Today was the due date for the latest installment of the mix project with Tommy Sticking Point... topic: Songs with Animals in Their Titles. Here's my track list, with assorted liner notes:

1. Hungry Like the Wolf – Duran Duran: Let’s get the most obvious selection out of the way first...
2. Diamond Dogs - Beck: Not as good as the remake, but I can’t put Bowie on every one of these mixes… or can I?
3. Mockingbird Girl – Scott Weiland
4. The Eagle Will Rise Again – Alan Parsons Project
5. Dog & Butterfly (acoustic) - Heart: I was gonna put “Barracuda” on here, then remembered this song and decided to go less mainstream.
6. Cows with Guns - Dana Lyons: Buzz 103.1 (West Palm Beach’s alternative station) used to play this on the Morning Buzz when I was a junior in high school. I have no idea why, and I’ve never heard it played anywhere else since, but I downloaded it from Napster when I was in college and held onto it. It comes in handy here. The lyrics are really cheesy but kinda clever.
7. Danger Bird – Neil Young: He played this at the concert I went to a couple weeks ago and inspired me to put it on the mix.
8. Fever Dog - Stillwater: A fictional song from a fictional band in a fictional movie (based on true events), yet I bet if you played this for someone who had no idea, they would believe it was a real 70’s song. I have no idea who actually sings it.
9. Buffalo Stance – Neneh Cherry: My sister was obsessed with this song when we were kids, and I was obsessed with the video, a precursor to the more-famous “Groove is in the Heart.”
10. Insects – The Kids of Widney High: Yes, I’m a bastard for liking this music because it cracks me up. But I can’t help it. Just listen to the lyrics and to the singer’s passion during the bridge.
11. Froggie – Presidents of the United States of America: Shortly after this album was released, there was an article in the Sun Sentinel (my local paper) talking about artists’ sophomore slumps and how this album had only sold a fraction of the first one. I remember getting upset that the article failed to mention that the album had been out only one week. It ended up not selling much more, and PUSA faded into obscurity. Thanks, Sun Sentinel.
12. Howard the Duck – The Bangles: The movie was awful. The theme song includes the line “Hickory, dickory, duck.” How could I not put it on here?
13. Surfin’ Bird – The Trashmen: My mom had a Dr. Demento tape with this song and used to play it to amuse me in the car when I was younger. I guess it worked.
14. Dark Horse – George Harrison
15. Sheep Go to Heaven - Cake: Another example of a band that I generally think is awful that puts out one good song (see also Counting Crows, Harvey Danger).
16. Atomic Dog – George Clinton: This song made Snoop Dogg’s career.
17. Brass Monkey – Beastie Boys: Supposedly they refuse to sing this one in concert now because it degrades women. I still like the Beastie Boys, but they used to be much more fun.
18. Of Wolf and Man – Metallica (w/ San Francisco Orchestra)