genesis

Playlist #44: Back in the Saddle

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Happy Monday! I’m actually back to work today, after a month away taking care of the Wife. She’s improving every day, slowly but surely, and she’s well enough I’m comfortable leaving her home alone while I come toil away in education mines. A reminder that, if you want to support me making my own music, I’ve got that Patreon you can contribute to! I actually drop February’s song today!

  1. Genesis, “Turn It On Again”: I recently downloaded the album this song came from, Duke, and while this is definitely my favorite song off the whole record, the rest of the songs ain’t too shabby, either.
  2. Steve Winwood, “Back In The High Life Again”: “All the doors I closed one time/Will open up again.” Yes, they will.
  3. Aerosmith, “Back In The Saddle”: A bit of my anthem this morning.
  4. Andrew Bird, “Orpheo Looks Back”: Every playlist could benefit from some Andrew Bird, and I love this song.
  5. Bob Dylan, “Beyond Here Lies Nothin'”: “Beyond here lies nothin’/But the mountains of the past.” Maybe not Dylan’s most profound work ever, but I still dig the rhythm of this song and the guitar work.
  6. Gorillaz, “DARE”: I could dance this morning, I think.
  7. Glen Phillips, “Duck And Cover”: A more stripped-down version of a song that appeared on his Winter Pays For Summer album off of Tornillo.
  8. The Gaslight Anthem, “Stay Lucky”: Someday, I’ll put together a playlist of songs that I love to play on the guitar. This song will also appear on that list.
  9. Frank Turner, “The Way I Tend To Be”: I love this song for the mandolin mostly.
  10. CCR, “Midnight Special”: Another that I love to play on the guitar and howl along to at the top of my lungs, as one does with CCR songs.

Playlist #30: “Poor, Hard-Working Televangelist”

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Happy Turkey Week, folks! Just two days of work for me this week, then it’s off to Ohio to visit some family and stuff myself with more food than is advisable because, hey, Thanksgiving. Before that, though, we have this week’s playlist, which features songs about religion!

  1. Jeremy Messersmith, “Jim Bakker”: The song that inspired this list all about the life of that “poor, hard-working televangelist.” If you don’t know, Jim Bakker was a snake-oil salesman of the worst sort and fleeced his lovely old congregants for every dime he could.
  2. Genesis, “Jesus He Knows Me”: Could also be about Jim Bakker, for all I know. I just remember how tongue-in-cheek this song sounded when I first heard it, and it still resonates with its strong anti-bullshit message even today.
  3. The Doobie Bros, “Jesus Is Just Alright”: I mean, he’s okay, I guess.
  4. Norman Greenbaum, “Spirit In the Sky”: How confident do you have to be in your soul’s eternal destination to write and record this song? Confident enough that Greenbaum, who is Jewish, said he had a friend in Jesus. That’s ballsy.
  5. George Harrison, “My Sweet Lord”: Admittedly, George was the most spiritual of the Beatles. While Paul was tossing out pop songs like most people breathe and John was pushing avant-garde art on anyone who came to close (and Ringo was…um…Ringo), George was the one who got into Transcendentalism and Eastern religions and the sitar and all that. “My Sweet Lord” isn’t the end result, it’s a symptom.
  6. The National, “Gospel”: What does this song actually have to do with anything related to the Gospel? Nothing, as far as I can tell. But it’s a beautiful song and lovely and I really like it, okay?
  7. Bob Dylan, “With God On Our Side”: Dylan’s a man who knows what’s up. This song was written in like ’64, which is damn-near peak Cold War (or near enough as it doesn’t matter), and he’s coming out so strongly anti-war that I’m surprised the FBI didn’t have a file on him a foot thick.
  8. Billy Bragg & Wilco, “Blood of the Lamb”: I love me some Mermaid Avenue, and this one – off the second collection – is a stompy, apocalyptic slice of what made the collaboration great.
  9. Aretha Franklin, “Son of a Preacher Man”: Damn, if this don’t just send tingles down your spine, I think you might be dead.
  10. Blind Faith, “Presence of the Lord”: More for Steve Winwood than Eric Clapton, really, ’cause Clapton’s finally shown his true (rather hateful) colors and eff that guy.

Playlist #17

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It’s back to school for good ol’ me! Here’s a list of ten songs to get you back into the learning mood. Here’s the playlist on Spotify, for those so inclined (I’ve added all of the playlists there so far, so feel free to go back and listen to ’em).

  1. The Call, “Let The Day Begin”: Back when I was in high school, we listened to 107.7 FM, KRXO, out of Oklahoma City. And the morning show always played this song. Every morning. It was a ritual. A call to action. And so it is now.
  2. Genesis, “Just A Job To Do”: Sure, this song isn’t about teaching. It’s about a hitman hunting down his next target. But isn’t that what teaching is, really? (No, it isn’t)
  3. The Good, The Bad, and the Queen, “History Song”: Look, there aren’t nearly as many songs about teaching and the subject of history out there as you’d think there are, but this one has history in the title, so…
  4. Pink Floyd, “Another Brick In The Wall, Part 2”: Yeah, I was gonna do a playlist about returning to school and not include this song. “We don’t need no education!”
  5. Sting, “History Will Teach Us Nothing”: The old adage “those who do not learn from history are doomed to repeat it” comes to mind here.
  6. The Hollies, “Teach Your Children”: The Hollies covering the CS&N classic. I’m starting to think the Hollies were just a really well-liked cover band, for the most part.
  7. Paul Simon, “Me And Julio Down By The Schoolyard”: Has absolutely nothing to do with school other than the title. But I think Julio is up to no good and you should probably avoid him, Paul.
  8. John Legend, “History Has Its Eyes On You”: John Legend takes the Hamilton tune and turns it into a glorious Gospel number. I dig it.
  9. Chuck Berry, “School Days”: “Hail, hail, rock and roll!”
  10. The Mountain Goats, “Fall Of The Star High School Running Back”: If you were thinking, “Gee, I wonder if this Mountain Goats song will be about a star high school football player who suffers a career-ending injury and turns to selling drugs and then gets caught,” well, have I got news for you. And the news is you are 100% correct and it’s as awesome as you think.

Playlist #14

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This week is my father’s birthday! For the playlist, I chose songs from bands we’ve seen play live. Going to concerts was how my father and I bonded (rather than sports, or cars, or reading interests, or stuff like that. I don’t think he was particularly ready to have an indoor son), and we’ve seen some great shows over the years.

  1. The Doobie Brothers, “Black Water”: The first concert I went to was in the 5th grade, and it was to see these guys. In hindsight, I think this show was more for my dad than for me; I mean, I liked “China Grove,” but I wasn’t really familiar with much of the rest of their stuff. It was still a good time, though.
  2. Genesis, “I Can’t Dance”: We saw Genesis on the tour for the We Can’t Dance album down in Dallas, TX. I remember us trying to walk to the stadium where the show was held, then deciding it would work better to drive ’cause it was just too damn far.
  3. Eric Clapton, “Stop Breakin’ Down Blues”: We caught Clapton on the tour for Me and Mr. Johnson, where he did a bunch of old Robert Johnson tunes. Billy Preston played keyboards on the album and the tour. It was pretty fantastic.
  4. John Mellencamp, “Rain On The Scarecrow”: Mellencamp was touring for his greatest hits album when we caught him. He did a little acoustic set in the middle of the show, and this was one of the songs they played during that part.
  5. The Rolling Stones, “Honky Tonk Women”: Caught them in Norman when I was in high school. Nearly got crushed trying to get to our seats by the press of drunk Boomers. Good times.
  6. ZZ Top, “Sharp Dressed Man”: Dusty Hills, the bass player, just passed away last week. These guys put on a damn good show.
  7. Crosby, Stills, & Nash, “Suite: Judy Blue Eyes”: Caught them at the Civic Center Auditorium in Oklahoma City back in high school. These guys can harmonize, and Stephen Stills may be one of the best guitar players I’ve ever seen, hands down.
  8. Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers, “Don’t Do Me Like That”: Tom Petty was one of my favorite artists growing up. I only had a couple of his albums when he went on the Into the Great Wide Open tour, but we managed to get front row center tickets to the show. I sang along at the top of my lungs to every song, and Tom Petty gave me his guitar pick at the end of the show. Just awesome.
  9. Chicago, “I’m A Man”: Now, I haven’t ever seen Chicago in concert. Not sure I wanna see a Terry Kath-less Chicago anyway. But I know they’re one of my dad’s favorite bands, and I know he saw them back in the ’70s, so i really couldn’t resist putting at least one Chicago song on the list.
  10. The Beatles, “Norwegian Wood”: Again, I’ve obviously never seen the Beatles in concert. They were done a good decade before I came along. But we grew up listening to them. Dad and I used to go see a Beatles cover band called Tribute 1964 every time they rolled into Norman (which, when I was in high school, was an annual occurrence). I would have been remiss in not putting a Beatles song on this list, and I know dad likes to play this one on the guitar.