The Little Red Songbook

This article is about the album by Momus. For the songs collected by the Industrial Workers of the World, see Little Red Songbook.

The Little Red Songbook is the twelfth studio album by Scottish musician Momus, released by Le Grand Magistery in 1998. Momus describes the album's style as part of his "analog baroque" phase: "an odd blend of classicism and kitschy futurism."^[1] The album features a number of karaoke versions of the songs that were used for a singing contest; the winners of the contest appear on the album Stars Forever.

The Little Red Songbook
Studio album by Momus
Released	1998 (1998)
Length	73:28
Label	Le Grand Magistery
Producer	Momus
Momus chronology
Ping Pong (1997) The Little Red Songbook (1998) Stars Forever (1999)

Professional ratings

Review scores
Source	Rating
AllMusic	[1]
Pitchfork	6.4/10[2]

The title was inspired by the controversial Danish book The Little Red Schoolbook.^[3]

Lawsuit

The original release of The Little Red Songbook contained the song "Walter Carlos", which postulated that, when time travel becomes possible, transgender musician Wendy Carlos could go back in time and marry Walter Carlos, Carlos's pre-transition identity. In 1998, Wendy Carlos sued Momus for $22 million over the song.^[4] The case was settled out of court, with Momus agreeing to remove it from the album and owing $30,000 in legal fees.^[5] Subsequent releases of the album do not include the song. Momus fundraised the money needed to pay the fees in a novel manner. The first 30 songs on his next album Stars Forever (all of disc one and part of disc two) are songs commissioned by a person or group who paid him $1,000 to write and record a song about themselves. Meaning after 30 songs, Momus raised the $30,000 needed.^[5]

Track listing

No.	Title	Length
1.	"Old Friend, New Flame"	2:05
2.	"MC Escher"	3:31
3.	"Who Is Mr. Jones?"	2:09
4.	"Harry K-Tel"	2:05
5.	"Lucretia Borgia"	2:50
6.	"How to Spot an Invert"	1:42
7.	"Everyone I Have Ever Slept With"	2:43
8.	"Born to Be Adored"	4:14
9.	"Coming in a Girl's Mouth"	1:34
10.	"What Are You Wearing?"	5:32
11.	"The New Decameron"	1:43
12.	"The Symphonies of Beethoven"	4:13
13.	"Tragedy and Farce"	2:38
14.	"Miss X, An Ex-Lover"	2:09
15.	"A White Oriental Flower"	4:49
16.	"Some Mistranslations"	2:02
17.	"The Ugly Sister"	1:04
18.	"Welcome to My Show Trial"	6:03
19.	"Old Friend, New Flame" (Karaoke Version)	2:06
20.	"Tragedy and Farce" (Karaoke Version)	2:39
21.	"The New Decameron" (Karaoke Version)	1:46
22.	"Coming in a Girl's Mouth" (Karaoke Version)	1:36
23.	"Miss X, An Ex-Lover" (Karaoke Version)	2:10
24.	"Harry K-Tel" (Karaoke Version)	2:07
25.	"Who Is Mr. Jones?" (Karaoke Version)	2:20
26.	"How to Spot an Invert" (Karaoke Version)	1:44
27.	"The Symphonies of Beethoven" (Karaoke Version)	4:07

All tracks are written by Momus

Original edition

No.	Title	Length
1.	"Old Friend, New Flame"	2:05
2.	"MC Escher"	3:31
3.	"Who Is Mr. Jones?"	2:09
4.	"Harry K-Tel"	2:05
5.	"Lucretia Borgia"	2:50
6.	"How to Spot an Invert"	1:42
7.	"Everyone I Have Ever Slept With"	2:43
8.	"Born to Be Adored"	4:14
9.	"Coming in a Girl's Mouth"	1:34
10.	"What Are You Wearing?"	5:32
11.	"The New Decameron"	1:43
12.	"Walter Carlos"	2:18
13.	"The Symphonies of Beethoven"	4:13
14.	"Tragedy and Farce"	2:38
15.	"Miss X, An Ex-Lover"	2:09
16.	"A White Oriental Flower"	4:49
17.	"Old Friend, New Flame" (Karaoke Version)	2:06
18.	"Tragedy and Farce" (Karaoke Version)	2:39
19.	"The New Decameron" (Karaoke Version)	1:46
20.	"Coming in a Girl's Mouth" (Karaoke Version)	1:36
21.	"Miss X, An Ex-Lover" (Karaoke Version)	2:10
22.	"Harry K-Tel" (Karaoke Version)	2:07
23.	"Who Is Mr. Jones?" (Karaoke Version)	2:20
24.	"Walter Carlos" (Karaoke Version)	2:18
25.	"How to Spot an Invert" (Karaoke Version)	1:44
26.	"The Symphonies of Beethoven" (Karaoke Version)	4:07

References

1. Huey, Steve. The Little Red Songbook – Momus at AllMusic. Retrieved 13 April 2017.
2. DiCrescenzo, Brent (29 March 1999). "Momus: The Little Red Songbook". Pitchfork. Retrieved 13 April 2017.
3. Momus (20 June 2008). "click Opera – Fuck your way to the revolution". IMomus. Archived from the original on 18 August 2010. Retrieved 13 April 2017.
4. Shepherd, Fiona (10 September 1999). "The World Can Change in a Matter of Momus". The Scotsman. p. 23.
5. Selvin, Joel; Vaziri, Aidin; Heller, Greg (7 November 1999). "$1,000 Bought a Custom Song on Momus' Latest Album". San Francisco Chronicle.