World in My Head
June - October 2001

World in My Head is a series of 5 mixes featuring world music and music influenced by world music. I started the first one in June of this year and finished the last one in October. There’s really no right order to these, but this is the order I made them in: Mbube, Spirits, Mexico, Forest, and Party. Each mix is eclectic—they’re not organized by type of music, or geography for that matter. But each one does have a loose theme, which I’ll describe briefly below.

Mbube (“lion”) is named after an African song recorded in 1939 -- the song that later evolved into both “Wimoweh” and “The Lion Sleeps Tonight.” In its different versions, it has been recorded over 150 times. This mix features five versions, including the original (the first track). The vocal performance style of Solomon Linda and the Evening Birds was a precursor for such South African township groups as Ladysmith Black Mambazo and The Mahotella Queens.

Solomon Linda's Original Evening Birds / Mbube (1939)
The Weavers / Wimoweh (1956)
Cornershop / Brimful of Asha
Gipsy Kings / Volaré
Jonatha Brooke / Fatso
Sam Cooke / Everybody Loves to Cha Cha Cha
Ignatius Jones / Rhumba De Burros
Ladysmith Black Mambazo / Khwishi Khwishi
Miriam Makeba / Mbube
They Might Be Giants / Istanbul (Not Constantinople)
Ricky Martin / One Night Man
Stone Temple Pilots / Dancin' Days
Hava Nagila
Sting / Love is the Seventh Wave
Manu Dibango and Ladysmith Black Mambazo / Wimoweh
Talking Heads / Road to Nowhere
Paul Simon / That Was Your Mother
Clifton Chenier and the Red Hot Louisiana Band / Man Smart, Woman Smarter
The Mahotella Queens / Jive Makhona
Tito Puente / Hong Kong Mambo
Oliver "Tuku" Mtukudzi / Pindurai Mambo
Ladysmith Black Mambazo and the Mint Juleps / Mbube (The Lion Sleeps Tonight)

Spirits briefly explores the influence of Jamaican music on mainstream pop. When Paul Simon heard Jimmy Cliff’s song “Vietnam,” he traveled to Kingston, booked Jimmy Cliff’s rhythm section, engineer, and studio, and recorded “Mother and Child Reunion” (which the All Music Guide calls "the first Yankee reggae song ever"). That's why this mix is bookended by Paul Simon and Jimmy Cliff, and features Bob Marley, Blondie, and The Police.

Paul Simon / Mother and Child Reunion
Joni Mitchell / Big Yellow Taxi
Carlos Santana and Mana / Corazon Espinado
Mahotella Queens / Selailai
Paul Simon / Gumboots
Oliver "Tuku" Mtukudzi / Sandi Bonde
Mary Chapin Carpenter / Down at the Twist and Shout
Beausoleil / Colinda
Blondie / The Tide is High
Grupo Café Nostalgia / Los Tamalitos De Olga
The Police / Spirits in the Material World
Aswad / Set Them Free
Manu Dibango and Peter Gabriel / Biko
Bob Marley / One Love
Laurie Anderson / Monkey's Paw
Simon and Garfunkel / Why Don't You Write Me?
Dave Matthews Band / Warehouse
Mark Knopfler / El Macho
Jimmy Cliff / Vietnam

Mexico, despite its title, is not really about Mexico. The theme of this mix is the American fascination with Mexico and how it manifests itself in pop.

James Taylor / Mexico
Indigo Girls / World Falls
Papa Wemba / Sala Keba
Santana / Africa Bamba
Shakira / Ciego, Sordomuda
Cake / Mexico
Bob Dylan / Romance in Durango
Gipsy Kings / Hotel California
Paul Simon and Ladysmith Black Mambazo / Diamonds on the Soles of her Shoes
West African Drums
Cornershop / Good Shit
Dick Dale and the Del-Tones / Mexico
Loketo / Extra Ball
Steel Drums of the Caribbean / Brazilian Love Song
The Refreshments / Mexico
Celia Cruz / Guantanamera
Ricky Martin / Por Arriba, Por Abajo
The Pogues / Fiesta
Texas Tornados / Adios Mexico

Forest is the CD I was working on in late August and early September. All along, I had intended it to be more reflective than the earlier mixes in the series, but it became even more contemplative after 9/11. It doesn’t have any direct connection to current events, but that’s where the emotional energy for this one came from.

Baka Beyond / Spirit of the Forest
Paul Simon / Hurricane Eye
Baaba Maal / Miyaabele
Harry Belafonte / Jamaica Farewell
Gipsy Kings / Salsa de Noche
Indigo Girls / Get Out The Map
Elton John / Mona Lisas and Madhatters
Los Lobos / El Mariachi
Sam Mangwana / Ya Mbemba
Bob Marley / No Woman No Cry
R. Carlos Nakai / Silver Fish
Sting / Desert Rose
Papa Wemba / Le Voyageur
Talking Heads / The Big Country
Brian Eno / Deep Blue Day
Djeli Moussa Diawara / Salsa-Cora
Mana / Vivir Sin Aire
Clannad / Ancient Forest
Yid Vicious / Por Que Llorax la Blanca Nina

After all that, I was ready to have a little fun. Party is the one where I let it all hang out. I had run across so much fun stuff in the process of doing this project, and many of the songs hadn't fit the tone of the earlier CDs. So this one is just a collection of those crazy sounds.

David Byrne / Don't Fence Me In
CJ Chenier / I'm All Shook Up
Inti Illimani / Samba Lando
Los Lobos / La Bamba
Beck / Burro
No Doubt / Spiderwebs
Paralamas / Uma Brasileira
Olodum / No Woman No Cry
Zap Mama / Iko Iko
Soul Brothers / Thandaza
Mark Knopfler / Cannibals
R.E.M. / Zither
Harry Belafonte / Jump in the Line
Kid Creole and the Coconuts / Endicott
Pulp / Mile End
Cornershop / Norwegian Wood (This Bird Has Flown)
Duran Duran / Lava Lamp
Alka Yagnik, Shankar Mahadevan and Vinod Rathod / Chamma Chamma
Jose Feliciano, Jacek Koman, and Ewan McGregor / El Tango de Roxanne (from Moulin Rouge)
Steve Harley / Make Me Smile (Come Up and See Me)
Mahotella Queens / Mbube

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