The celebrity lists on iTunes are a nifty idea. Contributors include Michael Stipe, Ben Folds, Liz Phair and John Cusack, Moby, Counting Crows, and a host of less reputable characters, like Avril Lavigne. I note in passing that Moby's list includes "Questions in a World of Blue" by Julee Cruise, which is unimpeachably cool. I could fill this blog with sample playlists, of course, but won't, mostly because I can't cut and paste from the iTunes window. I'll confine myself to retyping some of Michael Stipe's liner notes, which I figure Noah would be interested in reading:

For Friends Who Need to Breathe and Stop
I just tried to make a mixtape like the ones I do for friends and them for me when you're going through something and want to know that someone is putting some effort and thought into your everyday. Call me sentimental.

I'm a terrible DJ, but I worked to make it ebb and flow, so that you get up, then down, then bitchslapped then discovery and epiphany, then up then down and all over again. There are a lot of different kinds of mixtapes but this one is for right now, it's a little bit release and a little bit thought and a lot of gesture, what you want for wallpaper, or if you go from wallpaper-to-attention really fast. You can sing along and marvel at all these different voices and what they're putting forth--it's really about the voice and then production which can be slippery but in each case here I think someone stepped up and made it real...Of course I couldn't keep this mixtape to 20 songs so just trust me and deal with it. A glorious 31.

I included a few medleys, the most obvious and chokeup to me personally (I've sung it opening for Radiohead in D.C. once) being "Landslide" live ("this song is for daddy" or whatever--yowww!) into Tori into Bread. It's the same song, each brilliant, each with very different voices. I love that about pop music. It thrills me.

All my love--take it light, take it strong.

xxxxMichael

Anyway...I'm not going to retype his entire list, but it opens with a live version of "Beautiful Day," segues into "Thank You" by Alanis Morissette, includes "Ashes to Ashes" by David Bowie and "1959" by Patti Smith and the Dolly Parton version of "I Will Always Love You," Justin Timberlake's "Cry Me a River," and the aforementioned medley of "Landside" by Fleetwood Mac, "Winter" by Tori Amos, and "Everything I Own" by Bread. It concludes with "Breathe and Stop" by Q-Tip. I'm tempted to just download the damned thing and burn you a copy.