Musings

Powderfinger - Odyssey Number Five (because it's the only one I couldn't find)

I was thinking about hidden tracks on the tube the other day – one came up on my iPhone during the course of a daydream that prevented me from noticing that there was a pause in the soundtrack to my journey for a short while.

I like to think of them as a little, personal “thank you” nod from the artist, a gesture of appreciation for the devoted music fan who can actually be bothered to listen to the whole album from beginning to end without hitting skip halfway through.

They don’t appear too often, but when they do they’ve sometimes been the best track on the album for me. I think the first time I came across one was on Jagged Little Pill, or maybe it was The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill…I’m not entirely sure which but I thought I’d post a few here:

Alanis Morissette – Your House: I first heard this as an acapella version on the 1995 album, Jagged Little Pill. Even then I thought it could be considered a bit creepy & stalkerish…now even more so. But it’s so raw and honest that I still love it. I just now found a full band live version on last.fm, which is a different take on it.

Lauryn Hill – Can’t Take My Eyes Off Of You: I was genuinely surprised when I heard this. It’s one of my favourite easy listening/old soul (?) tracks and was even sung by Heath Ledger in 10 Things I Hate About You but this version makes it seem as though it was written specifically for the hip-hop/ rnb genre. There’s also a Muse cover here.

Green Day – All By Myself: This makes me laugh. Out loud. Every time I hear it. From one of the best teenage punk albums every written, Dookie 1994.

Powderfinger – Nature Boy: Nothing on last.fm, nothing on we7, nothing on hypem, or imeem, youtube, spotify, or anything else I can think of. So you’ll just have to take my word for it (unless you’re inclined to buy it). It’s after Whatever Makes You Happy on their 2001 release, Odyssey Number Five.

This list doesn’t even scratch the surface, but I thought I’d just point out a small group of my favourites. If you want more, check out www.hiddensongs.com.