Each year around the holidays, I do a mixtape for family and friends, as a way of saying, "You must hear this. Now." This year, the CD burner on the iMac shit the bed, so we're entering the eco-friendly fully digital realm. Download at will. And let me know what you think in the comments.
Playlist:
1. Haunted — Shane McGowan & The Popes
2. Real Good Looking Boy — The Who
3. Leader of the Pack — The Shangri Las
4. If I Were a Carpenter — Johnny Cash w/June Carter Cash
5. Foundations — Kate Nash
6. Another Nail in My Heart — Squeeze
7. Will It Go Round in Circles — Billy Preston
8. Say Hey — Michael Franti & Spearhead
9. It Mek — Desmond Dekker & The Aces
10. Steve's Hammer — Steve Earle
11. I Am the Light of This World — Blind Gary Davis
12. Special Friend — Larry Davis
13. Hemingway — Blue Clocks Green
14. The Crawl — Spirit of the West
15. When Will I Be Loved — John Fogerty & Bruce Springsteen
16. The Road to Rock 'N' Roll — Joe Strummer
17. Cover of the Rolling Stone — Dr. Hook & The Medicine Show
18. Saucy Johnny — Maggi, Pierce, & EJ
19. Hurt — Johnny Cash
20. Santa Ana — Bruce Springsteen
21. Up to Me — Bob Dylan
22. Haunted — The Pogues
Download zip file
+ track 22 (added late)
Liner Notes:
1/22. Haunted: An A-one Pogues song. A duet, written for the Sid & Nancy soundtrack. I won that LP by answering a trivia question correctly during a college radio station giveaway. It's a middling punk/pop soundtrack, and a so-so movie, but it gave me this song, which provided pitch perfect melancholy to my early 20s. Shane MacGowan would later re-record it with Sinead O'Connor. His version is raw, and not without its toothless charm, but the Elvis Costello-produced Pogues version with Cait O'Riordan is indeed haunting and beautiful, and ever my favorite. Here's both; you be the judge
3. Leader of the Pack: This tune was on a K-Tel–style compilation we had around the house when I was young. I ate it up. I was probably only 12 or 13, and this was right in the wheelhouse of my burgeoning fantasy world of heroism and melancholy.
11. I Am the Light of This World: In March, this song was played to great effect at the funeral for the son of a friend and former boss. Andy was 24 and had been teaching in Laos when he died. To put it much too simply, he was a good kid and the world will be a lesser place without him. After the funeral, I sought out my Blind Gary Davis CD and heard this old song in a new way that will forever be the way I hear it. For you, in heaven, Andy. Godspeed.
12. Special Friend: The Replacements led me to Alex Chilton, which led me to his work as a producer, which led me to this little gem.
13. Hemingway: Again, college. My senior year this time. One Saturday afternoon, painting in the art studio and listening to the station broadcasting from the other side of campus. It was what was called a progressive station, in those salad days before progressive stopped meaning anything to anyone. In any case, it was right there and then that I heard what might well be the catchiest tune ever written. It's not by anyone you've ever heard of, nor has it ever been featured in a John Hughes film, nor a hipster car commercial. But here it is — a perfect pop song.
16. The Road to Rock 'N' Roll: See TWM post on Joe Strummer.
18. Saucy Johnny: Very funny tune by friends Maggi, Pierce, & EJ.
19. Hurt: See TWM post on hurt.
21. Up to Me: See TWM post on song memories. One of my top five favorite songs of all time.



Alright. It's festival/backyard barbecue/family reunion season and you will be called upon to rally the troops, young and old. You'll need 45 minutes worth of tunes you can play and sing well. If you're lousy with lyrics, keep a sheaf of cheat sheets in your guitar case. The key is a varied repertoire in your vocal range, with no alternate tunings, and no more than a half-dozen chords.
Bluegrass: You need at least one tune to play with a banjo- or fiddle-toting friend. And if you don't have any friends who tote said instruments, you need to take a hard look at who you're hanging out with. I can't do a lick of real fingerpicking, but I can comp chords, and tunes like Hank Williams' "Jambalaya" or the Stanley Brothers' "Man of Constant Sorrow" work well. 

U2 — The Spectrum, Philadelphia, PA — April 1985
Sonny Rollins — Berklee Performance Center, Boston, MA — September 15, 2001