neil young

Playlist #264

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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.

Playlist #224

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Happy Monday, folks. We’re up bright and early today because it’s the first day of teacher in-service week, when they see if they can crush the desire to teach out of us via the medium of meetings. We’ll see if they succeed this year or not.

  1. The Wallflowers, “Some Flowers Bloom Dead”: One of the first Wallflowers songs I tried to learn (after “One Headlight,” of course). The chords are easy enough, as I recall, though I don’t think I ever sang it very well. That has never stopped me from singing a song, though.
  2. Neil Young, “Harvest Moon”: Speaking of songs I don’t sing well, I kinda love this one. It’s a simple love song, but it just sounds so beautiful.
  3. Fleetwood Mac, “Seven Wonders”: ’80s Mac just hits different.
  4. Glen Phillips, “Men Just Leave”: I still love how stripped down and countryish that first Glen Phillips solo album is. Even almost 25 years later, it’s still very immediate and evocative.
  5. Van Morrison, “Once In A Blue Moon”: Mid-2000s Van is a strange beast, taking elements from all the other versions of him that are out there and amalgamating them into something that still feels relevant, joyful, and vital.
  6. The Raconteurs, “Carolina Drama”: Sometimes you’re the preacher man, and sometimes you’re the milkman.
  7. The Band, “Acadian Driftwood”: It’s always interesting hearing about the treatment of Native Americans/Indigenous Americans/First People (depending on where and who you are) in places like Canada, though a lot of it still boils down to, “Same shit, different government.”
  8. Wilco, “Summer Teeth”: A perfect encapsulation of the wanning days of summer.
  9. Old 97s, “Every Night Is Friday Night (Without You)”: Gotta love a shout-along song from these guys. It’s always fun.
  10. The Decemberists, “Sons & Daughters”: It’s so rare that you hear a song sung in the round in this day and age, but they manage to pull it off.

Playlist #187: The Longs

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Happy Monday, folks. It’s Thanksgiving Week! There ought to be more Thanksgiving Carols, right? Anyway, this week’s playlist is all songs that are well over the ten minute mark, because why the hell not? And no, they’re not all Pink Floyd songs. I just put one on here.

  1. Arlo Guthrie, “Alice’s Restaurant Massacre”: I love this song without qualifications or justifications necessary. It’s rambling, barely coherent, and funny as hell.
  2. Pink Floyd, “Echoes”: A band known for going over the top with long, drawn-out compositions like this one or “Shine On You Crazy Diamond.” But they’re usually interesting and very dynamic, so they get a prog pass from me.
  3. Bob Dylan, “Highlands”: Dylan’s no stranger to long songs with fifteen thousand verses in them, going back to at least “Sad-Eyed Lady of the Lowlands.” This one, though, from Time Out of Mind, is my favorite, if only because he keeps cracking jokes. It’s also where I got the title of my comic, Sketches from Memory.
  4. Creedence Clearwater Revival, “I Heard it Through the Grapevine”: Who would’ve thought an R&B groove could go on for that long? But damn if it doesn’t.
  5. The Decemberists, “The Crane Wife 1 & 2”: Really a bit of a cheat, since technically they’re two songs mashed together on the same track, but I’m gonna count it anyway ’cause the band seems to.
  6. Dire Straits, “Telegraph Road”: Mark Knopfler liked to stretch things out once in a while, as it turns out. There weren’t many bands who could get away with releasing a five-song album in 1982, but they could.
  7. Genesis, “Driving the Last Spike”: Yeah, early Genesis tended toward the long, esoterically pastoral fantasies, but this is late-period, early 1990s Genesis, flexing a bit, writing a song about railroad workers in industrial England. It feels different.
  8. Neil Young, “Cowgirl in the Sand”: Still not sure how Neil Young was just…recording grunge-style songs back in the early ’70s like he’s some sort of time traveler or something.
  9. Traffic, “The Low Spark of High-Heeled Boys”: What the hell is this song even about? I have no idea. But it’s kinda jazzy and kinda rock’n’roll and it’s a lot of Steve Winwood.
  10. Van Morrison, “Almost Independence Day”: It almost sounds like Pink Floyd’s “Wish You Were Here,” but not quite. Not quite. And Van does a bit of that weird humming/scatting thing in it. Which is, as I said, kinda weird. But also kinda works? I dunno, it’s early and I haven’t had enough caffeine yet this morning.

Playlist #177

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Happy Monday, folks! Did you know that you can join my Patreon and hear a new song every single week? It’s true! Come join me, I’m lonely. Here’s songs by other people:

  1. Gary Wright, “Two Faced Man”: Pre-“Dream Weaver,” Gary Wright had a mustache and a more Americana approach to music. This one features George Harrison on slide guitar!
  2. Lucero, “Downtown/On My Way Downtown”: I unabashedly love this song. The horns that feature throughout this whole album (called Women and Work, if you’re curious) is top-notch and adds a great layer of novelty to the songs.
  3. Deer Tick, “Easy”: This song sounds so damn angry every time I listen to it, and I love it. Very loud and brash and upset and unhappy and so damn angry.
  4. Van Morrison, “Give Me a Kiss”: This song is so lighthearted and bouncy, like the musical equivalent of a kiss from your significant other.
  5. Bruce Springsteen, “One Step Up”: Getting back to sadness, apparently, with the Boss’s cheating song. At least, that’s how I always think of it.
  6. Days of the New, “Touch, Peel and Stand”: An acoustic-based grunge song? It’s more likely than you think!
  7. The Flying Burrito Brothers, “Sin City”: Sometimes, you just want some good ol’ fashioned country rock, and the FBBs are here for you in that moment.
  8. Neil Young, “Harvest”: Speaking of country rock, here’s another classic of the genre. I spent a good chunk of the end of last week learning how to play a number of songs off this album, so I’m pretty stuck in on this one.
  9. Garbage, “Only Happy When It Rains”: Sharp songwriting, incisive lyrics, and a snarl on the lead singer’s lips make this one a classic.
  10. Frank Turner, “We Shall Not Overcome”: Sometimes, it’s best to just say “fuck it” and accept the inevitable.

Playlists #164, #165, and #166

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As you read this, I’m somewhere between Virginia and Oklahoma, headed back to the land of my birth for my grandfather’s funeral. He passed away this weekend, and it’s kinda left me gutted. I’m glad I got to see him over Father’s Day weekend, and that he was in good spirits at the time. It’ll be nice to remember him that way.

Anyway, I’m combining three playlists into one today, because I’m behind a bit and I put together a big playlist to get me to Oklahoma. Here’s thirty songs.

  1. David Gray, “A Clean Pair of Eyes”: Early David Gray just hits different. It’s folkier, more acoustic, and very introspective. I dig it.
  2. Louis Armstrong, “Mack the Knife”: There is no better moment in music than when Louis throws it to himself for the trumpet solo at the end.
  3. Bing Crosby, “Swinging on a Star”: One of the best songs about the importance of education ever committed to tape.
  4. Ryan Adams, “Desire”: Yeah, the guy has diarrhea of the recording studio, and some of the crap he’s pulled over the years is rather reprehensible, but he does occasionally write and record good tunes.
  5. Mavis Staples, “Eyes on the Prize”: Leave it to Mavis to turn a Civil Rights Standard into a bluesy banger.
  6. Greg Feldon, “Incoming”: On one of my (many) recent trips back from Oklahoma, I spent the better part of a day driving up I-81 listening to this song on repeat until I had it memorized. It’s a good song.
  7. The Rolling Stones, “Honky Tonk Women”: Poor Mick just can’t even have an easy one night stand, can he?
  8. James McMurtry, “Choctaw Bingo”: It’s something of a standard “driving to Oklahoma” song for me at this point. It pops up on lots of playlists, because it’s a good song and it’s kinda long.
  9. Mark Knopfler, “Cannibals”: There are no cannibals anymore, are there, Mark? I think some folsk would beg to differ with a knife and fork, sir.
  10. Rilo Kiley, “More Adventurous”: Such a beautiful, forlorn sort of song. I’ve always loved it.
  11. Big Red Machine, “Renegade (feat. Taylor Swift)”: I’d be okay with Justin Vernon and Taylor Swift doing more duets for the next decade or so if they’re up for it.
  12. Ben Caplan, “Down to the River”: Did you know you needed more klezmer-inflected folk music in your life before you heard this song? Because I didn’t, but I obvious do need more of that in my life.
  13. Hank Williams, “Honky Tonk Blues”: This man knew from hard living, not that you’d know it from his songs necessarily. If he were alive today, he’d put the rest of the country music scene to shame, I’m pretty sure.
  14. The Mountain Goats, “Training Montage”: An amazing song if for nothing else than the line, “I’m doing this for revenge.”
  15. Neil Young, “Downtown”: I do enjoy it when Neil, the godfather of grunge, rocks out with Pearl Jam in tow. It’s a good time.
  16. Van Morrison, “Give Me a Kiss”: Old school Van was always top notch, as this song proves.
  17. The Wallflowers, “Misfits and Lovers (feat. Mick Jones)”: If you’re gonna do an album that sounds heavily indebted to the Clash, it’s probably a damn good idea to get a member of the Clash to guest on it.
  18. Tom Waits, “Chocolate Jesus”: Sacrilicious.
  19. Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers, “Angel Dream”: Can we talk for a minute about the run Tom Petty had between 1987 and 1999? He released Full Moon Fever, Into the Great Wide Open, Wildflowers, the She’s the One Soundtrack, and Echo, all bangers. All classics. Name me band in the past thirty-five years that’s had a string of records that good.
  20. Toad the Wet Sprocket, “Are We Afraid”: A quieter, more reflective moment from their odds & sods collection In Light Syrup.
  21. Pearl Jam, “Better Man”: I think I mentioned a few weeks ago how the Seven Mary Three song “Water’s Edge” is just a 90s rewrite of Richard Marx’s “Hazard,” and this song is just a rewrite of the final verse of Bob Seger’s “The Fire Inside.”
  22. Peter Gabriel, “Washing of the Water”: How does this man create such consistently interesting and provocative music? It’s wild.
  23. Paul McCartney & Elvis Costello, “My Brave Face (Original Demo)”: Two great tastes that taste great together, as it turns out. Elvis brought out the sharper side of McCartney (for a given value of sharper, since McCartney long ago filed off everything to smooth edges).
  24. Drive-By Truckers, “Everybody Needs Love”: An anthem for our time. Everybody does need love.
  25. Descendents, “‘Merican”: Another anthem for our time, this time about the true history of our country and how some folks just don’t want to see everything.
  26. The Dead Weather, “Hustle and Cuss”: It’s nice to see a Jack White project where he kind of takes a backseat to the proceedings, mostly just playing the drums and occasionally singing (like on this track).
  27. David Bowie, “Modern Love”: Dance-pop-era Bowie usually isn’t my favorite, but this song rocks.
  28. Calexico, “Guero Canelo”: Do I understand a word in this song? No. Does it still slap? Yes.
  29. Bob Dylan, “Song For Woody”: Another appropriate “traveling to Oklahoma” song. Woody is a state treasure, or damn well ought to be.
  30. Creedence Clearwater Revival, “Someday Never Comes”: One of the saddest songs that John Fogerty ever wrote, if you want my opinion. It’s dark and bittersweet and sad and longing, and it hits in just that right spot every time.

Playlist #120

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Happy Monday, folks! As I sit here at school, in between meetings, waiting for a call from my realtor to let me know whether or not I’m condemned to spend the rest of my days in an overpriced rental, I present to you a new playlist full of songs to brighten your week.

  1. Willie Nelson, “Don’t Give Up (Featuring Sinead O’Connor)”: I discovered this song last night as I was getting ready to hop in the shower, and had to stop and just listen to it all the way through. It’s a beautiful take on the Peter Gabriel tune,
  2. Neil Young, “Star of Bethlehem”: Neil Young’s Chrome Dreams is a fascinating snapshot of where he was in the late ’70s, mixing in some Crazy Horse guitar workouts and some softer, more contemplative acoustic numbers. This one is mellow and beautiful.
  3. Kevin Morby, “Rock Bottom”: I like this song for nothing else than the inclusion of the line, “They’re all gonna laugh at you.” Old-school SNL fans know what’s up with that one.
  4. The Rolling Stones, “Far Away Eyes”: The single hokiest country song to ever country it up.
  5. The Record Company, “Turn Me Loose”: Feel-good rock’n’roll.
  6. Ray Charles, “(Night Time Is) The Right Time”: Those backing vocals are just killer.
  7. Preservation Hall Jazz Band And Jason Isbell, “Nobody Knows You When You’re Down And Out”:
  8. Tom Waits, “Big Black Mariah”: If you know me, you know I love me some Tom Waits, especially weird Tom Waits. This fits.
  9. The Horrible Crowes, “Go Tell Everybody”: This song reminds me of a Gospel rave-up sing-along. That is a very good thing.
  10. The Heavy, “What Makes A Good Man”: Thumpin’ and bumpin’. Really dig this song.

Playlist #98: Commercial Break

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Seems like everyone is cashing in these days, selling their soul to the highest bidder, trading their art for cash. I’m not against that, I just want my cut of the action. Here’s ten songs I’ve heard in commercials.

  1. Bob Seger, “Like A Rock”: Chevy trucks used this as their slogan for many years, as I recall. Here’s a compilation of their commercials featuring the song.
  2. Jimi Hendrix, “Voodoo Child (Slight Return)”: Hey, counterculture hero and guitar god Jimi Hendrix, how does it feel to be shilling for Acura these days? Seems legit, right?
  3. Blur, “Song 2”: Known more colloquially as the “Woo-HOO!” song, it featured quite prominently in an Intel commercial back in the day. I wonder if they had to change any of the lyrics?
  4. Bob Dylan, “Love Sick”: Man, if latter-day Dylan doesn’t make you wanna go out and buy skimpy lingerie, I don’t know what will. Maybe that’s Victoria’s secret?
  5. The Black Keys, “Howlin’ For You”: Why are so many of these for car commercials? Does no one else sell anything anymore?
  6. Yael Naim, “New Soul”: Featured in an Apple campaign for their then-new MacBook Air. It’s a good song. Apple picks good songs for their commercials, which should probably surprise no one.
  7. Tom Cochrane, “Life Is A Highway”: Okay, this one actually makes sense in a car commercial. Maybe not a Hyundai commercial from 95, but still…
  8. Hem, “The Part Where You Let Go”: I guess this one also kinda makes sense? It’s for an insurance commercial, so who even knows anymore.
  9. Sarah McLachlan, “Angel”: ASPCA, baby! You know I had to include this one and make everyone cry and go adopt a thousand puppies.
  10. Violent Femmes, “Blister In The Sun”: This one is actually kinda…painful? Violent Femmes, helping shill for an HP laptop, of all things? I’m all for selling out, but at least sell out to a decent company with a solid product, man.
  11. Neil Young, “Rockin’ In The Free World”: Bonus! This song hasn’t been used in a commercial (at least, not to my knowledge), but the original music video for it was so obviously a send-up of commercial culture and the way we are all always shilling for someone somewhere that I had to include it.

Playlist #83

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Happy post-Thanksgiving Monday, folks. I know we’re all still waking up from the Turkey Coma and preparing to buy all the things (it is Cyber Monday, after all), but in the meantime I whipped up a new playlist for your aural enjoyment.

  1. Neil Young, “Rockin’ in the Free World”: The anti-consumerism, anti-capitalism of the song – especially the video – just hits the exact right spot for late-80s Neil.
  2. Arlo Guthrie, “Alice’s Restaurant Massacree”: Is there a more famous song about an event that sorta, kinda, maybe sorta actually happened? It’s one of the best shaggy dog stories ever.
  3. Stephen Stills, “Wooden Ships”: I love this solo acoustic version of the song. It’s just gorgeous.
  4. Tom Waits, “I’ll Be Gone”: “Tonight I’ll shave the mountain,” Tom begins, and it just gets weirder from there. But it’s a Tom Waits song, what did you expect?
  5. The Gaslight Anthem, “Boxer”: “You’ve got your pride and your prose/Tucked just like a Tommy gun,” the song begins, and I have a little point of contention to raise with Brian Fallon: who, exactly, tucks a Tommy gun under their arm or their jacket or wherever? Are Tommy guns really that common anymore? I wouldn’t think they are.
  6. Soul Coughing, “True Dreams of Wichita”: One of my favorite songs ever. Can’t really explain why.
  7. Jackson Browne, “Fountain of Sorrow”: No one writes a sad, bittersweet song like Jackson Browne. No one.
  8. The National, “Lucky You”: In my mind, this is the song where the National became the National. It’s the final track on their second record, Sad Songs For Dirty Lovers, and it perfectly encapsulates what (especially early) the National was all about.
  9. Peter Gabriel, “San Jacinto”: I can’t explain what it is about this song that appeals to me. It’s probably the build to the end and the refrain of “I hold the line.”
  10. Pink Floyd, “Wish You Were Here”: Early last week, we sat and watched a series of videos on the Polyphonic Youtube page about most of the songs off the Wish You Were Here album. They’re the reason we listened to the album on our way to Ohio Wednesday. It still reigns as one of the best albums ever, and this song is the keystone to the whole thing. Everything else revolves around this one track, either building to it or coming back down from its height.

Playlist #82: Give Thanks!

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Happy Monday, everyone! It’s a short week here, as Thanksgiving is this Thursday. A two-day work week? How will I ever survive? With a new, Thanksgiving-inspired playlist, that’s how!

  1. Neil Young, “Harvest Moon”: What is Thanksgiving if not a harvest festival? One without sacrifice to the harvest gods, that’s what. And you can’t tell me that’s right. The old gods grow hungry and angry. Hangry old gods. Don’t ignore them this year, I beg you.
  2. Alanis Morissette, “Thank U”: I’m not 100% sure why Alanis is thanking India and disillusionment, or quite what she’s thanking them for, exactly, but it’s a good song anyway.
  3. Wilco, “The Thanks I Get”: Yeah, this one was just featured a few weeks ago on another one of my playlists. It still slaps. What else do you want?
  4. Dido, “Thank You”: Remember when this song was everywhere for, like, a month in 1999? Man, turn of the millennium was a weird time. We were all pretty sure society itself was gonna collapse when January 1, 2000 rolled around, so we just listened to damn-near anything.
  5. Glen Phillips, “Thankful”: I always really enjoy Glen Phillips songs. They’re quirky and catchy and I just really dig them, okay?
  6. John Mellencamp, “Thank You”: I was listening to Mellencamp for most of the weekend (the newly-released extended version of Scarecrow, which is alright), so it only seemed appropriate to include one of his tunes on this list. Thematically appropriate, too.
  7. The National, “Sailors In Your Mouth”: It’s a Thanksgiving song, I swear.
  8. The Flaming Lips, “Thank You Jack White (For the Fiber-Optic Jesus)”: It’s truly, deeply weird, as all good Flaming Lips songs are.
  9. The Beatles, “Thank You Girl”: Sure, this is less about giving thanks in the traditional Thanksgiving sense of the word, and more “thanks for the sex stuff, lady friend.”
  10. The Band, “King Harvest (Has Surely Come)”: And to round things out, here’s another song about harvesting. I’m pretty sure King Harvest is some sort of simulacrum, a wicker and cornhusk concoction – or maybe even abomination – brought to life to bring the horror of the new harvest straight to you.

Playlist #64

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Another week, another playlist! Don’t forget to support me making music over on Patreon. I’m posting a mix of one of my songs done by my brother next Monday, so be sure to check it out!

  1. Ezra Furman & the Harpoons, “Mysterious Power”: This guy does a lot of the music for a tv show called Sex Education on Netflix. It’s a funny show, you should check it out. And the music is pretty solid, too.
  2. Jesse Malin, “Crawling Back To You”: Saw this song on a Jesse Malin album I downloaded over the weekend. “Oh, it has the same name as that Tom Petty song,” I thought to myself. Folks, it is that Tom Petty song, and it’s a pretty good cover of it.
  3. The Beatles, “You Really Got A Hold On Me”: You can’t go wrong with the Beatles covering a doo-wop number. You just can’t.
  4. Creedence Clearwater Revival, “Who’ll Stop The Rain”: There’s just something about CCR songs that always get me in a good mood.
  5. Tom Waits, “The Earth Died Screaming”: The Wife wants me to put together a playlist of weird songs. I told her it’d just be a Tom Waits playlist, then.
  6. The Gaslight Anthem, “Biloxi Parish”: I think The Gaslight Anthem may be one of my top five bands of the past fifteen or so years.
  7. Fleetwood Mac, “Rhiannon”: Just how common is the name Rhiannon, anyway? I can’t imagine there are too many of them wandering around.
  8. Jack Johnson, “Banana Pancakes”: I hate bananas.
  9. Iron & Wine and Ben Bridwell, “This Must Be The Place”: Features the line, “Sing into my mouth,” which is probably the grossest thing I’ve ever heard Sam Beam sing.
  10. Neil Young, “Down By The River”: Neil Young gives me hope that even my crappy guitar solos aren’t so bad. “Solo? You mean play the same note 32 times in a row, right?”