ben folds five

Playlist #139: Boxing Day

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Happy Tuesday! Of course I didn’t post a playlist yesterday, it was Christmas. I was eating my own weight in ravioli. But today is Boxing Day, and since I can never let a day where I can purposefully misunderstand the purpose of the day for a giggle, here’s a list of boxing-themed songs for this week’s playlist, the last of 2023!

  1. Simon & Garfunkel, “The Boxer”: You knew this was going to be the first, most obvious song on this list, right? Of course you did.
  2. Mark Knopfler, “Song For Sonny Liston”: A biographical look at the life of boxer Sonny Liston.
  3. The Gaslight Anthem, “Boxer”: I’m not really sure what this song has to do with boxing or being a boxer, but the chorus does include the line, “Remember when I knew a boxer, baby.” So there’s that.
  4. Bruce Springsteen, “The Hitter”: Bruce takes a look at an aging, worn-out fighter.
  5. The Extra Lens, “Cruiserweights”: John Darnielle of the Mountain Goats is apparently so engaged with the sport of boxing that he formed a second group, the Extra Lens, that recorded an entire album about a boxer.
  6. Survivor, “Eye of the Tiger”: It would have been very easy to just make this playlist all songs from the Rocky movies. Don’t think I didn’t think about it.
  7. Rush, “Cinderella Man”: A song about a man trying to achieve his dream against staggering odds and prog rock.
  8. Rachel Platten, “Fight Song”: Isn’t boxing just fighting with rules? I’m pretty sure it’s just fighting with rules.
  9. Ben Folds Five, “Boxing”: Apparently this song is designed to be an imagined conversation between Muhammad Ali and Howard Cossel, the sportscaster, who apparently made his name commentating on boxing matches.
  10. The Boxer Rebellion, “Spitting Fire”: The Boxer Rebellion was a fight between a small group of Chinese kung fu experts (called the Order of the Holy Fist, or “Boxers”) and the English, all about opium. It…didn’t go well for the Boxers.

Playlist #57: ’90s Dance Party!

/ xeyeti / Leave a comment

Happy Monday Tuesday, everyone! I was off yesterday for Memorial Day here in the US, so here’s this week’s playlist. It’s sponsored by the fact that the Wife and I watched the new Kids in the Hall season, which was quite good (and featured far more old man dong than I anticipated). You can also support me on Patreon, where I just released May’s new song!

  1. Shadowy Men On A Shadowy Planet, “Having An Average Weekend”: The theme song from Kids in the Hall! Still slaps.
  2. Primitive Radio Gods, “Standing Outside A Broken Phone Booth With Money In My Hand”: The song title is too long, there’s no more time to say anything else about this song! Other than it features a B.B. King sample.
  3. Shawn Mullins, “Lullaby”: This song was completely inescapable for like a month in 1998. Looking back, one has to wonder why. Was it the novelty of the spoken-word verses, or the Inside Baseball nature of the way it pokes at Hollywood? Or did we just not have high expectations for music in 1998? I think it’s maybe that one.
  4. Polaris, “Hey Sandy”: For a hot minute, I thought about making this playlist 100% great TV show theme songs from the ’90s, but it was really just this one and the one from KITH that I had for that list.
  5. Wilco, “A Shot In The Arm”: Wilco put out a new album last week! It’s pretty good. Here’s another pretty good Wilco song from over 20 years ago.
  6. Matchbox Twenty, “Mad Season”: Why do I enjoy listening to Matchbox Twenty so much? They’re so middle of the road, tailor made inoffensive that it’s hard not to enjoy their stuff, I guess.
  7. Barenaked Ladies, “It’s All Been Done”: Damn, that chorus gets really, really high at the end. I can never sing it right.
  8. Ben Folds Five, “Kate”: “She plays Wipeout on the drums/The squirrels and the birds come/Gather round and sing the guitar,” the song begins. And only gets better from there.
  9. Foo Fighters, “Everlong”: Have I included this song on a playlist already? Probably. It’s still so damn good.
  10. Gin Blossoms, “Hold Me Down”: Why have I come to love the Gin Blossoms so much? Is it this song specifically, or New Miserable Experience in general? I can’t say for certain.