Here’s a discussion of my selections for the ROYGBIV mix, Volume 15 of the Green Monkey Music Project.

Silver – Echo and the Bunnymen
The first song off their wonderful album Ocean Rain.

I’m So Green – Can
A great little track from those funky Krautrockers. From the delightful album Ege Bamyasi.

L’il Red Riding Hood – Sam the Sam and the Pharaohs
For me, this song beats their other hit “Wooly Bully” hands down. This one has got a little playful menace to it. I love it. And Sam the Sham and the Pharaohs is one of my all-time favorite rock band names.

Moog Indigo – Jean Jacques Perrey
The wacky title track from an album by Frenchman Jean Jacques Perrey. I played his two albums with Gershon Kingsley incessantly for a couple months (it didn’t hurt that my kids loved it). For those who don’t know, the song’s name is a play on the Duke Ellington song “Mood Indigo”. However, to my disappointment, I learned a few years ago that the “O” sound in Moog is pronounced like “Go” rather than “Goo”. Why am I explaining this to you?

Azure – Ken Nordine
A song off Colors, a whole freaking album devoted to mauve, russet and chartreuse by Word Jazz freakazoid Ken Nordine.

Pink Moon – Nick Drake
You might recognize this song from a Volkswagen commercial from a few years back. It was actually my first exposure to this song, and my first exposure to Nick Drake. It still bothers me that it was an advertisement that introduced me to the music. I’m not sure if it’s because I want to be a know-it-all hipster (oh, dear Lord, I’m not), or what. I just hate corporations, mostly.

All Blues – Miles Davis
Most of my songs in this mix are very short, so I don’t feel too bad about including this long piece from Kind of Blue. I first heard this in the Clint Eastwood movie In The Line Of Fire, which doesn’t bother me at all. So, I guess for me, exposure to music from movies, OK; exposure to music from ads, bad.