Mama Tried, by Merle Haggard.
See, the really fun thing about this song for me is that I turned 21 in jail after a typical 1990s animal rights protest went sideways in a typical way, so I have just the merest smidgen of street credit. Right, Merle? …Merle? [ducks]
It’s a downright fun singalong, too, especially if you only know the chorus.
I’ll be back in the home office tomorrow night, so this is farewell to the happy hour porch.
I’m On Fire, by Bruce Springsteen.
Anything off Born In The USA is potentially the first Springsteen song I really got into, but I truly remember getting into this song, although perhaps not all the possible implications of it?
Highway 61 Revisited, by Bob Dylan.
I’ve already told you about the bargain bin, where I bought all the Dylan CDs (not really), and this one certainly got a ton of play in my teenage life, mostly because of the grounding radio hitship of Like A Rolling Stone.
But this song always landed well for me, with its Old Testament reference drops and viciousness.
//
Another one from the Happy Hour porch, straight to YouTube, raw as anything, but at least there were no neighbors cleaning up from the beach today.
Fumblin’ With The Blues, by Tom Waits.
Still an open threat to do every song from Heart of Saturday Night. This song makes 2 of 11!
Some of the background noise is the thunder that chased us off the beach a little early this afternoon, for what it’s worth.
Cecilia, by Simon and Garfunkel.
Two hundred and eight days in. So many days. So many songs. Definitely getting to the point where I have to ctrl-f in the spreadsheet to make sure I haven’t done a song before. Probably gonna get some more background noise today, but at least I waited until the neighbors stopped using a leaf blower to blow sand out of their carport. Beach house!
This song was burned into my brain early in life, but also, there is an absolutely banging Girl Talk sequence that has this mashed up with Get Low. Typing that, I now really feel like double-ctrl-Fing to be sure. Nope! Haven’t done this one yet.
Suzanne, by Leonard Cohen.
The fun thing about spending the day in the ocean is that no one can hear you mumbling songs to yourself in the waves. Also, literally choking on the lines about Jesus while wearing my Interfaith t-shirt is a little on the nose, even for me!
This song is the stuff of Leonard Cohen puzzles — who is it about? What does it mean? A lot of tea and citrus come from China, Leonard, etc.
//
Recorded on the porch with the “Happy Hour” and “New Orleans” signs, and the cute string of bare light bulb looking things. And a ceiling fan, and Route 12 in the background. Had to go back to YT to get this uploaded properly.
Picture In My Mind, by Freakwater.
Welcome to the beach. We’re on vacation, but the show must go on. This song is probably the first Freakwater song I fell for, and the one that jumps into my head most often.
Walcott, by Vampire Weekend.
Is this song Vampire Weekend’s most punk number? Except that it’s about Cape Cod? We’re headed to the beach on vacation, but nobody writes songs about the Outer Banks. Hmm, well, maybe there are pirate songs about Cape Hatteras? Probably.
This happened today because the 14-year-old and I were listening to VW in the car back and forth to the grocery store, and I decided I would try a totally different, much more recent song, and there were too many hard barre chords, and my wrist wasn’t up for it, so I went through all their songs alphabetically and tried a bunch of stuff until I got to the letter W.
Thirteen, by Big Star.
I feel like there are probably better songs about what adolescence feels like — or at least what it felt like for me in the late 1980s, when I would’ve been thirteen, deeply in love with any girl who would slow dance with me.
But this song does a pretty good job of it. I have to admit, my relationship with Big Star, until Alex Chilton died, started and ended with the name-checking Replacements song, Alex Chilton. There’s a great Waxahatchee cover of this song, of course.
Plus Ones, by Okkervil River.
What, me? Enjoy a gimmicky, clever-as-heck song full of pop culture references? It’s The End of the World, but We Didn’t Start the Fire, OK?
This song always surprises me with the Greenpoint bar line, and I do enjoy it.
//
Left it raw as anything and all vulnerable, since I think that’s how a lot of this band’s songs go, but certainly this one.