Day 11
I don’t have an iPod, and I don’t use iTunes. A few nights ago I was listening to a few songs connected to good memories, so I guess I’ll put 10 of those up here. I’m sorry it’s long. I didn’t realize.
- Oh, Susannah—James Taylor My grandfather played guitar when I was younger. He sang folk songs and occasionally recorded them. On a houseboat vacation in the Thousand Islands, he’d sing and play this song on the deck while I was on my stomach with my head resting on the scratchy PFDs. His tapes are some of the only things in my safety deposit box.
- Sugar Mountain—Neil Young My older brother used to drive me to school, and as most of you know, he is one of my greatest influences. His first car was an old Mitsubishi Eclipse and it only took tapes. We’d rummage through the cassette sales at Hastings, and we both fell in love with Neil Young’s Harvest Moon and later his other recordings. When I hear Sugar Mountain, I’m thrown back into the sun-beaten Eclipse with sweaty pits and nonchalance.
- If You Want To Sing Out, Sing Out—Cat Stevens My mother listened to a lot of Cat Stevens growing up, which is evident by her kitchen and laundry room singing. This song, along with If Just One Person, is one of the most empowering songs I know, and I’ll sing it my whole life long.
- Quelqu’un m’a dit—Carla Bruni Carla Bruni improved a lot of my quiet times in my cozy den on 7th floor Pine senior year. She also gave the score for many of the rides in a certain gold Volvo to Lake Catherine State Park that year.
- Life On Mars—Seu Jorge The winter of 2004, my friends and I were obsessed with The Life Aquatic OST. In the middle of the night, when everything in Benton had closed and there was nothing else to do, we would sit on skateboards in a friend’s drained pool and do our best Seu Jorge impressions while my friend Brad played guitar. One time I let my girl Dana cut my hair (badly) and had a rabies scare from being scratched by a raccoon that had fallen into the drained bowl.
- She’s A Rainbow—The Rolling Stones I played this on both spirited and pacifying drives to Smackover to see my Rudy. Smackover is one heck of a town. I’m not sure I ever left. Big oil, no locks on doors, sumac, baseball, teensy country churches, an outpouring of love from everyone I met, and some of the most beautiful singing voices I’ve ever heard.
- Way Over Yonder in the Minor Key—Billy Bragg & Wilco You knew you’d get a Wilco song out of this.
- Always Love—Nada Surf This song was on a mix CD given to me in grade 8 by an older dude in a band that crushed on my homemade tees (lol). The whole mix is amusing, full of handclaps and nasal-y male vocals. I still listen to this song and the Ted Leo covers. Plus, it has an edifying message!
- Whiner’s Bio—Mates of State My first love with whom you are already acquainted and I would belt out the harmonies of Mates of State songs in his pickup and everywhere else. We’d play the drums and keyboards for hours behind the baptistry of the church sometimes, terrified we’d wake up Jesus.
- Shiny Happy People—R.E.M This song will only ever mean dance parties in Dana’s blue room followed by crafts and adventures of one million kinds.
