The last day of February. March is just around the bend. I’m not fond of how fast this year is going, or how this year is going around the world, but I’m trying to stay in it, write, play music, hold on to hope, be me. Some days are harder than others, but you do what you do to get by.
For me, today, it’s coffee in my Licorice Pizza cup (the store, not the movie) and music. Lots of music.
Give Me Five…February 28, 2022
Available to listen, and follow along throughout March (and this last day of February), on Spotify and YouTube
Song 1: “Standing Outside a Broken Phone Booth with Money in My Hand” by Primitive Radio Gods
“Am I alive or thoughts that drift away?
Does summer come for everyone?
Can humans do as prophets say?
And if I die before I learn to speak
Can money pay for all the days I lived awake
But half asleep?”
Have you ever noticed how many questions were asked in songs from the 90s? From the philosophical (“What if God was one of us?”) to the misunderstood (“Where did all the Cowboys Go?”), to even one-hit wonders like this one. Us Gen-Xers have been called the numb and disconnected, but weren’t we all just trying to figure out what the fuck it all means?
I was working at Tower Records when this song came out. I don’t remember listening to it much until a few years later, lying in the dark with a love I reconnected with, songs washing over us in the night from some nearly neverending playlist he’d made.
This morning is the first time I’ve realized, and recognized the B.B. King sample, “I’ve been downhearted babe, ever since the day we met”, the same line Chris O’Connor sings towards the end of the song.
Did you know the band made music until 2020 when they released their final album? I didn’t either. Check it out HERE.
Song 2: “Lola” by The Raincoats
“Girls will be boys,
and boys will be girls.
It’s a mixed up,
muddled up,
shook up world –
except for Lola.”
I need to hear more music by The Raincoats. Formed in the late ’70s, inspired by The Slits, asked by Kurt Cobain to join the Nirvana tour (never happened sadly, due to Kurt’s death), their debut album described as a mix of “British folk, dub basslines, polyrhythmic percussion and elements of free jazz amount other world music influences.” Yeah, I need to hear more.
I do love this cover though, and I’m glad it led me to The Raincoats. The many trails and adventures to finding new music give me so much bliss.
Want to hear more, too? Go HERE.
Song 3: “Spooky” by Dusty Springfield
“In the cool of the evening,
when everything is getting kind of groovy.
You call me up and ask me,
would I like to go with you and see a movie?”
I love Dusty. So much. I’m starting this week listen-binging this song.
Did you know “Spooky” is a cover? It was originally an instrumental performed by Mike Sharpe. I’ve never heard it, but now I’d like to seek it out and add it to one of my annual Halloween playlists.
What is your current favorite Dusty song?
Song 4: “Courtyard” by Bobbie Gentry
“Said he’d build me a courtyard.
He promised he would.
And spend time in my courtyard.
Whenever he could.”
I started digging in and deeper-discovering Bobbie Gentry’s music around the start of the Pandemic. Feels like just a year ago, but I know it’s been longer. I continue finding, and listening – and binge-repeat-playing – Bobbie’s music. This week’s starting out with “Courtyard”.
Do you have a current favorite?
Song 5: “Midnight At the Movies” by Justin Townes Earle
Heather, a music-loving-friend of mine, who I often look to for music recommendations, was listening to this album (per Spotify – am I a Spotify spy?) today and I was drawn in by this song’s (and album) title. I wrote something about my love of going to the movies yesterday and went to see a movie with my best friend yesterday, too, so it seemed like the perfect song to end today’s Give Me Five with – and close the month of February listening to.
Thinking about midnight at the movies brings to mind going to Balboa on Saturday nights – for the midnight showing of Rocky Horror Picture Show.
Wanna hear more Justin Townes Earle? Click on over HERE.
