hozier

Playlist #277

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Happy Monday, folks! Summer is officially over; I’m back at school for teacher in-service this week, which means more meetings than you can shake a stick at (why do you shake a stick at something? I’ve never really understood that adage). Anyway, it’s Monday, so here’s a playlist.

  1. Hozier, “Too Sweet”: It took me an embarrassingly long time to realize this was a Hozier song. It’s good. Has a Mark Ronson feel to it.
  2. The Mountain Goats, “Candlebox”: The latest album from tMG is apparently a song cycle about 90s grunge artists and the alternative music movement of that time period, and this is an excellent example of what Darnielle and Company have cooked up. I dunno that I’d personally want to open for Candlebox for a summer tour, though if they asked I would probably still say “yes.” Not sure their audience is exactly my audience, mind you.
  3. Phoebe Bridgers, “As Above”: A new Phoebe Bridgers album is always cause for celebration. Most of the songs just sort of float by on this record, but this one stuck out in my mind pretty well.
  4. Lord Huron, “Love Like Ghosts”: Even after having listened to it obsessively for several months now, I still find myself coming back to the songs on Strange Trails. This is a great album opener.
  5. Huey Lewis and the News, “I Know What I Like”: I’m a sucker for Huey Lewis and the News. They sound like that band your dad tried to put together back in the mid-90s with his buddies from work, but they mostly sat around in the garage on Saturday nights drinking beers and playing old Lovin’ Spoonful covers. But that’s, like, not a bad thing.
  6. Ma Rainey, “See See the Rider”: One of the OGs singing a song that has come down through the decades until it ended up as 60s rock number.
  7. Sean Watkins, “Let It Fall”: I’m always going to be a sucker for this song. The vocals are plaintive, the guitar work is flawless, and it’s just really damn good.
  8. Blue Mountain, “Bloody 98”: The banjo solo in this song – a song I would deem very unlikely to have a banjo solo – is top-notch and just rips the roof off the building. Love it.
  9. Bruce Springsteen, “Ain’t Good Enough For You”: I always enjoy Bruce’s hard luck stories; this one is very tongue in cheek and far too much fun to be about a relationship you give more than half a damn about.
  10. Them, “It’s All Over Now, Baby Blue”: One of the best Dylan covers out there. Can’t top it.

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

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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.