Four Seasons And A Playlist
My Mixtape’s A Masterpiece is a weekly feature in which a guest compiles a playlist around some theme. For Fourths Of July, this week David James Henry assembles 12 songs that cycle through the four seasons. Read David’s thoughts on each song and listen along to the Spotify playlist on top and/or the YouTube playlist at the bottom of the post.
As Fourths Of July draws to a close, it’s nice to go through the years with a mix of songs that reflect each of the four seasons to me. They may not be the first titles that come to mind when you think of spring, summer, autumn, and winter—but they cast a mood that absolutely puts me into those seasonal days.
SPRING
1. “River In The Rain” by Roger Miller
This song is very close to my heart, and represents a deep memory I have as a young man in rural California. When I was growing up, I lived in a small town with very little to do, no entertainment to speak of, and so in my spare time, I would walk to the Kings River and listen to the water trickle over branches and grass that had so bravely grown since the start of wintertime. There’s a sentimental relationship between a Californian and water, and while today, people from my state will hold each other at the throat for a drop, it is nice to just sit and listen to the river flowing as raindrops fall on my head.
2. “Santa Ana Winds” by Waylon Payne
When I first moved to Southern California, I missed a lot of the regular weather I’d experienced in the Central Valley. But the winds every spring were the new old reliable. It was another, different, yet familiar connection to nature that I sorely needed as I was now surrounded by concrete. The love song plays into a lot of my romantic feelings and confusions at that time in my life. While dating was so much more accessible, I felt that I just wanted one person who would come in and check in with me, no matter what turmoil I might have been facing. It also meant a lot to me to hear a song sung by another man, and while I’m sure Waylon wrote this song and imagined a relationship with a woman, I enjoy listening to the melody and imagining that I, myself, have someone who will fly in on the Santa Ana winds when I need them.
3. “Where Have All The Flowers Gone?” by The Kingston Trio
My emotional connection to this song relates to my connection with music that I built up after becoming an adult. The Kingston Trio is covering a song written by Pete Seeger, a man I deeply admire and listen to often, but their specific performance draws an emotional grief and regret for war and sorrow that Pete Seeger didn’t quite capture in his recordings. I was raised as a Mennonite, and so I have a deep disdain for war and human conflict. The war in Ukraine right now has divided my family, and I have no idea where my Russian relatives are. I hope they’re alright, and that my cousins are far from Ukraine. The bittersweetness of the last verse of “Where Have All The Flowers Gone” rings with me. While, yes, all the soldiers have gone to graveyards, the graveyards have gone to flowers. And while I love the imagery and the condemnation of this cycle of violence offered by Seeger, there is something comforting that even in death, life goes on.
SUMMER
4. “Ordinary Day” by Great Big Sea
I love this song, and it’s not too hard to understand why. The opening beeping, setting the rhythm of the song itself is the Morse Code signal for “SOS”. The lyrics are about people who are constantly knocked down by the world they live in, and they keep standing up. Great Big Sea’s Alan Doyle sings in the melody that “it’s all a state of mind.” Even in the darkest hours, we can slap on a smile and keep on going. But in the background, immediately after he sings this, we have the reminder. (• • • - - - • • •) “Save our ship, Save our ship.” No matter how jolly Doyle might seem, he’s struggling. And as a man who struggles with chronic depression, I relate to this song really well. I often want to feel like each day is just an ordinary day and to say “it’s alright,” even when it’s not. And you know? Sometimes? It’s okay to fake a smile. And this song’s always helped me do that.
5. “justified” by Kacey Musgraves
Listen, alright, I know, this one’s not too terribly deep. I’ve been hurt in relationships, we all have, but this song specifically resonated with me. I’ve had partners who knocked me from side to side with platitudes and statements that played my emotions into their hands. While Kacey is singing from a woman’s perspective, it feels incredibly validating to have someone tell me it’s okay to cry, just a little, laugh, in the middle, die, just a little, inside, just a little. It’s cringey, but it’s therapeutic, and it’s my playlist.
6. “God Help The Girl” by God Help The Girl
This one specifically is all about a girl who tells herself she doesn’t want to have a relationship with men, it’s just a distraction. And that’s exactly why I relate so much. My relationships with other men have been fraught, and as a bisexual man, when I got close to other men, I had this exact same monologue in my head. And with my work, with the hustle and bustle, I allowed myself to pretend that I didn’t want a relationship, but when I was in a relationship, I couldn’t stop thinking about it. There’s something therapeutic about listening to a woman sing about a man, giving me an excuse to sing about a man.
AUTUMN
7. “My Oklahoma Home Blowed Away (Live)” by Pete Seeger
Now here’s the man I love the most. Pete Seeger’s music hit me very late in my life, but it hit me at the perfect time in my life. I’ve always loved folk music, and his music, and his vocal tenor, it perfectly hit my ear. I was looking for socially conscious, empathetic music to care for the suffering I saw in the world. This particular song is rather goofy, not the most reflective, but my family was there in Oklahoma during the Dust Bowl. And singing about it gives me a soft connection to my family members I never was able to speak to.
8. “My My My” by Jamie Lono
I discovered this song in the oddest of places, while playing Watch Dogs after getting fired from my first office job. The rebellion in the lyrics, the anger, the indignation, it perfectly fit how I was feeling, and this modern jazz bit was a perfect combination to my exploration into old folk music such as Seeger’s. While Seeger speaks to the universal struggle of the working class, having a musician sing about those struggles with modern musical production gives a different, more fresh vibe. I love this song so much, and I would love to have played in a boombox held overhead in front of my old boss’ office.
9. “White Woman’s Instagram” by Bo Burnham
This song hits with an adept knife to the heart and I love it for that. At first, Burnham’s comedy is quite one dimensional. He encourages his audience to laugh at the banality of this hypothetical woman’s instagram. The joke, of course, being that she is shallow, not very inventive, nor original in any way. If he is able to skewer a white liberal woman’s online existence, it might have been just as shallow of a song, but in the second half, when he hits the bridge, he begins to sing about another post on this woman’s page. She is struggling. She’s mourning her mother, she’s all alone, and this page is her coping mechanism. It’s her safe space. Suddenly, when he goes back to singing about her stereotypical posts, it’s no longer funny. It’s tragic. The audience is completely drawn to connecting with her. We also want to post incredibly derivative political street art on occasion. And it’s okay. We’re all just trying to cope.
WINTER
10. “In Tall Buildings” by John Hartford
Winter, to me, has always felt like slowing down. And this song, with its folksy swing, fits the bill perfectly for me. I’ve always been kind of a redneck, and going to work in a corporate office with clean cubicles and business casual attire betrays a deep part of me that just wants to grow out his hair, wear torn plaid shirts and patched jeans and walk in the dirt. This mournful song hits that mood so perfectly, and I have memorized it after listening to it so often. Who knows? Maybe I’ll be able to use it to explain to my future kids why daddy is so sad about going to work in the mornings.
11. “Emmylou” by First Aid Kit
This love song connects me very well with my current girlfriend. Before changing her name, she was called Emmy, and this song specifically was one that she listened to to reminisce, to think about the world as it spins. That’s exactly why I listen to it. It’s reflective, it’s calming, and it’s soft. It’s exactly how I feel when we talk together. To have a Swedish girlfriend and a Swedish folk song that mentions her by name is an oddly cinematic coincidence, I suppose. But I wouldn’t want it to change. This song will always be there for me.
12. “Death with Dignity” by Sufjan Stevens
There’s a deep mourning in this song that I can connect with so well. I have an odd relationship with death, and Sufjan explores his own struggles with grief in this whole album. I particularly struggle to feel my emotions openly, after years of being told to swallow them. And at this point, I also do not know where to begin. It’s an oddly understanding song. At no point does Sufjan break into tears, but the lyrics betray the deep sadness he’s feeling. And this specifically helped me deal with the deaths I’ve experienced in my family. It sucks when I have to fake my outward emotions instead of just letting the inside emotions out. But this song helps. It’s helped a lot. And that’s why it’s the song I’d like to leave this playlist with. It’s a goodbye, and it’s one that I think fits quite well.
