Maybe it’s because my oldest daughter and I were talking 90’s music last night, over a game of “fuck, marry, kill” the album version, but my ears are tuned into the 90’s today. I think I need a bit of the familiar to help get me through a rough day. I almost write that I need a bit of a simpler time, but honestly, there was nothing simpler about my twenties. No, I don’t think I’d ever want to go back except to maybe visit some of my old favorite record stores, and see a few of gigs while I was there. Beyond that though, I’m a much happier person in my forties than I ever was in my twenties.
Who are some of your favorites from the mid-90’s?
Editor correction: One song in the bunch, the opening track, is actually from 1983. But, I discovered the song (“Within Your Reach”) and The Replacements in the mid-90’s (I’d only heard them in my musical peripheral back in the 80’s), so I think it still counts.
Top 5 Music Obsessions – Tuesday, August 14, 2018
Listen via Spotify and YouTube
1. “Within Your Reach” by The Replacements
from the album, Hootenanny (1983)
“I can’t live without your touch.”
I’ve been in a Westerberg mood this week. It started out yesterday morning when “Achin’ To Be” (by The Replacements) came on a shuffled mix, and later, in the later afternoon, when I heard “Things” (by Paul Westerberg). This morning it was this song – “Within Reach” – that came on via my weekly Spotify Discover Playlist. I’d almost forgotten how much I love this song. It was one of my favorites from the Say Anything soundtrack, and definitely my favorite track off of the Hootenanny album. I hit replay three more times before I could go on to another song.
2. “Everything Changes” by Matthew Sweet
from the album, 100% Fun (1995)
“And would you believe me,
if I’d spoke my mind?
‘Cause nobody gets there they just,
try, try, try.”
I know, I know, Matthew Sweet’s album Girlfriend is the one that everyone is supposed to say is their favorite, and I do love it. I do. But 100% Fun is my Matthew Sweet album. I played it obsessively for years, and so many of the songs are weighted heavily with memories. It will always, always, always be my favorite Matthew Sweet album. This track is really getting to me today. Deeply. Especially the lyrics above.
No one has it all figured out. No one really knows what to do. We just have to get up every day and try. Or, at least that’s what I tend to believe.
3. “I’d Run Away” by The Jayhawks
from the album, Tomorrow the Green Grass (1995)
“I recall a side of you.
I recall a different side of you.
But I’d run away.
I’d run away with you baby.”
Making a repeat appearance in my Top 5 Music Obsessions. This song and the entire album has been making a repeat appearance in my life. Though I loved it in the 90’s, and have so many memories attached to it from back then, the album, and this song, now remind me of San Francisco, of driving back with Chris and listening to the album together, and how I remember feeling then, just what I’d felt like the night of our first date as we sat in a park together after dinner and drinks. That I’d run away with this man if he asked (with my kids along, too, but you get the point), and I’d stay with him for the rest of my life if he wanted me to (I hope he does).
4. “What Makes You Happy” by Liz Phair
from the album, Whitechocolatespaceegg (1998)
“I’m sending you this photograph,
I swear this one is going to last,
and all those other bastards were only practice.”
So, another unpopular favorite album choice, I suppose. One is supposed to pick Exile In Guysville as their favorite Liz Phair, and I love Exile. I adore it really. But…Whitechocolatespaceegg is my favorite Liz. I get the album. It gets me. I get all the songs, and they so get me. This one is getting me big time today.
It is one of my Top 10 favorite Liz songs, too.
5. “Mockingbirds” by Grant Lee Buffalo
from the album, Mighty Joe Moon (1994)
“Devastation at last,
finally,
we meet,
after all of these years out here in the street.
I had a feeling you would make yourself known.
You came along just to claim your place on the throne.
Now I have been overthrown,
overthrown.”
How good is this song? I mean really. It just gets better with age and multiple listens. I feel like this song, and the entire Mighty Joe Moon album is so underrated.
I’m feeling that shadow of devastation today, but I’m not letting it overthrow me. No, not today. Not this time.
Top 5 Music Obsessions – Week of August 13, 2018
