Artist	Song
The Decemberists	The Mariner's Revenge Song
Reverend Glasseye And His Wooden Legs	Midnight Cabaret
The Boy Least Likely To	I'm Glad I Hitched My Apple Wagon to Your Star
Brian Eno	Back In Judy's Jungle
Austin Lounge Lizards	The Dogs, They Really Miss You
Anna Fermin & The Trigger Gospel	The Box It Came In
The Who	Odorono
Moxy Fruvous	BJ Don't Cry
Nancy Sinatra & Lee Hazlewood	Summer Wine
Nick Cave And The Bad Seeds	The Kindness Of Strangers
The Format	I'm Ready, I Am
Queen	Dreamers Ball
Robyn Hitchcock	The Man Who Invented Himself
Donovan	Epistle to Dippy
Marianne Faithfull	Love & Money
Jonathan Coulton	I Feel Fantastic
Squeeze	Up the Junction
Ben Folds Five	Army
Robert Wyatt	Soup Song
Tom Waits	Tango Till They're Sore
Kirsty MacColl	In These Shoes?

Comment:

I made this for a friend as gift on her retirement from editing the monthly magazine of the National Puzzlers' League. This was actually one mp3 list among several that was put on an iPod nano that several of us presented to her. She's a big fan of show tunes, so I did some thinking about what makes a show tune a show tune, and put together a set of pop songs that have some show tune-y traits.

Stylistically, show tunes can embrace a variety of musical genres. However, they tend to sketch the style in broad strokes, rather than embodying fully. So, while a musical may feature a sea shanty, like "The Mariner's Revenge Song," or a country tune, like "The Dogs, They Really Miss You," you'd never mistake them for the real thing. However, the major elements are there - the _ time of a waltz in "Back in Judy's Jungle," the advertising-reminiscent branding of "Odorono" - so you know what genre of music is being invoked.

Musically, show tunes tend to be very strong on melody, and they tend to be in recognizable major or minor keys. While they may have the occasional key change, they rarely foray into atonality or uncontional tunings. And of course there is generally a musical theatricality reminiscent of such venues as music halls, cabarets, and opera houses.

Lyrically, show tunes often tell a story, either in the third person, as in "The Kindness of Strangers" or the first, as in "Up the Junction." Other tunes create a reality that can be inferred from what's presented in the words, like the drug-dependent society of "I Feel Fantastic" or the edible world of "Soup Song." And of course, show tunes' lyrics are often witty, with clever rhymes and unexpected twists.

This collection of tunes is probably a bit more macabre than the average show tune fare. I put this down to the fact that the last show I saw her in was Sweeney Todd.

Title from Queen.

Feedback: