So, okay--I know nobody really wants to hear anyone whine about the weather, but really, this has been a tough month for those of us who live in New England. Especially those of us who live in New England and have anxiety and depression. We count on banking some sunny days in the summer against the long gray winter. We've had 24 days of rain since June 1st, and rain every day for the last 12 days. For me, the citalopram is barely holding the line against the gloom these days.
So I did what I often do in tough times: I made me a little playlist. It's still gross out, but I feel a little better. It turned out to be exactly a hundred songs, so I took this as a sign that I should share. I called it Raintown because a)that's where we appear to be living and b)that was a Deacon Blue song from when I was in Scotland that I don't own or even particularly like that much (Still have a soft spot for "Fergus Sings the Blues," though) but which kinda sticks in my head. There's no significance to the order--it's just how itunes shuffled 'em. I've added some notations where I felt like.
Mermaids 3:04 Paul Weller
Candy Man Blues 2:47 Mississippi John Hurt
Would You Love A Monsterman (2006 Version) 3:05 Lordi
Cattle And The Creeping Things 3:46 The Hold Steady "Mackenzie Phillips doesn't live here anymore."
E.T.I. (Extra Terrestrial Intelligence) 3:43 Blue Öyster Cult
That's Entertainment 3:17 The Jam The superior demo version from the Snap! compilation
The Sidewinder Sleeps Tonite 4:09 R.E.M.
Over the Sea 3:48 The Minus 5
Bang Bang You're Dead 3:32 Dirty Pretty Things
Rose Island Road 2:44 Squirrel Bait
Across The Universe 3:38 The Beatles
From the Let it Be...Naked album. No strings!
Smash You 2:22 The Ramones Right up there with "Babysitter" as one of the best Ramones B-sides. Written by Richie!
Born Under A Bad Sign 2:49 Albert King
Let My Freak Flag Fly 2:35 Caesars
Save it For Later 3:36 The English Beat
What Do I Get? 2:55 Buzzcocks In this case, a whole shitload of rain.
Season of the Witch 4:56
Donovan
Get Me Away from Here, I’m Dying (Live Version) 4:02 Belle & Sebastian From the live If You're Feeling Sinister from itunes, which is superior to the studio verson.
Crimson And Clover 3:17 Joan Jett
Ain't Talkin' 'Bout Love 3:47 Van Halen
That's When I Reach For My Revolver 3:53 Mission of Burma
Taking It All Away 2:25 The Edge
Not the U2 guy. The Cincinnati/Boston band from the 80's.
Hideous Mutant Freekz 7:21 Axiom Funk
Red Tan 3:48 The Raveonettes
Even the Clouds Get High 2:10 James Kochalka
Return The Favour 3:10 The Hives
New England 2:25 Jonathan Richman & The Modern Lovers
Just to remind me that it doesn't always suck to live here.
Ugly Truth Rock 2:57 Matthew Sweet
MTV 3:28 Hawaii Mud Bombers
Over 'Fore It Started 2:51 Caesars
Paper Planes 3:24 M.I.A. Still not sick of it yet. Go figure.
Who Will Save Rock and Roll? 2:59 The Dictators
Smile (Version Revisited) [Mark Ronson Remix] 3:13 Lily Allen Prefer this mix to the original
LoveSign (Shock G's Silky Remix) 3:53 Prince
A Good Idea 3:47 Sugar
Jesus Don't Want Me For A Sunbeam (Album) 3:31 Vaselines
Big Time Sensuality (The Fluke Minimix) 4:55 Björk My favorite Bjork song, though I don't like this mix as much. Bought it by mistake and don't have the other one.
Stop Your Sobbing 2:06 The Kinks Because, after all, it's only rain.
All Going Out Together 3:02 Big Dipper
It could be worse--it could be the apocalypse!
13 Stitches 1:55 NOFX
When It Rains, It Really Pours 2:03 Elvis Presley get it?
Oxford Comma 3:16 Vampire Weekend
Here Come the Girls 5:08 Andy White
Calhoun Square 4:47 Prince
Keep A Knockin' 2:20 Little Richard
Mellie's Comin' Over 2:12 Letters To Cleo
The Card Cheat 3:50 The Clash
Handle With Care 2:57 Jenny Lewis with The Watson Twins Traveling Wilburys cover!
Shaking Through 4:30 R.E.M.
Down But Not Out 3:31 The Mooney Suzuki
Mr. Soul (LP Version) 2:52 Buffalo Springfield Just about the only song that involves Steven Stills that I can stand.
I Feel It All 3:40 Feist
Dark As A Dungeon 3:01 Johnny Cash not just down in the mine, but pretty much everywhere these days.
(Now And Then There's) A Fool Such As I 2:38 Elvis Presley
Maggot Brain 8:27 Funkadelic
Dancing On the Lip of a Volcano 4:18 New York Dolls
Of It 1:28 Sluggo
See No Evil 4:05 Television
Drinking About My Baby 3:01 The Damned
Sick Of Myself 3:39 Matthew Sweet
Let There Be Rock 4:19 Drive-By Truckers A really profound song about death hiding behind a song about drug-addled teen exploits.
You Don't Know What Love Is [You Just Do As You're Told] (Album Version) 3:55 The White Stripes
Feel Good Inc (Live Sarm Radio Session) 3:44 Gorillaz
Unclear to me how a cartoon band can have a live version, but it's good anyway.
Benny and the Jets 4:07 Beastie Boys with vocals by Biz Markie! Everyone should own this right now!
Wave of Mutilation (UK Surf) 3:12 Pixies
Mr Blue Sky 5:23 Delgados ELO cover. No idea how I got this song, but I like it.
I Saw The Light 2:44 Hank Williams
I'm probably less religious now than at any point in my life, but I still like me some country music songs about Jesus.
Street Fighting Man 2:55 The Ramones
Rocks Off 4:34 The Rolling Stones
Everybody Wants Some!! 5:09 Van Halen
Two exclamation points!! Because everybody really does want some!!
Gold 7:23 Prince He's tried to duplicate "Purple Rain" a few times, but this one comes the closest.
I Wanna Destroy You 2:31 Uncle Tupelo
I love Livin In the City 2:12 Fear
This song never fails to crack me up.
Lost in the Supermarket 3:47 The Clash
I Don't Care If The Sun Don't Shine 2:29 Elvis Presley "I get my lovin' in the evening time."
The Rebirth of the Countess 2:01 Lordi
I adore these monster-costumed Finns, and this is the only one of their songs that I actually find kind of creepy.
Every Time You Say Goodbye 3:18 Alison Krauss & Union Station
"just like my tears, fallin' down like rain on the ground."
Rainfall 2:44 The Apples in Stereo
Waltz #3 4:40 Elliott Smith Probably a rainy day mix cliche at this point, but I like it anyway.
Mystery Train 2:26 Elvis Presley
Tokyo Storm Warning 6:26 Elvis Costello & The Attractions
The Hawg, Part One 2:54 Eddie Kirk Obscure Stax track I discovered in the box set (Thanks, Eric and Karl!). I suppose Eddie's instructions to "Root!" disqualify this as an instrumental, but if they didn't, it would be tied with "Walk Don't Run" as best instrumental ever. Dig the drums on this track! Outta site! I posted this on mog.com a while back where I think you can probably still hear it.
Unchained 3:29 Van Halen
Johnny Come Lately 4:10 Steve Earle
featuring the Pogues! Love it, even with the bad chronology (if you fought in Vietnam, it was pretty unlikely that your granddaddy fought in WWII)
Baby Britain 3:14 Elliott Smith
Die You Zombie Bastards 3:25 Count Smokula
Brilliant song, absolutely shit movie I had to turn off after 6 minutes, which, if you know my tolerance for bad horror movies, is really saying something.
Stack O'Lee 2:58 Mississippi John Hurt
I Wanna Be Your Dog 3:05 Uncle Tupelo
21 Reasons 5:41 Frank Black
It's True That We Love One Another 2:43 The White Stripes
Substitute (Single Version) 3:48 The Who
No Go 3:03 The Ramones
Mas Y Mas 4:45 Los Lobos
Space Angel 3:23 Human Zoo
Keep on the Sunny Side 2:54 The Carter Family
If It Takes All Night 3:20 Frank Black
Raw Power 4:16 Iggy And The Stooges It's sure to come a-runnin' to you. Despite the weather.
Nearly Lost You 4:10 Screaming Trees
She's Always In My Hair 3:27 Prince
Prince's best B-side. Absolutely killer song. Baffled as to why it never made it onto an album.
Sparky's Dream 3:15 Teenage Fanclub
