5 Songs
My parents were young and listened to all sorts of music when I was growing up. Besides the usual 70s/80s pop radio fare, my dad loved hard classic rock and R&B (Black Sabbath, Marvin Gaye) and my mom dug the softer side of things (James Taylor) — and Madonna. My father also has a deep regard for gangsta rap (I’m not kidding) and introduces me to stuff I wouldn’t listen to normally. My grandfather, a guitar player with a (still) regular weekly gig, gave me Johnny Cash, Robert Johnson, Dolly Parton, and pretty much any folk or rhythm and blues music you can think of. My grandmother used to lead a choir at our Catholic church, and I still get the chills when I hear any rendition of “How Great Thou Art” because of that. I have an aunt who can sing beautifully. An older cousin introduced me to alt and punk in the late 80s (The Pixies opened doors to things I never knew existed) and a good friend / neighbor expanded that to all sorts of indie-rock, rap, hip hop, and alternative music on our rides to school each morning through the early to mid 90s. Picking up on my love of alternative and punk since they were much younger than me, my brother and sister carried the love of punk much further by playing in live bands (lead guitar and bass; surf rock and hard rock). I was a serious student of what we Western folk call “bellydance” for about 15 years, which opened to me a host of unfamiliar time signatures and instruments and regional genres I might not have encountered on my own (and I could easily do a 5 Top MENA songs if I wanted to here). I’ve been known to bust a move to Punjabi pop. Growing up in Louisiana stoked in me an appreciation of old-school Cajun, zydeco, swamp pop, and big brass. As I drove each morning to the high school where I did my student teaching in the fall of 2000, I listened to John Coltrane to calm my anxiety before I got there.
It’s difficult to narrow my favorite songs down to five because I was raised to listen widely and do still. I know everyone hates it when someone says “I listen to everything,” but I kinda really do (do you have Egyptian orchestra music alongside your Ramones? I do.) Okay, so maybe not everything. The over-produced ridiculousness of some current music drives me bonkers and I can’t much take it, even when it’s just on the overhead in the grocery store.
Music has held a central place in my life. It is often what saves me from my crazy head. There’s always something that I can put on that will make me feel better (even if it’s not a happy-go-lucky tune). So, in order to narrow it down, here’s five of my favorite songs that do that in no particular order:
This song is the most perfect song to me. Ever. In terms of lyrics, mood, instrumentation, Cohen’s young voice (which was not nearly as deep and hard as his voice became later — still fantastic either way). When I can’t sleep at night, I listen to music to help shut off my brain. This is usually the first song I’ll sit down and listen to.
2. “Trouble in Mind,” Nina Simone:
“Trouble in Mind” is one of my favorite blues standards, and I’ve heard many different versions of it, but this live version from Nina Simone is my #1. Not only is Simone a fantastic singer, but the piano playing adds this hint of happy melancholy that gets me every time.
3. “Wave of Mutilation,” The Pixies:
As a teenager, I would blast Doolittle, the album on which this song appeared, every morning while I got ready for school. Today, I get all excited when it pops up on one of my random playlists. The UK surf version, which some folks might recall from the Pump Up the Volume soundtrack, is also fantastic.
4. “Bye, Bye Blackbird,” Etta Jones:
Another favorite blues / jazz standard. Like “Trouble in Mind,” lots of different versions. This one’s my favorite.
5. “Frances Farmer Will Have Her Revenge on Seattle,” Nirvana:
So many great Nirvana songs, but this one made me love it at some point in the 11th grade. The love has never abated. The intro. The soft/hard/soft/hard pattern. The lyrics in the voice of a notoriously “difficult-to-work” with actress from the 30s who was committed to a mental institution against her will. I read somewhere that this was Kurt’s feminist song. That’s awesome, too. Wish he’d have stuck around a bit longer to write more.
