The Original Sunday Morning Playlist blog - 10/11/13
Alright, quick backtrack: last Saturday, I got an unexpected couple of visitors. The first was Rob who is the son of my dad's third wife. The second was Jeremy who is an old friend that I have not seen since our freshmen year of high school. Apparently, Rob and Jeremy are best friends and served in the military together. Rob still considers me like a step-brother even though we hardly ever see one another and our respective parents have not been married in over 20 years. Jeremy and I were friends in elementary and middle school but we were never that good of friends. He's a good guy, though.
As a result of that drop-in, I am now about to head to a cook-out tomorrow (Saturday, 10/12/13) at Rob's mom's house. She lives in a private boat club where coincidentally my grandparents use to own property as well. (Not coincidentally, my father is going to this cook out as well.) I suspect we will watch whatever other college ball game is on since the UGA game will be done. What is certain is that we will all be drinking a round or two. I suspect more than that in the case of my dad and Rob. We are planning on being there for the night.
My weekend plans are not the point here. The point is that I will be at the boat club Sunday morning and I miss that old place. I have a lot of fond memories of that old place. As kids, my cousins and I use to take random walks at all sorts of hours in that place. I've been wanting to take a camera into that place if this one spot down on the lake is still there and record me reading some spoken word. I wrote a few of the earliest pieces that I wrote down at that spot. I hope it is still there. I've not been to that boat club in about ten years. (and not been back since for various reasons...)
For the past few weeks, I've been contemplating the 'perfect Sunday morning playlist' to put my Ipod. I was partially motivated to do this because of the idea behind the Counting Crows album "Saturday Nights and Sunday Mornings". In Adam Durwitz's words, "It is about really wanting to mean something and failing to do it. You want your life to mean something. You want to be somebody and then what you turn out to be is so much less (or more) than what you thought you were going to be." In a nutshell, "Saturday Nights" is about living your life and "Sunday Mornings" is about the 'regrets' you may wake up with one day.
I am especially fond of the "Sunday Mornings" portion of the album. So a few weeks ago, I started a playlist on my ITunes to put on my Ipod with the track "On Almost Any Sunday Morning" as the lead off track. I've added two Smashing Pumpkins songs to the list since then, another Counting Crows track, and two tracks by The Gathering Field (a band you've probably never heard of but should have. The album "Lost in America" was a favorite of mine in college and remains to this day.)
This Sunday Morning (10/13/13), I will be taking a walk down to a certain spot on Lake Lanier and taking a moment to sit down, probably finish a beverage, and listening to the songs I have so far. In particularly, I will be remembering a particular regret whom Jeremy had me thinking about by time they left last weekend. And when I get to that second Counting Crows song, "Goodnight Elizabeth" then I might just do an early morning shot just for her.
June 2020
That was written 7 years ago. I've since moved the list over to a Spotify playlist and got it to a place where it is complete. I might should say as completed as much as it ever will be completed. I mean I could keep adding songs to the list but who wants a never-ending playlist.
Here's my list so far, there might be additions someday:
1. "On Almost Any Sunday Morning" - Counting Crows
2. "Goodnight Elizabeth" - Counting Crows
3. "Black" by Pearl Jam
4. "Hey Jealousy" by The Gin Blossoms
5. "6th Avenue Heartache" by The Wallflowers
6. "Thirty Three" - Smashing Pumpkins
7. "Through the Eyes of Ruby" - Smashing Pumpkins
8. "Country Feedback" by R.E.M.
9. "Kody" by Matchbox Twenty
10. "Girl Like That" by Matchbox Twenty
11 "Private Archipelago" - Sordid Humor
12. "Doris Day" - Sordid Humor
13 "Lost Coast" by Grey Eye Glances
14. "And All I've Loved, I've Loved Alone" by Grey Eye Glances
15. "The Blower's Daughter" by Damien Rice
16. "Lost in America" - The Gathering Field
17. "Bound to Be" - The Gathering Field
18. "Tower of Song" by Leonard Cohen
19. "You Wanted More" by Tonic
20. "Its a Shame About Ray" by The Lemonheads
21. "The Wanderer" by U2 and Johnny Cash
22. "Daffodil Lament" - The Cranberries
Don't get me wrong here for I am not looking for songs about unpleasant regrets.
For me, I've always said that nearly every one of my regrets have names rather it involves friends and lovers who have been left behind or gone away. It also includes places you can't go back to for whatever reason.
I'm looking for songs that remind you of those sorts of memories.
Do you have enough to make a "Sunday Morning Playlist" of your own?
Oh and as an aside... I'm making a "Late Night Playlist" for Saturday nights (and Friday) as well.
Cheers.
