iron & wine

Playlist #217: Summertime

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Happy Monday! It’s all officially summer now, what with the summer solstice occurring late last week, so let’s look at some of my favorite songs about summer and summer-related stuff.

  1. Don Henley, “Boys of Summer”: Did you know the Ataris did a cover of this song, only instead of a “Dead Head sticker on a Cadillac” it’s a “Black Flag sticker” on the Caddy? I’m pretty sure the Venn Diagram of people who drive Cadillacs and people who would put a Black Flag sticker on their car has zero overlap.
  2. Mungo Jerry, “In the Summertime”: It’s all loosey-goosey and jugbandy. Feels like the most casual, tossed-off thing in the world, which is perfect for summer. We’ll just ignore the bit about, “If her daddy’s rich, taker her out for a meal/If her daddy’s poor, just do what you feel,” which feels a little like Mungo Jerry and his ridiculous hair ought to be the first against the wall when the revolution comes.
  3. Sublime, “Doin’ Time”: Ever heard a ’90s alt-punk band borrow liberally from Gershwin? Well, you have now! And it actually works surprisingly well.
  4. Glen Phillips, “Winter Pays For Summer”: I rather like the idea that the reward for dealing with the season you don’t like is the season you do like. The winter, that is, pays for the summer, though in my case I think it works the opposite (I hate summer heat. I should escape to cooler climes, but I’m pretty locked-in here in Fairfax County).
  5. Wilco, “Summer Teeth”: Does the title make any sense? Does it matter if it does? Not even a little. This bright bite of poppy bubblegum is from the similarly-named album Summerteeth, which is likewise full of Brian Wilson-esque tunes to bop along to as a summer night stretches out before you.
  6. Better Than Ezra, “Summerhouse”: It’s about a summer house, but more accurately it’s about a murder that no one really seems to care about. So it goes.
  7. Iron & Wine, “Summer in Savannah”: From that weird, experimental period where Iron & Wine tried to pretend they weren’t an old-timey string band sort of thing and were just a bunch of synth nerds. You can be both, Sam Beam. You can be both.
  8. The Head and the Heart, “Summertime”: With enough reverb on the guitar for a Ventures solo and enough yearning to make Brian Wilson blush.
  9. The Beach Boys, “Fun, Fun, Fun”: We’ve already established that the Beach Boys were the quintessential band of summer, and “Fun, Fun, Fun” is one of their absolute best summertime tunes. Joyriding in a T-Bird? Saying you’re going to the library when you’re going out cruising? It’s such a time capsule of the early 1960s. I can just see Harrison Ford and Opie searching for the Wolfman while this song plays.
  10. Ray LaMontagne, “Summer Clouds”: A wistful, finger-picked ballad that feels like a Sunday morning in October kind of song, a longing remembrance of the past.

Playlist #198

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Happy Monday, folks! Looks like another round of snow is headed towards Northern Virginia this week, so I’m looking forward to a short week of work (and not administering the WIDA exam on Wednesday). Here’s some songs to get you through the snowy cold.

  1. The Weather Station, “Neon Signs”: You could describe this as folk/Americana, or alternative, or “cosmic Americana,” my preferred genre. However you describe it, it’s good. The instruments fade in and out, entwine with one another then break apart, and the lyrics float in from the middle of absolute nowhere like they’ve just blown in from the desert. Good stuff.
  2. Waxahatchee, “Mud”: New Waxahatchee means happy Charlie, even if it is just a single.
  3. Wilco, “Handshake Drugs”: The deluxe edition of A Ghost Is Born was released Friday, so of course I’ve already listened to it. I’m a little disappointed the so-called “Expanded Edition” only included a single extra disc of early versions of the songs instead of the 9-disc full version that is apparently available out there for the diehards (yeah, I’ll probably end up tracking that one down. I’m a sucker for the iterative nature of songwriting).
  4. Michgander, “Emotional”: I’ve dug this guy and his work since I first heard an EP of his several years ago, and his songwriting only gets stronger and his arrangements only get fuller as time goes by. Love it.
  5. Electric Light Orchestra, “The Bouncer”: A bonus song off the Time album, and one that has a bouncy, fun little beat and all the trademarks of Jeff Lynne production.
  6. Iron & Wine, “Call Your Boys”: I love the slide guitar work on this song. It’s subtle but effective, and the vocal melody is beautiful and sad.
  7. Jesse Malin, “She Don’t Love Me Now”: I think it’s the horn section in this song that gets me.
  8. Mark Knopfler, “Donnegan’s Gone”: A skiffle song about the guy who started the skiffle craze? Why not?
  9. The Gaslight Anthem, “Say I Won’t (Recognize)”: Early Gaslight Anthem is full of punch and power and longing and more hair grease than was used on the set of the movie Grease. James Dean would be proud.
  10. Jason Isbell, “Elephant”: Whenever I want to cry and feel absolutely beautiful misery, I put this song on. Works every time.

Playlist #192 and #193: M’Shelby Mix Edition

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Happy…Monday? Wait, that can’t be right. Monday? Well, stranger things have happened other than me posting a playlist on time. For instance, today also happens to be my 18th Wedding Anniversary. Yay, our relationship is old enough to vote! Here’s a double playlist of some songs that I think my wife would love. I’ve been curating a playlist for her on my phone for years called M’Shelby Mix, and here’s the latest iteration.

  1. The Pixies, “Wave of Mutilation (UK Surf Mix)”: Probably the definitive version of this particular tune. Slowed down from the original, given a slight air of menace, and just a killer drum beat.
  2. Arcade Fire, “Intervention”: Gotta love the church organ.
  3. AC Newman, “Take On Me”: Newman doesn’t aim for quite the same glass-shattering falsetto in the chorus, but the slowed down, acoustic-driven version he turns in sounds just as good as anything a-ha ever did.
  4. Elliott Smith, “Baby Britain”: Favorite line is a toss-up between “We knocked another couple back/Dead soldiers lined up on the table/Still prepared for an attack/They didn’t know they’d been disabled” and “The light was on but it was dim/Revolver’s been turned over/And now it’s ready once again/The radio was playing “Crimson and Clover.”
  5. The Flaming Lips, “Free Radicals (A Hallucination of the Christmas Skeleton Pleading with a Suicide Bomber)”: A sneering indictment of Bush-era foreign policy.
  6. Rilo Kiley, “Does He Love You?”: A sordid tale of love triangles and whether or not he’d ever really leave his wife for you. Why would he, though?
  7. Phil Collins, “In the Air Tonight”: If there’s a better drum fill in existence, I don’t know about it. Oh, to be able to go back and hear this song for the first time.
  8. The National, “Slow Show”: Probably Michelle’s favorite song by the National. And it’s a banger. I love that guitar chord progression. Wish I could get my voice low enough to actually sing it.
  9. Josh Ritter, “Golden Age of Radio”: We both sing along at the top of our lungs when this song comes on. It might as well be part of our marriage vows.
  10. Iron & Wine, “Such Great Heights”: Postal Service cover done with such delicate heartache and beauty that you forget there’s another version of this song out there.
  11. The Four Tops, “Bernadette”: Shouted backing vocals are always fun.
  12. The Cure, “Just Like Heaven”: Given her adoration of stuff from the ’80s, it should come as no surprise that Michelle loves the Cure. I’ve grown to tolerate most of their stuff, though this song I really do actually enjoy.
  13. Tom Waits, “Hoist That Rag”: What can I say? Michelle likes pirates and pirate songs.
  14. They Might Be Giants, “She’s An Angel”: This song always makes me think of Michelle. I know she digs TMBG, and likes this song, but she said it couldn’t be our song because it’s too one-sided and doesn’t reflect her feelings for me. And, y’know, I get it. But it’s still a song that makes me think of her.
  15. Better Than Ezra, “Rosealia”: Michelle also really digs the ’90s, and especially Better Than Ezra. This one is another sing-along song.
  16. Pearl Jam, “Elderly Woman Behind the Counter in a Small Town”: Acoustic Pearl Jam? More entertaining and worthwhile than you might think!
  17. David Bowie, “Life On Mars”: Did you know he wrote this after Frank Sinatra didn’t accept some lyrics he wrote for “I Did It My Way”? It’s true! It’s why the two songs have such similar chord progressions.
  18. Weezer, “Say It Ain’t So”: Far better than that song about him hitting on a lesbian.
  19. Bruce Springsteen, “Candy’s Room”: Probably Michelle’s favorite Springsteen song. It’s got amazing drums and a beautiful piano line, so I get it.
  20. The Magnetic Fields, “Nothing Matters When We’re Dancing”: This is our song. We eloped and didn’t have a wedding reception, much to our chagrin, but if we did have one, this would’ve been the first song we danced to. We have a poster with the lyrics of it hanging up in our living room.

Playlist #144

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Happy Monday! And a truly happy Monday it is, too, for I just did something I haven’t been able to do in three months: take a hot shower in my condo! Sure, it cost a ridiculous amount of money to get it all fixed, but it’s a small price to pay to have water above room temperature when I step into the shower.

  1. Rufus Wainwright, “Harvest”: The one that features Andrew Bird on violin and guest vocals! It’s such a beautiful and simple rendition of the Neil Young tune.
  2. k.d. lang, “Constant Craving”: I, too, hope to someday be disentangled enough from my ego to ignore proper punctuation and capitalization when writing my name. Until then, I stick to the capital letter at the start.
  3. Sinead O’Connor, “Nothing Compares 2 U”: We could all use a little Prince tune to get us moving today, I think.
  4. Alannah Myles, “Black Velvet”: This song is about Elvis, right? Pretty sure it’s about Elvis.
  5. The Eagles, “After the Thrill is Gone”: One of the sadder Eagles songs out there, and one where Don Henley only kinda over-sings.
  6. Elliott Smith, “Christian Brothers”: Elliott Smith sounds like he could and would fuck you up really bad in this song. It’s great.
  7. Frank Turner, “Get Better”: Just a reminder that things can always improve, you just have to let them.
  8. Iron & Wine, “About a Bruise”: One of Sam Beam’s goofier songs, probably, at least based on backing vocals.
  9. Ted Leo & the Pharmacists, “Bomb. Repeat. Bomb.”: Explosive.
  10. 10,000 Maniacs, “These Are Days”: Such a soaring song. Very uplifting. A great way to start the week, I think.

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 #134

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Happy Thanksgiving Week, everyone! Well, to everyone except those of you who don’t have to go to work this week. You guys suck.

  1. Iron & Wine, “About A Bruise”: Started listening to the live album Who Can See Forever this morning, and it’s pretty damn solid. The version of “About A Bruise” from that one is excellent, but so is the the original studio recording from Beast Epic, which I’ve included here.
  2. Elvis Costello, “Blame It On Cain”: We seem to forget, because he just seems like an amiable old fart nowadays, but Costello was a firebrand and a troublemaker back in the day, and this song is a good reminder of that.
  3. Dolly Parton, “Long As I Can See The Light (Featuring John Fogerty)”: Dolly finally released her long-threatened rock’n’roll album, Rockstar. It’s alright. There are some great tracks on there (like this one and her rendition of “Purple Rain”), though most of it feels too slick and over-produced for my tastes.
  4. Them, “It’s All Over Now, Baby Blue”: Who doesn’t love a Bob Dylan cover first thing in the morning? Nazis, that’s who.
  5. Thom Yorke, “And It Rained All Night”: Thom Yorke’s first solo album, The Eraser, is weird. It’s all electronic squiggles and squelches and super-processed drum loops and for some reason I can’t stop listening to this particular track from it.
  6. Townes Van Zandt, “Racing In The Streets”: I always like hearing Townes interpret someone else’s song. This Bruce Springsteen cover is a good example of why.
  7. XTC, “Senses Working Overtime”: I just love the transitions between verse and chorus on this song.
  8. Leo Sayer, “More Than I Can Say”: 70s soft rock called, and it said, “Whoa, whoa, yay, yay.”
  9. Kenny Wayne Shepherd, “Everything Is Broken”: Two Dylan covers on one playlist? Is he mad? Doesn’t he know what horrors that might unleash?
  10. Kendrick Lamar, “DNA.”: This one is just on here to throw you off at the end of the playlist and get you ready for your racist uncle at Thanksgiving Dinner telling you everything was better before they came to the US.

Playlist #133

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Happy Monday, folks! We’re closing in on Thanksgiving Break, a time when I won’t have to go to school for several days straight and will most likely wreck my sleep schedule. But so it goes! Here’s this week’s playlist for your listening pleasure.

  1. Noah Kahan and Hozier, “Northern Attitude”: So I was reading a thing that talked about Noah Kahan and referred to him as “Vermont Hozier,” and that piqued by interest. His style is different than Hozier’s, more earthy and folky. But I’m down with that. This is a duet he did with Hozier.
  2. Brian Fallon, “Forget Me Not”: I just love the way he shouts “Stacy!” at the beginning of each verse. Cracks me up every time.
  3. The Smashing Pumpkins, “Today”: I can only handle Billy Corrigan’s singing voice in small doses, but this song ain’t so bad.
  4. Iron & Wine, “Call It Dreaming”: The outro to this song reminds me very much of the Elton John song “Levon” for reasons I cannot really explain.
  5. Jackson Browne, “Downhill From Everywhere”: It’s a song about saving the oceans.
  6. Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers, “A Thing About You”: I just love the energy of this song, and the guitar solo is one of the more raucous ones ever committed to Heartbreakers tape.
  7. Waxahatchee, “Sparks Fly”: I like how deceptively simple their songs are. There’s more detail and intricacy to them than it appears at first listen.
  8. Wilco, “I Might”: I feel like The Whole Love is an underrated Wilco album, if such things even exist. It’s not the first one I’ll reach for when I’m in a Wilco mood, but it’s definitely in the top five or six.
  9. Tom Waits, “16 Shells From a Thirty-Ought Six”: “Gonna whittle you into kindlin'” is just such a baller line.
  10. Sturgill Simpson, “Keep It Between The Lines”: I’ve liked everything I’ve ever heard by this guy, but A Sailor’s Guide to Earth is still his best, I think.

Playlist #124: Home

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Happy Monday, folks. By tomorrow, the wife and I will be homeowners (and the sister-in-law)! We’ve been renting the same townhouse for almost 14 years now, so it’ll be strange to leave it and call some other place home. There’ll be new traffic patterns to learn, a new (slightly longer) route to work, and I’m sure a whole host of challenges and foibles associated with moving into a new place. But I’ll have music to keep me going there, including this week’s playlist.

  1. Crosby, Stills, Nash, & Young, “Our House”: We’ve only got the one cat, and she won’t really be allowed out (we don’t really have a yard, per se. We’re moving into a condo), but this still feels fitting.
  2. Hem, “Home Again”: Our intention is to move into this place and just settle in. I don’t see us moving again for a very, very long time, if ever.
  3. Iron & Wine, “Walking Far From Home”: I’m hoping to find some walking trails or something close by so I can start exercising again. I will miss having the park right across the street where I could go do that.
  4. Norah Jones, “Long Way Home”: As I mentioned above, this new home will put us slightly further out from work, but that was the trade-off: live further out, find a place you can afford.
  5. Eric Clapton, “Back Home”: We really do like the place. It’s got plenty of very usable space, it’s in a nice neighborhood, and I think we’ll settle in very well there.
  6. Sheryl Crow, David Alvin, Phil Alvin, & Taj Mahal, “Home Again”: This is from the Ghost Brothers of Dark County original soundtrack, that stage play that John Mellencamp and Stephen King collaborated on.
  7. Healthy White Baby, “Home”: Great band, absolutely terrible band name.
  8. Simon & Garfunkel, “Homeward Bound”: A classic.
  9. Jack Johnson, “Home”: If our homes feels as comfortable and laid back as a Jack Johnson song, I’ll be content.
  10. Aretha Franklin, “Bring It On Home To Me”: God, this woman could just SING.

Playlist #106: Crime of the Century

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Good morning, playlist people. We’re well into May now, and the end of the school year is in sight! Apparently my wife’s school got robbed over the weekend, which is exciting and frustrating and led me to create this week’s playlist (though I criminally left off Supertramp’s “Crime of the Century,” which I hadn’t realized until I gave this playlist that title just now).

  1. The Decemberists, “The Perfect Crime #2”: “A heist? A heist! No one will ever suspect us, the goofy band that sings about Victorian women swooning on the moors, of being bank robbers.” That’s how I imagined the conversation went.
  2. Genesis, “Home By The Sea”: A song about a dude trying to sneak into a house and getting trapped there by some supernatural entity for all of eternity. As one does.
  3. Sting, “After The Rain Has Fallen”: I only came here to steal your jewelry, not you, m’lady.
  4. Hem, “The Fire Thief”: Ah, the theft of fire, the prototypical thief with a heart of gold story. And the song’s by Hem, which means it sounds beautiful and wistful and ever so slightly sad.
  5. Iron & Wine, “Arms Of A Thief”: I dunno, Sam, maybe the arms of a thief aren’t as safe as you’d have us beleive.
  6. Uncle Tupelo, “Steal The Crumbs”: I feel like my cat does this, only she doesn’t just go for crumbs. She’d take the whole sandwich, given half a chance.
  7. Van Morrison, “Steal My Heart Away”: I always like to imagine that every thief is really just there to steal your love more than anything else. All the jewels and cash are just a bonus.
  8. The Beastie Boys, “Rhymin & Stealin”: Just rockin’ it old school, or Old Skool, if you will.
  9. LEN, “Steal My Sunshine”: I am not sorry.
  10. Ben Harper, “Steal My Kisses”: Poor Ben. Maybe it’s time to find a new ladyfriend who is more giving with her smooches.

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.