bob seager

Playlist #278

/ xeyeti / Leave a comment

Happy Monday and happy first day of school, folks! Well, first day for me, anyway. I know the kids out in Oklahoma have been at it for a week or two already. But hey, at least I get to have…(*checks notes*)…three weeks of school more than they do? Yeah, that’ll show ’em. Here’s a playlist.

  1. The Call, “Let the Day Begin”: I’ve told this story several times now. How this was the song they played every morning on the classic rock station out of Oklahoma City. How I heard it on my way to school throughout high school. How it is now forever ingrained within my memory as the song that starts off school. So, here it is, once again, ushering in the first day of the new school year. My 22nd year of teaching. Wild, right?
  2. Charlie Cottrell, “Burnt Offering (Fancy Version)”: Hey, I released a new EP last week! It features this song. I’m pretty proud of the EP and this particular version of the song. It’s all Clyde’s fault.
  3. The Postal Service, “Such Great Heights”: A classic of the indie rock genre.
  4. Dire Straits, “Walk Of Life”: The draw of this song, to me, has always been that organ riff. It’s just bouncy an fun and you ignore the lyrics about the knife and violence. Good times.
  5. The Wallflowers, “How Good It Can Get”: The latest Wallflowers song I’ve learned. It’s remarkably easy to play, which is nice. I’ve always been kinda down on Red Letter Days as an album, but it’s grown on me over the years.
  6. Johnathan Edwards, “Sunshine”: This is apparently an anti-Vietnam War protest song? Who knew!
  7. Marty Robbins, “You Gave Me A Mountain”: God, the way Marty sings this one just kills me. The weariness, the exhaustion, is evident in every single line.
  8. Bill Withers, “Ain’t No Sunshine”: I wish I could make it through every single “I know” in one breath. It’s amazing.
  9. Bob Seager, “The Fire Inside”: The longing and yearning in this song still grab me every time I listen to it. I think Bob Seager was a better songwriter than we gave him credit for.
  10. The Eagles, “Take It To The Limit”: I feel like I’m already at my limit with my first period class, and I’ve only had them once.

Playlist #240: Covers!

/ xeyeti / Leave a comment

Happy Monday, folks! I’m probably somewhere between Northern Virginia and Orlando, Florida, as you read this. The Wife is presenting at an education conference, and I’m joining her for moral and logistical support (and for the opportunity to not work for a week). Here’s a list of covers that I’ve enjoyed recently.

  1. Aimee Mann, “Rainy Days and Mondays”: A Carpenters cover? In this economy? It actually works pretty damn well, I think. She updates it in a few subtle ways, but mostly sticks to the original for her version.
  2. Mavis Staples, “Everybody Needs Love”: I loved this song when I heard the Drive-By Truckers original, and I love Mavis Staples’s version almost as much. Her voice carries the right tone and quality for the tune, and belies the age the woman actually is. I love it.
  3. Marc Sibilia, “Bittersweet Symphony”: His cover utilizes the same symphonic sample as the Verve Pipe’s original, but everything built around that seems more subdued, more subtle. It’s good stuff.
  4. The Presidents of the United States of America, “Kick Out the Jams”: Gotta love a band gutsy enough to take on an MC5 song, especially this one, but they manage to pull it off with some nervy energy and chutzpah.
  5. Phoebe Bridgers, “It’ll All Work Out”: I didn’t think it would be possible to slow down this Tom Petty number, but she does. I do miss the mandolin from the original, though.
  6. Iron & Wine and Ben Bridwell, “I Still Haven’t Found What I’m Looking For”: A mellower, folkier version of the U2 classic.
  7. Margaret Glaspy, “Have You Ever Seen the Rain”: I needed a slow, beautiful cover of CCR today, didn’t you?
  8. Willie Nelson, “Don’t Give Up (feat. Sinead O’Connor)”: Willie’s voice has just become this weathered, worn thing that just keeps getting better for the songs he sings. Fits perfectly, and Sinead O’Connor is a great duet partner for him.
  9. Bob Seager, “New Coat of Paint”: Seager turns Tom Waits’s raucous, bluesy number into…well, it’s not ’80s blooze-rock, not quite, but it does take some of the subtlety and nuance out of things. It’s still a fun cover, though.
  10. Robert Plant & Allison Krauss, “Quattro (World Drifts In)”: Speaking of nuance and subtlety, Plant and Krauss manage to inject a little bit more into this Calexico number. I dig it almost as much as I love the original, and I really love the original.