This Week’s Theme: As Heard on TV
Up until about the last twenty years, there were three main ways to discover music. You could listen to the radio, you could go to a record store, or, if you were lucky, you had a sibling, parent, or friend who would hook you up with the real shit. Movies were also an option for hearing new music, but they offered a limited appeal since the soundtracks were often focused on selling the album based on inclusion of already popular artists and songs. This isn’t to say that there weren’t some great movie soundtracks out there, but for every Quentin Tarantino soundtrack there were at least a hundred Top Gun soundtracks. Add to that the fact that before the invention of the internet you had to do all of the research yourself to figure out what song you were even hearing. In the 21st century, however, a new, much more varied, method of discovering great music has been provided by television, especially in shows produced by cable and streaming services. As discussed in Radio Faux Show # 26, I watch a lot of television, but, unlike the music in Faux Show # 26, this week’s show is not focused on tv theme songs. It is instead focused on music selected by the tv show creators for use in the show. It has gotten to the point that I always have my Shazam app ready to go when watching certain shows, and I discovered many of the songs selected this week in that way. Some of the songs are old, some are new, some I already knew but now have a newfound respect for based on the show, some I had never heard before the show included them, some are used thematically throughout the entire series, some are used only once in a way that adds emphasis to the scene, and all of them show the power of music as an emotional device.
Welcome to Radio Faux Show number twenty-nine.
First things first – click a link to start listening and then come back to read about this week’s songs.
This Week’s Theme Selections
Clickbait (2021), Season 1 Episode 5
Riton and Kah-Lo “Fake ID”: Clickbait was recently the #1 show on Netflix for about a week. It is a very good thriller based in the world of social media with enough twists and turns to keep it interesting up until the very last episode. It is an original idea and there is surprisingly very little violence. It is a show based on tension and surprises, much like if Hitchcock made a tv show in the 21st century. This song is used briefly in episode 5, The Reporter, when reporter Ben Park is researching the main character’s secret dating profiles and discovering the secret identities of his mistresses. The use of this song may be a little “on the nose,” but the character of Ben Park has already been developed in such a way that this song fits perfectly as music he would listen to while doing this research.
The Get Down (2016-17), All Episodes
Can “Vitamin C”: The Netflix show The Get Down was a very good show that provided a history of the creation of hip-hop in the late ’70s through a fictional story about several young people living in the South Bronx. Fictionalized accounts of DJ Kool Herc, Afrika Bambaataa, and Grandmaster Flash are interwoven with a main storyline about a drug dealer turned dj who forms a rap group with a teenaged wordsmith and his friends. This song is used throughout the series as an unofficial theme song for the character Dizzee, played by Jaden Smith.
Mad Men (2007-2015), Season 3 Episode 13 (2009 – season finale)
Roy Orbison “Shahdaroba”: AMC show Mad Men’s use of period music was perfection, and the use of this song at the end of Season 3 is one of the best examples.
The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel (2017-present), Season 1 Episode 4 (2017)
Amazon’s The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel tells the story of a housemaker turned stand-up comic in early ’60s New York City. This is arguably one of the best filmed scenes ever created for a television show.
Mindhunter (2017-19), Season 2 Episode 9 (2019 – series finale)
Peter Gabriel “Intruder”: This song was creepy enough before it was used at the end of this Netflix series as the music for a montage of the BTK serial killer during the closing credits. Scary.
Special note: This is the first song to use the “gated reverb” drum effect developed accidentally by producers Hugh Padgham and Steve Lillywhite and drummer Phil Collins. It went on to become the sound of drums in the ’80s.
Parks and Recreation (2009-2015), Season 7 Episode 13 (2015 – series finale)
Willie Nelson “Buddy”: Throughout the seven seasons of NBC’s Parks and Recreation, we learn of Ron Swanson’s love of Willie Nelson’s music, so it is a fitting end to his scenes on the show that this song is used to show him undertaking his new, final, perfect government job.
Reservation Dogs (2021), Season 1 Episode 5
Redbone “Come and Get Your Love”: This brand new FX show is created and produced by Taika Waititi and, like everything he creates, is wonderful. It tells the coming-of-age story of four indigenous teens in Oklahoma, and each episode is better than the last. This episode focuses on the character named Cheese as he spends a day riding along with local police officer Big. The title of the episode is “Come and Get Your Love,” and as we spend the day with them we learn some incredible backstory about Big and we learn about his love of the band Redbone. By the end of the episode both of them are singing this 1974 #5 hit together.
Redbone were a ’70s funk/soul band whose members were all Mexican-American or Native American. This song is from their great 1973 album Wovoka.
Russian Doll (2019), Season 1
Harry Nillson “Gotta Get Up”: This amazing Netflix show has apparently been renewed for a second season, but it is already perfection as a single season with a fantastic conclusion. No spoilers, but the show focuses on a woman stuck in a time loop. It’s a modern-day Groundhog Day with a very different theme. This song is playing at the beginning of the loop, so we get to hear it over and over and over. Luckily, it is a classic Nilsson song.
Sherlock (2010-2017), Season 2 Episode 3 (2012)
Nina Simone “Sinnerman”: It is a little bit on-the-nose, but the use of this song in the BBC show about Sherlock Holmes is perfect. It is used during a montage showing the beginning of the trial of Holmes’ nemesis Moriarty.
What We Do In The Shadows (2019-present), Theme Song
Norma Tanega “You’re Dead”: This FX show is based on the 2014 mockumentary by Jemaine Clement and Taika Waititi. Set in Staten Island, it follows the story of some vampires living in the modern world. It is the best show currently on television. This song was the theme to the film and was carried over to the show as well. Norma Tanega is the Artist of the Week.
Artist of the Week: Norma Tanega
Norma Tanega was a singer/songwriter, painter, and experimental musician from California whose career spanned over forty years. During those years she lived an incredible life that ranged from performing music with pottery to writing Top 40 hits to living a secret love affair with a ’60s icon. But the most amazing thing about her is that she is an outsider artist who found a world-wide audience; that is a level of success that alludes most outsider artists.
As a teenager, Tanega studied classical piano, wrote poetry, and exhibited her paintings at the local library. After receiving her MFA in 1962, she spent some time in Europe and then moved to Greenwich Village to focus on her artistic career. In the first half of the ’60s she split her time as a folk singer and political activist with her time working in a mental hospital and as a summer camp counselor. She performed her songs for the hospital patients and campers, and was discovered by producer Herb Brillstein while he was visiting the camp. Brillstein introduced her to the songwriter/producer of the Top 40 band The Four Seasons, and by 1966 she had recorded her first album. The first single from this album, “Walkin’ My Cat Named Dog,” hit the Top 40 in the US and UK, and even hit #3 in Canada. The song was then covered by a variety of artists and Tanega was added to a tour that included Top 40 artists Gene Pitney, Bobby Goldsboro, Chad & Jeremy, and The McCoys.
At this point in the story, this sounds like the career of a ’60s songwriter who had some minor success, just like hundreds of other artists from that time. However, the reality of Tanega’s genius, like the talent of so many other outsider artists, can only be found by looking deeper into her art. The fact that she had a Top 40 hit and toured to support it is the outlier in this story. If you listen closely to her first album, there is a striking aesthetic that makes you feel a little bit off-balance. Reactions like this are often found in artists who are creating art that is true to themselves and does not fit in with the world around it. From the moment you hear “You’re Dead,” the first track on the album, you can tell that there is something happening in the music and lyrics that deserves your attention. By the time you’ve heard the fifth track, “Don’t Touch,” you are sucked into the disturbing yet beautiful imagery of her lyrics and the intriguing quality of her voice. The rest of the album moves from her surprising hit “Walkin’ My Cat Named Dog” to the incredible “What Are We Craving?” to the final track, “I’m the Sky,” at which point you have listened to a true outsider masterpiece.
In 1966, while touring for her album, Tanega appeared on the BBC music program Ready, Steady, Go!. During this appearance, she met pop icon Dusty Springfield and they continued their relationship via telephone after Tanega returned to the US. Soon after, Springfield visited New York, the two of them became lovers, and Tanega moved to the UK. Their secret relationship lasted five years, during which time Tanega wrote many songs for Springfield. The majority of these songs were released as non-album B-sides for Springfield’s singles, and Tanega often did not receive songwriting credit.
When Tanega’s relationship with Springfield ended in the early ’70s, she moved back to California. During the next thirty years, she taught music and English as a second language, painted and exhibited her art (often with musical accompaniment), and moved from guitar to experimental percussion and instrumental music. In the ’80s, she joined Brian Ransom’s Ceramic Ensemble, a group that performed using Ransom’s handmade earthenware instruments. In the 21st century, her band Baboonz released three albums and she continued to record experimental music with others including the Ceramic Ensemble.
Tanega died at the age of 80 in 2019. During those 80 years she received more exposure than most outsider artists, but much less than she deserved. But, in the end, her work will never be forgotten because for every thousand forgotten popular artists whose work comes and goes in the wave of contemporary conformity, there is an outsider artist whose work will forever be discovered by those adventurous souls willing to search it out and accept it.
A Note about Outsider Music
There will be a Faux Show that focuses on outsider music at some point. For now, a simple definition is most likely required. Most people use the traditional definition provided by the person who named the genre, outsider music expert Irwin Chusid. Chusid defines outsider music as “crackpot and visionary music, where all trails lead essentially one place: over the edge”. Any serious research into the world of outsider music should begin with Chusid’s book, Songs in the Key of Z. Ms. Faux and I prefer to think of outsider music in a much broader way to allow for both popular and unknown artists to fall into the category without focusing solely on those artists who appear “over the edge.” We lean more towards the definition of visionary art provided by the American Visionary Art Museum, which is “art produced by self-taught individuals whose works arise from an innate personal vision and may not even be thought of as art by the creator,” although even that definition limits the inclusion of those attempting to create something they perceive as art. No matter the definition, there is one unifying force found in all outsider music – people either love it or hate it. To hate it is simple because most outsider music requires the consumer to remove all of their preconceived notions of the art form being presented. To love it is much more difficult, but the rewards are priceless. By allowing outsider artists into your understanding of what is acceptable is to allow yourself to be forever moved by the beauty, ugliness, sadness, and joy of the music they produce.
Creation, Duplication, Inspiration, and Theft
Creation
Wilco “I Am Trying to Break Your Heart”: This is the first song on the album that moved Wilco firmly out of their original Alt-Country mode and into the post-rock sound of their early 21st century records.
Kermit the Frog “Rainbow Connection”: This is the song that starts The Muppet Movie and has become one of the most beloved songs of the last fifty years.
Inspiration
American Aquarium “Rattlesnake”: This alt-country band named themselves after a lyric in the Wilco song “I Am Trying to Break Your Heart.” But Wilco didn’t just give them their name. This band is clearly inspired by the alt-country sound of Uncle Tupelo and Wilco. They are not the best band to attempt this style, but they have enough Steve Earle grittiness thrown in there to make their records intriguing. This song is from the new album Daytrotter Sessions.
Duplication
The Carpenters “The Rainbow Connection”: Although not released until after Karen Carpenter’s death, this cover of the Paul Williams song is about as beautiful a version as you will hear, thanks to the voice of Karen Carpenter.
Theft
The Avalanches “We Go On”: Arguably the greatest thieves in the history of music sampling, this song is from their 2020 album We Will Always Love You. It features a well-crafted Carpenters sample motif along with vocals from Mick Jones of The Clash.
Let’s Take A Trip Around The World
France
Sergent Garcia “Si yo llegoyo, yo llego”: This is the first track on French artist Garcia’s second, 1999 album. Ms. Faux and I discovered it the old fashioned way, by randomly listening to CDs at a record store.
Senegal
Orchestra Baobab “Gnawoe”: Orchestra Baobab were originally the house band at the Baobab Club in Dakar, Senegal. They performed and recorded for almost twenty years before breaking up in 1987. They reformed in 2001 and recorded a set of their old material. Released in 2002, Specialist in All Styles was produced by the legendary Youssou N’Dour, won several awards, and launched the band into a second career that is still going.
Nigeria
Riton and Kah-Lo “Fake ID”: Riton is an English producer who has been working for about twenty years and Kah-Lo is a Nigerian singer/songwriter who started her career about five years ago. This song is from their 2018 album Foreign Ororo, which also includes the Grammy nominated song “Rinse and Repeat.”
Argentina
Seru Giran “La Grasa de las Capitales”: Seru Giran were an Argentinian prog-rock supergroup whose popularity peaked in the late ’70s/early ’80s. This is the title track from their 1979 album.
Kindiegarten
Raffi “Listen to the Horses”: Raffi was the King of Children’s Music for over two decades before Kindie-Rock became a multi-million dollar industry. This song is from his fourth album, 1977’s More Singable Songs, and was produced by Daniel Lanois. Raffi has devoted his life to children’s issues and continues to support causes that promote the betterment of the world.
Dan Zanes “Wanderin'”: Dan Zanes took Raffi’s crown as the King of Children’s Music with his modern mix of folk music, international music, and children’s music. During the early 21st century he has put out a string of varied, high-quality recordings of family-based music. His concerts are like a house party where all of your neighbors are from different countries and ethnicities.
Before he made children’s music, Dan Zanes was a founding member and lead vocalist for the ’80s band The Del Fuegos.
Justin Roberts “Count Them As They Go”: Here at the Faux household, we believe that Justin Roberts is the greatest Kindie-Rock artist. He has been releasing records for over twenty years, and the unifying feature of all of them is his incredible ability to write catchy hooks. He is a pop songwriting master who devoted his career to writing songs for children instead of adults, but anyone who has listened to his records and gone to his concerts with their kids know that his music transcends all ages.
“Count Them As They Go” is from his 2012 album Lullaby, a collection of ten songs that feature Roberts’ beautiful voice and wonderful chamber arrangements by the Chicago Symphony Orchestra. This record gets play at our house even ten years after it was released. This is songwriting perfection.
Hits
David Bowie “Let’s Dance”
Redbone “Come and Get Your Love”
Kermit (Jim Henson) “Rainbow Connection”
U2 “Pride (In the Name of Love)”
Godley & Creme “Cry”
2 for “Two”day
Peter Gabriel “Digging in the Dirt” and “Intruder”
Godley & Creme “Sandwiches of You” and “Cry”
New
American Aquarium “Rattlesnake”
Jazzmeia Horn and Her Noble Force “Where is Freedom!?”
Yebba “Boomerang”
Happy Birthday (September 19)
Nile Rodgers is one of the most successful recording artists, songwriters, and producers in the history of popular music. His career could easily be used as a future Faux Show Super Theme, but for this week I included just one song to represent his incredible career. Picking just one is impossible, but “Let’s Dance” by David Bowie is a great example of his production skill. Bowie went to him and said he wanted to change his sound and create some Top 40 hits. That is never an easy thing to do, but Rodgers not only produced three hits for Bowie but also produced Bowie’s best selling album. That is saying something for an artist who had already spent a decade in the ’70s becoming an icon and an international superstar.
Lol Creme was a member of British band Hotlegs, who had a hit with “Neanderthal Man,” before the group, including Kevin Godley, changed their name to 10cc. Godley & Creme split from 10cc in 1976 after contributing to several British hits by the band, including the song “I’m Not In Love” in 1976. Godley & Creme spent the next few years producing art rock, including the use of an instrument they invented called The Gizmo. “Sandwiches of You” is from their second, 1978 album L. In the early ’80s, they expanded their talents into the field of music videos and produced over fifty videos, including classics such as “Every Breath You Take,” “Synchronicity II,” “Girls on Film,” “Rockit,” “Don’t Give Up,” and their own groundbreaking video for “Cry.”
Daniel Lanois is an extremely successful producer whose most popular work has included records by Peter Gabriel, U2, and Bob Dylan. He has produced three albums that won the Grammy for Album of the Year. The third album he ever produced was Raffi’s 1977 album More Singable Songs. He continued to produce lesser know albums until he began his partnership with Brian Eno in 1982. He worked with Eno on several ambient projects and then in 1984 he and Eno co-produced U2’s The Unforgettable Fire. This record launched the careers of both U2 and Lanois into the massive success that has come to both of them following its release. Lanois’ work producing Peter Gabriel’s soundtrack to the film Birdy in 1985 led to their collaboration on Gabriel’s next two albums, So in 1986 and Us in 1992.
Paul Williams is one of the most prolific and successful songwriters in the history of popular music. He has won an Oscar and Grammy award, has composed pop songs, tv themes, and film scores, has acted in several popular films, and has been the President of ASCAP for over ten years. He has had a wonderful career, but you could throw all of it away and just keep one song, his best song, and he would still be beloved by generations.
Freda Payne recorded several jazz and pop albums in the ’60s before finally producing her trademark hit, “Band of Gold.” “(How Do You Say) I Don’t Love You Anymore” is the title track to her 1966 album.
Thanks for listening (and reading)!
Track List
| Track | Artist | Song Title |
| 1 | David Bowie | Let’s Dance |
| 2 | Redbone | Come and Get My Love |
| 3 | Harry Nilsson | Gotta Get Up |
| 4 | Wilco | I Am Trying to Break Your Heart |
| 5 | American Aquarium | Rattlesnake |
| 6 | Kermit | The Rainbow Connection |
| 7 | The Carpenters | The Rainbow Connection |
| 8 | The Avalanches | We Go On |
| 9 | U2 | Pride (In the Name of Love) |
| 10 | Peter Gabriel | Digging in the Dirt |
| 11 | Peter Gabriel | Intruder |
| 12 | Seru Giran | La Grasa De Las Capitales |
| 13 | Riton & Kah-Lo | Fake ID |
| 14 | Sergent Garcia | Si yo llegoyo, yo llego |
| 15 | Orchestra Baobab | Specialist in All Styles |
| 16 | Norma Tanega | You’re Dead |
| 17 | Willie Nelson | Buddy |
| 18 | Raffi | Listen to the Horses |
| 19 | Dan Zanes | Wanderin’ |
| 20 | Justin Roberts | Count Them As They Go |
| 21 | Barbra Streisand | Happy Days Are Here Again |
| 23 | Roy Orbison | Shahdaroba |
| 24 | Freda Payne | (How Do You Say) I Don’t Love You Anymore? |
| 25 | Jazzmeia Horn and Her Noble Force | Where Is Freedom? |
| 26 | Nina Simone | Sinnerman |
| 27 | Can | Vitamin C |
| 28 | Godley & Creme | Sandwiches of You |
| 29 | Godley & Creme | Cry |
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