Today was the first Memphis Mystery Train of the new year, and my, what an educational edition it was.

Here's what I played on the Train this week, with the local tracks marked with an asterisk and my notes in italics:

Magnetic Fields - Kiss Me Like You Mean It
Egyptians - Party Stomp
They Might Be Giants - Memo to Human Resources
Badly Drawn Boy - You Were Right
The Vaccines - Norgaard (ed. - So catchy, it's been stuck in my head all week.)
Sundown Pete and Margie Lane - You Can Have Him When I'm Gone (ed. - If you don't like mariachi, you have no soul.)
Wild Flag - Romance
The Breakaways - That's How it Goes
The Clash - Hateful
Belle and Sebastian - Dog on Wheels
*Jack O. and the Tennessee Tearjerkers - Chills and Fever
Ortolan - Sticky Situation
Dolly Parton - Last Night's Lovin' (ed. - This song kind of cracks me up.)
Army Navy - Last Legs
Detroit Cobras - Right Around the Corner
*Johnny Cash - Ballad of the Teenage Queen
*Reigning Sound - Black Sheep (ed. - from the "Live at Goner" record.)
Tough and Lovely - More More More
Billy Bragg - The Short Answer

Talking Heads - Once in a Lifetime
Those Darlins - Who's That Knockin' at My Window
Sir Douglas Quintet - Mendocino
Thao with the Get Down Stay Down - When We Swam
White Stripes - We Are Going to Be Friends
Sondre Lerche - She's Fantastic
Screamin' Jay Hawkins - Little Bitty Pretty One (ed. - According to Dave R., Screamin' Jay is my spirit animal.)
Harvey Danger - Old Hat (ed. - My favorite song in eighth grade.)
Art Peterson - Twinkie Insanity (ed. - Thanks to all of you who called in and told me that this was about the Harvey Milk assassination, not general snack food-related madness.)
*Jay Reatard - Hammer I Miss You
Ramones - Chain Saw
Vampire Weekend - A-Punk
Bobby Fuller Four - I Fought the Law
Dead Kennedys - California Uber Alles
Modest Mouse - The Ocean Breathes Salty
*Red Forty - Veronica
Jody Miller - Queen of the House
France Gall - Laisser Tombe Les Filles
Eef Barzelay - The Girls Don't Care
Okkervil River - John Allyn Smith Sails

The Memphis Mystery Train airs every Thursday morning from 8 a.m. through 10 a.m. on WEVL, Memphis' only volunteer radio station. If you missed the Mystery Train this morning, you can catch it when it re-airs tomorrow from 2 p.m. - 4 p.m. on 89.9 WEVL Memphis or online at wevl.org.