the smedley log - suburban scrawl

Friday random ten
(don’t ask why)

Second incredible (and eclectic) list in a row:

• Backporch Visions – John Francis
• Noah’s Dove – 10,000 Maniacs
• The Sidewinder Sleeps Tonight – R.E.M.
• The End of Outside – Duncan Sheik
• Andersonville – Vigilantes of Love
• Mysterious Ways (Solar Plexus club mix) – U2
• One Last Time – Edie Brickell & the New Bohemians
• Lutheran Hymn – 77’s
• Molly (Sixteen Candles) – Sponge
• Zero – Smashing Pumpkins

I don’t do that crazy bonus track thing, but just this once… “Shipyards of New Zealand” by Midnight Oil (from the fantastic Red Sails in the Sunset). This is the lyrical sequence that will live forever in my mind:

“I can’t get lost, I can’t get confused.
Something’s misplaced, maybe for good…”

Contextual confession: It just recently occurred to me why the Sponge song is called “Molly” – and I saw every John Hughes movies in the 80s. Add to that the fact I had a bit of crush on Ms. Ringwald ever since The Breakfast Club. I guess I can be a bit slow putting things together.

You blame yourself for wanting more:
Autumn
Ben
Brian
Jeff
KB
Lauren
Marisa
Rachel
Troy

I didn’t get the Sponge thing until I read this, and I have a bit of a crush on Molly as well. Sigh. If you don’t tell, I won’t tell.

[…] The Smedley Log (Why?) […]

I will chime is as the third to miss the Molly connection—and I too hearted Molly Ringwald with the best of them… I actually wrote an ode to Molly Ringwald in my freshman year of college and they published in the student lit rag. Boy was I proud of myself, but I found it recently and it was pretty terrible. The Sponge song is way better.

[…] got nice stuff but me: howard (sixteen candles down the drain) rachel (I keep a close watch) jeff (I wanna be a lion, eh, […]

Rachel, Autumn – Well, at least now I don’t feel as bad about not getting the connection.

Over 10 years back, I had a friend who played in a cover band. They often played “Molly” at the area bars. I once looked at the setlist and asked my buddy why it was called that, and he said he had no idea. So I guess he didn’t get the connection either.

In a semi-related vein, I saw Sponge live at a place up in Old Bridge, NJ (I think it was around there somewhere). They performed “Molly”, but with an interesting reggae twist. Of course, they also did a great rendition of my all-time favorite Sponge tune, “Plowed.”

Incidentally, the friend who dragged me to the show was another Jersey girl named Rachel. Eerie, huh?

Hey…I used to like Sponge…and I’ll bet that place you saw them in Old Bridge was the Birch Hill, where I saw Veruca Salt in 1997, I believe it was. BTW Howard, some nice stuff in the list. Can’t go wrong with REM and I’m a big Duncan Sheik fan. I saw him about 12 years ago and he was very good.

Yes, I believe it was the Birch Hill, back in November or December of ‘96. And I also saw Duncan Sheik (August of ‘97) at the TLA.

Nice set. I a glimpse of Molly on the TV not too long ago. I don’t recall the program, but role was Mother-to-Teenage-Girl. It is odd to think of her as forty-something. But then… the rich girl from St. Elmo’s Fire is not Merideth’s Grey’s [dead] step mother. And Rob Lowe is playing a Senator. Time waits for no one.

Jersey is an incestuous place.
I know a girl who was rumored to be dating the singer from Sponge. Of course I never wanted to believe her because she was mean, but whatever.

I saw Toad the Wet Sprocket at the Birch Hill.