the pretenders

Playlist #268

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Happy Monday, folks! The end of the school year is finally nigh; Wednesday is the last day of classes here in Northern Virginia, and it couldn’t have come any sooner. Of course, summer job starts next week, but it should be fun and fulfilling. Anyway, here’s a list of songs to get us through this partial week of classes and on into the sunny summer days.

  1. The Beach Boys, “All Summer Long”: Is there any band more connected with summer than the Beach Boys? I don’t think so. Every one of their songs just cries out “summer!” to me. And this is a pretty darn good summer song to me.
  2. Michigander, “Better”: I always like how full of hope this guy’s songs are. He fully acknowledges that life is often difficult at best and godawful at worst, but things can improve. Things can get better. And I think we all need to hear that sometimes.
  3. Marshall Tucker Band, “Fire On The Mountain”: There’s something about songs like this – deep-fried southern country rock with a hint of gothic undertones – that just tickles a particular need I have.
  4. Death Cab For Cutie, “The Flavor of Metal”: If you told me that I’d be listening to (and enjoying!) a new Death Cab For Cutie album in the Year of Our Lord 2026, I’d think you were smokin’ crack. But here we are.
  5. Harlem Shakes, “Strictly Game”: This is an upbeat, tap your toes and scream along to the chorus sort of song, perfect for that Monday morning pick-me-up.
  6. The Pretenders, “Middle Of The Road”: Chrissy Hinde remains one of the best rock vocalists in the biz. I will not be taking questions on this at this time.
  7. George Harrison, “Don’t Let Me Wait Too Long”: I feel like Wednesday afternoon may never arrive. George Harrison gets it.
  8. Lucero, “On My Way Downtown”: I don’t know that, in my entire life, I have ever really made my way downtown for much of any reason. I tend to avoid the downtown areas of most cities unless it can’t be avoided. I certainly don’t go looking for bars downtown.
  9. Pearl Jam, “World Wide Suicide”: It’s just a sonic slap to the face, just the thing to wake you up and get you fired up on a Monday morning.
  10. The Ventures, “Pipeline”: Who doesn’t love instrumental surfer music? I’ll always dig the amount of reverb they’re able to plaster over everything; I aspire to that level of drenched reverby goodness.

Playlist #196

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Happy Monday, folks! It’s the end of the 2nd quarter here in Northern Virginia, which means I’m officially halfway through my 20th school year. Yes, I’m surprised it’s taken me this long to get through high school, too. Here’s a playlist to get us through the week.

  1. David Gray, “Singing for the Pharaoh”: New David Gray always makes my heart happy. This time around, there’s an emphasis on electronic beats, swirling keyboards, and fingerpicked acoustic guitar, which is pretty classic David Gray circa White Ladder. Very fun.
  2. Bob Dylan, “Boots of Spanish Leather”: One of the absolute saddest songs Dylan ever penned. Just the narrator begging and pleading for his love not to leave, and the eventual resignation to it. Gorgeous and sad.
  3. Nanci Griffith, “Across the Great Divide”: A lovely cover of an old Kate Wolf tune that ditches the corny harmonica for fiddle.
  4. Tom Petty, “To Find a Friend (Live)”: Already one of my favorite songs on Wildflowers, this version (from the Wildflowers box set) is beautiful and heartfelt and bittersweet.
  5. The Rolling Stones, “Let It Bleed”: Classic-era Stones just hits different. You forget that they’re now barely-animated corpses trotting out retreads of their greatest tunes and styles.
  6. The Pretenders, “Don’t Get Me Wrong”: I love Chrissy Hinde and the Pretenders. They had such a hard edge to some of their stuff, and then there’s the vulnerable songs like this one that show they’re more than just punky rockers.
  7. Nouvelle Vague, “Ever Fallen In Love”: Who doesn’t love punk songs covered as though they were actually bossa nova songs?
  8. Dolly Parton, “Seven Bridges Road”: Dolly’s read on this old song is absolutely gorgeous and actually brought Jason Isbell to tears when he listened to her sing it live once.
  9. Cat Stevens, “Father and Son”: Okay, I have a soft spot for Cat Stevens songs. He’s a good sad sack songwriter, and I’m a sucker for that.
  10. America, “Ventura Highway”: If you’re listening to this song while driving, don’t be surprised when you look down at your speedometer and realize you’re doing at least twenty over the speed limit. It’s good cruising music.

Playlist #143

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Happy Monday on this rather chilly morning! We’re back at work for a relatively short week (though not nearly as short as last week, y’know?), and I’ve got a bunch of jumped-up raves to get you motivated to face that work week.

  1. Green Day, “Panic Song”: If this song doesn’t get you pumped up and jumping out of bed, ready to face the day, then you might wanna check your pulse because you might just be dead.
  2. Sleater-Kinney, “Turn It On”: Hey, these awesome ladies just released a new album last Friday! No, this song isn’t off that album; it’s off the seminal Dig Me Out.
  3. The Record Company, “Turn Me Loose”: This one’s a slow burner, with some excellent build-up.
  4. Old 97s, “Champagne, Illinois”: If you’re going to borrow a melody from someone, why not borrow from Bob Dylan? And why not borrow the melody from “Desolation Row,” if you’re going to borrow from Bob Dylan? And why not make the lyrics a travelogue of the Midwest?
  5. The New Pornographers, “Sing Me Spanish Techno”: Is Spanish techno well-respected in the techno community? Are there lots of people out there searching for that particular sub-genre? I just don’t know.
  6. The Pretenders, “Middle of the Road”: Chrissy Hinde rarely sounds so gnarly as she does in this song. There’s real menace here. I dig it.
  7. REM, “So. Central Rain”: Okay, so REM don’t generally go hard as a rule of thumb, and this song doesn’t, but it’s still very good.
  8. Lucero, “Downtown (Intro)” and “On My Way Downtown”: Okay, so I paired these two because “Downtown (Intro)” is, as it so clearly states, an intro to the full song “On My Way Downtown,” and I just really dig the way they feed into each other.
  9. Bob Dylan, “32-20 Blues”: It’s just Dylan and an acoustic guitar, and it still has more energy and forward momentum than most other songs you’ll hear.
  10. Ryan Adams & the Cardinals, “Friends”: Okay, so we gotta cool it down for the end of the playlist here. This is one of the best songs Ryan Adams ever wrote, on the best album he ever released.