music

Playlist #235: The Boss

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Happy Monday, folks! I was in a Bruce Springsteen mood over the weekend (thanks in large part to the release of Nebraska ’82), so here’s a list of ten of my favorite non-studio-album Bruce songs.

  1. “Thundercrack”: This song always reminds me of “Rosalita.” It’s similarly-epic in scope and style, I feel, and features some great saxophone work from the Big Man.
  2. “Losin’ Kind”: I’d never heard this song before this weekend, but damn is it haunting and more than a little troubling. The whole narrative around Nebraska and the man lost in the woods period feels very real here.
  3. “Blood Brothers”: From the ’90s Greatest Hits collection, this sounds exactly like what you think a Bruce Springsteen song should sound like.
  4. “Rockaway the Days”: The Boss is a strong storyteller, as seen in this song where a dude gets in a bar fight and then wraps his car around a tree.
  5. “Follow That Dream”: From the recent Tracks II collection. Such a weird collection. Seven whole albums you recorded and never released? That’s a wild flex, Bruce.
  6. “Johnny Bye Bye”: Is this song just a retelling of “Johnny B. Goode”? I think this song is just a retelling of “Johnny B. Goode.”
  7. “Ain’t Good Enough for You”: Bruce has a lot of charisma, or “rizz” as the kids say these days. It’s hard to imagine someone rejecting him, but apparently it was a problem when he was younger? If this song is anything to go by, anyway.
  8. “From Small Things (Big Things One Day Come)”: Just a jumped-up blues song that’s way too much fun to sing.
  9. “This Hard Land”: Another one of those Greatest Hits songs that just sounds like a quintessential Bruce song. It’s, like, the ur-material that all other Springsteen songs are extracted from.
  10. “Open All Night (Electric Nebraska)”: One of my absolute favorite songs off of Nebraska, only with drums and bass.

Playlist #234

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Happy Tuesday, folks. Yesterday was Diwali, a Hindu holiday, and one that FCPS takes off now. So naturally, I spent the day taking various individuals to the doctor – the cat, my wife – and doing laundry. So much laundry. Where did we even get all these clothes? Anyway, here’s some songs to get you through the week.

  1. The Dead South, “In Hell I’ll Be In Good Company”: Whistling and stand-up bass and a title that’s entirely too long? Yup, hits a lot of points on the checklist.
  2. The Bridge City Sinners, “St. James’ Infirmary”: I was unaware I needed to hear a version of “St. James’ Infirmary” with the word “fuck” in it. And now I know.
  3. Glass Animals, “Heat Waves”: A random student walked by while I was playing the guitar outside last Friday and asked me if I knew how to play this song. I did not, so I looked it up. Seems easy enough to play, if a bit of a challenge for me to sing.
  4. Holly Golightly, “My Get Back”: How had I never listened to Holly Golightly until now? This is some good stuff. Blues-inflected, rough around the edges in just the right way. I dig it.
  5. Jakob Dylan, “Lend A Hand”: Spent most of yesterday listening to Dylan’s Women + Country on repeat for whatever reason, and this song still grabs me by the lapels and shakes me.
  6. Radiohead, “There, There (Live)”: The live Hail to the Thief versions are all great, especially this one, but I’m a little disappointed that it doesn’t include “Drunken Punch Up At A Wedding.” Sad.
  7. George Harrison, “Stuck Inside A Cloud”: It still amazes me that Harrison was able to craft such beautiful, touching music while in the grips of cancer, dying from it. We need more folks like him.
  8. The Pixies, “Where Is My Head?”: So supposedly a Taylor Swift song sounds a lot like this song? And that’s a . . . bad thing? If she wants to become a Pixies cover act, I’d probably be okay with that.
  9. The Cranberries, “Salvation”: It’s a song where they basically chant “Salvation” in the chorus over and over again. Of course I love it.
  10. Elliott Smith, “Bottle Up And Explode!”: One of his best off XO, which is also his best album in my humble (and correct) opinion.

Playlist #233

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Happy Indigenous People’s Day, folks! We don’t talk about that other guy.

  1. Redbone, “Wovoka”: As the best Native American rock band of the 1970s, Redbone put a fascinating wrinkle on rock and roll. Nice native rhythms.
  2. Counting Crows, “1492”: Why does this song spend a whole verse talking about Christopher Columbus? What does this have to do with literally anything else in this song?
  3. The Narcissist Cookbook, “The Simplest Words”: Sometimes, your brain goes all dribbly, and this guy gets it.
  4. Phoebe Bridgers, “It’ll All Work Out”: A Tom Petty cover? In this economy? It’s slowed way down but beautiful.
  5. Alan Jackson, “Chattahoochee”: A song that understands consent better than the President of the United States.
  6. Rhett Miller, “A Little Song”: A beautiful little song off his new album, one made apparently while he was waiting to get surgery done on his vocal chords (he had a polyp and a cyst on them!) and was in danger of never being able to sing again if things went wrong. They went right, though, which is good for all of us.
  7. Rilo Kiley, “Does He Love You?”: Still one of the bitterest love songs I’ve ever heard.
  8. Seven Mary Three, “Water’s Edge”: Look, ma, we’ve got Richard Marx in the ’90s!
  9. Passenger, “Let Her Go”: What if Cat Stevens got his start in the 2010s?
  10. Matt Berninger, “Little By Little”: Still a damn good song that I just keep going back to again and again.

Playlist #232

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Happy Monday, folks. It’s SAT week here in Fairfax County, so I get to help administer that test this Wednesday. Joy. I love testing. These songs will hopefully carry me through the week.

  1. Taylor Swift, “Wood”: Yes, there’s a new Taylor Swift album out, and it’s all anyone is talking about. While I enjoy this song, it’s also rather amusing to me. Hearing Taylor sing double entendres is like hearing your middle schooler try out the word “fuck”: it’s mildly adorable to hear them trying, even though it sounds kinda cringey.
  2. Rhett Miller, “The El”: This could’ve come off an Old 97s album, honestly, but I can’t blame Rhett for keeping it for this solo record. It’s a bop.
  3. Neko Case, “Dirty Knife”: What is this song about? I have no idea, but there’s mention of the titular knife and a chorus (?) sung in, I think, Latin. It’s great.
  4. Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers, “California”: I’m just a sucker for the She’s the One soundtrack, as we are all well aware by now.
  5. The Raconteurs, “Intimate Secretary”: This just always seemed like an extremely fun band to be a part of, like these guys really synched up well and were all on the same page. This song is a perfect example of that chemistry.
  6. Robert Plant, “Chevrolet”: Robert Plant still makes pretty compelling music. His latest feels even more in line with the stuff he’s been making with Allison Krauss, even though she’s not even involved with the project.
  7. Spoon, “Chateau Blues”: A Spoon song that does and does not sound like a Spoon song is quite an accomplishment, but it’s one they pull off here.
  8. Lord Huron, “Meet Me in the Woods”: Still rather obsessed with Strange Trails. Will not apologize for that.
  9. Pearl Jam, “Hail, Hail”: When you need a little pick me up first thing in the morning, put it on this song and crank the volume. You’re welcome.
  10. John Prine, “Souvenirs”: And when you need someone to make you wistful and nostalgic and maybe just a little bit angry at the past, you could do much worse than Prine.

Playlist #231

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Happy Monday, folks. A lot of new music came out last week that I really dug, and I’m still going through it and listening. But hey, the playlist waits for no man, except sometimes me when I forget that it’s Monday and I have to post one of these.

  1. Neko Case, “Winchester Mansion of Sound”: Case’s music continues to grow and shift; she’s never content to just coast by on what she’s done before. This is probably one of my favorites off the new album.
  2. Jeff Tweedy, “Cry Baby Cry”: Dude dropped a triple album on Friday. That’s wild. This is not, unfortunately, a cover of the Beatles song of the same name, but it is, fortunately, quite a good song anyway. The whole album is pretty good, honestly, though I feel like some of the lyrics could’ve used a second pass.
  3. Amanda Shires, “The Details”: I have never been divorced, as I’m sure most folks know. That being said, this song sounds like what I imagine divorce feels like, and it makes me uncomfortable and more than a little voyeuristic, like I’m listening in on a couple in the final throes of the inevitable end.
  4. David Gray, “Kathleen”: Sometime in the past few years, Draw the Line somehow became my favorite David Gray album, and this one of my favorite songs off that album. I can’t adequately explain the why of either of those, so instead I just accept them and continue grooving to the album and this song in particular.
  5. Bruce Springsteen, “Reason to Believe”: I always enjoy the work of Bruce the Storyteller. Here, it’s a series of vignettes with a common theme: at the end of a hard day, when the world wears you down and tells you to just give up, folks still find a reason to go on.
  6. Andrew Bird, “So Much Wine, Merry Christmas”: I learned the lead break from this song a few months ago, and it’s a great joy to play.
  7. Buckingham Nicks, “Frozen Love”: This album has finally appeared on streaming, so it’s okay that I left my copy in Oklahoma with my dad back in April.
  8. Doechii, “Anxiety”: It uses that one Gotye song (you know the one, he only did the one) as a basis for a very different tune.
  9. The Presidents of the United States of America, “Kick Out the Jams”: Who doesn’t love an MC5 cover? It’s suitably quick and jagged, and I kinda love it.
  10. Iron & Wine and Ben Bridwell, “I Still Haven’t Found What I’m Looking For”: Speaking of covers, here’s Iron & Wine and the dude from Band of Horses doing an U2 cover. It sounds exactly how you think that will sound.

Playlist #230

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Happy Monday, folks. I’ve been a bit down the past few days, which may or may not have affected my choice in music. Let’s take a look at the playlist and see.

  1. Glen Campbell, “Wichita Lineman”: Heard this song last night and it made me cry.
  2. Counting Crows, “Holiday in Spain”: The saddest song about being on holiday in Spain I’ve ever heard. I would assume being on holiday in Spain is a joyous occasion, not one so somber.
  3. Genesis, “No Reply At All”: One of the most upbeat songs about getting ghosted I’ve ever heard.
  4. case/lang/veirs, “Atomic Number”: How can a song ostensibly about the periodic table feel so sad? There’s just so much longing and loss in this song that I can’t help but love it.
  5. The National, “Afraid Of Everyone”: “You’re an oasis, darling, in my soul soul soul soul” on repeat in my brain for the rest of the day.
  6. Van Morrison, “Not Supposed To Break Down”: A Van cast off that’s better than most bands’ best song.
  7. Spoon, “Everything Hits At Once”: It sure does, It sure does.
  8. Hem, “The Part Where You Let Go”: I love this band. They’re one of my go-tos when I’m feeling down. Very cinematic and widescreen in the best possible ways.
  9. Wilco, “Handshake Drugs”: Four-chord songs are fun to play sometimes. I love playing this one.
  10. The Rolling Stones, “19th Nervous Breakdown”: I dunno if it’s the nineteenth one or not, but I do feel like I narrowly avoided a breakdown last night. Why’s the world so overwhelming right now?

Playlist #229

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Happy Monday, folks! Here’s this week’s playlist:

  1. Genesis, “Just a Job to Do”: The number of songs Phil Collins has written over the years about being a criminal just trying to do a (rather sinister) job is not a huge number, but it’s not a non-zero number, either. Was he secretly a hitman in the 1970s? Only he knows for sure.
  2. Margaret Glaspy, “These Days”: A lovely cover of the old Jackson Browne tune. It’s very sparse and slow, and I kinda dig it.
  3. Bruce Springsteen, “Born in the USA (Electric Nebraska)”: If Bruce had pursued this sound on Born in the USA rather than the athematic, keyboard-heavy style he used, maybe there’d have been fewer misunderstandings about what the song is actually about.
  4. The Cars, “Since You’re Gone”: Oh, 80s drum programming, never change.
  5. Andrew Bird, “Fake Palindromes”: This suprisingly uptempo song is so good, and apparently twenty years old now! Wow.
  6. Earth, Wind & Fire, “September”: No, it’s not the 21st of September, but Monday is the 22nd, so that’s too late. Therefore, have some EWF.
  7. The Shins, “Australia”: Is this song actually about the continent/island/country Australia? If so, what is it trying to tell us about it? I have no idea, but it’s a good song that I haven’t listened to in far too long.
  8. Veruca Salt, “Volcano Girls”: A 90s rock girl explosion of sound and energy, rather like a volcano.
  9. The National, “Terrible Love (Alternate Version)”: Still one of the best songs these guys have ever done, and the best version of the song.
  10. The Mystiqueros, “Good”: Back when I played with the group of musicians up in DC, this was one of the songs they played all the time. It’s a great song if you’ve got a group that can harmonize well.

Playlist #228

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Happy Monday, folks! Another week, another batch of tunes to get you started on the right foot.

  1. Hurray for the Riff Raff, “Alibi”: The ease with they toss off song after beautiful song never fails to impress me.
  2. Van Morrison, “Domino”: There are few performers alive who have as much energy as Van when he’s on.
  3. The Wallflowers, “Nearly Beloved”: Reckless runaway rhythm. This song always feels like it’s just on the verge of falling apart to me.
  4. Lord Huron, “Fool For Love”: A long-lost Springsteen song with more reverb than is strictly called for? Could be.
  5. Statler Brothers, “Flowers on the Wall”: Who doesn’t want to be smokin’ cigarettes and watchin’ Captain Kangaroo?
  6. Michgander, “Important (with Taylor Goldsmith)”: A beautiful piano ballad. I’ve loved everything this guy’s done.
  7. Leonard Cohen, “Anthem”: I’ve been thinking of Leonard Cohen songs all weekend. Dunno why. This one remains one of my absolute favorites, though.
  8. Stone Temple Pilots, “Interstate Love Song”: If you’re listening to this song while driving down the highway and suddenly find yourself doing 90 mph, don’t be surprised.
  9. Supertramp, “Goodbye Stranger”: Rick Davies, leader of the band Supertramp and singer of most of their hit songs, died over the weekend. I always enjoyed Supertramp. Stupid name, great band.
  10. Josh Ritter, “Galahad”: For some reason, I always imagine this song is about the Monty Python and the Holy Grail Sir Galahad, and it cracks me up.

Playlist #227

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Happy Labor Day, folks! True to form, I came down sick over the long weekend, and still feel like ten miles ofd rough road. But the content mines wait for no man! So, here’s a playlist.

  1. Shocking Blue, “Venus”: Shocking no one (even the color blue), I prefer this version to the ’80s cover. I know, who could have guessed?
  2. Spoon, “Guess I’m Fallin In Love”: It’s a new Spoon song. At this point, you know what they sound like, you know what their songs are gonna do. You either dig it or you don’t. I dig it.
  3. Lord Huron, “La Belle Fleur Sauvage”: I need me some more atmospheric Americana. This hits that spot and scratches that itch.
  4. Anna Nalick, “Breathe (2 AM)”: It’s a very Lilith Faire circa 1998 sorta song, except it came out in 2004.
  5. The Narcissist Cookbook, “vs the Heat Death of the Universe!”: Strummy guitars, soft/loud dynamics, and shout-along choruses? This just ticks all the boxes, doesn’t it?
  6. Sabrina Carpenter, “Manchild”: It’s a good song. As good as the stuff off her last album? Maybe not. But she’s taking aim at dudes who need to be taken down a peg or two, so I’m here for it.
  7. Cross-Eyed Yeti, “I Don’t Need You”: We released the original Cross-Eyed Yeti tape last week! It’s…very rough, but has a certain homespun charm. This is one of our better early songs, played way slower than it would be in subsequent years.
  8. Cory Branan, “When In Rome, When In Memphis”: Conflating Rome, Memphis, and Asbury Park may be one of the ballsiest moves I’ve ever heard of, but damn if the guy doesn’t have at least a little bit of a point.
  9. Tom Petty, “Down South”: The tail end of August has been downright pleasant, temperature-wise, which is quite unusual for Virginia. I’m sure we’ll pay for it during the month of September. But hey, that’s the challenge of living in the South.
  10. Van Morrison, “Meet Me In The Indian Summer”: We are officially at the end of the summer season with Labor Day’s arrival, reaching what is often called “Indian Summer,” y’racists. We’ll accept it from Van this one time, ’cause that dude’s pretty fuckin’ irascible.

New (Old) Release! Cross-Eyed Yeti: The Yellowstone Tape

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Happy Friday, folks! I have a surprise for you, an artifact of a bygone era when all we needed was an acoustic guitar and a whole mess of words.

We’re throwing it back to the year 2002, when Brother Clyde and I spent a summer in beautiful Yellowstone National Park. In between waiting tables and going on twenty-mile hikes, we sat down with a tape recorder in our dorm room and shouted some songs onto tape. Presented here, for the first time ever, are the liner notes for Two Okies, One Guitar: The Yellowstone Tape, the original Cross-Eyed Yeti recordings!

  1. “Subterranean Dylan”: As the name suggests, we were aiming for a “Subterranean Homesick Blues” style of song, with way more words per verse than was recommended and way faster guitar than was advisable. I’ve never been particularly happy with the chorus, which will be a recurring theme for this collection.
  2. “Utopia Joe”: I still love this song. When our old drummer suggested the song needed a bridge, Clyde just played the verse chords, only with a slightly changed strum pattern. It worked.
  3. “Philosopher King”: When I was just the singer/lyricist, I never really worried about things like “verse length” and “resolution.” This song has since proven to me why such things are important, as each verse is about two lines too long for the chord progression and it always ends up feeling wonky.
  4. “The Twelve Lines That Didn’t Work”: Typically, I don’t write love songs. I feel silly when I do. This is the first of several that appear on this collection, and…it’s not bad. It’s love gone bad, though. There’s desperation in there, and longing, and a sense that this thing is going to fall apart very, very soon.
  5. “Weight And Consequence”: Probably the strongest song on here, lyrically-speaking. Like many of our early songs, the chord progression is kinda repetitive, and the verses go on far too long, but it features probably our best performances.
  6. “The Things That Brought Me Here”: Clyde has never been happy with this one, especially in regards to the way I sing that very first line (I screwed it up so many times, trying to come in before the guitar starts and making sure it’s at the right tempo). It’s another love song, I think. Hard to say, as with so many of the songs I write.
  7. “Ode To Cock Rock”: Clyde and I are known to be rather…goofy sometimes (see “Country Joe” further down). We also like to jump around to different genres. So, this is our ode to hair metal. It features the infamous “mouth riff,” courtesy of Clyde, a sort of demented guitar solo replacement that only become more elaborate in live performances. Also of note: I cannot sing like a hair metal vocalist. That becomes evident from the very first line of the song.
  8. “Dancing With A Chick”: The only song I have nothing to do with. This one is all the brainchild of Clyde and our youngest brother, Scott. The true version will feature an instrument called the fish. It will be our finest hour.
  9. “Clyde’s Blues”: Our finest hour. Or three and a half minutes. It all started with that little riff at the beginning, and me trying my damnedest to sound like a 60-year-old black man born in the Mississippi Delta in 1903. I…do not sound anything like that. But the song is good. We’ve fiddled with it several times over the years, and have enjoyed every single version of the song we’ve ever recorded.
  10. “I Don’t Need You”: Another highlight. In hindsight, placing these two songs back-to-back was maybe not our best idea, pacing-wise. But hey, it is what it is. We always bust it out whenever we get together, and he even recorded a version of it with his band Family Familiar back in 2022.
  11. “Never Knew Joy”: Another love song, this one more traditional than a lot of our others. Trying to hit that note at the end of the chorus – “Warmth like the breath of God” – damn near killed me.
  12. “I Dig Chicks”: Did you know that the chords to “La Bamba” can be used by just anyone? It’s just G, C, and D. You can’t copyright that!
  13. “The Folk Singer’s Blues”: Sometimes I get contemplative (I know, shocker). And sometimes, those contemplations come out in the form of lyrics. This is another song that’s got way too many words in way too many verses, but Clyde’s guitar riffs are awesome.
  14. “Desolate Country”: Sometimes, you gotta write songs about home. And this is my first song about home. Oklahoma always strikes me as a strange, almost barren place, Rather…desolate, if you will. It also features Clyde singing! That doesn’t happen very often, and maybe you can spot a couple of the reasons why in this one.
  15. “Country Joe (Hidden Track)”: If you couldn’t figure out why Clyde shouldn’t sing in the last song, this one should sinch it. A goof on our own song? Why the hell not! “Country Joe” is the dark sibling of “Utopia Joe,” whose heaven lies beside him. Her name is Greta. She likes corn.
  16. “Desolate Humming (Hidden Track)”: “Desolate Country,” but it’s all hummed instead of sung. Because why not?