Thomas Pynchon‘s latest novel, Inherent Vice is loaded with musical references–the radio’s always buzzing, bands are always hammering out jams, and hero Doc Sportello is always singing a verse or two. Wouldn’t it be cool if someone would take the time to make a playlist of all the tunes in the book? Okay, that was a lame set-up. Obviously somebody did take the time, and according to the text accompanying the original list at Amazon (yeah, I’m shamelessly cutting and pasting and also saving you time), “the playlist that follows is designed exclusively for Amazon.com, courtesy of Thomas Pynchon.” Hmmmm…wonder if Pynchon made the list himself–after all, he writes his own book jacket blurbs, and he even narrated the trailer for Inherent Vice. Pretty cool. Links go to downloads (not free, sorry) or artist pages. In cases of no links, the band or artist is one of Pynchon’s original creations (although we’d really, really love to hear “Soul Gidget,” or really anything by Meatball Flag). Bonus vid after the list.
- “Bamboo” by Johnny and the Hurricanes
- “Bang Bang” by The Bonzo Dog Band
- Bootleg Tape by Elephant’s Memory
- “Can’t Buy Me Love” by The Beatles
- “Desafinado” by Stan Getz & Astrud Gilberto, with Charlie Byrd
- Elusive Butterfly by Bob Lind
- “Fly Me to the Moon” by Frank Sinatra
- “Full Moon in Pisces” performed by Lark
- “God Only Knows” by The Beach Boys
- The Greatest Hits of Tommy James and The Shondells
- “Happy Trails to You” by Roy Rogers
- “Help Me, Rhonda” by The Beach Boys
- “Here Come the Hodads” by The Marketts
- “The Ice Caps” by Tiny Tim
- “Interstellar Overdrive” by Pink Floyd
- “It Never Entered My Mind” by Andrea Marcovicci
- “Just the Lasagna (Semi-Bossa Nova)” by Carmine & the Cal-Zones
- “Long Trip Out” by Spotted Dick
- “Motion by the Ocean” by The Boards
- “People Are Strange (When You’re a Stranger)” by The Doors
- “Pipeline” by The Chantays
- “Quentin’s Theme” (Theme Song from “Dark Shadows”) performed by Charles Randolph Grean Sounde
- Rembetissa by Roza Eskenazi
- “Repossess Man” by Droolin’ Floyd Womack
- “Skyful of Hearts” performed by Larry “Doc” Sportello
- “Something Happened to Me Yesterday” by The Rolling Stones
- “Something in the Air” by Thunderclap Newman
- “Soul Gidget” by Meatball Flag
- “Stranger in Love” performed by The Spaniels
- “Sugar Sugar” by The Archies
- “Super Market” by Fapardokly
- “Surfin’ Bird” by The Trashmen
- “Telstar” by The Tornados
- “Tequila” by The Champs
- Theme Song from “The Big Valley” performed by Beer
- “There’s No Business Like Show Business” by Ethel Merman
- Vincebus Eruptum by Blue Cheer
- “Volare” by Domenico Modugno
- “Wabash Cannonball” by Roy Acuff & His Crazy Tennesseans
- “Wipeout” by The Surfaris
- “Wouldn’t It Be Nice” by The Beach Boys
- “Yummy Yummy Yummy” performed by Ohio Express
