Popnarcotic

Give It Up For Whitey!

May 6, 2008 at 2:04 pm (Horse Racing, Music Mixes)

I’ve been terribly tardy at getting the remaining two Derby mixes posted; Saturday/Sunday were a whirlwind of work, dinner with some visiting friends, Cardinals over Cubs, etc. etc.

I still have a post about the importance and significance of the Derby mixes I owe y’all. For now though, on with the music: This is the Chris White (a/k/a CW, a/k/a Whitey) Derby AM mix. Taking the Saturday morning mix is dicey: people are tired, hungover, and bleary-eyed from Derby Eve/Oaks Day celebrations. Everyone is dressed to the nines, piled into a rental car/van and headed towards Churchill Downs for the race. Depending on traffic, that trip can be 20 minutes or, if you get in the wrong line, an hour.

The logistics are clear then, right? To make the Saturday Morning Derby mix, you’ve got the possibility that anything past the 20-minute mark will never be heard (or at least not heard until days later), the threat of violence (or worse, someone hitting the skip button) if you program a song that doesn’t work to a car or cars full of cranky, nap-needing friends.

The opportunity of the Derby Morning Mix is better than any other time slot in the entire race weekend, however. On Saturday morning every horse has a chance to win, no one’s picks are absurd (ok, make that “too absurd”–I’ll cop to Vicar; how did I not see that disaster coming? I think he’s still out there on the backstretch somewhere…), and we all have a chance to see history made and to crush an exacta or two. Everyone in the cars going to the Derby is amped up, the audience almost too captive…including Marc who responds to his excited anticipation by endearingly calling out things like “I like the paired entry in the La Troienne today” and “That omelet this morning was pretty amazing, right?” from the front seat. Don’t know how he always gets shotgun, but he does.

And so after about a half-dozen listens, allow me to state for the record that the 2008 Derby AM Mix is one for the ages, a brilliant bit of mashing and sampling and silly insanity from Whitey (the shout-outs actually get funnier and funnier on repeated listens.) Inspired, this is:

“MUSIC FOR THE MORNING OF THE 134TH KENTUCKY DERBY”

(click that title for music, Stephen Foster.)

Track listing:

1. “Good Morning Starshine”
2. “High”
3. “The Drinking Song”
4. “Crazy Train”
5. “Good Clothes”
6. “Wild In The Streets”
7. “Ride Your Pony”
8. (They Still Play That Song)
9. “The Gold It’s In The…”
10. “Get Ur Freak On”
11. “Those Were The Days”
12. “Fresh Air”
13. “Thundering Hearts”
14. “D. A. N. C. E”

(Thanks to Tim for getting that file all stitched together, working his computer magic and all.)

Enjoy! One more mix coming your way very soon: Renard’s staggeringly good all-purpose Derby throwdown mix.