Happy Monday, folks! After last week’s multiple fiascos, I’m hoping this week (which will feature the last time I see some of my students before graduation) will go smoother and with fewer towed cars. Let’s get into the playlist.

1. Neil Young, “Walk On”: Among the many challenges I faced last week was trying to find a cover of this song that simply didn’t exist. I heard an alternate version of it on the Tonight’s the Night 50th Anniversary set, which somehow tricked my brain into thinking there was a cover I’d heard of it back in the late 90s/early 2000s and I just couldn’t remember who’d done the cover. Spent a few hours Thursday evening trying to figure it out, only to discover it was…the version I’d heard on Neil’s Decade collection back then. I Mandela Effect’d myself, I guess? I dunno. The song is a jam.
2. Jack Johnson, “Taylor (4-Track)”: Speaking of songs I heard back in the late 90s, I had the MP3 of this song on my computer back in college and preferred this version to the album version that came out on Brushfire Fairytales, but I hadn’t been able to find this version of the song for more than 10 years and had despaired of ever hearing it again. Along comes Surfilmusic, a collection of soundtrack cuts and a bunch of early 4-track demos, this song among them. Made my weekend, let me tell you.
3. Brian Fallon, “Better Before”: I knew Fallon (and the Gaslight Anthem) had some Bon Jovi in their musical DNA; it’s damn-near required for a Jersey band to have JBJ and the Boss in their musical make-up. But this is the Bon Jovi-est song the man’s ever recorded, and I kinda love it.
4. Wilco, “Everyone Hides”: While a lot of Wilco’s newer music seems like it was designed to just wash over you in an acoustic hush, but some songs still stick out. Like this one. It’s got a very insistent rhythm and a neat guitar figure.
5. Lazlo Bane, “Superman”: Have you watched the Scrubs revival? I was pleasantly surprised with how good it is. And the theme song – this song – still hits just right.
6. Radiohead, “These Are My Twisted Words”: A glitchy, stuttering number, the sort of song that you hear and immediately recognize as peak Radiohead.
7. Galaxie 500, “Isn’t It A Pity”: An elegiac 80s college rock take on the George Harrison classic. Whereas George’s version relied on the wall of sound wash of guitars and voices to carry the tune, Galaxie 500 strip it down to a single guitar, bass, and drum kit and prove the bones of the song are as solid as can be.
8. The Fray, “Over My Head (Cable Car)”: Can you believe this song is more than 20 years old? I still think of them as a band that just came out! Am I just an Old now?
9. Kate Wolf, “Across the Great Divide”: I love this song, I just hate the harmonica in it. I feel it undercuts the tone of the song.
10. Violent Femmes, “American Music”: What could I possibly say about this song other than, if you don’t sing along, you’re not American.