tom waits

Playlist #140

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Happy New Year, folks! It’s now 2024, which means…well, not a whole lot, on the blog side of things. The playlists will continue until morale improves. That said, here’s this week’s.

  1. Andrew Bird, “Auld Lang Syne”: How this went from a song sung when folks were being generally lauded to a song about the end of one year and the beginning of a new one is beyond me. Maybe someone should research that.
  2. Brian Fallon, “Forget Me Not”: I know I just featured this one a couple of weeks ago, but I really like this song and it’s basically been playing on repeat in my brain for those two weeks.
  3. Frank Turner, “The Gathering”: I always enjoy a Frank Turner rave-up, and one that features Jason Isbell? That’s just icing on the cake.
  4. The Horrible Crowes, “Mary Ann”: Maybe I just really like songs where Brian Fallon shouts someone’s name, okay?
  5. Huey Lewis & the News, “It’s All Right”: Even these guys, the whitest of white guys, know you clap on the two and the four. Get it together, white folks.
  6. Ingrid Michaelson, “Be OK”: I think we can all admit that 2023 was lousy for a whole lot of us. Here’s hoping we’ll all be okay in 2024.
  7. Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers, “Climb That Hill”: But it’s not enough to just be okay, is it? No, we want to reach the summit, achieve new heights, do great things. And we will. We just have to go out there and do it.
  8. Tom Waits, “Cold Cold Ground”: Read a thing last week that rated all of Tom Waits’ albums, and this one (Franks Wild Years, without an apostrophe because Tom Waits) was ranked mid-tier. Which is crazy to me, because any album that features this song is automatically top-tier if you ask me.
  9. Wilco, “Quiet Amplifier”: I find it hard to believe Jeff Tweedy has a quiet amplifier. I’ve seen Wilco in concert. He gets loud just like everyone else.
  10. Sting, “Brand New Day”: It is a brand new day, at the start of a brand new year. Make the best of it, folks.

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 #121: Back To School

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Happy Monday and welcome to the new school year, everyone! Today is the official first day of school here in Northern Virginia, and I’ve got a new playlist bursting with new school year vibes for ya.

  1. The Call, “Let The Day Start”: As I think I mentioned the first time I featured this song on a playlist, this song was played on KRXO (the classic rock station in OKC) every morning as I was going to school. I equate it with the beginning of the day and with the beginning of a school day in particular. And so here it is, to inaugurate my 19th year of teaching.
  2. OK Go, “Here It Goes Again”: As I just mentioned, this will be my 19th year teaching. It’s all pretty old hat at this point. For the first time in nearly two decades, I actually slept really well the night before the first day of school this year. I know! I’m surprised, too. Anyway, this song just reminds me that we’re on this merry-go-round again.
  3. The Mountain Goats, “The College Try”: No, I don’t teach college. But I’m also pretty sure he’s not singing about college spirit at a football game in this song, either.
  4. T. Rex, “20th Century Boy”: I just need this riff injected straight into my veins, man.
  5. Taylor Swift, “Anti-Hero”: I aspire to be like Taylor Swift: not just part of the problem, but the whole problem.
  6. Tom Waits, “Get Behind The Mule”: Teaching is a lot like walking along behind a mule: there’s the smell, and occasionally you have to shovel some shit out of your path.
  7. Wreckless Eric, “Whole Wide World”: It’s garage rock at its finest and sloppiest, and I love it.
  8. The Raconteurs featuring Pete Townsend, “The Seeker”: If I had the chance to play a song with Pete Townsend, this one would probably be pretty high up on the list. And “Squeeze Box.”
  9. Sex Bob-Omb, “Threshold”: Did you see they’re doing a Scott Pilgrim animated series with the voice cast being the cast from the movie? I am super stoked.
  10. Adeem the Artist, “My America”: There’ve been a couple of country songs lately that espouse a very conservative, reactionary ethos that have rubbed me the wrong way. And I’ve thought about writing a response song to them. But Adeem the Artist beat me to the punch, penning this song that digs into the heart of what these newer songs that I don’t care for are trying to say: “The America I love seems to be disappearing and no one seems to care, and that makes me feel afraid.” Adeem is a self-described “cast iron pansexual,” so I don’t think they’re doing this as a “this is how I really feel about things” sort of song. That’s not the way they’ve described it, at any rate. But it does make me feel a little empathy for these white men who are so afraid and so angry that all they can do is lash out.

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 #112

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Happy Wednesday, folks. I was at the beach on Monday with family, and spent yesterday recovering from the beach, so you get a playlist today and you’ll like it.

  1. Spoon, “Sugar Babies”: These guys manage to stay creative and innovative even a couple of decades into their careers. It’s inspiring and awesome.
  2. X Ambassadors, “Renegade”: I think I’ve been writing songs like this lately. I’m not sure if that’s good or bad.
  3. Tom Waits, “Looks Like I’m Up Shit Creek Again”: You an’ me both, Tom.
  4. Kris Orlowski, “Go (featuring Glen Phillips)”: I am just a sucker for any song that features Glen Phillips.
  5. Them, “Gloria”: G. L. O. R. I. A.
  6. Jack Johnson, “If I Had Eyes”: What if a regular ol’ Jack Johnson song, but with an electric guitar instead of an acoustic?
  7. Jake Blount, “Didn’t It Rain”: A modern take on a classic number from ol’ Sister Rosetta Tharpe. The electric guitar in this one makes the song feel much more eerie than the original ever did.
  8. Counting Crows, “Mrs. Potter’s Lullaby”: It’s epic in length and bittersweet in scope. It’s like the song was written just for me.
  9. Norah Jones, “Don’t Know Why”: How does Norah Jones crank out these beautiful little nuggets of pop brilliance?
  10. Drive-By Truckers, “Carl Perkins’ Cadillac”: Cadillacs are made out of fiberglass now, so maybe it’s time to give it up.

Playlist #109

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It’s a rather gloomy Tuesday here in Northern Virginia, or maybe that’s just my interpretation of things. I’ll admit I’m currently looking at the world through shit-colored glasses, but that has less to do with the weather than it does some family stuff that’s going on. That being said, I’m headed to Oklahoma this afternoon, and it’s not a fun or pleasant trip that I’m embarking on.

  1. boygenius, “True Blue”: “When you don’t know who you are/You fuck around and find out,” is one of my favorite couplets this year.
  2. Adeem the Artist, “ICU”: Another in a string of thoughtful, heartfelt country songs from Adeem the Artist. I love their work. Songs like this always come around right when I need them.
  3. Bjork, “Army of Me”: “And if you complain once more/You’ll meet an army of me” sounds no less menacing given Bjork’s adorable accent. She really sounds like she could fuck you up if she wanted to.
  4. The Offspring, “Come Out And Play (Keep ‘Em Separated)”: Yeah, it’s a little left-field, given the general tenor and tone of the songs on this playlist so far, but I like to change things up from time to time.
  5. Peter Gabriel, “Love To Be Loved”: Whenever there’s a rough situation, I turn to Peter Gabriel, not so much because he speaks to the human condition (thought he does), but because he speaks so elliptically about things that are universal and deeply, deeply personal.
  6. Ray LaMontagne, “Trouble”: I dig this guy’s stuff, though I think I dug it more before I found out what a tremendous asshole he apparently is. How are all the sensitive singer-songwriter types just absolute jerks?
  7. Steve Earle, “Hard-Core Troubadour”: It’d be hard to imagine 2023 Steve Earle, with his almost-bald head and the long, long fringe of hair that hangs around that shiny peak, being considered a sex symbol and an iconoclastic rebel, but 1996 Steve Earle could get it.
  8. Taylor Swift, “Style”: She’s sold more records than I’ve had hot lunches. She could release an album that’s just her making fart noises with her armpits and it’d probably go platinum at least. The woman knows what she’s about.
  9. Toad the Wet Sprocket, “Last To Fall”: Latter-day Toad is kinda hit-and-miss, I think, but when it hits, it hits good and hard.
  10. Tom Waits, “Ice Cream Man”: With summer just around the corner, the ice cream guy has started coming around again. We’ve heard his truck playing “Turkey in the Hay” two or three times just over this past weekend. So I asked if our ice cream man was maybe Tom Waits, and my sister-in-law just gave me a weird look. She does that a lot.

Playlist #88

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Happy New Year! In addition to the playlist this week, I have CD’s for sale! That’s right, I put together the EP that I released last January and the two singles I released over the course of the year. For $10, you can have a copy of it all for yourself! Email me at crookedhalo42 [at] gmail dot com and we can set it all up.

And now, on with the playlist!

  1. The English Beat, “Save It For Later”: Who doesn’t love some second-wave ska? I know I do.
  2. Loreena McKennitt, “The Mummer’s Dance”: Celtic electronica? In this economy?
  3. Jason Isbell & Elizabeth Cook, “Pancho & Lefty”: Gotta love a Jason Isbell cover of a Townes Van Zandt song.
  4. Fleetwood Mac, “Little Lies”: Only recently discovered that this song was a Fleetwood Mac song.
  5. America, “Ventura Highway”: I just want to drive along the coast with this song cranked way up.
  6. XTC, “Dear God”: A song that demands God explain why bad things happen to good people.
  7. Wilco, “Say You Miss Me”: The yearning and pleading in this song get me every time.
  8. Van Morrison, “I Love You”: I’ve had a difficult time listening to Van Morrison the past few years. His weird anti-vaccine views and his persecution complex have kinda gotten on my nerves. But this song is still tremendously sweet.
  9. Tom Waits, “Jockey Full Of Bourbon”: I’m not really sure what good a jockey full of bourbon would do, unless this is really a song about peeing ’cause you had too much bourbon.
  10. Semisonic, “Never You Mind”: I love this song for nothing else if not the reference to Spock’s brain.

Playlist #84: Covers!

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Happy Monday! It’s December now, somehow, and as usual I have a new playlist for you. But this one is all cover songs!

  1. The National, “Ashamed Of The Story I Told”: They don’t even really change all that much about the song, except the drum pattern is completely different and it somehow manages to totally change the feel and nature of the song.
  2. Johnny Cash, “Hurt”: It’s downbeat, somber, and a little harrowing. It’s also one of those covers that I would argue is better than the original.
  3. Old 97s, “Mama Tried”: The original Merle Haggard version is damn good (as are most Merle Haggard songs), but this one has the slightest edge on it, I think.
  4. The Byrds, “My Back Pages”: The Byrds could have easily just been a Bob Dylan cover band and I’d have been happy with that. They manage to transform every single Dylan tune they cover into a jangly, poppy slice of ’60s joy.
  5. Pomplamoose, “Maneater”: Watch out, boys, she’ll break your heart, huh? I’m more concerned with being eaten, personally.
  6. Spoon, “Held”: I just love the grit and thump of this song. So good.
  7. The Dirty Knobs, “Rumble”: Mike Campbell (formerly of the Heartbreakers) and some buddies got together to form this band, and they covered Link Wray’s ode to distortion and fuzz here. I love everything about the story of how this song got created, from Wray punching holes in his amplifier’s speaker with a pencil to radio stations refusing to play it because they thought it might incite juvenile delinquency.
  8. Jesse Malin, “You Can Make Them Like You”: Malin has been using this Hold Steady track as his closer for years, usually just him and an acoustic guitar. It’s pretty great.
  9. Tom Waits, “The Return of Jackie And Judy”: The Ramones were pretty ballsy. Case in point: they reference the two main characters in this song going to a Ramones show in the song. The chutzpah.
  10. Creedence Clearwater Revival, “I Put A Spell On You”: Fogerty and Co. had a good ear for an excellent cover song, and this rendition of the Screamin’ Jay Hawkins classic is no exception.

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 #73

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First, news! I published a new short story that you can buy, right now! It’s a Halloween-themed Eddie Hazzard short story where he hunts a werewolf and is generally a curmudgeon about things. Go check it out! Without further ado, here’s this week’s playlist.

  1. Donovan Woods, “Lonely People”: “Lonely people/Wrote every song you ever loved.”
  2. Ben Harper & the Blind Boys of Alabama, “Take My Hand”: Sometimes, you need a gospel-tinged get-down. This song won’t disappoint.
  3. The Black Keys, “Burn The Damn Thing Down”: “She said, ‘I hate my job, I’m gonna burn this place down!’ And I said, ‘You better not!'” “She said it was an electrical fire.” “Oh.”
  4. Radiohead, “Lotus Flower”: Included mostly because I find Thom Yorke’s dance in the video hilarious.
  5. Tom Waits, “Down, Down, Down”: Do I feel a certain way this week? I dunno, maybe. Music can be a reflection of one’s feelings at the time. That’s a disconcerting thought, if this song is any indication, thoguh.
  6. The Gaslight Anthem, “Mama’s Boys”: “‘Cause there’s no room in heaven/For New York girls or mama’s boys.”
  7. Neko Case, “Hold On, Hold On”: First Neko Case song I ever fell in love with, but far from the last.
  8. Parker Millsap, “Truck Stop Gospel”: Reminds me of home and I-40. Doesn’t hurt that Millsap is an Okie.
  9. Edward Sharpe & The Magnetic Zeros, “Man On Fire”: Please, if you see me caught on fire, put out the fire. I do not enjoy being on fire. No one should.
  10. Eklipse, “Cry Me A River”: For the life of me, I cannot remember where I originally heard this song, but I Shazam’d it and it downloaded onto my phone without me even knowing that’s what Shazam was doing (it’s not a big deal, but a heads up would’ve been nice, Shazam). It’s good. Has a dark edge to it that I don’t usually associate with orchestral music.