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Playlist #203: The Wearin’ o’ the Green

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Happy St. Patrick’s Day! Wear some green, run some snakes outta your island, and listen to this Irish-themed playlist all while doing so!

  1. Van Morrison, “(Straight To Your Heart) Like a Cannonball”: Is there any more Irish singer than Van? The guy oozes Irishness. Or maybe just surliness. He’s a pretty surly dude.
  2. U2, “Hawkmoon 269”: This song is always fun to sing and play on the guitar. I also apparently made up a whole outro thing that the backing vocalists are in no way actually singing in the song, but that fits with the song and that I love and that I may have to actually end up putting in a song of my own someday.
  3. Sinead O’Connor, “Nothing Compares 2 U”: Yes, it’s cliche and the obvious choice, but it’s the obvious choice for a reason: it’s a damn good song.
  4. The Cranberries, “Zombie”: Again, an obvious choice, but it was this or “Linger,” and I prefer this song.
  5. Hozier, “Take Me To Church”: Okay, yeah, I know, take me task for going the easy route on so many of these. But there are songs that we like to think of as standards, and they are the standard for a reason: their approach to the song or to the concept is so perfect that it’s hard to imagine topping it, and those songs become rather iconic.
  6. Christy Moore, “Beeswing”: A Richard Thompson cover. I do love me Richard Thompson covers and wish there were more of them out there. Christy Moore is also apparently one of the most beloved singers in all of Ireland? I dunno, but I dig him.
  7. Thin Lizzy, “The Boys Are Back in Town”: I wasn’t really aware these guys were Irish, but they do kick a considerable amount of ass for a ’70s rock band.
  8. The Dubliners, “Raglan Road”: We ate at an Irish restaurant in Disney Village this summer called Raglan Road. That’s how famous this song (and, I guess, the actual road) are. It’s a beautiful song, to be sure.
  9. The Chieftains, “The Long Black Veil”: I’m more familiar with the Johnny Cash version of this song, but this version (with Mick Jagger providing vocals) is suitably gloomy and dark.
  10. Dropkick Murphys, “I’m Shipping Up to Boston”: Is it Irish? About as much so as the green river in Chicago. Does it still feel Irish? Hell, yes.

Playlist #85

/ xeyeti / Leave a comment

It’s Monday. We had to put my cat to sleep late last week, so expect most of this particular playlist to be more than a bit maudlin.

  1. Joey Purp, “Elastic”: This song has been used recently in an ad for Chromebooks. An ad that plays before and during two out of every three videos I’ve watched on Youtube in the past few weeks. It is ridiculously catchy.
  2. My Politic, “What A Life”: A folky Missouri duo (actually based out of Nashville, TN) who sing with longing and bittersweet sadness about life back home. It hits all the right spots.
  3. Hozier featuring Mavis Staples, “Nina Cried Power”: A tribute not just to Nina Simone, but Aretha Franklin, Marvin Gaye, Mavis Staples (who contributes amazing backing vocals and an excellent bridge), James Brown, and so many other giants of the R&B and blues world.
  4. Stevie Nicks, “Edge of Seventeen”: Just like the one-winged dove, indeed.
  5. The Head And The Heart, “Rivers And Roads”: These folks always seem to remind me of home, even though (1) none of them are from Oklahoma and (2) they do not, strictly speaking, play a musical style reminiscent of Oklahoma. Something in their singing and lyrics, though, evokes my home state something fierce.
  6. Jakob Dylan, “Everybody’s Hurting”: “We’ve hunted these hills dry/We’ve long outlasted the winter and our last wood pile/Only one thing is certain/That’s everybody/Everybody’s hurting.”
  7. Donovan Woods, “‘Cause the last time I saw you/Was the last time I saw you,” is such a heartbreaking line to me. You never really know when the last time you’ll see someone is.
  8. George Harrison, “All Things Must Pass”: Is this one too obvious? I don’t care. George has brought me comfort in dark times, and this song continues to do so.
  9. Sean Watkins, “Let It Fall”: I’ve probably mentioned before with this song, but it always strikes me as the sort of song that plays at the end of the movie, as we fade to black and the credits start to roll. There’s a sort of finality to it that sits with me long after the song has ended.
  10. Tom Petty, “Wake Up Time”: The closer from Petty’s best album, Wildflowers, really sums up things very well. “Well, if he gets lucky, a boy finds a girl/To help him to shoulder the pain in this world.” Sometimes we do get lucky, and we ought to cherish those we walk these roads with.