songs:365

  • day 217: I’m Waiting For My Man

    I’m Waiting For My Man, by The Velvet Underground.

    I have no idea what Lou Reed is talking about in this song, nope, why do you ask?

    A fun one, very proto-punk Velvets, best played loud.

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  • day 216: Wilco (The Song)

    Wilco (The Song), by Wilco.

    And lo, he recorded the sixth Wilco song in the eighth month, depending on how you count the Billy Bragg tune, and it was alright.

    Kinda neat how the chords to the verse in this song are the reverse of Handshake Drugs, I think? Yep, that’s the kind of thing you notice, 216 days into a 365 day project.

    Proud that I got the timing pretty much dead on.

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  • day 215: Do Right Woman

    Do Right Woman, by Aretha Franklin.

    I probably told the story early in the year about the time Evan Dando, myself, and our wingmen (ha) closed down Cherry Tavern and sang along with this song on the jukebox. The version I found when I looked it up today was a Flying Burrito Brothers cover, which makes me wonder which one Evan was most familiar with? Let’s assume Aretha, but there’s nothing wrong with the Gram Parsons version either.

    But I definitely sang some butchered FBB lyric in the first verse.

  • day 214: New York

    New York, by St. Vincent.

    Would’ve made a lot more sense to do this song on day 212, but I wasn’t cursing much on the Happy Hour porch! These aren’t the avenues I would choose to namecheck in a song, of course, but this one does remind me of a few friends from my New York days who left before I did. And then I left. And going back wasn’t fun for a long time, but these days I wouldn’t mind a night or two in a boring midtown hotel, not one bit.

    //

    I probably haven’t listened to this for a couple years, so I didn’t get the bridgey parts right, but I got them. Taking the easy route with the phone, ringlight, and YouTube again today, just keeping it real.

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  • day 213: Heart of Gold

    Heart of Gold, by Neil Young.

    This song feels like one I knew before I knew Neil Young, but later, before Harvest Moon, my route into his stuff was probably one variation or the other of Hey Hey My My — and I feel like I might’ve read that in a book? Hunter Thompson, maybe? Honestly not sure.

    //

    Back in the home studio, but in a hurry to watch a soccer game and drove 8 hours home from the beach, so, like, no multi-track harmonica solos or anything tonight. Oh, and I used the ringlight/phone stand that started this all as a Christmas present, with the on-the-road method of uploading straight from my phone (after minor editing) to YouTube and mashing out this post on my laptop. (The laptop is not necessary, it just cuts down on the iPhone copy/paste routine, which is still a pain in the year 2021.)

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  • day 212: Mama Tried

    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.

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  • day 211: I’m On Fire

    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?

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  • day 210: Highway 61 Revisited

    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.

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  • day 209: Fumblin’ With The Blues

    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.

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  • day 208: Cecilia

    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.

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