MetaMixTapes 2: Growing Up to Be a Pope July 7, 2024 1:54 AM   Subscribe

It's been three months. Let's make another mixtape!

In April, I posted a MetaTalk for a mixtape about cats. I like the mix we made, and it's been a few months, so I wanted to do it again.

Re: topic, I decided maybe the best approach would be to go RANDOM METAFILTER. It being 7/7 as I write this, and 7+7 being 14, I clicked "Random" 14 times and got "growing up to become a Pope is a lot of fun, " a post about the poetry of James Tate, and posted by kattulus on April 18, 2005. Kattulus joined in 2002 and has been active on MetaFilter as recently as Wednesday. They included the following excerpt from Tate in the 2005 post:

After a poodle dies
all the cardinals flock to the nearest 7-Eleven.
They drink Slurpies until one of them throws up
and then he's the new Pope.


As for the new mixtape
Anything inspired by Kattulus' post, or by the ensuing comments would be great to suggest. Maybe the 15 songs with the most favorites make the cut? And then I'll make a Tidal playlist and share it here. (Others could share versions for other platforms, obviously.)

For my part, I'm submitting "Anti-Pope" by the Damned which, as far as songs go, it's one of the best ones out there.

Since we're talking about songs
In kattulus' original post, dlugoczaj actually did recommend a song! It's "The Pope" by Meryn Cadell, and it's fair game folks, it's on all the streaming platforms if someone wants to suggest it. (dlugoczaj joined in 2004 and was active here as recently as last week.)

And regarding the previous mixtape
Here are member-submitted playlists for Tidal, Apple, Spotify, and I just noticed the Apple one has a great cat photo with it.
posted by kensington314 to MetaFilter-Related at 1:54 AM (34 comments total) 2 users marked this as a favorite

Something by Shane McGowan and the Popes, perhaps, such as 'That Woman's Got me Drinking'(CW: Johnny Depp).
posted by misteraitch at 10:21 AM on July 7 [1 favorite]


An Audience with the Pope by Elbow seems like a possible fit for this theme. Not necessarily 100% on target but, also, I love it.
posted by gentlyepigrams at 10:29 AM on July 7


My Dad
posted by eirias at 10:33 AM on July 7


well this has nothing to do with the topics but I think you should put Billie Eilish's Lunch on there because it's *F*U*N*
posted by supermedusa at 10:46 AM on July 7 [4 favorites]


How the Pope is Chosen is the weirdest poem I've read in a long time. Maybe ever. It includes these lines:
The new Pope chooses the name he will use as Pope,
like "Wild Bill" or "Buffalo Bill."
He wears red shoes with a cross embroidered on the front.
That makes me thinks of The Angels Wanna Wear My Red Shoes by Elvis Costello.
posted by Redstart at 11:46 AM on July 7 [4 favorites]


Redstart it sort of has the quality of something an off-track LLM would dream up.
posted by kensington314 at 12:39 PM on July 7


Heavenly Pop Hit by the Chills
posted by Paragon at 6:20 PM on July 7 [2 favorites]


"would you like to see the pope at the end of a rope, do you think he's a fool"
black sabbath, after forever.
posted by clavdivs at 7:03 PM on July 7 [1 favorite]


Patti Smith and the pope on the beach. Wave.
posted by Riverine at 9:24 PM on July 7 [1 favorite]




Only song I can think of that mentions the Pope is Joan Osborne's One of Us.
posted by JanetLand at 5:54 AM on July 8 [3 favorites]


What sprang to mind immediately is the album Whirling Pope Joan, by July Murphy and Nigel Eaton, released in 1994. I have heard them live long time ago and i have not listened to the album in a long time . But now i did again and it is such a unique experience. One of my favourites is puit d'amour/tiennet.
posted by 15L06 at 6:15 AM on July 8


Has to include Sinead O'Connor. And maybe Kris Kristofferson's ode to her, Sister Sinead?
posted by Sweetie Darling at 6:17 AM on July 8 [5 favorites]


Make sure to favorite the ideas that you like!
posted by kensington314 at 7:09 AM on July 8


One Of Us by Joan Osborne
Nobody calling on the phone
'cept for the Pope maybe in Rome
posted by Rash at 1:52 PM on July 8


Half Man Half Biscuit - Vatican Broadside

The singer out of Slipknot went to Rome to see the Pope
The singer out of Slipknot went to Rome to see the Pope
The singer out of Slipknot went to Rome to see the Pope
And the Pope said to his aide:

Who the fucking hell are Slipknot?
Who the fucking hell are Slipknot?
Who the fucking hell are Slipknot?
In relation to me getting out of bed?
posted by General Malaise at 2:17 PM on July 8 [1 favorite]


How about the Smoking Popes - their cover of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory's Pure Imagination or Need You Around from movie about the pope of Bronson Alcott High, Cher.

Or the Ramones - We're a happy family -
I'm friends with the President
I'm friends with the Pope
We're all making a fortune selling Daddy's dope
posted by The_Vegetables at 2:45 PM on July 8


Since I shared a Prince song, I feel obligated to add that posted by jomato at 9:44 PM on July 8 [1 favorite]


Girlyman St. Peter’s Bones

We have high hopes like the old popes
Even St. Peter’s bones decay
posted by ActionPopulated at 2:02 PM on July 9 [1 favorite]


Oh wow! That was a nice trip down memory lane. That was my eleventh ever post, if I’m counting correctly.

I can’t help but suggest three songs written to James Tate poems by David Leisner. They’re from an album by classical guitarist David Starobin, and feature baritone Patrick Mason.

Poem (I Can’t Speak for the Wind)
Never Again the Same
From an Island
posted by Kattullus at 11:48 PM on July 9 [1 favorite]




Tom Lehrer is on topic in The Vatican Rag.
posted by cortex (retired) at 4:15 PM on July 10 [3 favorites]


Consider Chocolate Pope by Electric Six; short and sweet, if you will.

And thanks for sharing the James Tate poem; I can't remember the last time I went from "I've never heard of this poem" to "I will be asking someone to read that at my funeral" so quickly.
posted by terretu at 5:30 AM on July 11 [1 favorite]


So Ala Temen · Cardinal Rex Jim Lawson
posted by Bloxworth Snout at 1:27 PM on July 11


Robyn feat. Snoop Dogg, U Should Know Better

When in Rome I sat down with the Romans
Said you need a black Pope and she better be a woman
She better be "no more celibacy"
Even the Vatican knows not to fuck with me
posted by under_petticoat_rule at 5:21 AM on July 13


Not exactly a pope, but "Lucky Like St. Sebastian" by Momus is a perennial favourite of mine.
posted by Shepherd at 7:04 AM on July 13


Mod note: [Thanks for this, kensington314; we've added it to the sidebar and Best Of blog]
posted by taz (staff) at 1:26 AM on July 14 [1 favorite]


Thanks, taz! Reminder if anyone comes by, favorite your favorites!!
posted by kensington314 at 2:16 PM on July 14


Since every Pope is also bishop of Rome, how about the Saw Doctors' "Howya Julia"?
Did you see yer one with Gay-bo, talkin' on the Late, Late Show
She was tellin' us about the things that happened long ago
How she loved the bishop and he loved her just as well
Only God knows will he go to Heaven or to Hell

He helped the starvin' millions and he got them food to eat
And the homeless Irish immigrants are livin' on the street
And when it came to singin' his repertoire was vast
He swore that he'd be celibate he slipped and broke his fast

Mighty, mighty, Lord almighty, off with the collar, off with the nightie
Jesus, Mary and Holy Saint Joseph, the beads are rattlin' now
Mighty, mighty, Lord almighty, off with the collar, off with the nightie
Jesus, Mary and Holy Saint Joseph, the beads are rattlin' now
(Great show in Boston on Friday night by the lads, too!)
posted by wenestvedt at 6:29 AM on July 15


The Tate poems quoted in the thread, especially "Teaching the Ape to Write Poems", reminded me of the lyrics of Joanna Newsom's Inflammatory Writ. A stanza:

And as for my inflammatory writ?
Well, I wrote it and I was not enflamed one bit.
Advice from the master derailed that disaster:
He said "Hand that pen over to me, poetaster."
While across the great plains, keening lovely and awful
Ululate the lost Great American Novels:
An unlawful lot left to stutter and freeze, floodlit.
But at least they didn't run, to their undying credit.

posted by quintessence at 8:34 AM on July 15


quintessence, I love that, especially now that her music is up on streaming finally. Please vote for quintessence's song!
posted by kensington314 at 10:18 AM on July 15 [1 favorite]


Oh, wow. I definitely still recommend Meryn Cadell's "The Pope"! (I missed the little blurb up above until I'd gone through the comments and didn't see it and said WTF--I'm glad that I did a control-F before posting it again!)
posted by dlugoczaj at 1:47 PM on July 18


Okay, I'm calling it -- here's the Tidal playlist. If others would like to share via other platforms this would be very much encouraged and even appreciated.

MetaMixTapes 2: Growing Up to Be a Pope (I'd rather be the dope)
1. Prince, “Pope” (1)
2. Billie Eilish, “LUNCH” (4)
3. Sinead O’Connor, “Success Has Made a Failure of Our Home” (5, technically)
4. Tom Lehrer, “Vatican Rag” (3)
5. Joanna Newsom, “Inflammatory Writ” (0)
6. The Chills, “Heavenly Pop Hit “(1)
7. Kris Kristofferson, “Sister Sinead” (5)
8. Elvis Costello, “(The Angels Wanna Wear My) Red Shoes” (4)
9. Shane McGowan and the Popes, “That Woman’s Got Me Drinking” (1)
10. Ramones, “We’re a Happy Family” (0)
11. Zero Boys, “Civilization’s Dying” (0)
12. The Damned, “Anti-Pope” (0)
13. Black Sabbath, “After Forever” (1)
14. David Starobin, “3 James Tate Songs: No. 2, Never Again the Same” (1)

This one was tough to select and sequence! There were far fewer votes than last go-around, and using every song that got a favorite yielded a too-long mixtape. Enter Mixer's Privilege: I just decided to use all the songs with multiple favorites, a few with one favorite, and a few with zero favorites. (The zeros were songs I selected or just loved from the unfavorited list). This means that some songs with single favorites got lost in the sauce: Joan Osborne, Girlyman, Patti Smith, Half Man Half Biscuit, and Electric Six, I believe. Nothing against any of those artists' songs, just truly too many songs to choose from and I was eager to put The Damned and Zero Boys on there!

I think it's pretty good? I made it sorta punk, sorry. Really dig that Billie Eilish song.
posted by kensington314 at 4:15 PM on July 18 [2 favorites]


I don't love that Sinead album of standards and covers, but I wanted to include something from around the time of the SNL pope incident, and I do like this version of "Success" and the Loretta Lynn original. Am I not your girl?!
posted by kensington314 at 4:38 PM on July 18 [1 favorite]


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