Happy Monday, folks! It’s the Fourth of July this weekend! I started the summer job late last week, and man is it strange. I’ve never even seen Roblox, let alone played it, but I still had to walk a bunch of small kids through how to create various games using the platform. It was…interesting. Not something I’m going to take up in my spare time, mind, but interesting. Here’s a playlist.

1. Whitney Houston, “I Wanna Dance With Somebody (Who Loves Me)”: I’m not usually one for ’80s R&B, but this song hits something deep and primal in my brain and doesn’t let go. It’s great.
2. Bryan Andrews, “Yeehaw”: Remember when country music was anti-establishment and outlaw? Bryan Andrews remembers. He’s carrying on the tradition of guys like Merle Haggard, Kris Kristofferson, and Willie Nelson. He’s Johnny Cash flipping off the camera.
3. Nanseera, “Seattle”: She’s from Uganda, but she spent a long time traveling across the United States and wrote a whole album about it. It’s pretty great.
4. The National, “Sorrow”: Remember when they performed this song for a full six hours straight? Man, that was awesome. I could listen to it for six hours straight no problem.
5. Paul McCartney, “Hope of Deliverance”: I feel like there’s at least one great song on every McCartney album, and this song is absolutely fantastic.
6. Feist & Ben Gibbard, “Train Song”: A downbeat, somber song ostensibly about trains? Y’know, sometimes I don’t pay close attention to the lyrics or what a song’s theme actually is, but I still really dig the song. This is one of those instances.
7. Rufus Wainwright, “Going To A Town”: I love this song. The rhythm of it, the piano, the way Rufus sings it…it’s just a perfect song, are there are too few of those in the world.
8. Procol Harum, “A Whiter Shade Of Pale”: Speaking of perfect songs, I think this might be one, too. That organ just gets me every time.
9. The Dave Clark Five, “Bits And Pieces”: How many other bands are named after the drummer? I mean, other than whatever Ringo does these days.
10. Calexico, “Sunken Waltz”: I love the guitar riff at the beginning of this song. The whole song is great, really.