This week in the Shack

Three A.M. Eternal

It's three a.m. and the rain patters against the windows. You sit at the table in the dark, smoking your last cigarette and trying to accept that she isn't coming back.

Or maybe the one you wanted left the club with someone else.

Maybe the jobs have all dried up, but that hasn't stopped the rent coming due next week.

Or maybe it's just that you've realized that you're no longer young, and you're haunted by that spectre that stands just behind your left shoulder and whispers "Is this all there is?".

The radio plays softly in the corner, weaving a tightrope of heartbreak and hope and you clench your jaw against the pain and frustration that you'd howl out, if only you weren't afraid that someone might hear. And the smoke rises up towards the ceiling.

It's always three a.m. somewhere. It's always raining in someone's heart.

1. Rufus Thomas - The Memphis Train (2:33)
2. Sam & Dave - Soul Man (2:40)
3. The Solution - My Mojo Aint Working No More (3:52)
4. Wilson Pickett - I've Come a Long Way (3:10)
5. King Curtis - A Whiter Shade of Pale (5:38)
6. Jimmy Church - Right on Time (2:26)
7. Allen Toussaint/Elvis Costello - Who's Gonna Help a Brother Get Further? (5:03)
8. Sharon Jones & The Dap-Kings - 100 Days, 100 Nights (3:45)
9. Chaka Khan - Too Much Juice (Dark Streets Album Version) (3:02)
10. Aretha Franklin - Chain of Fools (2:47)
11. The Marvelettes - Destination: Anywhere (2:40)
12. Angeline Ball - I Can't Stand the Rain (3:11)
13. T Bird and the Breaks - Two Tone Cadillac (4:35)
14. Otis Redding - Day Tripper (3:33)
15. Sam & Dave - Everybody Got to Believe in Somebody (3:14)
16. Bettye LaVette - Piece of My Heart (2:21)
17. Dusty Springfield - Son of a Preacher Man (2:29)
18. Percy Sledge - I'm Hanging up My Heart for You (2:38)
19. The Solution - She Messed Up My Mind (4:17)
20. Otis Redding - Cigarettes and Coffee (4:00)
21. Clarence Carter - Slip Away (2:33)
22. Etta James - Tell Mama (2:23)
23. Jimmy Ricks & The Raves - Daddy Rolling Stone (2:19)
24. Ray Charles - Rockhouse (Parts I & II) (3:55)
25. Wilson Pickett - In the Midnight Hour [Live & Burnin'] [Live] (8:09)
26. The Staple Singers - Heavy Makes You Happy (Sha-Na-Boom-Boom) (3:12)
27. Laura Lee - Dirty Man (2:53)
28. Joss Stone - Victim of a Foolish Heart (5:31)
29. Booker T. & the MG's - Green Onions (2:54)
30. Bobby Newsome - Jody, Come Back and Get Your Shoes (3:16)
31. The Temptations - I Wish It Would Rain (2:51)
32. Aretha Franklin - Do Right Woman, Do Right Man (3:13)
33. Candi Staton - Another Man's Woman, Another Woman's Man (2:31)
34. Al Green - Here I Am (Come And Take Me) (4:16)
35. Bettye Lavette - Down To Zero (3:10)
36. Little Beaver - Blues For Mama (3:21)
37. Nicole Willis & The Soul Investigators - No One's Gonna Love You (6:06)
38. Otis Redding - Chained and Bound (2:40)
39. Bobby "Blue" Bland - Cry Cry Cry (2:42)
40. Joan Osborne - Eliminate the Night (4:08)
41. Solomon Burke - You're Good for Me (2:50)
42. Baby Washington - Breakfast in Bed (3:10)
43. Gospel Comforters - Jesus Will Help Me (3:01)
44. Mavis Staples - For What It's Worth [Live] (2:52)
45. Ruby Johnson - When My Man Comes Down (2:45)
46. Percy Sledge - The Dark End of the Street (2:45)
47. Clarence Carter - I'd Rather Go Blind (3:03)
48. Nina Simone - Feeling Good (2:57)
49. Ray Charles - Losing Hand (3:13)
50. James Brown - It's a Man's Man's Man's World (3:17)
51. Ann Peebles - I Feel Like Breaking Up Sombody's Home (2:28)
52. Al Green - Take Me to the River (3:43)
53. Joe Tex - S.Y.S.L.J.F.M. (The Letter Song) (Original) (2:50)
54. Little Milton - Blind Man (8:51)

(soul 17)