A Playlist Series
American Crisis Playlist #21
Sooner or Later…
Back when I used to listen exclusively to AM hit radio — some fifty years ago — there was this hit by The Grass Roots:
“Sooner or later, love is gonna get you Sooner or later love is gonna win… It’s just a matter of time….”
So that was a love song, and while in Birmingham it got played constantly, I’m not sure if anyone in the rest of the American world heard it or got it. I’m thinking this was the spring of 1971, and if so, think about the election season on the far horizon then, that great 1972 contest between Richard Milhous Nixon, the sitting President, and Sen. George McGovern. McGovern would have to replace his VP nominee ,Thomas Eagleton, with Kennedy family member Sargent Shriver. Eagleton had suffered some bouts of depression, and I don’t know about you, but I find it rather quaint that a major party would want to lift a former depressant from its ticket.
We might want to ask “How come?” and these days we might be forgiven for asking, considering what we’ve put up with for the past four years. Not that the orange plague suffers from depression, but he’s sure as hell made many of us suffer. I mean, I got back into therapy almost exclusively because of this degenerate refugee from a slumlord’s table.
To be fair (right, fair!), Nixon, who of course won the election, also had to replace his running mate, Spiro T. Agnew (aka “Ted”) because the Maryland prodigy had gotten into some hot water over something to do with bribery and organized crime. Ted pleaded “Nolo contendere” to federal charges and so resigned in disgrace. or relative disgrace. Or obscurity.
Ask any twenty year-old person today if they’ve ever heard of Spiro Agnew and see how they look at you…or run.
Even Agnew’s failings fail to compare to the lunacy of these past four years. Yesterday, the orange plague claimed to have defeated COVID-19, and people are still willing to vote for the jerk.
I am quite sure that I would vote for an Eagleton/Agnew ticket any day before I’d vote for this cretin or anyone associated with him. But then, I’ve already voted and had my vote confirmed, so what else do I do now except compose the last American Crisis Playlist before the last votes are cast? Don’t worry, we’ll have more music likely before the final count is in. Don’t know how many lists, but definitely more music.
So, VOTE if you’re going to vote for Biden, and if not, I’m not sure why you’re following me.
AMERICAN CRISIS PLAYLIST #21
- “So We Won’t Forget,” Khruangbin, from 2020’s Mordechai. So we won’t forget, the orange plague has led us into an authoritarian nightmare. People are so afraid of his tweets that they are allowing him to foment riots in the name of white supremacy. This is such a pleasant song, though, that it alone should remind us of our better instincts, whole selves. We don’t have to lapse or be eclipsed by the darkness. This band has worked its way inside me pretty deeply. Definitely one of my faves from an otherwise disastrous year.
- “Port of Morrow,” The Shins, from Port of Morrow (2012). I keep trying to think of what this song reminds me of. I’m seeing a dark avenue on Birmingham’s south side, somewhere beyond the old Angry Revolt record store and some other place called The Purple Mushroom. Birmingham has this racist and conservative reputation, and that’s true, but looked at more closely, there were stranger places, days, and people, and they were worth knowing. But you had to get out more and search yourself, too. There still is a park called Avalon, and when you think of that, how could any town be so bad? A distant port in some troubled storm.
- “Lovin’ Her Was Easier (Than Anything I’ll Ever Do Again),” Kris Kristofferson, from 1971 again and The Silver Tongued Devil and I. Another 1971 hit on AM radio, and if you played it next to the Grass Roots, you might wonder at the taste and recklessness of those of us listening to and buying such records. I had an inkling while listening to this song that there was a world of music in my life that I hadn’t wanted to know, though I did know it was there. For what’s the difference in liking this and in liking a Johnny Cash or Merle Haggard ballad? And man, I loved this song. Still do.
- “Numb,” Linkin Park from 2003’s Meteora. I was never a Linkin Park fan, or I should say, I never gave them much of a chance. True Confession: I first heard this song as one of the after-commercial lead-ins to Paul Finebaum’s radio show back when he broadcast exclusively from Birmingham. I’m a sports junkie, so there, or rather an Alabama football junkie, and shit, poor Jaylen Waddle. Anyway, I feel pretty numb these days, and maybe that’s a better feeling than the downward alternative. So thanks boys, I owe you that.
- “Mirrorball,” Taylor Swift, from 2020’s folklore. I’m wondering if this will be my favorite album of the year? I keep playing it and finding new songs to love. Of course, I felt that way about Haim’s new record, too. I suppose it’s hard to lose when the music’s this good. What song do you imagine Joe and Jill, Kamala and Doug dancing to when the count is in? I might pick this one, but who’d understand? Who understands anyway? Apparently, Taylor does. Power on.
- “Bluebird,” Miranda Lambert, on Wildcard (2019). Another artist my daughters turned me on to. Notice how ending in prepositions makes WORD go crazy? We played this last week at my daughter’s place during a poker game. Each of us put up $20 and my wife walked away with it all. She kept getting weird straight flushes even when she wasn’t dealing. My son-in-law wants to take her to the craps table soon, and I might like to watch that. She’s a bluebird in my heart for sure.
- “Brand New Day,” The Mavericks (2017), Brand New Day. Okay, this is the song I’m dancing to in mid-November, or earlier, depending…We saw the Mavericks at Austin City Limits back in 2018, though it seems longer than that now. I wrote in some other story about their covering “How Can You Mend a Broken Heart?” and how my wife and I cried because ours were. Anyway, Raul has it right, and I hope he’s ready to mend and melt my heart soon.
- “I’ve Been a Long Time Leaving (But I’ll be a Long Time Gone),” Waylon Jennings from Dreaming My Dreams (1975). Well, that says it better than I could Mr. orange plague. So, get to packing and don’t worry about Melania: she’ll be packin’ too, though maybe not a plush bag. And please stay gone. No one will miss you a few minutes after you’re gone, though some of us have been missing you ever since you got here. Missing in that since of “Please get out of my life.”
- “MisAmerica,” The Legendary Shack Shakers, from The Southern Surreal (2015). Blast this one from the rooftops any old time and right now would be a good start. I bet Waylon would have covered this tune had he lived long enough. And it has everything to do with the condition my condition is in. My dog is sleeping right by me, and for him, this is a hymn of sorts, a holiday tune wherever stockings are laid by whatever chimneys you care to choose. Can you tell that I’m just making shit up now?
- “Walk, Don’t Run,” The Ventures, from 1960’s Walk Don’t Run.Tough if you haven’t voted yet, then do the opposite and the same goes for the op as he exits, stage right, and I do hope he takes a wrong turn in Albuquerque. That’ll be me playing surf guitar and pointing down when he walks by. I’ll turn my back on him, as I’ve been doing these last four years. In 1960, we should have been rid of Nixon, by the way. Bad pennies.
Thanks so much for indulging me here at The Riff. I hope I can start another kind of playlist soon, but until then, please read more here and check out these other music finds: Noah Levy, Jessica Lee McMillan, Oliver Norris, Kathryn Dillon.
Here’s more if you want it:
