"Huh? What?" he'll say.
"The lyrics. To this song. What a good line," I'll say, surprised that he's not commenting on it himself.
"This song has lyrics?" he'll say.
This last line is an exaggeration, of course. Sort of. He knows when a song has lyrics and when it doesn't, but he really doesn't listen to them. And although he's introduced me to a couple bands who don't write lyrics, I generally like songs with stories. Yes, one could argue that songs without lyrics tell stories, but they're not speaking my language.
Two of my favorite albums this summer who by artists who do speak my language are Why?'s Golden Tickets and Jenny Lewis' The Voyager. Since I graduated college, I have a very few musicians who I actually follow, and even those that I do I'm not very good at, but I'm happy to find something new from these two. And there are a couple jams from Neko Case's newest CD. She's the only artist I follow for real. Because the lady is legit. And I have a major sixth grade girl crush on her.
All of the three aforementioned artists tell stories in their songs. Some of them feel as complete as an Alice Monroe short story, although you have to fill in some of the twists and turns of the characters' lives yourself. It's like a choose your own adventure.
So here's a summer playlist full of songs I've been rocking out/grooving along to. That is, when I'm not listening to white noise.* Many of the songs below tell a story, maybe with the exception of Everything is AWESOME!!! But it's so freaking fun.
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- If you're looking for a funny video that will probably not go viral but should.
- In honor of the new movie. (It's dirty. Careful)
- Trying to convince Tim and Beckett to travel America like these guys.
*We often listen to white noise everywhere we go now, in bed, in the living room, in the car. It puts the little one to sleep.