The Four Elementals Of Music
My Mixtape’s A Masterpiece is a weekly feature in which a guest compiles a playlist around some theme. This week, Tina Kakadelis assembles 12 tracks featuring the four classical elements of nature. Read Tina’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 a part of the Fourths Of July theme, I’ve been thinking about what the universe offers us in sets of four. The classical elements immediately came to mind: Fire, Air, Earth, and Water. In the list below, each element is found in three songs, either in the title or the lyrics. All of the Earth songs, organically, are about things grown from the Earth, while all the Air songs accidentally became about birds. The songs about Fire are less about actual flames and more about what it means to burn for someone, to hold a torch long after they’ve gone, or to ache desperately for them. Water was unexpectedly the most difficult, but there are two songs about rain and one song with enough emotions to fill the depths of the sea.
1. “Burning” by Maggie Rogers (Fire)
Few songs are able to encompass the joyous, bright, burning feeling of falling in love. To see Maggie Rogers perform this song is to witness something close to a miracle. It’s breathy, vibrant, and alive.
2. “peace” by Taylor Swift (Water)
There are many Taylor Swift songs I could have used for water because she sure does love a symbolic rain storm. “peace” also references fire, but I chose it for the “rain is always going to come when you’re standing with me'' line. I like that the line (and the song) is honest about hardships being inescapable without perpetuating the idea that love has to be difficult to matter.
3. “Wildflowers” by Tom Petty (Earth)
This was the second song that came to mind for this playlist, and it’s what made me realize the Elements idea could work. “Wildflowers” immediately puts me at ease with Tom Petty’s assurances of a place in the wildflowers reserved for me. It’s not just that I deserve a place somewhere I feel free, but that I belong there. It’s an important distinction.
4. “Shrike” by Hozier (Air)
Every time I hear this song, I’m transported back in time to 2018 Toronto, frantically trying to get Spotify to download Hozier’s Nina Cried Power EP over terrible Starbucks WiFi. It’s ironic that the song is about not telling someone you love them when you had the chance, but will always remind me of a time when I was stupidly, toothache-inducingly, head over heels in love.
5. “Burn” by Ray LaMontagne (Fire)
Nothing made sense of my teenage unrequited crushes quite like “Burn.” It’s the perfect blend of melodramatic earnestness and youthful hearbreak that really hit close to home back in the day. Who am I kidding? I still listen to this song post-breakup.
6. “Kentucky Rain (with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra)” by Elvis Presley (Water)
Probably not the Elvis song most people would consider their favorite, and Baz Luhrmann certainly didn’t give the song its due in his recent movie, but I adore it. It’s about a man walking through towns in the pouring rain to find his love, and I’m not sure if he ever finds her. It depends on my mood, I guess. Some days I think he’ll wander Kentucky forever in rain-filled shoes, but other days I feel more hopeful.
7. “Garden Song” by Phoebe Bridgers (Earth)
When I first heard this song, I got emotional, but I didn’t know why because the lyrics seem like a nonsensical stream of consciousness. One day, though, I realized exactly why the song made me so emotional. Its specificity tugged at my heartstrings and took me back to my own particular memories about growing up. It’s a hypnotic and trance-like meditation on life, dreams, and everything in between.
8. “Songbird” by Fleetwood Mac (Air)
The very uncool explanation for this song’s presence on the list is Glee. As a pop culture-obsessed gay kid growing up in the early-aughts, of course I watched Glee. “Songbird” lended itself to one of the few non-cringeworthy serenades from Santana (Naya Rivera) to Brittany (Heather Morris), and will always have a special place in my heart.
9. “I’m On Fire” by Bruce Springsteen (Fire)
Every mixtape idea that came to mind featured a Springsteen song, but I’m glad I settled on a theme that would let me include my favorite. It’s a song that’s sensual, mysterious, and aching. Many have covered it, but they all lack the essence of Springsteen. It’s a song best listened to on a cool fall night in your car with the windows down. Something about that combination makes it magical.
10. “An Evening I Will Not Forget (Acoustic)” by Dermot Kennedy (Water)
This song is perhaps the biggest stretch of the mixtape because the lyrics only mention water once. “I kept my hope just like I’d hoped to / Then sang to the sea for feelings deep blue.”
I’ve always felt like he has so many emotions that he doesn’t know how to fully explain or articulate.
Even without being able to vocalize these feelings, they overwhelm him like a tsunami.
11. “Fruits Of My Labor” by Lucinda Williams (Earth)
So many mentions of things grown from the earth in this song! Lavender, lotus blossoms, tangerines, persimmons, sugarcane, grapes, honeydew…the list goes on. I’ve always seen this song as being about how lovely and important it is to have someone to share this world with. Someone to witness the good, the bad, the ugly, and the enchanting.
12. “Light of a Clear Blue Morning” by Dolly Parton (Air)
Even before I remembered the lines about eagles, something about “Light of a Clear Blue Morning” made me think of Air. Maybe because the song’s about the hope and promise of the always-on-the-horizon-tomorrow. A clearing of the air, if you will.
