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
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 Rolling Stone Album Guide	[3]

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 several karaoke versions of its songs, which were used for a singing contest; the winners of the contest appear on the 1999 album Stars Forever .

The title was inspired by the controversial Danish book The Little Red Schoolbook . ^[4]

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 her pre-transition self who was known as Walter Carlos.

In 1998, Carlos sued Momus for $22 million (equivalent to $33.8 million in 2024) over the song. ^[5] The case was settled out of court, with Momus agreeing to remove it from the album and owing $30,000 (equivalent to $57,874.6in 2024) in legal fees. ^[6] 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 (1999) were commissioned by persons or groups who paid him $1,000 each to write and record a song about themselves; meaning, after 30 songs, Momus raised the $30,000 needed. ^[6]

Track listing

All tracks are written by Momus.

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

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. "Little Red Songbook – Momus". AllMusic . Retrieved 13 April 2017.
2. DiCrescenzo, Brent (29 March 1999). "Momus: The Little Red Songbook". Pitchfork . Retrieved 13 April 2017.
3. Wolk, Douglas (2004). "Momus". In Brackett, Nathan; Hoard, Christian (eds.). The New Rolling Stone Album Guide (4th ed.). Simon & Schuster. pp.  551–552. ISBN   0-7432-0169-8.
4. Momus (20 June 2008). "Fuck your way to the revolution". Click Opera. Archived from the original on 18 August 2010. Retrieved 13 April 2017.
5. Shepherd, Fiona (10 September 1999). "The World Can Change in a Matter of Momus". The Scotsman . p. 23.
6. Vaziri, Aidin (7 November 1999). "$1,000 Bought a Custom Song on Momus' Latest Album". San Francisco Chronicle . Retrieved 11 April 2025– via SFGate.