Weekly Top Ten — Post California
I was giving a reading from my latest book — We Might As Well Eat: How to Survive Tornadoes, Alabama Football, and Your Southern Family — the other night, and the host for this venue — Katie Hughes who runs Indigo Flow Yoga and Art Studio — asked me what music I wanted to accompany this gathering.
“Neil Young,” I said without hesitation. The first tune to come up was from Neil’s Harvest album.
“Old Man.”
Now, I know I’m turning 62 next month, but crap.
The reading went well, and if you don’t know my book, you may order it from Amazon and B&N. In the meantime, here are ten songs to help get you through the night, and help me recover from my California dream-hangover.
10. “In the City,” Joe Walsh. Walking around San Francisco is a trip no matter what time of day or night you venture out. I used this song as the basis of an essay I wrote a couple of summers ago about a time I got lost, not in “The City,” but in a Publix Market. I don’t know how any of this relates, but I do know that sometimes, there is “no one there to catch you when you fall,” which if it happens in SF could be bad news indeed.
9. “Late for the Sky,” Jackson Browne. For Christmas back in 1974, my friend Jim and I gave each other a copy of the album of the same name. We were the first guys in our crowd to love Jackson Browne. Or maybe we simply loved downer anthems. Jackson’s California reality was shattered just before he wrote this song, as his wife killed herself. I also remember that in Taxi Driver, Travis Bickle is watching American Bandstand on a black and white TV, and for some reason, someone decides that this song should be that week’s “Spotlight Dance.” Travis watches the couples sway and move in faster time than the song demands. What was he, or anybody thinking?
8. “Tonight’s the Night,” Neil Young. So Jim gave me this album for my birthday the following summer. Man, give us some uplift. Anyway, Neil just released a live version of this entire album on vinyl, and I bought it in some crazy attempt to reclaim that summer from the past. Bruce Berry and Danny Whitten OD’d on Neil and their own families. Neil’s voice has never been more grating. I was only nineteen back then; I still feel that old, except for my damn hip.
7. “Howling at the Moon,” Phantogram. The moon wasn’t full when we were in California, but I’m sure it was somewhere. Is this the upbeat song of this week’s list? I keep looking for new Phantogram songs. One day.
6. “Hunter,” Pharrell Williams. If you can’t howl…More upbeat, more danceable, and maybe more offensive, too. But at least I’m not inflicting “Hungry Like the Wolf” on anyone.
5. “Default,” Django Django. After Alabama beat UGA for the SEC championship back in 2012, my daughter Pari, her then fiancee Taylor, our friend Owen, and I were celebrating on our way to a great Italian restaurant. This song popped on, having nothing to do with the game. But we cranked it up anyway.
4. “Immigrant Song,” Led Zeppelin. Clearly the issue is not those coming from “the land of the ice and snow.” When this song was popular back in 1970–1, I didn’t personally know anyone who was a first generation immigrant. I do now, and have for the past 34 years. It was our anniversary this past Thursday. Her homeland does get some snow in the mountains, and in her home city, the feel is definitely a California vibe, which is why most of her fellow immigrants refer to Los Angeles as Tehrangeles.
3. “It’s Bad You Know,” RL Burnside. Is it ever. People are being turned away from restaurants in Lexington for being white and powerful; old time Conservatives are disaffiliating themselves from the Grand Old Party, and we suspect that the worst is yet to come. Though honestly, after the images I’ve seen and the sounds I’ve heard from our current attempts to “curtail” illegal immigration, I’m not sure I want to know how this all gets worse. But I will keep up for as long as the music plays.
2. “1984,” David Bowie. He wanted to put the novel to music, but Orwell’s wife said No. So Bowie did what he could and used this song and the one following, “Big Brother,” to comment on life in the 1970’s. The album was Diamond Dogs, and if you bought it back then and proudly displayed it in your small, liberal arts college dorm, anything could happen. Fortunately, I was too stoned to be hurt back then, or to get what world might be coming.
And Now, the number one song to help me survive the night — and maybe you, too.
- “Don’t Wanna Fight,” Alabama Shakes. Do we have to fight? Do we understand the stakes? Aren’t we all better than we’re showing? Chill out and give this another listen. The Sounds of Harmony, if not Peace.
I’m off now to indulge in my medication of choice. Power to us all, we the people.
