roy orbison

Playlist #176

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It’s Tuesday, because I spent all Sunday night vomiting and most of yesterday sleeping it off. So here’s this week’s playlist today.

  1. John Prine, “All The Best”: John Prine remains the songwriter’s songwriter. I caught a performance he did for NPR’s Tiny Desk Concert of this song, and it’s simple and beautiful and deadpan. Love it.
  2. Van Morrison, “Almost Independence Day”: I can’t be the only person who heard this song and thought it sounded like Pink Floyd’s “Wish You Were Here.”
  3. Pearl Jam, “Corduroy”: Was Vitalogy the last great Pearl Jam album? Probably not. But it was the last one I bought on CD until grad school, when I picked up Riot Act on a whim. I’d definitely chalk it up as their strangest album, with more weirdness than you usually expect from a mainstream rock act.
  4. Tom Petty, “Down South”: Okay, I’ll admit, I’ve come around on Highway Companion in recent years. Like any Tom Petty album, it features a good selection of classic tunes, including this one. Bonus, it’s fun to play on the guitar.
  5. Billy Bragg & Wilco, “Jesus Christ for President”: The first debate between Trump and Kamala Harris is tonight, and while I’ll watch it, I won’t be excited to watch it. Debates mostly just enrage me. But hey, maybe JC will make a sudden reappearance and run for office. Despite being an immigrant. And unemployed.
  6. Lee Isaacs, “Born Outta This Time”: I’m still not quite sure how I feel about this song. He rushes too much through some of the lyrics in the chorus, but it’s otherwise a pretty solid tune with good instrumentation and a catchy hook.
  7. The Flaming Lips, “Spider Bite”: The Soft Bulletin remains one of my favorite albums of all times, and this is a fun, weird little song from that one. A precursor to Spider-Man? Maybe.
  8. Roy Orbison, “Help”: Roy Orbison’s voice just sends chills up your spine, and his solo acoustic take on “Help” from documentary Everyman: John Lennon, “Journey in the Life” is just breathtaking. Wish a full version of it was available somewhere.
  9. Peter Gabriel, “Steam”: Is it just a slight rewrite of “Sledgehammer”? Yeah, sure. But is it still pretty awesome? Heck yeah. Even a rehashed “Sledgehammer” still hits a sweet spot in my brain.
  10. Sean Watkins and Glen Phillips, “Let It Fall”: Just one of the most beautiful songs I’ve ever heard, with gorgeous mandolin and guitar runs throughout.

Playlist #103

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Happy Monday. We’re in the 4th quarter of school out here in Northern Virginia now. The home stretch. Here’s some songs to get you through the week, at least.

  1. Adeem the Artist, “Books & Records”: A song about leveraging the things you love just to survive and the hope that you’ll be able to recover them someday. It’s so sad and heartbreaking and hopeful that I just can’t help but love it.
  2. Dion, “Runaround Sue”: The song itself is pretty good, yeah, but it’s the vocalizations at the beginning and end that really get me on this one.
  3. Edie Brickell & New Bohemians, “What I Am”: Someday, I’m going to put together enough songs for a philosophy playlist. This will be the first song on that playlist.
  4. The Elected, “I’ll Be Your Man”: Did you want a sad some about trying to win someone’s heart? Because here’s a sad song about trying to win someone’s heart.
  5. The Mountain Goats, “Woke Up New”: If you really want to twist the knife in your own guts, you listen to the Mountain Goats. Because that’s all those guys do.
  6. Roy Orbison, “Workin’ For The Man”: “Well, I’m pickin’ ’em up and I’m layin’ ’em down/I believe he’s gonna work me into the ground” is just a banger of a couplet.
  7. Robert Plant & Allison Krauss, “Killing The Blues”: What did we do to deserve not one, but two whole albums of these two duetting? What dark pact did we make? What price will we have to pay on down the road?
  8. Paul McCartney, “Ballroom Dancing”: I had the album this song is from, Give My Regards to Broad Street, on a tape that my uncle (I think) made for my dad back in the 80s. Damn near wore that thing out. Kinda giggle at the line “Big B.D.” now (it stands for “Ballroom Dancing,” FYI).
  9. The Flaming Lips, “Vein Of Stars”: “Who knows, maybe there isn’t/A vein of stars calling out my name.” Wayne Coyne just knows how to write a good song, eh?
  10. Fleetwood Mac, “Storms”: I’ve come to appreciate the album Tusk over the past couple of years.

Playlist #53

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If I were a more clever person than I am, I’d have made this playlist all songs from the second album by bands. But alas, it’s a Monday morning, and cleverness can only take one so far. In other news, I did just drop the April song over on Patreon, which you should sign up for and follow me on for a song a month!

  1. Bill Small, “This Old House”: Where did I first hear this song? I think was at the Mansion on O Street, back when I was still playing there on Sundays. It’s a simple song with a nice gimmick (a house reminding the singer of all the times he had there but now the only reason to stay is gone).
  2. The Black Keys, “Unknown Brother”: I like the Black Keys. I know it’s kinda popular amongst certain music aficionados to pooh pooh them, but I always kinda liked their energy and songwriting.
  3. Radiohead, “Ill Wind”: I’m not as familiar with this song as I am with most of the songs I put on my playlists. And latter-day Radiohead is always kinda hit and miss for me anyway. But it’s an interesting song.
  4. Roy Orbison, “You Got It”: Roy Orbison + Jeff Lynne = stuff I will listen to on repeat.
  5. Elliott Smith, “Christian Brothers”: Did I originally put the Heatmiser version of this song on a playlist? Or was it this version? And why am I too lazy to comb through 52 other playlists to find the answer?
  6. Queen, “Fat Bottomed Girls”: They do indeed make the rockin’ world go ’round. More to the point, though, the first Queen CD I ever owned (an import from Hong Kong), a greatest hits collection, had the edited version of this song on it. The only difference between the two versions is there’s less Brian May guitar solo on the edited version. I ask you, dear reader, who in their right mind would want less Brian May guitar on a song? Not I. Not I.
  7. REM, “Nightswimming”: It’s just a beautiful song. Love the piano.
  8. David Gray, “What Am I Doing Wrong”: I’ve been listening to David Gray a lot this week, and digging through his older albums reveals a treasure trove of excellent songwriting (if not always excellent or interesting execution).
  9. Don Henley, “I Will Not Go Quietly”: Yeah, it’s another artist that it’s popular to shit on. I still like a lot of Henley’s stuff. He can be overbearing and preachy at times, but when he’s firing on all cylinders, he’s pretty great.
  10. Drew Holcomb & The Neighbors, “Ain’t Nobody Got It Easy”: My Grandma Betty has a saying: “Nothing’s Easy.” The way she says it, you can hear the capital letters in each word. This song kinda reminds me of that.

I’m currently almost 40,000 words into Book 7. It’s coming along and I’ve found my groove again! Maybe it’ll be finished by this summer? Fingers crossed!