Typophile Breaks/Tunes
So for those of you who haven't heard, Typophile is DJing the Saturday night "Digikana" event at TypeCon San Francisco. And while we've been doing our best to amass a pile of tunes that will please the discerning typographer, we're left with a question:
What are the must-have tunes to please a Typecon crowd?
Mind you, I'm not fishing for "what's your favorite song?" here - I'm looking for specific songs that mention type, alphabet, fonts, letters, etc etc. Spoken word or musical.
Any links to downloadable MP3s of typographers speaking (or something similar) would also be welcome here.
thanks-
jb



































12.Jul.2004 6.27pm
"The Magic Number" by De La Soul [3 Feet High & Rising]
http://tinyurl.com/5ccmd
12.Jul.2004 6.38pm
"ABC" - The Jackson Five
"Number Song" - DJ Shadow, from Endtroducing
"Everyday I Write the Book" - Elvis Costello, from Punch the Clock
12.Jul.2004 6.58pm
Very few songs have typeface names, that namecheck the title. here's two:
CALEDONIA, what makes your big heart so hard?
(Louis Jordan wrote it, but also recorded by many others)
GEORGIA, sweet Georgia.
(Hoagy Carmichael wrote and recorded it, Ray Charles did a classic version)
How about:
1-2-3 by Len Barry
(Includes the line "ABC, falling in love with you was easy for me..") At least I think it does -- I haven't heard that song for 40 years!
German Bold Italic by Towatei, of course.
12.Jul.2004 7.05pm
Towa Tei - GBI (German Bold Italic)
http://www.discogs.com/release/240102
Wiliam Caslon Experience
http://americanbacon.com/html/music.html
Futurismo Soundtrack to a Font
http://www.p22.com/records/futurismo.html
(shameless plug)
The sound of lettering
http://www.basichip.com/tony_schwartz/ts000.htm
12.Jul.2004 7.48pm
R-E-S-P-E-C-T, Give it to me! Respect, just a little bit.
Aretha Franklin did the JAGUNDA hit from the Otis Redding R&B masterpiece.
Also anything by the "Lettermen": "When I Fall in Love," "Theme From A Summer Place," "Put Your Head on My Shoulder," "Hurt So Bad," and "Shangri-La" (50s frathouse crooning quartet)
http://www.thelettermen.com/home.html
12.Jul.2004 7.52pm
25 Greatest Hits
12.Jul.2004 8.07pm
Cake - ALPHA BETA PARKING LOT - Prolonging the Magic
:D
12.Jul.2004 9.21pm
Candy Chang's seminal work, "Typography," including suchditties as "Bravo Futura" and "The Letterpress Express."
www.redantenna.tv/candychang/audio/index.htm
12.Jul.2004 9.39pm
La Marcha de las Vocales by "Cri Cri". Maybe not very suitable for the task.
http://www.cri-cri.net/mp3/ca091.mp3
12.Jul.2004 9.47pm
"A" by the Barenaked Ladies, off of "Maybe You Should Drive"
<http://www.azlyrics.com/lyrics/barenakedladies/a.html>
13.Jul.2004 12.30am
It's common knowledge that Prince has a thing for letters, especially the "U" (I Would Die 4 U, Take Me With U, U Got the Look)... he waxes melodic about letterish locales (Alphabet Street, Graffiti Bridge)... but could we expect any less from a guy who renamed himself an unpronounceable glyph?
13.Jul.2004 1.37am
'Ondine' by They Might Be Giants
'Olympian' by Gene
'Sign o the Times' by prince
'Sale of the Century' by sleeper
'wide open spaces' by Mansun
13.Jul.2004 3.38am
Any rap where they say "Word"

13.Jul.2004 4.11am
I'm loving 'Alphabet Street' : )
How about design from the WORD UP (say Cameo)
Bit of a stretch, but 'Line up in line' by Elastica?
13.Jul.2004 4.35am
Sheila E and Prince's "A Love Bizarre", the hit single off
of Romance 1600 opens with "A, B, A B C D" instead
of the usual "1 2 3 4". Maybe?
13.Jul.2004 4.37am
Don't you have a DJ friend who can put some beats under this?
13.Jul.2004 4.43am
As electro is back in style, why not play Freeez's I.O.U.?
It sure was a floor filler in my breakdancing days.
13.Jul.2004 5.00am
From my "Dope On Plastic" collection from React
(highly danceable grooves'n'breaks):
Red Snapper "Area 51" (Dope On Plastic 2)
Turntable Terranova "29" (Dope On Plastic 3)
Funky Fresh Few "89" (Dope On Plastic 3)
Runaways "P.E.A.C.E." (Dope On Plastic 7)
Capoeira Twins "4x3" (Dope On Plastic 7)
13.Jul.2004 5.04am
"A Zed And Two L's" by Fila Brazillia on Maim That Tune.
13.Jul.2004 5.07am
"66" by Afghan Wigs on 1965
13.Jul.2004 5.08am
Maybe off-topic, but it is gorgeous:
Breezin' by George Benson.
13.Jul.2004 5.12am
Lissenup, I'm gonna check my CD collection at home tonight
and get back to you. Give me a little time tho (600+ CD's).
13.Jul.2004 6.08am
"Feel like a number", good rock by Bob Seger.
13.Jul.2004 6.44am
The Fish Cheer, by Country Joe and the Fish (it's the intro to Feel Like I'm Fixin' To Die Rag: "Gimme an F...")
D-I-V-O-R-C-E, by Tammy Wynette (kinda goes with R-E-S-P-E-C-T?)
Tea for Two, by Tony Bennett (Picture U upon my knee, just T 4 2 and 2 4 T")
I kern C for miles, by the Who
I shot the serif, by Bob Marley
13.Jul.2004 7.01am
> I kern C for miles, by the Who

I hope you don't mind Nick, but
13.Jul.2004 7.10am
Pixies Monkey Gone To Heaven
Sex Pistols EMI
Naughty by Nature OPP
Tocotronic K.O.O.K.
DJ Vadim The Terrorist
13.Jul.2004 7.43am
"DWYCK" by Gangstarr (1994)
13.Jul.2004 7.45am
A B & C - Death By Chocolate
A Is To B As B Is To C - Boards Of Canada
PWEI Is A Four Letter Word - Pop Will Eat Itself
A Red Letter Day - Pet Shop Boys
Molten Lead - Homescience
She's Actual Size - They Might Be Giants
Then I Learned The Alphabet - Lenola
Broken Typewriter - The California Oranges
The Outdoor Type - The Lemonheads
13.Jul.2004 8.12am
Type Slowly -- Pavement
Sex Type Thing -- Stone Temple Pilots
13.Jul.2004 8.18am
cut in audio clips from old typesetting films with the songs
http://www.archive.org/movies/details-db.php?collection=prelinger&collectionid=00503
13.Jul.2004 8.32am
I'm That Type Of Guy -- LL Cool J
She Looks All Types A' Good -- James Brown
The Bold Type -- Ken Bierschbach (Never heard this, it came up in a search on Amazon and sounds like a great title)
13.Jul.2004 1.16pm
"The End Of Biters-International" by Prefuse 73 on One Word Extinguisher
contains samples cut up in such a way they become separate letters.
Killer hip hop track.
13.Jul.2004 1.48pm
I vote for this song!
http://www.pancakemountain.com/tvev.html
13.Jul.2004 2.05pm
More Shopping from Bran Van 3000's album Discosis rhymes "Body type by Letraset" with "ipsum lorem dolor sit amet".
13.Jul.2004 2.20pm
maybe this tune is linked above/ ... it's not mentioned
in the end credits ... JFP?
http://www.porchez.com/images/readingworkshop/ReadingWorkshop2003web.mov
13.Jul.2004 2.43pm
Justified and ancient, The KLF
13.Jul.2004 3.07pm
* Jon Young
> I vote for this song!
Super! Thanks for link.
* Nick Shinn
> Justified and ancient, The KLF
Cool! I still have the vynil of "What Time Is Love,"
black cover with grey Helvetica Black Oblique.
Blow Up.
13.Jul.2004 3.15pm
Anything by _"Badly Drawn" Boy_
Beastie Boys' _"Licensed" to Ill_
Space -- The Beta Band -- Heros to Zeroes
Squares -- The Beta Band -- Heros to Zeroes
Pacific 202 -- 808 State
B+A -- The Beta Band -- The Three E.P.'s
Tangent -- Beth Orton -- Trailer Park
Anchor Song -- Bj
13.Jul.2004 3.36pm
From Blackalicious there is "Alphabet Aerobics" & "A2G"
both of which can be heard here:
http://www.blackalicious.com/tuner/tuner.html
13.Jul.2004 3.51pm
Some classic disco'n'funky stuff:
Cloud Nine The Temptations
Good Times Chic
Hip hop'n'rap
When 6 Loves 9 Only Child
U Arrested Development
K.O.S. (Determination) Black Star
The 6th Sense Common feat. DJ Premier
Oodles of O's De La Soul
I.C. Y'All De La Soul feat. Busta Rhymes
Some more grooves'n'breaks:
Words Of Love Soul Bossa Trio
What's Your Number Ian Pooley
Interstate System 7
Heavyweight Kitachi
Twentyfourseven Artful Dodger
Stem / Long Stem / Transmission 2 DJ Shadow
Six Days DJ Shadow
Drum'n'bass'n'breakbeats
F Jam Adam F feat. MC Conrad
Bullitproof Breakbeat Era
Bombing The L Fun Lovin' Criminals
Note to self: continue from "G".
13.Jul.2004 4.04pm
Yves, good catch with the Stem/Long Stem!
13.Jul.2004 4.28pm
Justify my love (Shep's remix) -- Madonna -- Justify my love (single)
Future Proof -- Massive Attack -- 100th Window
Name Taken -- " " -- " "
N.W.O -- Ministry -- Cool World soundtrack
Next is the E (Long Arms mix)-- Moby -- Cool World soundtrack
Password -- Paul Oakenfold -- Swordfish soundtrack
Paths -- Robert Miles -- Zen and the art of chilling
Blank Page -- Smashing Pumpkins -- Adore
Becoming X -- Sneaker Pimps -- Becoming X
Titanium Expos
13.Jul.2004 4.40pm
Typecast -- Feckless Beast -- Feckless Beast Type Thang -- Isaac Hayes -- Live at the Sahara Type of Mood -- 3rd Storee -- Get with me Type A -- Zebrahead -- MFZB Type -- Living Colour -- Time's Up Alpha & Omega -- XROSS -- The God Alpha Centauri -- Tangerine Dream
13.Jul.2004 4.48pm
CC Rider
by Big Bill Broonzy
C C Rider, see what you done done
C C Rider, you see what you done done
You C C Rider, you see what you done done
You done made me love you and now your man done come
http://www.ccrider.tv/
C.C. Rider
Traditional - as by Mississippi John Hurt,
C.C. Rider, see what you done done
You made me love you, now your man done done (3)
There ain
13.Jul.2004 5.11pm
Maybe for the Type ID Board:
Pearl Jam's Elderly Woman Behind The Counter In A Small Town
I seem to recognize your face, haunting familiar yet i cant seem to place it /
Cannot find a candle of thought, to light your name
(counter, face, name)
13.Jul.2004 5.58pm
What, no links to Troubleman MP3s?
14.Jul.2004 12.35am
Hahahaha!
I'll check our "back catalogue" list at the 
rehearsal tomorrow to see if we have any songs that fit
the bill.
16.Jul.2004 10.24am
i was ashamed that i had nothing to contribute, but luckily for me stuart forgot this one:
"friend is a four-letter word" by cake
16.Jul.2004 10.59am
Something Spanish (and I mean Spain): "Carta de Amor" by Los Manolos (on their "Pasion Condal").
It's a reading of a love letter where they speak out the punctuation too. It's sort of a loungy track (they specialize in Spanish-Sinatra-style, actually), but pretty cool, I think. I can bring the CD with me if you like.
hhp
16.Jul.2004 11.08am
The Letter
by Alex Chilton
& The Boxtops.
16.Jul.2004 11.22am
oh and
"letters" by stroke 9
16.Jul.2004 11.22am
Beastie Boys All Lifestyles To The 5 Boroughs
"
16.Jul.2004 11.43am
Bow Wow Wow -- W.O.R.K. Bow Wow Wow -- C30 C60 C90
16.Jul.2004 12.39pm
INXS -- Shabooh Shoobah -- Black & White
16.Jul.2004 12.46pm
> Bow Wow Wow -- C30 C60 C90
I think this refers to blank cassette tape lengths, not cyan values. But hey, whatever fits.
16.Jul.2004 12.52pm
hehe. clever grant. i was just looking at the C
16.Jul.2004 1.26pm
Big Audio Dynamite BADII -- The Tea Party
maybe?
17.Jul.2004 7.37am
'1976' by RJD2
'Space Oddity' Bowie
'Sugar 5' and 'B-line' Lamb
'Space Monkeys' Dust Brothers (fight club ST)
'Dictionary' Hooverphonic
17.Jul.2004 8.58am
Prelude and Fugues, book 1 and 2, J.S. Bach
One in each key signature as in A, A minor, B, B flat minor, etc.
32 Variations, Beethoven (each variation in a different key)
17.Jul.2004 12.06pm
4 Ever 2 Gether - ABC
A To Z - ABC
Font Crimes - North of America
Freak Type Thang - Baby Yo
Typesetter's Song - Monarques
American Typewriter - Braid
I Typed for Miles - Jets to Brazil
Pica - John Beltran
Tracking - DJ Q
Kern River - Merle Haggard
ABCDEFJAM - Grip Grand
17.Jul.2004 6.06pm
All together now - The Beatles
17.Jul.2004 6.49pm
Good One Michael!
What about some School House Rock, Grammar rock in particular. Unpack your Adjectives, Interjections!
Anyone have a copy of SHR Rocks?
18.Jul.2004 12.57am
I do. And it does.