"Date With John Waters" Soundtrack Lyrics

"A Date with John Waters" Soundtrack Description

Questions & Answers

Is A Date with John Waters a movie soundtrack?

No. It’s a 2007 compilation album of love-and-anti-love songs curated by film director John Waters.

Who released the album and when?

New Line Records released it on February 6, 2007, timed to Valentine’s Day.

What’s the concept?

Waters programs a kitschy, provocative “mixtape” that swings from bubblegum innocence to punk provocation—think thrift-store romance with razor blades in the candy.

Is there an official track list and running time?

Yes—the CD collects 14 tracks and runs about 42 minutes. (See AllMusic for duration details.)

Does it include songs by Waters regulars?

Yes—performances by Mink Stole and Edith Massey sit alongside classics from Ray Charles, Dean Martin, and more.

Is it on streaming?

The exact compilation can be hard to find as a single album, but fan playlists mirror the sequence on major platforms; the physical CD is common on the second-hand market.

Overview

What’s a “date” when your host is John Waters? It’s a crooked valentine, of course—sweet on top, subversive underneath. A Date with John Waters plays like a living-room DJ set from the “Pope of Trash,” opening with the feather-light “Tonight You Belong to Me” and lurching gleefully into jet-fuel punk, novelty doo-wop, torch ballads, and oddities you swear your parents warned you about.

Released by New Line Records to coincide with Valentine’s Day 2007, the compilation is Waters in curator mode, pairing sentimental oldies with titles that smirk at romance’s mess: bisexual amphibians, weaponized crushes, and deadpan torch songs all get their turn. AllMusic pegs the runtime at roughly 41:55, and contemporary press framed it as the cheeky follow-up to A John Waters Christmas. (Trusted sources: AllMusic; PopMatters.)

Genres & Themes

• Bubblegum innocence vs. adult innuendo: Patience & Prudence’s prim harmonies rub shoulders with salacious punk.
• Queer wit, camp, and counter-canon: from Elton Motello’s taboo-busting anthem to Mink Stole’s black-comic torch song.
• Old-school R&B and lounge croon: Ray Charles and Dean Martin lend slow-dance legitimacy to Waters’ prankster heart.
• Novelty & outsider pop: doo-wop weirdness and cult-figure cameos tilt the mix toward the gloriously “wrong.”

Tracks & Scenes

Not a film score—so think of these like “scenes” from Waters’ ideal date, with where the track sits in the compilation and why he chose it.

“Tonight You Belong to Me” — Patience & Prudence
Where it appears: opens the album (Track 1); original single 1956.
Why it matters: Waters calls it the first record he ever shoplifted—“so stolen, so pure, so good”—a sugarcoated overture before the mischief starts.

“Jet Boy Jet Girl” — Elton Motello
Where it appears: early jolt; late-’70s punk single (Track 2).
Why it matters: a taboo-popping, pogo-friendly blast that flips the date from coy to chaotic in two minutes flat.

“Ain’t Got No Home” — Clarence “Frogman” Henry
Where it appears: Track 3; 1956 R&B classic.
Why it matters: the voice-switching gag (boy/girl/frog) is Waters’ kind of gender-messy joke—camp, catchy, quietly radical.

“Rubber Biscuit” — The Chips
Where it appears: early-set novelty doo-wop.
Why it matters: word-salad scatting as comic relief; a date needs belly laughs between the blushes.

“I’d Love to Take Orders from You” — Mildred Bailey & Her Swing Band
Where it appears: pre-war swing curveball.
Why it matters: submissive lyrics played for sly kink—Waters’ wink at power games in pop’s past.

“In Spite of Ourselves” — John Prine & Iris DeMent
Where it appears: mid-album left-turn into grinning alt-country.
Why it matters: two misfits duet through raunch and devotion—romance that survives by laughing at itself.

“All I Can Do Is Cry” — Tina Turner
Where it appears: deep-soul detour.
Why it matters: volcanic heartbreak to balance all the snark—Waters never forgets the guts under the glitter.

“Big Girls Don’t Cry” — Edith Massey
Where it appears: cult-camp showcase from Waters’ own repertory company.
Why it matters: the off-key earnestness turns a Four Seasons hit into outsider-art sincerity—pure Baltimore soul.

“Imitation of Life” — Earl Grant
Where it appears: loungey, late-night shimmer.
Why it matters: melodrama distilled; the title alone nods to classic film tear-jerkers.

“Sometimes I Wish I Had a Gun” — Mink Stole
Where it appears: dark-humor torch song.
Why it matters: a deadpan, dangerous joke only a Waters regular can sell—love as noir gag.

“Johnny Are You Queer?” — Josie Cotton
Where it appears: power-pop provocation.
Why it matters: a neon, controversial earworm that rewired early-’80s teen pop with camp curiosity.

“The Right Time” — Ray Charles
Where it appears: late-album slow-burn.
Why it matters: adult heat—grit and groove—because even the strangest date deserves a dance-floor clinch.

“Hit the Road to Dreamland” — Dean Martin
Where it appears: graceful closer.
Why it matters: lights-down croon after all the chaos; Waters escorts you to the door with a wink, not a wallop.

Music–Story Links

• From first crush to first scandal: the sequencing jumps innocence → punk confession, mirroring how dates actually swerve.
• Waters’ repertory as Greek chorus: songs by Edith Massey and Mink Stole “comment” on romantic clichés from outside the mainstream.
• Queer camp as compass: provocative titles aren’t shock for shock’s sake; they reframe pop history through a proudly off-center lens.

How It Was Made

Compiled and annotated by John Waters—for New Line Records, the label arm of the studio that released many of his films. Contemporary interviews and liner-note readings have Waters pitching it as a crooked Valentine’s mixtape, complete with stories about first crushes, first thefts, and why certain “wrong” songs feel so right. (Trusted sources: Glide Magazine announcement; NPR’s Fresh Air segment; a PopMatters interview.)

Reception & Quotes

Critics greeted it as a sweet-and-sour valentine—less gross-out than you’d expect, more tender than you’d admit. Fans leaned into the curation: a gateway drug to novelty 45s and unclassifiable gems.

“Waters is a big softie… the majority of the songs here are just really nice songs with only a touch of weirdness.” PopMatters

“Set for a February 6, 2007 release… a collection of oddities dating back to the first record Waters ever shoplifted.” Glide Magazine

“It’s Waters’ collection of his favorite romance songs… including Mink Stole and the late Edith Massey.” NPR – Fresh Air

Additional Info

• Issued primarily on CD; promo editions circulated to press around release week.
• Catalog number commonly listed as NLR 39059 (New Line Records).
• Running order often mirrored by fan-made playlists on Spotify/Apple Music when the full album isn’t available as one package.
• Functions as a spiritual sequel to A John Waters Christmas (2004).
• Waters’ spoken-word reading of liner notes was used to promote the release online.

Technical Info

• Title: A Date with John Waters
• Year: 2007
• Type: Compilation album (curated by a film director; not a movie soundtrack)
• Curator/Producer: John Waters (compilation & liner notes)
• Label: New Line Records
• Release Date: February 6, 2007 (U.S.)
• Format at launch: CD (14 tracks); promo CDs circulated
• Approx. Duration: ~41:55
• Notable Selections: “Tonight You Belong to Me,” “Jet Boy Jet Girl,” “Ain’t Got No Home,” “In Spite of Ourselves,” “Big Girls Don’t Cry (Edith Massey),” “Johnny Are You Queer?,” “The Right Time,” “Hit the Road to Dreamland.”

Canonical Entities & Relations

Sources: AllMusic; PopMatters; NPR Fresh Air; Glide Magazine; MusicBrainz (label); Josie Cotton official site.

October, 30th 2025