A Mix CD for the Secretary-General of the Nigerian Community Union in Cotonou

Last week, if you’d asked us about difficult tasks we’ve faced this year, we might have said single-handed survey enumeration in the slums, or project coordination a million miles from anywhere without any modern communications technologies. But that would have been last week.

This week, thanks in part to the money he’s making helping CLA, Chief Olujobi bought his first CD player. Now he wants a representative mix of American music. He likes reggae and, as he put it, “sentimental stuff.”

This is more than a task; it’s a mission. With one 2-volume mix of Americana, we want to present a broad musical cross-section, correct the notion that the US is all white people, introduce the concept of the independent woman, and more generally eliminate all the “-isms” and “-phobias” in the world.

We need your help.

Disc 1

1. Talkin’ Bout A Revolution – Tracy Chapman (Nothing like a little Tracy to make you want to take to the streets and protest some flawed election.)
2. These Are The Days – 10,000 Maniacs (Here’s to hoping Olujobi will remember those days of surveying the hot and dirty Tokpa market fondly.)
3. Tiny Dancer – Elton John (America hearts Elton. So should Nigeria.)
4. Video – India.Arie (Women can be strong.)
5. Jack and Diane – John Cougar Mellencamp (Cougar? Silly Americans!)
6. Imagine – John Lennon (Ok so not American, but also probably the most American of them all.)
7. Everything is Everything – Lauryn Hill (You can be a young mother of three and a rock star in America.)
8. Daydream Believer – The Monkeys (We’re hoping we won’t have to explain the whole concept of “homecoming queen”…because we don’t get it either.)
9. Somebody More Like You – Nickel Creek (Bluegrass represent!)
10. I Got You Babe – Sonny & Cher (We’re betting he’ll know – and love – all the lyrics by next week.)
11. Cecilia – Simon & Garfunkel (Ditto.)
12. Santeria – Sublime (We are in Voodoo Land after all.)
13. Unpretty – TLC (Insert obvious message here.)
14. With or Without You – U2 (Bono hearts Africa.)
15. Brown Eyed Girl – Van Morrison (Women can be free spirits.)
16. Dust in the Wind – Kansas (Place-name bands have to be represented on the Americana mix.)
17. Didn’t We Almost Have It All – Whitney Houston (He wanted sentimental…)


Disc 2

1. With a Little Help From My Friends – Joe Cocker (Better friends means greater trust means more economic development and less civil war.)
2. Thunder Road – Bruce Springsteen (He’s called The Boss for a reason, Chief.)
3. Angry Any More – Ani DiFranco (We had to… and it’s one of the tamer ones…or, vraiment, the only one.)
4. D’Yer Mak’er – Led Zeppelin (The obvious choice for Classic Rock meets Reggae.)
5. I Can’t Wait to Meetchu – Macy Gray (Sounds like an SMS I got the other day.)
6. (Sittin’ On) The Dock of the Bay – Otis Redding (Classic… and it’s kinda what he does all day, sitting on a bench in Jonquet, waiting for the Mercedes to roll by to change Euros and Dollars on the marche noir.)
7. De Doo Doo, De Da Da – The Police (The song in our iTunes library that most resembles Pidgin English.)
8. You Don’t Know How it Feels – Tom Petty (We’re hoping he won’t catch that part about rolling another joint…)
9. Every Rose Has its Thorn – Poison (The monster ballad must be represented on the Americana mix.)
10. Father and Son – Cat Stevens (Olujobi never went to Jewish summer camp but we did and this, too, is part of us… even if he doesn’t know it.)
11. You Can’t Hurry Love – Diana Ross (But maybe with three or four wives you don’t HAVE to wait.)
12. I Say a Little Prayer – Aretha Franklin (He’d LOVE her.)
13. Breathe – Unknown (to us) Artist (Hey, all those songs that sound the same by young American-Idol-type girls are also Americana.)
14. For Once in my Life – Stevie Wonder (It’s better than I Just Called to Say I Love You.)
15. The Zephyr Song – RHCP (The obvious choice for Alternative/Punk meets Reggae.)
16. Least Complicated – Indigo Girls (This song has a deep message that can be applied to many situations.)
17. Fat Bottomed Girls – Queen (‘Nuf said.)

Lest you think we gave this little to no thought, we do have a short list of “instantly-rejected” selections:

Sk8er Boi – Avril Lavigne
Million Voices – Wyclef Jean
Add it Up - Violent Femmes
Bootylicious, Milkshake, Blow Your Mind, etc… – Destiny’s Child, Kelis, Eve feat. Gwen Stefani, etc…
Personal Jesus – Depeche Mode
Anything by The Cure
Anything by Fiona Apple
Anything by Sleater-Kinney
She’s Like The Wind – Patrick Swayze
Cold Beer and Remote Control – Indigo Girls

Oh yeah – we almost forgot. Say hello to Chief Olujobi.