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Playlist #187: The Longs

/ xeyeti / Leave a comment

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 #4

/ xeyeti / Leave a comment

The end of the school year is fast approaching. Here’s some songs to ride out this week:

1. The Pixies, “Where Is My Mind”: The Wife loves the Pixies. I’m pretty okay with them most of the time.

2. Toad the Wet Sprocket, “Inside”: Most ridiculous name for a band ever? It’s definitely in the top ten. Awesome song? Also definitely.

3. 2Pac, “Keep Ya Head Up”: Uplifting rap about respect for women. A good ‘un.

4. XTC, “Stupidly Happy”: It’s a goofy song that I just love to pieces.

5. William Elliott Whitmore, “Diggin’ My Grave”: This guy does more with a banjo and a stomp box than most bands do with a full ensemble. He also sounds like he’s had a few packs of cigarettes too many.

6. Traffic, “The Low Spark of High-Heeled Boys”: If there’s a stinker on the list this week, it’s probably this song. It’s too long and pretty repetitive. The only reason I put it on is because I read that one of the Mussel Shoals Rhythm Section (who play on the album this is from) passed away this weekend.

7. Tom Waits,”Sixteen Shells from a Thirty-Ought Six”: If there’s a more sinister line than “I’m gonna whittle you into kindlin’,” I don’t think I’ve heard it.

8. Tom Lehrer, “Poisoning Pigeons in the Park”: First heard it many years ago on the Dr. Demento Show, and the tune holds up. Can’t help giggling every time I get to the line, “And maybe we’ll do in a squirrel or two.”

9. Tennessee Ernie Ford, “Sixteen Tons”: Sure, it’s predominantly about how awful the blue collar worker’s life is, but there’s also that verse about how you shouldn’t mess with him because he’ll kill you. And that’s pretty baller.

10. Filter, “Take a Picture”: For about two months during my freshman year of college, I was completely obsessed with this song. I even bought the CD that it was on (this is what we had to do back before you could just download whatever songs you wanted onto your phone, back in the distant 1990s). It was…not at all like the rest of the album.