chuck berry

Playlist #156 – School Daze

/ xeyeti / Leave a comment

Happy Monday, folks! As we near the end of April, students’ minds start turning to thoughts of summer and freedom from the tyranny of…um…*checks notes*…learning. Here’s an appropriate playlist, all because I listened to the new Taylor Swift album this weekend and it features a song called “So High School.”

  1. Taylor Swift, “So High School”: I mean, I told you right up there why I put together this particular playlist, didn’t I? This song was mentioned right there. It’s not about high school per se, but it is about people being petty and small-minded and acting very high school, so we count it.
  2. The Angels, “My Boyfriend’s Back”: There’s nothing in this song to particularly attach it to high school students, but it feels very high schoolish to me. “My boyfriend’s back, and you’re gonna be in trouble,” they sing, and it’s very taunting and playground-esque.
  3. Bruce Springsteen, “Glory Days”: Ah, who doesn’t look back on high school as the time when your life was at its absolute peak? I mean, I don’t, but I also didn’t plateau at that point in my life and went on to do other, better things.
  4. Chuck Berry, “Schooldays”: Hail, hail, rock and roll.
  5. Old 97s, “Friends Forever”: You know how some folks go from nerds to kickass musicians in a rock band? The Old 97s know.
  6. The Mountain Goats, “Fall of the Star High School Running Back”: We’ve talked about this song. Don’t go from being the star running back on the high school football team to a drug dealer. You will get caught and you will receive an adult sentence for it, especially in Texas.
  7. Loudon Wainwright III, “School Days”: Loudon Wainwright III has this wonderful way to approach nostalgia and the yearning for the past that I’ve always loved.
  8. Pearl Jam, “Education”: In case you need a little Pearl Jam in your day. I know I do. Their new album is also actually pretty solid.
  9. Pink Floyd, “The Happiest Days of Our Lives/Another Brick in the Wall, Part 2”: Like I wasn’t going to put this song on this list. And yeah, it’s technically two songs, but they are always played as a single song, so I’m only counting it as one.
  10. The Ramones, “Teenage Lobotomy”: C’mon, we all think they’ve had ’em. It’s the only explanation for the slack-jawed looks I get every day.

Playlist #137: Weather, Frightful, Etc.

/ xeyeti / Leave a comment

Happy Monday, folks! It’s the last week before Winter Break, so it’s time for a Holiday-themed playlist! I promise there’s no Wham! on here. I’m not a monster.

  1. Paul McCartney, “Wonderful Christmastime”: Okay, I’m a little bit of a monster.
  2. Darlene Love, “Christmas (Baby Please Come Home)”: Simply the best Christmas song ever written. I will hear no arguments.
  3. The Beach Boys, “Little Saint Nick”: Beach Boys harmonies just sound better when they’re telling reindeer to run.
  4. Bing Crosby, “Winter Wonderland”: I’m not against old-fashioned Christmas songs. I like a lot of ’em. Bing Crosby’s stuff is always a swingin’ good time, for instance.
  5. Elton John, “Step Into Christmas”: I’ve never fully understood the premise of this song. Is Christmas a physical location into which one can step? What are the boundaries of Christmas? Enquiring minds want to know.
  6. Robert Earl Keen, “Merry Christmas From the Family”: REK takes a slightly more cynical approach to the holidays than a lot of these others, but it’s still a good time to get together with family members and drink lots of spiked eggnog.
  7. Gayla Peevey, “I Want a Hippopotamus For Christmas”: Who doesn’t, honestly? They’re way cooler than a puppy and they can eat a watermelon whole.
  8. Ringo Starr, “Come On Christmas, Christmas Come On”: If there’s one Beatle who seems well-suited to singing Christmas songs, which are inherently kinda cheesy and goofy, it’s the dude who sang “Yellow Submarine” and “Octopus’s Garden.”
  9. Frank Sinatra, “Mistletoe and Holly”: Another holiday classic, I think we can all agree.
  10. Chuck Berry, “Run Rudolph Run”: You need more Chuck Berry in your life, admit it.

Playlist #58: End of the School Year

/ xeyeti / Leave a comment

It’s the last week of school finally. It’s been a difficult year, to say the least. But I keep posting new stuff on Patreon and I keep coming up with new playlists here.

  1. Alice Cooper, “School’s Out”: Yeah, of course this song was gonna be on here.
  2. The Mountain Goats, “Fall of the Star High School Running Back”: Who hasn’t gone from being the star player on the football team to selling acid to cops?
  3. Paul Simon, “Me And Julio Down By The Schoolyard”: Ever have one of those troublemaker friends that your parents just couldn’t stand? Yeah, I did, too.
  4. Pearl Jam, “Education”: “I’m questioning my education.” Me too, Eddie. Me too.
  5. Sting, “History Will Teach Us Nothing”: I mean, maybe you just didn’t learn from your history class, Sting. Ever think it was you, not history?
  6. Sam Cooke, “(What A) Wonderful World”: I think I teach several Sam Cookes. “Don’t know much about history,” he sings. Yeah, my kids could sing that, too.
  7. Chuck Berry, “Schooldays”: “RIng, ring, goes the bell.”
  8. Nirvana, “School”: Kurt Cobain recognizes the need for recess and laments the lack of it in the modern educational schema.
  9. Belle & Sebastian, “We Rule The School”: The number of students in Belle & Sebastian who probably got beat up in high school on a daily basis is a nonzero number.
  10. Pink Floyd, “Another Brick In The Wall, Part 2”: The use of the double negative in the chorus indicates you do, in fact, need education, Mr. Floyd.