MICHEL MARTIN, HOST:
And now, the regular feature we call In Your Ear. That's where we invite some of our guest to tell us about the songs on their playlists. We caught up with entertainer Margaret Cho during her latest comedy tour. And she gave us a few of her favorite tunes.
MARGARET CHO: My name is Margaret Cho. I am a comedian, an actor, an author and I do lots of other things like music. And part of my obsession with music is that - my love of songs, and I have a lot of favorite songs. One that I'm listening to nonstop right now is "Cuddly Toy" by Harry Nilsson.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "CUDDLY TOY")
HARRY NILSSON: (Singing) You're not the only cuddly toy that was ever enjoyed by any boy. You're not the only choo choo train that was left out in the rain, the day after Santa came.
CHO: This is one of the greatest songs ever written and recorded. And it's really something that's more familiar to people from "The Monkees" television show. It's something that Davy Jones sang, but actually, in truth, it's a Harry Nilsson song and it is really, really fantastic. It's got a little bit of Beatles influence there. It's from the golden age of music.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "CUDDLY TOY")
NILSSON: (Singing) I never told you that I'd love no other. You must have dreamed it in your sleep, bop bop. You're not the only cuddly toy that was ever enjoyed by any boy. You're not the only choo choo train that was left out in the rain, the day after Santa came.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "GOD ONLY KNOWS")
THE BEACH BOYS: (Singing) I may not always love you but long as there are stars above you, you never need...
CHO: Another song that really just gets to me is "God Only Knows" by The Beach Boys, which is another great, great, great song of the '60s. And Brian Wilson's melodies and his harmonies are just unbeatable and really incredible. I'm just, you know, a huge music fan and those are the songs I'm listening to right now in my ear.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "GOD ONLY KNOWS")
NILSSON: (Singing) ...Still go on believe me the world could show nothing to me so what good would living do me...
MARTIN: That was comedienne Margaret Cho telling us what's playing in her ear. To hear our previous conversation with her, head over to NPR.org, click on the program's tab and go to TELL ME MORE. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.