So I played hookie last week from Twisted Mixed Tape Tuesday.

Yeah.

I was THAT girl.

Did you miss me?

I’d like to tell you I was doing something fun and rebellious – like smoking in the boys room – but really? My kid was sick (that’s “mom-speak” for “dog ate my homework”) and I just didn’t get ’round to getting my “assignment” done.

And as a result?  I missed the Christmas party.

Serves me right.

I hope everyone enjoyed eggnog in my absence.

So I’m back on the wagon this week.  Recommitted to the program and all that.

And I’m just in time for … Addiction Theme Week!

This week, Jen Kehl, our fabulous blog songstress has given the following prompt for mixes:

I don’t just love you, I’m addicted to you!

All right then!  Do join my fellow enablers on the hop here:

So the general direction, as always, is five (or so) songs that speak to the theme.

My first choice is from childhood.  My mother had “The Best of Rolf Harris” on vinyl and when I got a record player and had gotten past the “when Tinkerbell rings her little bells” stage of life, she passed on a few folk albums and other things she apparently thought were rather benign.  So I basically grew up thinking Rolf was the Aussie equivalent to Raffi (As an aside, I learned later in life that many Aussie’s have decidedly mixed feelings on the fellow. In fact comedians even do whole rude spoof songs on him.  Raffi never inspired that.  So TOTALLY different league).  Anyway, my first choice is from this “Best of” album, and now that I’m old enough to understand what it’s about, I’d say it speaks to tonight’s theme.  I pray for the day my husband will quit smoking.  He’s already tried twice and there’s no question that’s an addiction.  And if I’m being honest with myself, I could probably scale back on my version of mother’s little helper (which is the ying to Nick’s yang in this song).

All that to say?  Here’s Rolf Harris’ Nick Teen and Al K. Hall.

Last point on the above: if you don’t watch – at least fast forward to 1:56ish because, well, ponies. Barfing rainbows.  Yeah!

Next up?  I have to be honest.  When I heard the theme for tonight I just started humming Robert Palmer’s Addicted to Love.  But because I think this will show up on other lists (and maybe I’ll be wrong), I’ll give you Weird Al Yankovik’s version of it: Addicted to Spuds.  Because really?  If we’re being honest, addiction to food can also be unhealthy.  In my forever battle of the bulge, I am forever fighting the demon sugar!

On a lighter note (Yes, lighter than Weird Al.  I just tried to make that work.  Suspend disbelief and make the leap with me, mmm-kay? The colour of the sky in my world is AWESOME), I get quite a bit of joy out of the fact that my 4-year-old happily plays with Mr. and Mrs. Potato Head.  A very cool toy that stood the test of time.

But back to the dark underbelly of the human condition!

I referenced it earlier, but next up I give you Mother’s Little Helper.  Up until now we’ve covered smoking, drinking and over-eating.  I think we’ve done enough of the gateways to segway into full on drugs.  I forever refer to wine as my “mother’s little helper” and I (mostly) use that in moderation, but I know they be talkin’ about pills here.  Which is a different beast.

I’d have given you the Stones.  Because, like, it’s their song.  But I first heard this covered by Tesla when I bought “Five Man Acoustical Jam” in High School (because I loved the song Signs – I’ll try to weave that into a future post).  And I have to admit, to this day, it never sounds quite right to me unless it’s the Tesla cover.  So here it is:

So up to here we’ve covered some of the substance monkeys.  But if I want to play true to Jen’s theme – although I know she gives us great liberties in that regard – I think we need to touch on good ‘ole Robbie’s addiction to love.  Aside from his song, I think there’ve been a few others out there on this theme, right?

The one I’ve chosen for you is the Beatle’s “You’ve Really Got a Hold on Me”.  The version I chose is the one recorded at the BBC.  As a note as far as the video is concerned, that’s in no way rare, but I liked the footage that accompanies this version of the song.  The song speaks to mad obsession despite detrimental effect: “You treat me badly, I love you madly…”  ‘Tis a fine line between good love and, well, obsession and/or misdirected love.  As for the video?  I just loved the clips.  Especially the various girls in full Beatle swoon – which I think is more “caught in the moment” rather than “addiction”, just for the record.

So that brings us to my last choice.  For that I give you Meredith Brooks‘ Birthday.  This is a b-side from her 1997 Blurring the Edges album (best known for the single Bitch).  But I loved it the moment I heard it.  I was 20 at the time and it perfectly summed up the ridiculousness of many of my friends as they chased guys they wanted, who were obviously not all that interested in them.   I even played it a few times by way of intro to conversations where I tried to nicely explain that, really, while I applaud the power of taking action and going after what you want, you also need to be able to read the signs; and if they wanted you back at all, or in any way other than convenience, you probably shouldn’t have to work quite that hard for it.

As for Meredith’s poor fellow in the song?  I can’t figure out why he wasn’t into it.  Hey!  No pressure. You got time.  Just DON’T. MAKE. ME. WAIT.

Love you! Kisses! TTFN!