gin blossoms

Playlist #236

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Happy Monday, folks! I spent the weekend hanging out with visiting family, strummin’ guitars and eating to much food. As one does. Here’s some songs to get you through the week.

  1. Gin Blossoms, “Hey Jealousy”: My dad had heard of the Gin Blossoms, he said, but couldn’t place a song by them. This is probably their best-known song. If he’s heard any of them, it’s probably this one.
  2. Snocaps, “Cherry Hard Candy”: It’s the lady from Waxahatchee! And her sister! And a couple of dudes she’s been performing with for a while! But it’s also a whole new and different band! But hey, more Waxahatchee by any name is good for me.
  3. Enigma, “Return to Innocence”: I heard this song (from the Pure Moods CD, natch) while I was in a Wawa last night. It’s the one with the faux-Native chanting/singing in it. You know the one. You heard it in all the commercials they ran for that collection in the ’90s.
  4. Tom Petty, “You Saw Me Comin'”: Finding Wallflowers is a fascinating document to me. I was talking with my dad about it this weekend, along with all the other archival releases legacy acts like Dylan, Springsteen, and Neil Young have been cranking out in the past few years. I’ve always enjoyed the iterative process of songwriting, and would have loved to hear where Tom took this particular song that just sorta…went away.
  5. Iggy Pop, “Passenger”: A classic Iggy four-chord rocker from Lust for Life.
  6. Wilco, “Handshake Drugs”: I love playing this song on the guitar. I have since I first figured out how to play it. Sometimes, Jeff Tweedy and Co. create some simple, very effective songs.
  7. Bruce Springsteen, “Reason To Believe (Electric Nebraska)”: One of my favorite songs from Nebraska. Is the electric version really all that different? No, not really. Again, it’s really obvious in hindsight why Bruce went with the solo demo versions of all of these songs.
  8. Hank Williams, “Move It On Over”: I always loved the George Thorogood version of this song, and the Hank original remains completely awesome as well.
  9. The Eagles, “Tequila Sunrise”: Always a fun guitar song.
  10. The Bee Gees, “To Love Somebody”: Learned this one playing guitar with my dad this weekend. Good song.

Playlist #225: Back to School Edition

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Happy Monday, folks! And welcome back to school, students. That’s right, the school year has officially begun in Northern Virginia, marking my 21st year as a teacher. Yup, my career will be old enough to drink this year. That’s terrifying. Let’s get to the playlist.

  1. The Calling, “Let The Day Begin”: As I’ve said in the past, this song is intimately linked in my mind with the start of the school day. It played on the classic rock station every morning right around the time I was headed to school, so it’s kinda irrevocably linked forever to me.
  2. Langhorne Slim, “The House of My Soul (You Light the Room)”: Love playing this song. It’s such a simple chord progression that he manages to squeeze a lot of energy and emotion out of.
  3. Radiohead, “Go To Sleep (Live)”: Live Radiohead is always a fun time, because I’m left wondering how they managed to get the song that appeared on the album (with all its blips and squiggles and beeps) to sound so good live.
  4. Golden Earring, “Twilight Zone”: Man, after spending several weeks not working, being back in the classroom feels more than a little like the Twilight Zone.
  5. The Beatles, “Yer Blues”: So John says, “If I ain’t dead already/Well, you know the reason why,” but do we? Do we really know the reason why, John? Because I don’t think we do.
  6. Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers, “Casa Dega”: Hearsay and secondhand information lead to heartbreak. Or Heartbreakers.
  7. Pink Floyd, “Pigs (Three Different Ones)”: The repeated “ha-ha, charade you are” line kills me every time. The very British pronunciation of charade (“sha-raad”) makes me giggle.
  8. Elliott Smith, “Everybody Cares, Everybody Understands”: Man, I haven’t listened to Elliott Smith in a while. I think fall is the best time to listen to him, and a revisiting of his discography is imminent.
  9. The Lemonheads, “Into Your Arms”: There are a few ’90s songs that are just there for that killer chorus (this one, the La’s “There She Goes,” REM’s “The One I Love,” Deep Blue Something’s “Breakfast at Tiffany’s”). Someday I’mma put together that playlist.
  10. Gin Blossoms, “Hey Jealousy”: Speaking of great ’90s songs…

Playlist #205

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Happy Monday, folks, and Eid Mubarak! Karaoke was fun over the weekend, and we did all of the songs as a big group sing-along. Also, in case you missed it, my new album came out on Friday, available on the streaming service of your choice. Go listen to that! Then come back and look at this list of songs:

  1. Queen, “Bohemian Rhapsody”: Yeah, this is how we kicked off the karaoke. Bold move, I know, but we’re a bold bunch.
  2. A-Ha, “Take On Me”: If you’re not trying (and failing) to hit that high note at the end of the chorus, what even are you doing at karaoke?
  3. Fine Young Cannibals, “Good Thing”: Turns out, “She Drives Me Crazy” would’ve been a better choice, since we all actually know that one.
  4. Cake: “The Distance”: If you want a bunch of Millennials and Gen-Xers to sing along as loud as humanly possible, you could do worse than this.
  5. Violent Femmes, “Blister In The Sun”: Yeah, we all knew all the words to this one without the karaoke version flashing them up on the screen.
  6. Gin Blossoms, “Hey Jealousy”: I think we eventually found our sweet spot in ’90s alternative.
  7. Wham!, “Careless Whisper”: The song where Wham! earned that exclamation mark.
  8. The Beatles, “I Saw Her Standing There”: Can we, for a just a moment, stop and cringe at the first line of this song and then move on? Yes, he’s singing about a 17 year old girl. Yes, it’s creepy and skeevy and gross. This song is still a banger, though.
  9. The Police, “Every Little Thing She Does Is Magic”: Did we sing this one? I can’t remember. We should have, if we didn’t.
  10. Backstreet Boys, “I Want It That Way”: Look, there were a lot of people at this thing, and everyone has different ideas of what makes a good karaoke song. Also, that Brooklyn 99 cold open that features this song is brilliant.

Playlist #178 – Jangly Electric 12 String

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Happy Monday and happy Autumn, folks! Last week, Clyde challenged me to come up with a whole playlist of songs that feature an electric 12-string. At first, I just thought I’d post a link to the Byrds’ greatest hits and leave it at that, but I decided that might be too much of a cop-out even for me. So instead, I sat down and came up with ten songs that feature electric 12!

  1. The Byrds, “Turn! Turn! Turn!”: Honestly, any Byrds song could fill this spot. All of their best stuff features an electric 12 played by Roger McGuinn. This is the single most obvious song on this entire list.
  2. The Beatles, “A Hard Day’s Night”: George Harrison occasionally rocked an electric 12 on some Beatles songs, including this one and the always-awesome “And Your Bird Can Sing.” It was a close call between those two songs, but I went ahead and put this one on the list because of the electric 12 guitar solo.
  3. Led Zeppelin, “The Song Remains the Same”: For a dude who carried around a double-necked Gibson an awful lot, I don’t feel like Jimmy Page played much electric 12. He does on this track, though, and it’s great.
  4. Tom Petty, “I’ll Feel A Whole Lot Better”: Tom Petty is often associated with twelve string guitars, though I feel like he mostly stuck to acoustics for that. Not for this one, though. Also, the “12 string” part of “American Girl?” Not actually a 12 string, but two six-string guitars played by Petty and Mike Campbell in such sync that it just sounds like a 12 string. Kinda amazing.
  5. XTC, “Mayor of Simpleton”: Just a fantastic song from a fantastic band with a fantastic electric 12-string guitar part in it.
  6. Pink Floyd, “Fearless”: Apparently David Gilmour occasionally deigns to use an electric 12 on some songs, including this Floyd number from Meddle. Such a damn good album.
  7. The Hollies, “Bus Stop”: Another band that frequently used an electric 12. “Bus Stop” is possibly the greatest love story song from the British Invasion era.
  8. The Decemberists, “Yankee Bayonet”: Apparently Chris Funk, guitarist for the Decemberists, frequently uses the electric 12 for his stuff. Very cool.
  9. REM, “So. Central Rain”: That 12-string riff that starts the song off? So damn good.
  10. Gin Blossoms, “Til I Hear It From You”: When I think of ’90s jangle-pop, the Gin Blossoms are what I’m thinking of. This song is a perfect example of why.

Playlist #135

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Happy Cyber Monday, folks! That’s the Monday after Thanksgiving where everyone buys all their cybers for the coming year. I suppose you could buy one of my books if you were so inclined. Or you can order a CD directly from me! Anyway, here’s a new playlist for ya!

  1. Blind Melon, “No Rain”: Best video featuring a girl dressed in a bee costume you will ever see.
  2. Jason Isbell, “Relatively Easy”: The more I hear songs by this guy, the more I love him. The more I listen to particular songs by him, the more I’m convinced he’s probably one of this generation’s best songwriters.
  3. Adeem the Artist, “Dirt Bike”: Adeem the Artist has found ways to distill youth and youthful energy into each one of their songs and make it sound humble, playful, innocent, and nostalgic. It’s a good skill to have.
  4. Natalie Layne, “Grateful For (Piano Version)”: I didn’t realize this musician was a Christian ArtistTM until I had already downloaded the song. It’s a good song despite this fact? I dunno. Listen and judge for yourself.
  5. Iron & Wine, “Judgement”: Speaking of judgement…
  6. Gin Blossoms, “Just South of Nowhere”: Why do I like this song so much? Is it because it feels very much like a late-night drive where things are just starting to go off the rails and there’s very little you can do other than hold on and pray for dawn? Probably.
  7. Andrew Bird, “Frogs Singing”: I just love the harmonies and the rhythm of this one.
  8. The Avett Brothers, “Will You Return?”: Every time my wife hears them count in at the beginning of this song, she gets so excited that it’ll be OutKast’s “Hey Ya,” and every time she is disappointed.
  9. David Gray, “What Am I Doing Wrong?”: Sell, Sell, Sell is still the peak of early David Gray. I will not be taking any questions at this time.
  10. Pearl Jam, “Porch”: It’s hard to tell with Eddie Vedder’s singing what the actual lyrics are to any given song, but I don’t think this song mentions porches or sitting on them or even standing on them even once. Just a real missed opportunity, that.

Playlist #131: My Alternative Heart

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Happy Monday, folks! Or as I like to call it, “Dear God, why did I think owning that many books was a good idea?” Moving is hard, y’all. But hey, I have a new book coming out Wednesday, and a new playlist featuring some great songs from the ’90s for you today, so it can’t be all bad, right?

  1. Eve 6, “Inside Out”: These guys were apparently barely out of high school when they recorded this album. Their Twitter feed is still pretty damn solid to this day.
  2. Better Than Ezra, “Desperately Wanting”: Still really digging on this song and it’s still a helluva lot of fun to play.
  3. Bush, “Everything Zen”: Why is this song so long? Why did it need to keep going on and on? I think that everything time I listen to the song. “Oh, it’s still happening? I thought this song would’ve been over after the first two and a half minutes.” But no. It goes on for a full four and a half minutes. Unbelievable.
  4. The Cranberries, “Zombie”: Still just one of the best anti-war songs I’ve ever heard.
  5. Everclear, “I Will Buy You A New Life”: I will maintain for the rest of my days that this guy just needs therapy rather than to write another song about how daddy didn’t love him or he was poor or whatever.
  6. Foo Fighters, “Monkey Wrench”: Nothing really gets your blood pumping like a Foo Fighters song.
  7. Gin Blossoms, “Found Out About You”: For the life of me, I will never understand how I did not instantly grasp this band with both hands when their first album came out. Why I waited until nearly three decades later to even begin to appreciate their stuff is a question for the ages.
  8. Semisonic, “California”: My wife said, “Oh, I’d forgotten they did this song.” I sang along to the course, with the weird (and weirdly unnecessary) pronunciation of “Californ-i-uh.”
  9. Spacehog, “In The Meantime”: Can we stop for a second and talk about how this band’s name is basically “Intergalactic Penis?” Because that is all I can ever think of when I see their name.
  10. Primitive Radio Gods, “Standing Outside A Broken Phone Booth With Money In My Hand”: And the award for most awkward song title goes to…

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 #70: Death At A Funeral

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We spent the weekend up in New York, attending a funeral for my wife’s grandfather who passed suddenly late last week. It got me thinking about things like when I die and, me being me, the music I’d like played at my own funeral. This list is by no means exhaustive; a true funerary playlist would have to be at least three times this long. But these are the top ten songs I’d like played when I die.

  1. Iron & Wine, “Hard Times Come Again No More”: Funerals are often somber affairs. They don’t have to be, but they often are. This song carries that tone well.
  2. The Beatles, “Let It Be”: Preferably one of the versions with a George Harrison guitar solo, because I like George Harrison guitar solos.
  3. Harry Nilsson, “Many Rivers To Cross”: Sure, Nick Hornby may prefer the Jimmy Cliff version, but this is the one for me.
  4. Van Morrison, “Caravan (Live)”: Again, much like Nick Hornby, I love the live version of this song from the Too Late To Stop Now double live album, even if it does have the unfortunate circumstances of including band introductions halfway through. But all those guys will probably be dead by the time I die, and I’m willing to share the spotlight a bit.
  5. Bob Dylan, “I Shall Be Released”: I mean, it’s more about getting out of jail than getting out of this life, but I think it still works.
  6. Sean Watkins, “Let It Fall”: This song always felt like it belong over the closing credits to some heartfelt romantic drama. Or the end of one’s life.
  7. George Harrison, “All Things Must Pass”: No one does the transitory nature of existence better than George Harrison.
  8. Gin Blossoms, “Pieces Of The Night”: Life could just be one long night at the bar, trying to find someone, anyone, to spend just a moment with, a moment that might mean something. Or maybe I’ve already had too much gin.
  9. The National, “Gospel”: “Hang your holiday rainbow lights in the garden.”
  10. Wilco, “What Light”: This song is very simple. Many Wilco songs are. But it’s also transcendent. And I think it’d be nice to have a choir of my friends sing it.

Playlist #59

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Happy Tuesday, folks! It’s officially summer break time! That doesn’t mean I’ve slacked off over on Patreon, though. There’ll be a new song each month, just like usual. Anyway, here’s this week’s playlist.

  1. Old 97s, “Holy Cross”: It’s just such a bleak song with such a great rhythm.
  2. The Wallflowers, “Sleepwalker”: “Now, Cupid, don’t draw back your bow/Sam Cooke didn’t know what I know.”
  3. The Minus 5, “Wasted Bandage”: Favorite line is, “dear physician, won’t you heal yourself?”
  4. Golden Smog, “Until You Came Along”: Love the jangly twelve string in this one. It’s an alt-country Byrds song, essentially.
  5. Gin Blossoms, “Just South Of Nowhere”: Early Gin Blossoms stuff is just so damn good.
  6. Justin Townes Earle, “Flint City Shake it”: A song that calls GM out on the carpet for its treatment of the auto workers in Flint, Michigan. Gotta love it.
  7. Jesse Malin, “Addicted”: I will never not love Jesse Malin, and this song – about the problems of modern society and its addiction to smart phones and Instagram – hits a lot of good points.
  8. Josh Ritter, “Getting Ready To Get Down”: “If you wanna see a miracle/Watch me get down.”
  9. Glen Phillips, “Men Just Leave”: I will always have a soft spot in my heart for Glen Phillips’ first solo album, and this song – about how men often suck – still hits too real.
  10. Wilco, “You Are My Face”: I love the middle part of this song, where the band really cuts loose. It’s awesome.

Playlist #57: ’90s Dance Party!

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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.