A quick explanation:
The idea here is to make a compilation album charting the course of a particular month—September, in this case. Part of the idea is having a good arc to it—this is why it’s an album and not a playlist; there’s a Side A and a Side B—and part of it is trying to capture the different emotions of a month in music. The biggest part, though, is that songs are a good jumping off place for writing about things that aren’t songs, at least for me. Consider this the on-site creative writing gym for The Barking Crow.
This month’s tracklist is as follows, and if you use Spotify, you can listen to it in playlist form here.
Side A
1. “Shotgun” – George Ezra
2. “Goodmorning” – Bleachers
3. “Fluorescent Adolescent” – Arctic Monkeys
4. “Sweet Pea” – Amos Lee
5. “Rain King” – Counting Crows
6. “Rosalita (Come Out Tonight)” – Bruce Springsteen
Side B
7. “All the Debts I Owe” – Caamp
8. “Lovers in Japan – Osaka Sun Mix” – Coldplay
9. “I Got You, Honey” – Ocie Elliott
10. “Tyson vs. Douglas” – The Killers
11. “Mt. Joy” – Mt. Joy
12. “Parachute” – Guster
Now. Track 3:
***
There are few things in life more satisfying than a groove, and while I recognize the fears of those who’ve suffered a transformation from groove to rut, that doesn’t diminish the greatness of the groove. The greatness of clicking. The greatness of all the cylinders firing, when they’re supposed to, how they’re supposed to. Getting shit done, or soaking life in, or celebrating the moments.
September lends itself well to the groove. There’s provocation for transformation, with school restarting or settling in and accompanying changes in schedule offering opportunity for intentionality. There’s overwhelm, sometimes, but often not, especially in the earlier days when life hasn’t yet begun piling up on all sides. And it doesn’t hurt that, more often than not, the weather’s nice.
I wasn’t going for anything more than this when I put this song on the list. It’s a good song for a groove: Crisp. Linguistically dexterous. Energized, but not frantic. Listening to it, though, a few things jumped out:
First of all, goodness, this song is quite sexual. Whoa! He’s not talking about Bingo.
Second, British slang is fascinating. How did it and American English get as different as they got? Why did they not get more different?
Third, this song is pretty mean, taken a certain way. Taken any way, it’s mocking.
There’s a thing about September—warm September, early September—that serves it up on a platter for the youth. We talked about this a bit with Track 1. Within that vitality, there’s an element which, with a dab of hubris folded in, can lead to mockery. Mockery, at worst, of the somberly unvital. Mockery, at best, of one’s future self—an existential mockery, an “I will one day be old” mockery. This compounds with the ominously shortening days: The equinox approaches. Gather ye rosebuds. But at the same time…“Remember when you used to be a rascal?”
Fall can make someone feel so old. September adds an edge to feeling young.
