young dubliners

Playlist #173 – Back to School Edition!

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Happy Monday, folks! Once more, a new school year has rolled around, and once more I woke up having not won the lottery, so I’m back in the classroom for my twentieth year of teaching. Which is more than a little horrifying. How can I be old enough to have done anything for twenty years? Except make playlists, of course. I’ve been doing that since I was born, essentially.

  1. The Call, “Let the Day Begin”: As I said last year when I featured this song on my start of the year playlist, this song always played on the classic rock station we listened to in my hometown first thing in the morning, usually around the time I was on my way to school. So I kind of associate it with the school day staring.
  2. Matchbox 20, “Stop”: Are these guys the most middle-of-the-road pop rock from the last twenty-some years? I think they might be.
  3. John Bonamasa, “Driving Towards the Daylight”: I had certain preconceived notions about what a John Bonamasa song would sound like and who he was as an artist, and boy was I wrong. It’s pretty good stuff.
  4. Billy Idol, “Bitter Taste”: Speaking of songs from artists I didn’t expect, this latter-day Billy Idol song is actually pretty damn good.
  5. Post Malone, “Have the Heart (feat. Dolly Parton)”: I didn’t have “Post Malone releases an actual country album” on my 2024 bingo card, let alone a duet with Dolly Parton that features the classic country like “I didn’t have the heart to break yours,” but here we are.
  6. Rufus Wainwright, “Going to a Town”: Melancholy and downbeat, but a lovely and beautiful song.
  7. Bruce Springsteen, “Stolen Car”: Speaking of downbeat, this is probably the most subtle song Springsteen has ever recorded, and I’m including Nebraska in that tally. I’m sure it was totally by accident.
  8. Young Dubliners, “Last House on the Street”: A simple love song, but the best love songs are simple.
  9. Van Morrison, “Into the Mystic”: “It’s too late to stop now.”
  10. Bob Dylan, “Born in Time”: Every so often, latter-day Dylan pops up with an absolute gem that he, for reasons I can’t explain, he relegates to the Bootleg Series rather than releasing on an album proper. This is one of ’em.

Playlist #94: Love Is In The Air

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Happy Monday and happy early Valentine’s Day! Let’s celebrate by being martyred to Christ, just for fun, and maybe listening to this list of songs while we do that.

  1. Aaron Neville, “Everybody Plays The Fool”: If this song doesn’t get your significant other in the mood for a little somethin’ somethin’, check their pulse. They might be dead.
  2. ABBA, “Take A Chance On Me”: So upbeat. How could you not take a chance on one of these Swedish sirens?
  3. ZZ Top, “Gimme All Your Lovin'”: The power of the beards compels you. And the blooze.
  4. Young Dubliners, “Last House On The Street”: I heard my uncle’s band, The Regular Joes, play this one throughout college and grad school. It’s still an endearing, sweet little song.
  5. Frank Turner, “The Way I Tend To Be”: True love takes you as you are and helps you want to be better.
  6. David Gray, “You’re The World To Me”: There’s something about the heavy-handed strumming at the end of the chorus on this one that just digs into my brain and won’t go away.
  7. The Magnetic Fields, “Epitaph For My Love”: I think this is probably my wife’s favorite song by the Magnetic Fields, who are one of her favorite bands. It’s a little dour.
  8. Ricky Nelson, “Hello Mary Lou (Goodbye Heart)”: CCR did a cover of this song
  9. Van Morrison, “I Wanna Roo You (Scottish Derivative)”:
  10. Old 97s, “Valentine”:

Playlist #60: Road Trip!

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Happy Monday! I’m currently in Oklahoma, preparing to leave tomorrow for Utah with my mother to visit a number of national parks. So this is being written before I head out west, since I’m not sure I’ll have the time to write one the week of. Make sure to follow me on Patreon! I would appreciate the love, and you’ll appreciate the music!

  1. Johnny Cash, “I’ve Been Everywhere”: I’ve done a lot of traveling over the years. I haven’t been everywhere, mind you, but I’ve been to lots of places around the US. The last time I was in Utah was 1996, the year I won the coveted Cottrell Hiker of the Year award.
  2. John Mellencamp, “Rumble Seat”: Cars don’t have rumble seats anymore. We should bring them back, because I’m sure they’re super practical and not at all dangerous or anything.
  3. John Fullbright, “Jericho (Live)”: An Okie with a damn good ear for a good tune.
  4. David Gray, “Fugitive”: I happen to love David Gray’s Draw the Line album. It’s my favorite of his post-White Ladder work.
  5. Dawes, “A Little Bit Of Everything”: This song talks about making potatoes at one point. It’s weird and cute and I kinda love it.
  6. Deer Tick, “Easy”: I really enjoy this song and the harmonies in it, though you wouldn’t think the lead singer was capable of harmonizing with anyone.
  7. Uncle Tupelo, “No Depression”: After the school year I’ve had, I could use a vacation, especially one in a land that’s free from care.
  8. The Who, “Going Mobile”: It’s one of the most ridiculous Who songs out there (trumped only by “Eminence Front”). I love it anyway.
  9. Young Dubliners, “Last House On The Street”: My uncle’s band used to cover this song all the time. I like it.
  10. Willie Nelson, “Highwayman”: Who doesn’t love a song that goes from swashbuckling highway robber to starship captain in, like, four verses?

Playlist #25

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Happy Monday, folks. Here’s a new set of tunes to carry you through the week:

  1. Ben Caplan, “Southbound”: My friend Brandon got me into this guy a while back. It’s a weird mish-mash of folk, singer-songwriter, and klezmer music, and it oddly works.
  2. Ben Harper & the Blind Boys of Alabama, “Well, Well, Well”: I’m a sucker for Gospel-inflected harmonies, and the Blind Boys of Alabama (all of whom are, quite literally, blind old dudes) do it better than anyone else. And it’s a Dylan tune, too.
  3. Taylor Swift, “exile (feat. Bon Iver)”: A “he said/she said” song featuring the guy from Bon Iver. It’s pretty damn good.
  4. Zager & Evans, “In the Year 2525 (Exordium & Terminus)”: Fantasy space opera nonsense about the far-flung year 2525. Futurama used it to great effect in one of their time traveling episodes.
  5. Young Dubliners, “Last House On The Street”: My uncle’s band, the Regular Joes, used to play this song at shows. I always enjoyed hearing them play it, and I finally tracked down the (tremendously hard to find) EP that it’s on and listen to…well, pretty much just that song over and over again.
  6. Stephen Stills, “Wooden Ships (Demo)”: I love this demo. If they’d released the demo as the finished version of the song, I think it would’ve been one of the best studio tracks ever.
  7. Scott Bradlee’s Postmodern Jukebox, “No Diggity (feat. Ariana Savalas)”: I dig me some ’40s-style, and I dig me the song “No Diggity.” Putting them together? *chef’s kiss*
  8. Robert Randolph & The Family Band, “Why Should I Feel Lonely”: If you ever wanna hear a guy just absolutely go to town on pedal steel guitar, Robert Randolph is your man.
  9. The Police, “Canary In A Coalmine”: There’s really not a bad song on Zenyatta Mondatta, is there? No, there is not.
  10. Jennifer Paige, “Crush”: For years, there was a song that came out back in like summer of ’98 that I heard on the radio over and over again that summer, and then…I forgot about it. And then I tried to find it again for years. I think this is it? I’m pretty sure this is it. It’s a great little pop song.