My main problem in making mixes is that my theme proves to be too specific. I hear a song I love, decide to surround it with others like it on a compilation, and realize that there are at most two or three similar to it, because the reason I chose it as the centerpiece to a mix is that it so perfectly expresses a very specific emotion, style, etc. In this way, I always end up giving up on mixes. And I find those that I do follow through with to be too broad, thematically.
Regardless, here’s my summer mixtape, which I completed about 10 days ago, much too late for the feature. I also did a write-up as if it would appear along with the others, which I’ll post here (though it seems a bit out of place).
All Together Now
One of the things I hate most about school is its limitations, musically. Sure, you get to listen to music on the bus ride there, during your free periods, on the bus ride back, and while doing homework, but something’s missing in each of those examples: you can’t sing along. I’m too embarrassed to sing in front of people on my school bus, and while I can focus on music well enough while doing homework, I don’t think anyone can actually listen to lyrics or sing and still get anything done. But summer solves all these problems, providing us all the time in the world to sing along to our favorite songs.
So here are some of my favorite songs to sing along to. For this mix, they’re generally bright songs, as summer tends to be bright. Obviously, much will be missing that could fit on here, but it’s pretty hard to avoid that, keeping time constraints in mind. So I’d appreciate if you noted only what is on here and not what isn’t. Believe me, there were many more I wanted to use.
1. The Cure – “Just Like Heaven”
I fell in love with this song last summer and I continue to be in love with it this summer. It’s more of a spring song, in truth, but it’s just a matter of when I heard it first. Regardless, it has some of the most beautifully light-hearted lyrics ever written about love, and I can’t think of any better song to sing along to. Out of necessity, I’ve probably sung along to this more than any other track here over the past year (I have serious withdrawal problems when it comes to “Just Like Heaven”).
2. The Flaming Lips – “She Don’t Use Jelly”
The Lips’ quirky anthem and only hit, “She Don’t Use Jelly” is absolutely perfect for any summer day. The soaring guitars are truly inspiring, but the sing-along factor is what places the song on the mix, and for good reason when the lyrics are so endearingly awkward (“I know a girl who (pause) reminds me of Cher/ She’s always changing (pause) the color of her hair”). From any other band, the sexual innuendo would be pretty stupid, but when inserted into Coyne’s characteristically odd rhymes, it’s beautiful.
3. Wilco – “Kamera”
These lyrics are just so perfect. And the song glides by just as faultlessly, with impeccable hooks and an overall feeling of completeness. Once again, perfect for any summer day.
4. The Beach Boys – “Wouldn’t It Be Nice”
The Beach Boys are quintessentially summer, and “Wouldn’t It Be Nice” is quintessentially sing-along because of its universal appeal, both musically and lyrically. This is not only a classic, but also the truest fit to the summer sing-along mixtape.
5. Blur – “Tracy Jacks”
Admittedly, I don’t know most of the words to this song. But that doesn’t mean I can’t sing all the “Woo-oo woo-oo”s. Well, actually, I can’t sing those either; those notes are well out of my range. Anyway, this song easily finds a place here, as would all of Blur’s pop tunes were I not so bounded by time.
6. Pavement – “Cut Your Hair”
Pavement’s song for the summer: “Summer Babe” or “Cut Your Hair”? I could go either way. Clearly, though, this one is the more appropriate song for my mix, with its irresistible vocal hooks and unbelievably bright sound. Bliss, the Pavement way.
7. The Mountain Goats – “The Best Ever Death Metal Band”
John Darnielle’s funniest song not to have any underlying bitterness or greater significance, “The Best Ever Death Metal Band” is a sing-along for all seasons, featuring not only his always-clever lyrics, but music that is actually rewarding on its own! The vocals lack a consistent rhythm, so most of it is actually kind of difficult to sing along to, but you can always “Hail Satan! Hail Satan tonight!” Awesome.
8. The Raincoats – “Lola”
I’ve always loved this cover. The Raincoats, with their heavy drumming, generally messy sound, and um, females, would seem entirely mismatched with this Kinks classic, but of course, that’s the whole charm. It works marvelously.
9. Wire – “1 2 X U”
“Saw you in a mag/ Kissing a man/ Saw you in a mag/ Kissing a man/ Saw you in a mag/ Kissing a man/ Saw you in a mag/ Kissing a man, yeah!” Yeah.
10. New Order – “Temptation”
Nothing shines like this. Nothing. Nothing can beat the simple lines “Oh, you’ve got green eyes/ Oh, you’ve got blue eyes/ Oh, you’ve got gray eyes/ And I’ve never seen anyone quite like you before” when they’re sung so convincingly. Not to mention all the other classic lines, the “oo-oo-oo-oo-oo”s and the fact that this is the BEST POP SONG EVER. Maybe, anyway.
11. Belle and Sebastian – “Get Me Away From Here, I’m Dying”
The lyrics pretty much summarize Belle and Sebastian, as does the music. So love them or hate them, this is their autobiography to sing along to, universally likeable and, to those who love them (like myself), an absolutely beautiful song lyrically.
12. Weezer – “The World Has Turned and Left Me Here”
I really would like to tell you all to listen to the Blue Album as my mix. I really would. But then it wouldn’t be a mix, would it? So I picked this one and this one alone, much to my chagrin. Some of Cuomo’s best lyrics that are unfortunately overlooked appear here: “I talked for hours to your wallet photograph/ And you just listened/ You laughed enchanted by my intellect/ Or maybe you didn’t”. And I know all the words. I really do. That doesn’t happen very often.
13. The Magnetic Fields – “The Luckiest Guy on the Lower East Side”
I love every word. Every single word. Recently, I’ve decided that this is the best pop song Stephen Merritt ever wrote (even though I’m still far away from having heard all of them); everything characteristic of the Magnetic Fields is consummated here in the most summery, poppiest, catchiest, sing-alongiest thing imaginable. It’s so perfect I cry sometimes. Wait, that’s one of those things I don’t normally tell people. Oh well.
14. Beck – “Peaches and Cream”
Could life get any better than this? From “Don’t tell your right hand, baby/ What your left hand do” to “Oooh, oooh oooh, Peaches and cream!/ You make a garbage man scream!/ Such a dangerous dream” to the final chant, “Keep your lamp lights in the burning”, this song is saturated with Beck-isms, absolutely thrilling and impossible not to sing along to. Heaven (as I would imagine it, anyway).
15. Black Flag – “TV Party”
Okay, so I don’t like TV, I’ve never tried beer, and the attitude expressed in this song disgusts me in real life. But that doesn’t mean I can’t appreciate that this is just about the best (and funniest) anthem possible for most teenagers during the summer. And it has handclaps! It’s punk and it has handclaps!
16. David Bowie – “Ziggy Stardust”
What’s summer without a little classic rock? Three summers ago I learned to love this song the first time, and last summer I was reunited with it. This summer I’ll know to keep it nearby.
17. Lou Reed – “Perfect Day”
This, of course, is the perfect closer to my mix. Many a time, I’ve sat in rooms where everyone was having their own conversation as Trainspotting played, and nine times out of ten, the conversation drops out as the chorus comes in and everyone sings, “Oh, it’s such a perfect day/ I’m glad I spent it with you”. Uniting everyone in exultation, “Perfect Day” is the sublime ending to a summer day. Because, as we all know, any summer day is a perfect day.