bruce springsteen

Playlist #153 – Annabelle the Horsewoman

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Happy Tuesday, folks! I returned from the great wide west to my humble abode in Virginia safe and sound. And today is eldest niece Annabelle’s birthday! In her honor, all of the songs have to do with horses, ’cause that girl is equestrian.

  1. Bob Dylan, “All The Tired Horses”: The kickoff to the infamous Self Portrait album doesn’t even feature any Dylan vocals. Which probably should’ve been a sign to folks, I think.
  2. Moxy Fruvous, “Horseshoes”: “You keep handin’ out horseshoes/Horseshoes have gotta be tossed.”
  3. America, “Horse With No Name”: Spoiler alert: you don’t have to keep riding a nameless horse. You can give it a name anytime you want. Horses don’t care. They don’t know their names.
  4. Bruce Springsteen, “Silver Palomino”: According to britannica.com., a palomino is a “colour type of horse distinguished by its cream, yellow, or gold coat and white or silver mane and tail.” Which…I mean, I guess you can refer to a horse by its mane color primarily, sorta like we do with hair color, except humans aren’t completely covered in hair that gives us a much better descriptor we could use, Bruce.
  5. Aerosmith, “Back In The Saddle”: If you fall out of the saddle, this song encourages you to get back up and climb back into it once more. Whereas I would say, “Bugger that for a lark, I’m gonna go have a lie down.” Because I apparently became British when I fell.
  6. Counting Crows, “Another Horsedreamer’s Blues”: Why does dreaming of horses give one the blues? I do not know. Maybe it’s because they’re so expensive?
  7. The Rolling Stones, “Wild Horses”: I dunno, I get the feeling wild horses would not want to be employed, let alone to drag anyone anywhere. But maybe that’s just me.
  8. Soul Coughing, “16 Horses”: I have so many questions. Why is she pushing the horses? Why sixteen of them, specifically? You guys have a lot of explaining to do.
  9. The Beatles, “Dig A Pony”: But not as much explaining as John Lennon has. Why do you dig a pony, John? And how? What is…is this a sex thing? Do I really even want an answer to that question?
  10. Tom Waits, “Pony”: Why does he sound so sad while he sings about riding his pony? I thought these things made people happy. I don’t understand.

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 #104 – Two Years

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Happy Monday! Today marks two years since I started doing the playlist a week thing. In honor of that, I’ve decided to revisit the first playlist and pick new songs by those ten artists. Have I doomed myself by placing a one-hit wonder on that first list? Let’s find out!

  1. Bruce Springsteen, “Radio Nowhere”: Starting out strong with the Boss, so there’s plenty of songs to choose from. This is one of the few latter-day Springsteen songs that I truly enjoy, and it reminds me so much of a song I wrote (“Complete Control,” for those who are curious). I think my song predated his, but I also doubt he knew anything about my song because it only got released this year finally.
  2. Johnny Cash, “A Boy Named Sue”: You can’t go wrong with a song written by Shel Silverstein and sung by Johnny Cash.
  3. Dog’s Eye View, “Umbrella”: Here’s where I thought I’d screwed myself. I barely remembered that first Dog’s Eye View song, and was pretty sure they hadn’t done anything else of note. Having heard this song, I’m still not 100% sure they did, but it’s…not bad. It’s okay. Fairly forgettable mid-90s earnest singer-songwriter stuff.
  4. Bob Dylan, “High Water (For Charley Patton)”: I blame this song for sending me down a delta blues rabbit hole last week. I ended up listening to a lot of Robert Johnson and Charley Patton. And boy, can Patton holler, y’all.
  5. The Interrupters, “Raised By Wolves”: These guys are just too much damn fun. I could honestly have picked just about any song off any of their albums and it would’ve been a banger. The “Ah-wooooo”s in the chorus kill me every time.
  6. Madonna, “Vogue”: It’s easy finding other well-known, popular Madonna songs. Finding other well-known, popular Madonna songs that I can stand? Taller order. This one’s pretty good for dancing music, I guess.
  7. Phoebe Bridgers, “If We Make It Through December”: Very quiet song, piano driven. Vocals almost a hushed a whisper. The lyrical content – about the struggles of surviving winter and the dark months – is quite depressing, but I kinda dig it.
  8. Redbone, “Come And Get Your Love”: Sometimes picking a second song from a specific band is a no-brainer. This is one of those moments.
  9. Aimee Mann, “Stranger Into Starman”: I’m a sucker for Aimee Mann songs and songs about crossword puzzles, so this was an easy pick.
  10. Hem, “The Pills Stopped Working”: My pills all still work just fine, singer for the band Hem. Maybe you need to go see your doctor again and get your prescriptions checked. Have you been taking the pills consistently? Have dosage levels changed?

Playlist #100: Full Album Extravaganza!

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Hello and happy Monday, folks! Today is not only the 100th playlist, but also my birthday! As a result, I’m changing things up a little. Instead of giving you a playlist of ten songs, it’s a playlist of ten albums, my (current) ten favorite albums of all time. Well, eleven albums. I can’t just play it straight. Let’s go:

  1. The Gaslight Anthem, Handwritten: One of my absolute favorite bands from the past fifteen or so years, the Gaslight Anthem are always energetic and heartfelt and wear their Bruce Springsteen obsessions on their sleeves. While The ’59 Sound and American Slang are both brilliant, near-perfect albums as well, my favorite songs are all on Handwritten: “Howl,” “Biloxi Parish,” “Here Comes My Man,” “Too Much Blood,” and “Desire” are all-time greats, and the rest of the album doesn’t miss a shot.
  2. Tom Petty, Wildflowers: My love for this solo Petty outing is already well-documented, but I’d like to reiterate here that it’s still one of the most compelling, thoughtful albums ever recorded. I’ve only come to appreciate it more as I’ve grown older.
  3. The Beatles, Rubber Soul: The transitional albums for the Beatles – Rubber Soul and Revolver – have always been my favorites. They’re still putting out great pop music, but they’re experimenting with it more, trying new things, adding new instruments into the mix. It’s endlessly fascinating to listen to, and the songcraft and care they put into each song only grows on me year after year.
  4. Pink Floyd, Dark Side Of The Moon: I only recently gushed about this best of Pink Floyd’s albums, but it bears repeating: this is one of the best albums of that or any other decade, filled with daring experiments, soaring guitars, and the best damn wordless vocals ever delivered.
  5. Andrew Bird, Break It Yourself: It’s hard to pick a single Andrew Bird album as my favorite, as every one of his albums appears as a concise, well-mannered cosmos in and of itself, filled with interesting arrangements and beautiful violin. It was really down to this one or Things Are Really Great Here, Sort Of…, and honestly the only thing that made Break It Yourself top Things Are Really Great Here is the inclusion of “Orpheo Looked Back.”
  6. Bruce Springsteen, Nebraska: The first and best of the Boss’s stripped down, acoustic-based albums. It features some serious subject matter and excellent songwriting, including some of my favorite Springsteen songs to play on guitar (including “Atlantic City” and “Open All Night”). It’s great to put on late at night with headphones.
  7. Bob Dylan, Love And Theft: You knew Dylan had to appear on this list. But did you suspect this particular album? Probably not. Maybe Blonde on Blonde or Highway 61 Revisited, or Blood on the Tracks, right? And while those are all amazing albums (and among my favorites, don’t get it twisted), my favorite is still Love and Theft. It’s Bob Dylan after he’s stopped caring what other people think about his music (which, admittedly, happened sometime around 1967, but I digress). He’s just making the music he enjoys, and damn does it sound good. His backing band is impeccable, his lyrics are sharp and incisive, and he even throws in a knock-knock joke.
  8. Gin Blossoms, New Miserable Experience: This one was a little out of left field for me. I didn’t listen to the Gin Blossoms back when they were popular in the ’90s. I was too busy listening to Pearl Jam and Pink Floyd. I totally missed their effective, heartfelt M.O.R. alternative rock. They just write good songs, songs that hold up even thirty years later (damn, New Miserable Experience came out 31 years ago. I’m dust). There’s not a bad song on this album (“Cheatin'” aside), and it’s one that I’ll throw on in the background for just about anything. It’s also great driving music.
  9. Wilco, A Ghost Is Born: While Yankee Hotel Foxtrot is the one that received all the critical acclaim and success, and rightly so, Ghost is still my favorite. From the noisy opener “At Least That’s What You Said” to closer “The Late Greats,” it’s just a series of well-written, well-executed songs, covering the American condition as it was in the early 2000s.
  10. Neko Case, Fox Confessor Brings The Flood: Best Neko Case album, hands down. Sure, it’s got the megahit “Hold On Hold On” on it, but the rest of the album slaps just as hard. It’s moody and atmospheric and wistful all at once, full of sadness and hope and anger and so much more than I can ever even begin to describe here. If you haven’t listened to it, just go listen to it. You can thank me later.
  11. The National, High Violet: I knew I wanted to include an album from The National on the list, and it was down to between this one and Boxer. High Violet just barely edges Boxer out, though. From the opening strains of “Terrible Love” all the way through to closer “Vanderlyle Crybaby Geeks,” there is not a single bad song on this album. It is just . . . perfect. No notes. Personal favorites include “Sorrow,” “Anyone’s Ghost,” and “Bloodbuzz, Ohio.” And the entire rest of the album, honestly. It’s wall to wall awesome.

Playlist #99: Elvis Has Left the Building…

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No, don’t worry, I haven’t lost my mind and finally made an all-Elvis playlist. No, this is a playlist all about rooms and buildings. It goes rather like this:

  1. John Hartford, “In Tall Buildings”: A rumination on giving up the wild, carefree days of youth to go work in tall buildings downtown. It’s sad and thoughtful and a little bit rueful.
  2. Counting Crows, “Perfect Blue Buildings”: “I wanna get me a little oblivion,” Adam Duritz sings. I think we could all use a bit of oblivion. Or at least a nice nap in a perfect blue building.
  3. Crosby, Stills, Nash, & Young, “Our House”: Why are the two cats out in the yard? They’ll decimate the bird population! Is that what you want, guys? Huh?
  4. The Wallflowers, “I Am A Building”: Being the son of Bob Dylan must be hard. I’m pretty sure that’s why Jakob Dylan tried being a building for a while in the early ’00s.
  5. The Commodores, “Brick House”: She is mighty mighty.
  6. XTC, “No Thugs In Our House”: This seems like a reasonable thing to expect. Little Graham better be on his best damn behavior, that’s all I’m saying.
  7. The White Stripes, “Hotel Yorba”: Did you know you can still write a song that’s just G, C, and D? Jack White knows!
  8. Traveling Wilburys, “Poor House”: If there’s a song that’s more fun to play in a pickin’ circle, I don’t know it.
  9. Tom Petty, “The Apartment Song”: I, too, used to live in a two-room apartment where the neighbors were knocking on my walls. Tom Petty is the Everyman.
  10. Bruce Springsteen, “Mansion On A Hill”: However, I never lived in a mansion, hill-based or otherwise. So much for this man of the people!

Tune in next week, when I’ll do something completely different for Playlist #100!

Playlist #91

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Happy Monday! Remember, I’ve got CD copies of Three Chords and Some Compelling Lies available! Just email me at crookedhalo42 [at] gmail dot com to get it arranged. And now, a playlist:

  1. Postmodern Jukebox, “Rude (Featuring Von Smith)”: My preferred version of this song. Not that there’s anything wrong with Magic!’s reggae-tinged original, just that I like the rhythm and vocal styling of this version better.
  2. The Gaslight Anthem, “Boxer (Acoustic)”: It’s the constant “Ooh oohs” in the background and the hammer and anvil percussion on this one that get me.
  3. Billy Bragg & Wilco, “When The Roses Bloom Again”: There’s always something about war songs and songs of unlucky soldiers that gets me right in the gut. This one is no different.
  4. Bob Dylan & The Band, “Odds And Ends (Take 2)”: It’s fun to hear these guys tearing through a song just for fun.
  5. Bruce Springsteen, “Ain’t Good Enough For You”: Speaking of fun, was there any band more fun that the E Street Band in the late 70s? I can’t imagine there was.
  6. Cat Stevens, “Father And Son”: Why do songs about messed up father/son relationships always affect me so much? My relationship with my own father is pretty strong, I like to think. It’s better than the one the narrator has with his own son here, at any rate. Maybe I’m just a sucker for heartstring-tugging sob stories.
  7. Augustines, “When Things Fall Apart”: Where do you go when everything falls apart? Aside from the grocery store to buy snacks, I mean.
  8. Justin Townes Earle, “The Saint Of Lost Causes”: If ever there were a song for teachers, this is probably it.
  9. The Minus 5, “Wasted Bandage”: “Dear physician, won’t you heal yourself?” Classic line. Scott McCaughey writes so many lines that are all this good in every single song, and it’s unfair to the rest of us out here trying to be clever.
  10. Jet, “Are You Gonna Be My Girl”: I just like how uptempo this number is. Gets me all excited and hopped up just listening to it.

Playlist #69 (Nice)

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I was this close to just making it all songs about sex. But aren’t all songs about sex, when you get right down to it? Anyway, give me a follow on Patreon and support your local author/songwriter. Anyway, here’s the first playlist of the new school year!

  1. The Mountain Goats, “Training Montage”: “I’m doing this for revenge!” John Darnielle cries out at the start of the chorus, and damn if that isn’t just the best line in a song I’ve heard this year.
  2. Iggy Pop, “The Passenger”: Is it the most relentless chord progression you’ve ever heard? Maybe. Are Iggy and David Bowie’s yelped “la”s in the chorus earwormy? Definitely.
  3. Bruce Springsteen, “Ain’t Good Enough For You”: I’ve featured this song on a playlist before. It still slaps.
  4. Calexico, “Cumbia De Donde”: Did you know cumbia is a type of Latin American dance music that originated in Colombia? Because the guys in Calexico sure do, and they want you to know they do.
  5. Spoon, “Don’t Make Me A Target”: I don’t know what it is about the way this band breaks down a song and then rebuilds it using the same basic instruments as every single rock and roll band that has ever existed that kicks me in the ass every time, but it kicks me in the ass every time.
  6. ZZ Top, “La Grange”: Back when I worked at a private school, I taught one of my students how to play this on the bass (it’s only three notes that even I could figure out). It’s fun.
  7. Pearl Jam, “World Wide Suicide”: Even late into their career, Pearl Jam can still pull out all the stops and offer a rocker that rips the doors off.
  8. John Mellencamp, “Right Behind Me”: Meanwhile, John Mellencamp has resorted to recording in hotel rooms with equipment from the 1950s to get that sound just right.
  9. Jay Farrar, “Feel Free”: Jay Farrar’s songs have gotten more esoteric and inscrutable as time passes, but this one is still early enough in his solo career that the lyrics make some sense. And it references “non-profit radio,” which is what I thought NPR stood for for far longer than I’d care to admit.
  10. Jason Isbell & the 400 Unit, “Be Afraid”: “Be afraid, be very afraid/But do it anyway,” is just some of the best damn advice you can hear right now, I think.

Playlist #63 – Doomed Love

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I am returned to the East from my vacation! 5800 miles later and (mostly) none the worse for wear. I am still doing music over on Patreon, where I’ll be unveiling July’s song of the month shortly. Today’s playlist comes courtesy of my brother, Clif, who not only suggested the theme but most of the songs on the list. Let’s jump in!

  1. Bruce Springsteen, “Loose Ends”: Sure, a lot of Springsteen’s songs feature characters stuck in relationships that seem doomed to end in abject failure, but only this one likens the relationship to a tightening noose.
  2. Mo Kenney, “Ahead of Myself”: I don’t know who hurt you, Mo, but you should stay away from them for your own good.
  3. The Fratellis, “For the Girl”: For such an upbeat, poppy band, they sure can turn in a downer of a song.
  4. Goodnight, Texas, “Dearest Sarah”: Based on an actual soldier’s letter to his wife back home, telling her that he felt he was going to die in an upcoming battle and she ought to live out the rest of her life as she would. More than a little dark and sad.
  5. Crowded House, “Don’t Dream It’s Over”: Can you believe some folks play this song at their wedding? That’s almost as weird and disconcerting as playing the Police’s “Every Breath You Take.”
  6. Margot & the Nuclear So and So’s, “Talking In Code”: A relationship ending always strikes me as sad, though a number of relationships are less than stellar and probably shouldn’t have existed in the first place. No one should have to hear someone sing them sad songs to keep them awake.
  7. The Decemberists, “O Valencia!”: There’s always something about the way Colin Meloy sings that always makes a Decemberist song seem like it’s set in the 1860s, even when he makes mention of things like cars.
  8. The Elected, “It Was Love”: As Clif said, “the relationship is probably doomed if you can’t even figure out if you were in love or not.” He ain’t wrong.
  9. The Beatles, “Run For Your Life”: I’m half convinced any relationship involving John Lennon is probably doomed from the start, mostly because of songs like this one.
  10. Old 97s, “The Other Shoe”: If you’re hiding under the bed, waiting for your spouse and her lover, and then you drive out to the central Texas desert to bury their dead bodies, I’m pretty sure that romance is doomed. Very doomed.

Playlist #56

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Another school year is winding towards a close. Here in Northern Virginia, seniors are taking their final exams this week, and they graduate next week. Week after that, school’s over for everyone else. It’s been a…challenging year, to say the least. I’ll be glad to see the back of it.

Support me on Patreon! I’m about to release the song for May, and it’s a good one, if I do say so myself.

  1. Maria McKee, “Never Be You”: This song was written by Tom Petty and Mike Campbell, and man, does it sound like it. Classic late ’70s/early ’80s Heartbreakers tone and style, through and through. I’d never heard this song before this weekend, but it’s good.
  2. The Black Keys, “Burn The Damn Thing Down”: Bluesy? Or Bloozy? It’s good, either way.
  3. Mike Doughty, “Fort Hood”: It takes some chutzpah to totally lift the coda from “Age of Aquarius” and use it as your chorus, but Mr. M. Doughty pulls it off.
  4. The National, “The System Only Dreams In Total Darkness”: They don’t usually do guitar solos, but they do one here, and it makes you wish they did them more often.
  5. Wilco, “The Thanks I Get”: Still the best Rod Stewart song Rod’s never sang.
  6. She & Him, “This Is Not A Test”: Fun and poppy. Whenever I need a pick-me-up, I still go back to this album. It’s just fun.
  7. Franz Ferdinand, “Do You Want To”: I’ll never understand how these guys aren’t bigger than they are. They do great, straight-ahead rock numbers with lots of arch humor and and nudging asides.
  8. Bruce Springsteen, “Radio Nowhere”: Even on later Boss albums, you can still usually find a good track or two. This one’s pretty solid. Avoid the remake of “Ghost of Tom Joad” he did with Tom Morello on 2013’s High Hopes. Those two are two great tastes that don’t taste great together.
  9. The Jayhawks, “I’d Run Away”: Love me some two-part harmony.
  10. Mark Knopfler, “Speedway at Nazareth”: I just love how this song builds. Not just in terms of the music – though the build to that coda is fantastic – but lyrically as well. Just a master class in how to write a great song.

Playlist #45

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It’s a classic rock sorta Monday. Make sure to follow me on Patreon, where I’m starting work on March’s exclusive song!

  1. Crosby, Stills, Nash, & Young, “Carry On/Questions”: I love the bassline in this song. And that wah pedal solo in the latter part of the song.
  2. Cream, “Badge”: This is clearly a George Harrison song and I won’t be taking any questions.
  3. The Animals, “Gonna Send You Back To Walker”: Who doesn’t love the Animals? No one. And if they do, cut them out of your life. You don’t need that kind of negativity.
  4. Jackson Browne, “These Days”: “Yeah, I’ve been out walking/I don’t do that much talking these days,” the song starts. And just gets better from there. I’ve always preferred the Jackson Browne version to the Nico version. Your mileage may vary.
  5. Led Zeppelin, “Bron-Y-Aur Stomp”: This song does stomp.
  6. Paul McCartney, “Junk”: “Buy, buy says the sign in the shop window/Why, why says the junk on the lawn.”
  7. The Rolling Stones, “Far Away Eyes”: Yeah, it’s goofy and clunky and not even a little bit authentic, but it’s a helluva good time.
  8. The Eagles, “After The Thrill Is Gone”: Over Winter Break, while I was back home in Oklahoma, I played this song with my Dad. He’d never played it on the guitar before somehow.
  9. Grand Funk Railroad, “Some Kind Of Wonderful”: Someone I follow on Twitter was saying yesterday that everyone should have a shout-along song. This one might be mine.
  10. Bruce Springsteen, “Rosalia (Come Out Tonight)”: Or maybe it’s this one. I dunno.