Music
This Week’s Heavy Rotation #3
“Vacation, all I ever wanted…”
Happy last week of January! I’m supposed to be on vacation this week. Actually, I am on vacation — I’m just not going anywhere. My family and I normally spend this time chasing the sun. They’re in a lull at school, and I’m at peak Seasonal Affective Disorder.
This year COVID had other ideas. I thought we’d all be past it by now, but here we are. Silly me. My left shoulder also decided to stage its own sort of insurrection and that sealed it.
There’s hope on the horizon, but in the meantime, I’m spending my days off up here on the Frozen Tundra. Not ideal, but slowing down to the speed of life has its benefits. No schedule, no problem.
The algorithm Gods gifted me some treats this week, but mostly I’ve been listening to tracks I either first heard on a trip or ones that help me escape to sunnier climes.
With that, here are my top 5 of the last 7 days:
St. Lucia- Elevate
This song is impossibly upbeat and strangely dreamy. It’s also the exact sort of song you hear in a hotel lobby or in an airport terminal. I first heard it while deplaning in St. Marten. The airfield is right by the ocean (and the infamous Maho beach), and so it came to be that this song is fused with my memory of warm Caribbean Air and beautiful blue water. Do carriers still play boarding music? I should probably know this — I work for an airline — but honestly have no idea. It’s been that long…
Donnie Ray- Who’s Rockin’ You
My car is old. Old enough that it now needs (scheduled) major service. The upside is that my dealer throws in 3 months of SiriusXM every time. I can’t actually listen to it on my car’s radio, but can at home & on my phone. I was mildly obsessed with the Carolina Shag channel for a little while.
As touristy as it is, we love Myrtle Beach and The Strand, and this is the sort of music that takes me right back to the boardwalk and those impossibly sunny days and warm summer nights. If there’s an east coast version of Endless Summer, this is it. Being totally danceable doesn't hurt.
Kylie Minogue- Can’t Get You Out of My Head.
Airlines used to hold what were called “interline” soccer tournaments. Interline in this context being an in-the-park way of saying “players/teams from many different carriers.” Air Malta used to host one annually, and we somehow found ourselves playing soccer in the Mediterranean.
When we weren’t on the field, this song was playing everywhere- in clubs, out of storefronts, and in one especially terrifying cab ride I took through the streets of Valetta.
There is also a really good mashup if this and New Order’s Blue Monday. Check it out here.
Ramsey Lewis- Wade in the Water
On a previous list, I mentioned that my dad’s irrational contempt for pop music. What I failed to note was that he loved jazz. I honestly didn’t know that rock n roll existed until I started school. I may not have been able to hear a lot of what was hot at the time, but the upside was a house filled with sounds like this.
King Tubby — King Tubby’s Special
In the winter, I listen to a lot of dub, ska, and reggae. Whenever it plays, it’s sunny in my mind. This track was on a playlist a friend shared with me several weeks ago, and it’s held a recurring spot on mine ever since. I might not be going to Jamaica anytime soon, but if I close my eyes, this is the next best thing.
What’s on your list this week?
In case you missed it, here’s last week’s list:
