The full explanation of what’s going on with this is available here, but the short version is that over this month we’re doing a little essay-ish series connected to eleven songs I associate with August. They’re organized like an album, in the order listed below. Some of the writings are more focused on the songs than others. Today, we’re onto Track 7.
Side A
1. “August and Everything After” – Counting Crows
2. “Untitled (Love Song)” – Counting Crows
3. “Goodnight L.A.” – Counting Crows
4. “Wildest Dreams” – Taylor Swift
5. “Coming Home” – Diddy – Dirty Money, Skylar Grey
Side B
6. “Rockin’ the Suburbs” – Ben Folds
7. “Meet Virginia” – Train
8. “Me and Julio Down by the Schoolyard” – Paul Simon
9. “Paper Planes” – M.I.A.
10. “Satellite Call” – Sara Bareilles
11. “L.I.F.E.G.O.E.S.O.N.” – Noah and the Whale
If you use Apple Music, a good friend and reader has put together a playlist of Tracks 2 through 11 here.
***
There was something about the early-stage pregame those first nights back at college. The air in the dorms was warm and humid, blown in by box fans from the descending Indiana night. Out on the quad, if you happened to cut across campus at that hour, the trees filtered a dusky sky, the air gray while shouts and music and laughs grew and receded in your passing. Cold, cheap beers adorned the showers. Cold, cheap beers adorned the modular furniture. Cold, cheap beers adorned your friends’ hands as they and you cycled in and out, everyone getting dressed, everyone getting ready, eyes not tired for once, baggage stowed, the evening young and free.
An anticipation was present those nights. A quiet anticipation. An anticipation I’ve long found captured in the verses here by Train, in a song seemingly about a guy describing his ideal soulmate. The way the words roll out, almost spoken over so little instrumental backing. The pauses, not startling, but pacing.
Hot August nights have a magic to them. Something about rebirth. Something about new birth. Something about possibilities, as the season starts to hint at change.
