26 Mar Shelter In Place Playlist 3/25/10

Welcome, Gentle Reader(s), to DJ Inky’s exclusive Shelter In Place playlist. Your Humble Narrator has been ruminating over this selection for several days now, adding and subtracting, refining the vibe as it were, for optimal effect. And what effect might that be, you might ask. Well you might. The effect that I’m aiming for is somewhat multifaceted, encompassing acknowledgement of the unprecedented parameters of the current situation, the sober realities of isolation, expressions of the desire for human connection, and hope for the future.

 

In putting together this list, as with my Matador playlists, I generally attempt to link to YouTube videos of decent quality. Sometimes they’re the professionally produced promo fare, which is fine, and sometimes they’re live performance clips. I generally love the live clips—the older and more obscure the better—but the sound quality has got to be up to par. With my Matador playlists I generally omit linking to songs that have just still photos or slide shows accompanying the audio. In this case, however, every song is linked to the best source I could find, be it promo video, live video, straight audio or whatever, cuz the songs are the point after all.

 

Many of these toons are from my Matador playlists and regular attendees at Ye Olde Matador Bar & Lounge will know that Lucinda Williams’ World Without Tears has been my set-closing song for over a decade now. Other songs have never been played at the Matador but I was very pleased to find versions to include here—Carla Bley and Steve Swallow’s beautiful duet of Soon I Will Be Done With the Troubles of This World, a wonderful early live clip of Jonathan Richman & the Modern Lovers performing Affection, and a very young Joe Cocker performing I Shall Be Released in what appears to be a ritzy continental nightclub. If nothing else, I’d encourage you to watch the clip of the final song—Peter Gabriel’s In Your Eyes, from his DVD Secret World Live. Since this concert film was released in 1994 I’ve owned it on VHS tape, then DVD and finally BluRay (not to mention the CD of the same concert) it and never fails to move me. I hope it will move you too.

 

Stay Strong, Stay Safe, Keep Calm and Carry On

 

Fanfare for the Common Man – Aaron Copeland/Leonard Bernstein & the NY Philharmonic

 

Feelin’ Alright – Joe Cocker (‘I’ve got to leave before I start to scream, but someone’s locked the door and took the key’)

 

Into My Arms – Nick Cave & the Bad Seeds (‘I don’t believe in an interventionist God…’)

 

Nature’s Way – Spirit (‘It’s nature’s way of telling you something’s wrong’)

 

Sign O’ the Times – Prince (‘Sign o’ the times, mess with your mind…’)

 

Gimme Some Truth – Sam Phillips (‘All I want is the truth…’)

 

Who Knows Where the Time Goes – Fairport Convention (‘I have no thought of leaving, I do not count the time…’)

 

Faith – George Michael (‘Before this river becomes an ocean…’)

 

Nobody Really Cares if You Don’t Go To The Party – Courtney Barnett (‘I wanna go out but I wanna stay home’)

 

I Say A Little Prayer – Aretha Franklin (‘To live without you would only mean heartbreak for me’)

 

Breathing – Kate Bush (‘I’ve been out before, but this time it’s much safer in…’)

 

Close Up the Honky Tonks – Flying Burrito Brothers (‘Close up the honky tonks, lock all the doors…’)

 

Day After Day – Badfinger (‘Looking out of my lonely room, day after day’)

 

I’m So Lonesome I Could Cry – Hank Williams (‘I’ve never known a night so long when time goes crawling by…’)

 

How to Fight Loneliness – Jeff Tweedy (‘And the first thing that you want will be the last thing you ever need…’)

 

Somebody to Love – Jefferson Airplane (‘When the truth is found to be lies…’)

 

(What’s So Funny ‘Bout) Peace, Love & Understanding – Elvis Costello (‘I ask myself is all hope lost?’)

 

Late For the Sky – Jackson Browne (‘How long have I been drifting alone through the night, how long have I been running for that morning flight…’)

 

Affection – Jonathan Richman & the Modern Lovers (‘People all over the world are starving for affection’)

 

Fifteen Feet of Pure White Snow – Nick Cave & the Bad Seeds (‘This is the worst day I’ve ever had, I can’t remember ever feeling this bad…’)

 

Hold On – Alabama Shakes (‘Don’t know where I’m gonna go, don’t know what I’m gonna do…’)

 

God Only Knows – the Beach Boys (‘I may not always love you, but as long as there are stars above you you’ll never need to doubt it…’)

 

Don’t Give Up – Peter Gabriel & Kate Bush (‘When times get rough you can fall back on us, don’t give up’)

 

Lovesong – the Cure (‘However far away…’)

 

Cure For Pain – Morphine (‘Where is the ritual? Where is the taste? Where is the sacrifice? Where is the faith?’)

 

Between the Wars – Billy Bragg (‘For theirs is a land with a wall around it, and mine is a faith in my fellow man’)

 

Under Pressure – David Bowie & Queen (‘Turned away from it all like a blind man, sat on a fence but it don’t work…’)

 

A Heart Needs A Home – Richard & Linda Thompson (‘Empty streets and hungry faces, the world’s no place when you’re on your own, a heart needs a home’)

 

Always for You – the Album Leaf (‘And all the places that remain, they will build a place for us to stay’)

 

Running Up That Hill – Kate Bush (‘If I only could, I’d make a deal with God and I’d get Him to swap our places…’)

 

Soon I Will Be Done With the Troubles of This World – Carla Bley/Steve Swallow

 

I Shall Be Released – Joe Cocker (‘Any day now, any day now…’)

 

Now Be Thankful – Fairport Convention (‘Now be thankful to your maker, for the rose, the red rose blooms for all to know…’)

 

World Without Tears – Lucinda Williams (‘Where would sorrow find a home?’)

 

In Your Eyes – Peter Gabriel (‘Love, I don’t like to see so much pain, so much wasted, and the moment keeps slipping away…’)