In 1999, there was the Semisonic Feeling Strangely Fine CD in the car. There was a CD of Beethoven's 5th and 7th symphonies conducted by Carlos Kleiber (possibly the best-conducted ever of these symphonies). There was the Depeche Mode For the Masses tribute album. And then two Nirvana CDs (Never Mind and In Utero). Also, Third Eye Blind. And then Sarah McLachlan. Then later, Dido (who was a bit like McLachlan minus all the misery).
But in the shoulder rest of my trusty old Civic named Blue, (well then a brand new, scratch-free, always-waxed Civic) and forever enshrined in a cheesy portion of my heart was the Agent Marvs mix CD. It's a semi-random compilation of songs that was burned during that time before iTunes as well as wide-spread illegal peer-to-peer music downloads. The piracy had to be done as a favor (or for a nominal fee) by a real DJ at an actual radio station.
I have my old roommates to thank for the title of the album. I can still hear them snickering as they hand me the CD (I think it was a Judel Uy idea). "Agent Marvs" was a private joke among them -- something to do with Agent Mulder and Scully (They thought it fit to project their devotion to the X-Files to me for whatever reason; I only really watched the show when they were watching it. I think it was really Ralph Lumo who was the die-hard fan.)
I only just found the Agent Marvs compilation a few weeks ago, and I painstakingly put in meta information for each song as I imported the CD to my iTunes library. The songs are below. Let me explain a little how they found their way into my list.
Coolness, sentimentalism, cheese and some great music. I miss the 90's sometimes.
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1. Tubthumping - Chumbawumba
This is memorable because I choreographed a dance with it during my first job (in Manila). By "choreographed", I meant I cobbled together whatever steps I remembered from another dance performance that I'd seen an old college friend of mine perform with other people who can actually dance (the Company of Ateneo Dancers, or CADS). Or rather, the steps were a semblance of the original number, which I had to simplify even further because everyone at work had two left feet and we had about 2 or 3 practice sessions. We didn't leave our day jobs to pursue careers as professional dancers, but it was really fun and it was a good lesson about going out of your comfort zone.
2. Semi-Charmed Life - Third Eye Blind
"I believe in the sand between my toes. The beach gives a feeling, an earthy feeling. I believe in a faith that grows. And the four right chords can make me cry. When I'm with you, I feel like I could die and that would be alright... I want something else to get me through this life."
This is a cool song. Once upon a time, pop music wasn't about someone bringing Sexyback, telling people to evacuate the dance floor, waking up feeling like P. Diddy and then brushing your teeth with a bottle of Jack (who really does that?), pleading to please don't stop the music over and over while stealing a riff from a Michael Jackson song, or telling people you're "so fly" and then comparing yourself to a luxury private plane.
Youthful songs just ten years ago, far from just sounding stupid, could actually be sensitive, honest, angst-ridden and still sound cool. Without sounding too emo.
3. Say What You Want - Texas
Texas and her clones in the video. While it's another catchy song, and you can sing it, but you won't want someone to sing it to you. Otherwise, it's a perfect first song as you start your car to go for a drive on a lazy weekend morning in sunny weather.
4. Fly - Sugar Ray
It featured Sugar Ray's Mark McGrath preening onscreen feeling really high on himself and singing "all around the world, statues crumble for me, who knows how long I've loved you". The song just a festive ballad / party song. The singer brags while at the same time being self-deprecatingly lovelorn. I think it was a perfect club / summer road trip / day at the beach song back in the day.
5. I Don't Wanna Wait - Paula Cole
Remember this was back in those times when it was actually worth it to see Katie Holmes's dimples onscreen as we watched mostly 20-something actors play the parts of teen-agers in Dawson's Creek. Admit it, you've watched the show yourself.
6. Who Wants to Know - Jimmy Ray
I don't know how this got in there. I think one of my roommates, Popoy Velasco, put it there because Jimmy Ray's hairstyle really cracked him up every time he saw the video. I only manage to listen to this song absent-mindedly while driving through Bay Area traffic back in 1999, otherwise, I hit "skip". I think this is an awful precursor to Will Smith's "Willenium" and other annoyingly egotistical songs (another such song is "Backtreet's Back" or whatever the title was).
7. Gettin' Jiggy Wit It - Will Smith
Ah, this was prior to that Willenium farce when Will Smith for whatever reason thought he was the biggest thing that happened to music during that time. This suspiciously sounded like something was mixed into that old "Men in Black" song (which is based on a much older song, "Forget me Nots"). But it's just a really fun song and everyone seemed to know its signature dance step from the video.
8. Dreams - The Corrs
This is a cover of the Fleetwood Mac original (which itself is a great song). Watch the video below and try to remember why the Philippines fell in love with The Corrs (long before they even had a valid hit in the U.S.).
9. Don't Say You Love Me - The Corrs
I'm not sure why this Corrs song got in here. Really.
10. What Can I Do? - The Corrs
Ok, so I had this thrown in because a friend of mine loved this and I was going to let her borrow the mix CD. Honest. But the song grew on me. It's for those moments when no one within a 10-mile radius is more mellow than me, which happened pretty often. So I seldom hit "skip" on this one.
11. Runaway - The Corrs
I have to say this song is beautiful. I really liked hearing the violin theme. Great keyboard work, too (try listening to the unplugged version below). Mix it with Andrea Corr's gorgeous voice, and you have a winner. This is especially useful for those times when you want to trail off to a peaceful nap while stuck in a bus under the Lincoln Tunnel (so sure, I had it in my iPod years later when I was already in New York). The Corrs are just so pleasing to my ears -- and this particular song, even more so than their other hits.
12. Barely Breathing - Duncan Sheik
It seems copyright law is really tight with Duncan Sheik's posse, so no videos. Good driving song. Possibly a good karaoke song as well. It's a song about Duncan Sheik tasting saline solution from a woman's tears. I forgot the rest of the lyrics, but if I remember correctly, I think the song is sadder than it's relatively upbeat melody. We don't know much about the guy character in the song except that he seems to be holding his breath a lot or he resides at an altitude high enough to lack sufficient oxygen. We don't know much about the woman, but with the saline line, it's clear that she wore contacts and cried a lot during the relationship.
13. Brick - Ben Folds Five
This is an abortion song, hence, a bit depressing-sounding. It's great if you're in a self-loathing mood. Only recently did I find out that "Ben Folds" is actually someone's full name. I thought maybe there was a guy named Ben trying to fold five of something (maybe laundry or origami -- I didn't care that much to find out what it was).
14. Iris - Goo Goo Dolls
Yes, no video embedding allowed again.
I doubt there are people in my email mailing list who haven't seen that Nick Cage-Meg Ryan movie.Cage was an angel wearing a black trench coat. He hears music every morning while watching the sunrise at the beach. He falls in love with Meg Ryan. Meg Ryan, of course, dies a horrific death as she rides her bicycle in front of a truck carrying massive wooden logs just as the angel decided to "give up forever" to be with her. I actually didn't expect that ending, but I was still young and naive and I listened to the Goo Goo Dolls a lot. And sure, I bought the GGD album that contained this song and it was one of my favorite CDs when driving to the city (San Francisco at the time).
15. Truly Madly Deeply - Savage Garden
I think this song was based on an English movie of the same title. The movie was said to be a European version of the Patrick Swayze/Demi Moore movie, "Ghost". Actually, Truly, Madly, Deeply (the Movie) was required material for a Filipino class back at the Ateneo. I forgot why. But it was a great film.
I won't belabor an explanation as to how it got into my mixed CD. I actually forgot if I put it on the list myself. But I like the song now, so I probably loved it then. Else, by default, any overly-sentimental song should be attributed as Ralph Lumo's secret contribution.
16. Wishful Thinking - China Crisis
How did this get into a 90's music compilation? Even I am actually a bit too young when this song came out, but I love and still love 80's music. I also know people who were babies in the 80's but went back to listening to 80's music as well.
Still a great song. There is a live version of this somewhere. In fact, I think I have it in another mixed CD...
17. Push - Matchbox Twenty
This song came out after Rob Thomas left his career as a roofer (i.e. a guy who puts roofs on houses -- and he swore in an interview that it was the toughest thing he did and would never go back to that sort of life). He was in a band called Matchbox Twenty. Anyone else remember them?
Too bad Rob Thomas went solo. Listen to the video below as Thomas denies that the song has anything to do with misogyny.
