I first heard Into the Ocean in 2006.
Then discovered Blue October’s back catalog and fell in love!
There is no shortage of feels in their music, and those feels go straight into your soul.
I’ve seen Justin and the guys many times in small venues, and the intimacy they bring is unparalleled.
This is Oh My My from their new album This is What I Live For.
What do y’all think?
I couldn’t sleep for a few hours in the middle of the night Thursday. I was kind of cold, and not exactly awake enough to get out of bed. But not really able to sleep either.
I thought about the positives and negatives about my day. I considered ways I could trick myself out of this emotional state so that the old adage ‘feelings follow actions’ might just come true. I thought a load of other things too, but kept coming back to this one.
How can I jump start myself into a healthier emotional place?
And a song came into my head.
Or rather the way it feels to play the song in the car with the windows down singing my heart out.
I caught myself smiling.
I decided then and there to create a playlist filled with songs that perk me up the moment I hear the first chords. Obviously I did this in my head because I just told you I didn’t get up.
I did eventually fall back asleep, but when I woke, I remembered most of the songs I’d considered in the middle of the night. So I did the only thing I could possibly do.
I made a list. In my brand new List Whore notebook.
A quick list of songs that perk me up the moment they begin to play.
Please listen responsibly.
Zero to Hero
Hercules
Balance Beam
Blue October
Suite: Judy Blue Eyes
Crosby, Stills & Nash
Platinum Blonde Life
No Doubt
SexyBack
Justin Timberlake
Dancing Queen
Mamma Mia! (the movie)
N17
Saw Doctors
California Gurls
Katy Perry
A Punk
Vampire Weekend
Wild Wild Life
Talking Heads
Who Do You Think You Are
Spice Girls
You Can’t Stop the Beat
Hairspray (the movie)
They’re not in any real order. Which is OK, because this isn’t a play list you can listen to in order. You gotta hit shuffle and turn it up! They probably don’t make much sense to the average listener, but that’s OK too. These are my perk up songs so they make sense to me.
Now I’m curious, what do y’all listen to to perk yourselves up?
I’m excited to share with you my new ‘mixtape’.
Interestingly enough, it began as two mixes that I combined into one. I made one in July, then another in November. Neither one struck me as exactly perfect, but I realized I loved certain things about each one so much that I just cut the superfluous songs and rearranged these to come up with ‘getting my stuff’ mix.
I call it that because the day I finally finished it was the day I came home from Richmond with my mother’s things.
Please listen responsibly.
Smile ~ Tori Vasquez
Funk Shop ~ Keegan Smith
Nothin’ But a Woman ~ Robert Cray
One Chance ~ Skipping Girl Vinegar
Bitter Pill ~ Billy Idol
That’s All Right ~ Elvis Presley
Freckle Song ~ Chuck Prophet
Everlasting Arms ~ Vampire Weekend
Chello Song ~ Nick Drake
Tip of the Tongue ~ The Donnis Trio
Oblivion ~ Bastille
Vespa’s Song ~ Ben Taylor
Farmer’s Daughter ~ Babyshambles
I looked Away ~ Derek and the Dominos
Lost in the Supermarket ~ The Clash
Everybody’s Dancing and I Want to Die ~ Deaf Havana
Hard Candy ~ Blue October
Your Wife is Calling ~ Lee Ving, Dave Grohl, et al.