappreciated. This song has some serious swagger.

Frank Black “Hang On To Your Ego” (Beach Boys)
This song originally appeared on the Beach Boys Pet Sounds album with the title “I Know There’s An Answer.” Wikipedia has the whole story of why its name was changed.

Razorlight “Hey Ya” (Outkast)
Quite the little burst of sunshine. That’s the London Community Gospel Choir singing backup.

Tegan and Sara “When You Were Mine” (Prince)
When you get rid of the cheesy 80s synthesizers you realize what a great songwriter Prince is.

Nirvana “Where Did You Sleep Last Night” (Lead Belly)
This is pretty much the only worthwhile thing that ever came out of the MTV Unplugged series. I still get chills when I hear it.