Fanmixes

Kowalski I (November 2024)

Playlist:

Kowalski is Ray Kowalski. I started watching Due South for the first time in years recently. I really haven't watched that much of the show, which is why this is Kowalski I. If I realise there were other better songs I could have chosen, I'll come back and make Kowalski II.

Track Listing:

  • The Sidewinder Sleeps Tonite by REM (Automatic For The People)
  • Oh What A Feeling by Crowbar
  • All The Young Dudes by Mott The Hoople
  • I'll Take You There by the Staples Singers
  • Sweet Jane by the Velvet Underground
  • Drive by REM (Automatic For The People)
  • Saturday Night's Alright (For Fighting) by Elton John
  • Street Life by Roxy Music
  • Knuckle Sandwich by Skafish
  • Let's Dance by the Ramones
  • Blitzkrieg Bop by the Ramones
  • We Ended Up by the Mumps
  • Do You Wanna Dance? by the Ramones
  • Sole Salvation by the English Beat
  • Wheel Me Out by Was (Not Was)
  • Band of Gold by Freda Payne
  • We Can Work It Out by Dionne Warwick
  • Coney Island Baby by Lou Reed
  • New Orleans Instrumental No. 1 by REM (Automatic For The People)
  • I Feel Better Than James Brown by Was (Not Was)
  • Once In A Lifetime by Talking Heads
  • Walk On By by the Stranglers
  • The Murder of Two Men By A Young Kid Wearing Lemon Coloured Gloves by Kenneth Patchen and the Chamber Jazz Sextet
  • Sittin' On The Dock Of The Bay by the Staples Singers
  • Lonely Planet Boy by the New York Dolls
  • Man On The Moon by REM
  • Road To Nowhere by Talking Heads
  • Find The River by REM (Automatic For The People)

Notes on song choices:

  • This playlist is too long because I didn't spend much time making it. How's that for a paradox?
  • REM is apparently traditional for Due South fans. I just got Automatic For The People on CD so I was actually listening to them recently. There are also many reasons why they would be a good Kowalski band. This is meant to be the spine of the playlist.
  • File under "interesting only to me": that song that appears in Series 3 Episode 2, Eclipse ("What A Feeling"), is by a Canadian band (of course, lol) called Crowbar. Crowbar was made up of discarded members of the Hawks, Ronnie Hawkins' old backing band (but not the ones who were in The Band with Robbie Robertson). Do you know who else was in the Hawks (but after Robbie Robertson, and after Crowbar)? Gerry "Turkey Neck" Anderson - not the guy with the marionettes, the guy who was on BBC Radio Foyle and did the hypnotised chicken thing. Showbusiness - it's a small world.
  • There are too many Ramones songs on this playlist (three, & two of them are about the same thing). Trouble was I couldn't decide which one to get rid of, so you get them all.
  • Is there too much glam rock schlock on this playlist? Yes. Whose fault is it? Mine, because I love that kind of stuff, & know nothing about jazz/rnb/funk/disco. But you can also blame REM for quoting David Essex (!) in Drive.
  • The Mumps song is just filler. But what filler!
  • The Beat (aka the English Beat in America) are a very Kowalski-ish band to me for whatever reason. Especially that "Special Beat Service" album.
  • Skafish is a guy from Chicago called Jim Skafish who was a kind of bratty punk solo singer in the Chicago queer punk scene of the late 70s/early 80s.
  • And Was (Not Was) are very Due South-ish. "One year later I was transferred to the moon. Worse pay, better hours".
  • Band of Gold probably shouldn't be in here. Sure it's about a failing marriage & there was that urban myth that it's about a woman with a gay husband but the (fairly sentimental) narrative of the song doesn't fit the Ray/Stella narrative in the show. But it's here cause it was on the soundtrack to Velvet Goldmine ;-) & also the chorus sounds great.
  • Talking Heads came up in the discord server as a Kowalski band (it's in canon, sorta). I'm kind of turned off Talking Heads at the moment so I just made the obvious picks rather than going away and finding something particularly appropriate. Still, Once In A Lifetime seemed particularly appropriate. "This is not my beautiful house! This is not my beautiful wife!"
  • That "The Murder of Two Men By A Kid Wearing Lemon Coloured Gloves" song shouldn't be in here, but I was listening to a Beatnik-themed compilation album & this was on it & I needed more jazz & I liked the title. Isn't there something a bit Beatniky about Kowalski? Am I ok?
  • ....And finally, REM again with "Find The River". Which is the last song on Automatic For The People, & I think only works as a last song on anything. It's a great song but you wouldn't want to hear it come up on shuffle.

Thanks To: the Due SouthBound discord server, especially portlandwithyou, maggs & sara.