Happy Monday, folks! It’s chilly in Northern Virginia this morning, which is fine by me. Gives me an excuse to break out a cardigan and head to work in style. Here’s a new playlist to get you through this autumnal week.
- Lucinda Williams, “Can’t Let Go”: I love the grungy delta blues feel of this song. I might even prefer this version to the Robert Plant/Allison Krauss version? I dunno, that feels a bit like blasphemy.
- Fantastic Cat, “Donnie Takes the Bus”: An indie singer-songwriter supergroup? It’s more likely than you’d think. I do love their sense of humor about themselves (their first album is called The Very Best of Fantastic Cat, which feels very Traveling Wilburys to me), and they can write a catchy as hell song.
- Andrew Bird & Ted Poor, “Here’s the Rub”: Am I disappointed that this just sounds like another Andrew Bird song? Like, that’s not a bad thing, of course. I like Andrew Bird’s stuff. But this just feels…I dunno, like he’s sitting in place for once, and that is not a trait I usually associate with his music.
- The Beatles, “For No One”: I just dig the French horn solo, okay? Also, it’s a beautiful, heartbreaking song.
- Better Than Ezra, “At the Stars”: This band just made great music that I can’t help but sing along to.
- Electric Light Orchestra, “All She Wanted”: What is better than Jeff Lynne and George Harrison getting together on a song? Nothing, that’s what.
- Neil Young, “Harvest”: Is there a better Neil Young song? I submit to you that there is not.
- Louis Armstrong, “Mack the Knife”: My wife can argue with me about the Bobby Darrin version all she likes. It doesn’t have Bobby throwin’ it to himself for the trumpet solo, so this version is obviously better.
- Frank Turner, Silent Key”: We’ve been showing our classes the movie A Million Miles Away, about the first Latin-American astronaut, Jose Hernandez, and it always puts me in mind of this song about the failed Challenger mission in the mid-80s. I watched that mission on tv with my kindergarten class, and I distinctly remember watching that shuttle explode. It was harrowing.
- The Moody Blues, “Ride My See-Saw”: If you need a pick-me-up, this is the song for you. The Moody Blues are seldom what I’d call a fun band, but this song is definitely fun and upbeat and a good one to sing along with.
