“Thanksgiving” Songs - Songs We’re Thankful For, Vol. 1: Beatles, U2, R.E.M., NIN, Petty, The Smiths and More
America is preparing to celebrate/survive Thanksgiving and Confessions of a Fanboy is ready to throw down. Bring me the finest turkeys and pumpkin pies in all the land!
I tried to think of Thanksgiving-themed songs for a Thanksgiving Day playlist, but the only song on my iPod that has the word “turkey” in it is John Lennon’s “Cold Turkey” and somehow that just didn’t seem to fit. So, instead, I’ve invited good friend of the site Dawn Olsen to join me in listing songs we’re thankful for.
Dawn Olsen:
Shoot, we are going to have to narrow it down. I am thankful for lots of songs. How about we limit it to an era? Or better yet, songs I am grateful for having in my life, even if they aren’t necessarily my favorites.
When I think of songs that formed my appreciation of music in this world, it look like this:
- The Beatles - Golden Slumbers - (first album I ever bought was Abbey Road on 8-track)
- M - Pop Muzik - (First 45 I ever bought and listened to about 1 billion times)
- REM - Radio Free Europe (First Mix tape I ever received, spawned my love of good music)
- The Smiths - How Soon Is Now? (same as above - The Smiths defined my teen years)
- Modern English - Melt With You (from the movie that defined my fantasy ideal of teen life - Valley Girl)
- Led Zeppelin - Dyer Maker (stolen from my sister, spawned my love of classic rock)
- Joni Mitchell - Free Man In Paris (reminds me of my mom and listening to her old folk records)
- NIN - Down In It (my first love - I was sure Trent Reznor was going to marry me, for reals)
- Lloyd Cole - Perfect Skin (first song I requested Eric to play when I called his radio show - which happened to be right around Thanksgiving, strangely enough)
- The Association - Never My Love - (the song I made Eric play for me on guitar at our wedding, I love that song)
Josh Hathaway
I had a hell of a time coming up with this list because I’m such a music slut; I’ve loved so many so very much. I tried to find a cohesive theme or concept to do it. In the end, I grabbed 10 pretty random songs and went with them because they qualify, even if they aren’t the best examples.
- Mark Lanegan – “When Your Number Isn’t Up” – I don’t know if there exists a Mark Lanegan song I’m not thankful for. It may seem strange to be thankful for a song this dark, but it speaks to me. Besides… that VOICE! I will forever maintain Cash would have recorded this song if he’d lived long enough.
- Jeff Buckley – “Hallelujah” – Once again… that VOICE! This song is almost too beautiful and perfect to behold. I often feel myself wincing when he sings this because it’s all too much.
- Tom Petty – “Crawling Back to You” – Same thing here as far as being thankful for just about everything Tom Petty’s ever written. The last verse to this song is what really speaks to me.
- Oasis – “Don’t Look Back in Anger” – This is a song that brings us together and unites us. You can’t not sing this song!
- Gillian Welch – “Dear Someone” – Here’s one for the hopeless romantic in us all, or perhaps just the hopeless. I spent a lot of nights feeling like this and could never have brought it to life the way Gillian does.
- Bruce Springsteen – “Across the Border” – Like “Dear Someone,” this song absolutely destroys me. Is it about immigration? Is it about America? Is it about love? Is it about heaven? Yes, yes, yes, and yes, if you ask me.
- U2 – “Stuck In A Moment You Can’t Get Out Of” – God bless U2 for their clumsy song titles. This one has helped lift us out of some dark places.
- Elliott Smith – “Memory Lane” – Talk about dark places… I’m thankful for most of Elliott Smith’s songs. This isn’t even my favorite, but I love the word pictures he paints and the idea of being afraid of our past.
- George Harrison – “Blow Away” – It’s perfect to segue from Elliott to a Beatle.I wrote about this one at length a few months back. It reminds me of happy times in my childhood and connects to my love of The Beatles.
- The Beatles – “Lucy in the Sky With Diamonds” – My first favorite song? I think so. This may have been the one that planted the seed for all that was to follow.
Dawn, I’m struck by the heavy ’80s flavor of your list. We’re roughly the same age but have very different experiences where that decade is concerned. My parents heavily filtered our entertainment during those years and as such, I don’t have much of a connection with ’80s music.
I’m also struck by the way you chose your songs, tying them to specific memories or milestones. I have a lot of songs that do that for me, but I didn’t think to go that route until the end of my list. I can understand why you’d be thankful for these songs based simply on that. The connection to thankfulness in my list is probably a little less obvious. Well done. Now, to your list…
I never would have thought of “Golden Slumbers,” but it might be my favorite movement of that Abbey Road suite on Side 2.
Johnny Marr’s guitar on “How Soon is Now” is one of my favorite things ever despite the fact I never really dug The Smiths. That one is a classic.
Your mom was a Joni Mitchell fan, mine is an Eagles fan. I can’t hear an Eagles song without having those similar visions.
I think I represent all of America (or at least all of the BC Magazine community) when I say we want some sort of photographic or video evidence of Eric playing “Never My Love.”
I can’t bring myself to not like “Melt With You” even though I desperately want to. There really is something undeniable about that one.
Filed under: Elliott Smith, Gillian Welch, Led Zeppelin, Mark Lanegan, Oasis, R.E.M., The Beatles, Tom Petty, U2
Great Job you two!
even at this late morning hour, I cannot make my brain work to produce my own list - but I can react to yours.
Golden Slumbers - very nice, very comforting.
Hallelujah. Not heard Buckley’s version, but the Rufus Wainwright one is pretty damn intense.
OK, off the top of my head, one of my all time favs is “Spirit in the Sky” by Norman Greenbaum. It’s so damn hopeful and joyful, even as it speaks of death. It reminds us that death is just a transition. I do want it played at my funeral.
I gotta hand it to Dawn on this one. I like her list better even if I like my songs better.
Funeral songs… that’s a different story altogether. I see another list coming on one of these days…
You didn’t let me respond to your songs. I will do that now, and then you can add it to the post and I will link from my site!
Great job dude!
Have I mentioned I am thankful to know you?
Truly one of the nicest things anyone has ever said to me, Dawn, and I feel likewise x2.
Sorry for moving on ahead of you like this. Thanksgiving crept up on me and I wanted us to have this out there. When you get time to write up your reaction, I’ll add it.
Thanks Mary! I have no posted my reactions to Josh’s list! Hope it’s as good as his.
i have personally witnessed eric playing guitar. i almost mistook him for jimmy page. i was impressed with his mad skills. and by the way, i am thankful for the olsen crew and the deep bond we have made as friends. respect
What are you going to buy this Dark Friday? Black Friday Shopping is coming. As always, it tastes like dead…
I want to know what every one is planning to buy.Here is my shopping list:
http://www.globalgmail.com/upload/BFridayList.pdf
LOL. Any feedback is welcome.
Jack,
What’s with the diapers? You planning a long term session of gameplaying in your surround sound chair with your XBox conroller in hand?
Schweeet!
Right back at you D-Bomb!
Nice list you two. I think if I was picking these, mine would have as heavy a sixties feel as Dawn’s list does the eighties. Things like Marvin Gaye’s “Mercy Mercy Me,” CSN&Y’s “Country Girl,” and just about anything by Brian Wilson and the Beach Boys up to and including “Good Vibrations” spring to mind. Probably something by the Mamas and Papas too while I’m at it.
I thought “Across The Border” was an interesting choice for Josh’s Springsteen pick. It’s not the one I’d have chosen (probably “The Price You Pay,” or “Long Time Comin” if I were to go with something more recent), but it is a very poignant tune.
Anyway, nice job on the lists you guys. Kinda helps me rev my own engine for the inevitable year-end lists that are just around the corner.
Three guesses on my own album of the year (and the first two don’t count).
-Glen
Thanks, Glen. Those are some great choices, too.
“Across The Border” is the song that probably moves me more than any other song. It may not be my favorite song by him, but it is the one that moves me the most. I hear it like a hymn.
As for your album of the year choice (it’s among the contenders for my top spot, too), did you hear EO and I gab about it on the first ever BCRadio 2.0 episode?
Looking forward to seeing that list of yours.
hmmm….songs i’m thankful for. not easy, i could go on for days.
me and josh certainly intersect on “Dear Someone”. it’s so good it almost hurts.
also in that category are:
“Miss You Til I Meet You” - Dar Williams
“The Maker” - Emmylou Harris (actually, a Daniel Lanois song)
“Satellites” - Rickie Lee Jones
“Untouchable Face” - Ani DiFranco
“Brand New 64 Dodge” - Greg Brown
“Hearts of Stone” - Southside Johnny
Well, I wouldn’t say any of the songs on my list would be on a “Favorites” list. But I was going more for nostalgia than anything else. I love that other’s are giving their list. This should be a regular feature on BC or something.
But, you have to list WHY you chose the songs. That’s as important as the song itself.
I would hate for my music tastes to be judged by my list though, as it really isn’t representative of my “favs”. That said, I am a HUGE 80’s new wave fan. I won’t even try to deny it.
This was fun Josh. What’s our next topic.
oh shoot, why? that’s tough.
and what’s wrong with 80’s new wave?
‘Melt With You’ is the greatest song not recorded by a great band.
[…] week, Glosslip’s own Dawn Olsen and I compiled a list of songs were thankful for in advance of Thanksgiving. I chose one of my favorite Mark Lanegan songs but I could have chosen […]
That’s an interesting concept, 11, greatest songs by non-great bands. It’s not quite the same as one-hit wonders, but it has a similar taste and feel to it.
i am always thankful for tainted love by softcell. that song puts me in a good mood every time i hear it. it may even be my best memory of the 80’s.
That’s one of those songs I always like when I hear it but don’t have a copy of it anywhere in my CD collection because I’m just not much of an ’80s guy.
[…] one of the five best things they’ve ever done. I don’t think I’m alone in being thankful for “Stuck in A Moment You Can’t Get Out Of.” “Walk On” should close […]