Songs for Bedbuggers
By nobugsonme on Apr 28, 2007 in bed bugs, bedbugs, fun, music
I made a mix in iTunes, about the rise and fall and rise and fall of a bed bug infestation. I sent it to Jess, violating the unspoken rule of Bedbuggers that snail mail is generally a bad idea. I wish I could send you all a CD, but for now, the playlist will have to do.
The song titles, in order, tell a story:
Mean Old Bedbug Blues
Bessie Smith
Bessie Smith: The Collection
The Bed
Original Broadway Cast
Hair
We Only Come Out At Night
Smashing Pumpkins
Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness
Bedbug
(same lyrics available here)
Calimbo Steel Band
The Heart of Trinidad
Blood
Kleshnikoff
Plague Songs
The Meaning of Lice
Stephin Merritt
Plague Songs
Glittering Clouds (Locusts)
Imogen Heap
Plague Songs
There Is A Light That Never Goes Out
The Smiths
The Queen Is Dead
My Landlady
Lord Kitchener
London Is The Place For Me - Trinidadian Calypso In London, 1950 - 1956
I’m Going Back Home
Nina Simone
Sings Nina
Rock and Roll Pest Control
The Presidents Of The United States Of America
This One’s for the Fellows: A Sonic Salute to the Young Fresh Fellows
Nowhere To Run
The Commitments
The Commitments Volume 2
Life During Wartime
Talking Heads
Fear Of Music
The Bitch Is Back
Elton John
Greatest Hits Vol. II
Sabotage
The Beastie Boys
Ill Communication
I Want To Live In A Wigwam
Cat Stevens
Footsteps In The Dark
Simple Things
Juluka
Scatterlings
No Money No Love
Mighty Sparrow
Volume 1
After the Bombs
The Decemberists
The Crane Wife
Another one bites the dust
Queen
Feeling Good
Nina Simone
With A Little Help From My Friends
The Beatles
Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band
Mean Old Bedbug Blues
Furry Lewis
In His Prime 1927-1928
I compiled it only with songs already in my collection (with three exceptions: the two versions of Mean Old Bedbug Blues and Rock and Roll Pest Control). I realize taking three songs from an anthology themed around Plague Songs makes it easy, but they were very evocative.
What do you think? Want to make your own bed bug playlist? Post it here–the whole thing or just individual songs. I’d love to see it, and hey, isn’t it time we had a little fun?
content rss
willow-the-wisp | Apr 28, 2007 | Reply
In the first few weeks of the OCD-like reactions to the bed bugs I had, I was sort of walking around singing “I’m steaming’ the floors over you!” Re Patsy Cline–and literally that’s what I was doing … So maybe it was ironic and perhaps even a little sad…
At that time–I had given this topic much more thought (so–great minds do think alike but not always at the same time or for the same–reasons.) And I was also humming … the freaks come out at night … the freaks come out at night…. Oh yeah … that was a good one to pass the time with, and; when I found the flat-black globular excrement, AKA–THE P WORD–I did, o-c-c-a-s-i-o-n-a-l-l-y feel like I was Betty Boop or something saying to myself: “POOP-POOP-DEE-DOOP!â€Â
jessinchicago | Apr 28, 2007 | Reply
If you guys could hear this CD… I’m getting all teary just trying to tell you about it. Let’s just say I was crying and laughing and singing (sometimes all at once!). Nobugs, there’s no one like you on the whole planet. I just love you to death.
Guys, if you can, listen to some of these songs if you haven’t already. It’s empowering and hilarious and is truly the soundtrack of our lives at this point in time.
Sniffle.
Jess
nobugsonme | Apr 29, 2007 | Reply
Thanks Jess– I am pretty sure there’s no one else like you, or any of the rest of the Bedbuggers, for that matter!
Anyway, glad you liked it.
Willow–so many songs are apt. I think this is one way we get through hard times. To give a much more extreme example, the weekend after 9/11, a friend and I drove around listening to U2’s “All that you can’t leave behind” (which for some reason, a lot of New Yorkers were listenening to a lot at that time, even though it had been out for awhile), and also “America,” from Paul Simon (the Concert at Central Park version) which also seemed really timely despite being decades old. I’m not comparing a bout with bed bugs to 9/11, but just making the point that music helps.
willow-the-wisp | Apr 29, 2007 | Reply
Ahhhh yes I even blasted Wagnerian Opera whilst I lay sleeping, lights on-nes pas? I was hoping a few of my favorite Sopranos would scare the living day”lights” out of them there critters.
quiet in here tonight
innit?
night-e-night
nobugsonme | Apr 29, 2007 | Reply
Well, I guess you won’t see bed bugs in Valhalla, Willow.
willow-the-wisp | Apr 29, 2007 | Reply
Oh, thanks but as heroes go I’m sure I won’t be alone “there†wherever “there†is … as far as Valhalla goes. Oh No … “U†n’ “ME†n’ “S†n’ “G,†… and a whole range of other HOST/WARRIORS from Bed Bugger will be in Valhalla as well …
Valhalla … a place void of bed bugs–provided you’re referring to Norse Mythology and not the Valhalla in upper Westchester N.Y.
(Hee hee heeâ€â€as in will somebody please slap me!)
nobugsonme | May 2, 2007 | Reply
Readers have emailed me to add:
That song “Shattered” by the Rolling Stones, which mentions bed bugs,
anything by the Beatles, and
anything by the Roches (a personal favorite! Now, Nobugs is showing her age, as well as her gender!)
Songs by groups with buggy names are probably a cheat, but so was the song about lice and the one about locusts. But you know how we Bedbuggers can’t get enough of those plague songs.