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:: Track list & details
In the past 30 years or so, the career of filmmaker John Waters has gone from sleazy to sublime, from underground to mainstream, from dangerous to warm and fuzzy. His guest shots on The Simpsons and My Name Is Earl attest to his mainstream credibility, but there's still a trace of the sinister lurking beneath even his newly benign persona. The quality is evident in the music he puts on the soundtracks of his films, and even more evident in the tunes he's picked for this Valentine's Day compilation, a sure antidote for the Hallmarkification of this once pagan holiday of random pairing.
Like his Xmess compilation (A John Waters Christmas), and his films themselves, A Date With John Waters is a brilliant juggling act that combines the conventional with the bizarre, sweet pop melodies and tart R&B with the sing/say warbling of Edith Massey, the Egg Lady from Pink Flamingos. Waters' liner notes, written as a mash note to the listener, are worth a chuckle and provide some insight into the man's musical taste.
"Tonight You Belong To Me" by Patience & Prudence, is, Waters says, "the first record I ever shoplifted." It's a syrupy bit of pop by a sister duo long forgotten, and compliments the album's other tracks from the dawn of pop culture including: "Imitation Of Life" a lesser effort from Earl Grant, and the theme song from the 1959 Douglas Sirk movie of the same name; Dean Martin's easy listening version of "Hit The Road To Dreamland" (orchestra conducted by Frank Sinatra) from the 1942 flick Star-Spangled Rhythm and "If I Knew You Were Coming I'd've Baked A Cake" by Eileen Barton. "Cake" was Barton's only big hit, but the singer performed with the Basie Band and Sinatra during her long career (The tune was one of the biggest selling indie label hits of all time).
Grittier '50s and early '60s tracks include "Ain't Got No Home" by Clarence "Frogman" Henry, a classic New Orleans dance track with one of the oddest lyrics in early rock (Waters calls it "the first tri-sexual song"); Ray Charles' ode to good times "(Night Time Is) The Right Time" features The Raelettes (Earl-Jean McCrea, Margie Hendricks, Pat Lyles and Mary Ann Fisher,) and when Hendricks steps up and starts her soulful counterpoint wailing, she brings down the house. Ike & Tina Turner's "All I Can Do Is Cry" uses religious imagery and a Gospel piano to tell a tale of blistering sexual jealousy.
Waters' eclectic taste is represented by six tunes that span the musical spectrum. "In Spite of Ourselves" is a funky country duet by John Prine and Iris DeMent from Prine's album of the same name, "I'd Love To Take Orders From You" is a swing tune from hot jazz singer (and Paul Whiteman Band vocalist) Mildred Bailey. Elton Motello's "Jet Boy Jet Girl" is one of the first explicit gay rock songs, which used the same backing track as Plastic Bertrand's "Ca Plane Pour Moi" and sported the classic chorus "He gives me head." And then there's the infamous new wave almost hit "Johnny Are You Queer?" by Josie Cotton.
Waters give props to a couple of his favorite actors with Edith Massey's "Big Girls Don't Cry," a contender for some critic's Worst Record Of All Time that isn't all that bad, and Mink Stole's "Sometimes I Wish I Had A Gun," a torchy tune from her unreleased album. Stole's sultry vocals, the jazzy backing band and the bluesy guitar solo make this little gem a real surprise. If A Date With John Waters is successful maybe we'll get to hear the more of Stole's music. That would be a real Valentine's Day present.
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