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at Lagunitas.com. Can you

0:16

believe it has been a year since we did

0:18

this show, this time last year?

0:21

It's kind of wild to think about that. It

0:23

went by so fast for me. Are

0:25

you at that point, Mitra, where...

0:27

It's just time is just going faster

0:29

and faster. It is. I very much

0:31

am like, wait a minute. I thought it was

0:33

January. Wait a minute. I thought it was September. What's

0:36

happening? Yeah. So this is

0:38

our new annual tradition that we started

0:40

last year, our episode about songs that hit

0:42

hard. We did a call out to

0:44

listeners and it turns out there are lots

0:46

of songs that, you know, really hit

0:48

lots of people really hard. We had a

0:50

little form they could fill out online

0:53

if they wanted to use that. Writing

0:55

in, voicemails. telling

0:57

us about a song that

0:59

absolutely wrecked them one way or

1:01

the other. Ugly cry too or just obsessed

1:03

about. So we're going to share

1:06

some of those songs and the stories and

1:08

the song picks and everything on this episode.

1:10

So we'll get to as many as we

1:12

can. Let's start with one

1:14

of the written comments that we got. So this was a

1:16

song a lot of people picked, which

1:18

would be Sizz's Saturn. Yeah. A single

1:20

she released back in February. So

1:22

people have been sitting with this for

1:24

a few months now. But one

1:26

of the listeners who wrote in was

1:28

Mona from San Antonio. She

1:30

says, 2024 was a rough year.

1:32

I had two great losses and was

1:34

diagnosed with two chronic illnesses. This

1:37

song hit me hard because the lyrics summed

1:39

up my emotional state of mind. How

1:42

can things get any worse? How

1:44

much more can a person take? The

1:46

melodic sound of the song though was

1:48

somehow soothing. It made me feel

1:50

every emotion. It made me feel like I

1:52

wasn't alone. the

1:56

universe please make some

1:58

noise I

3:10

love this song because it is a feeling

3:12

that I have had often. Yeah,

3:15

it just really

3:17

makes you reflect on why am I

3:19

going through these things? And

3:21

is there a way to get out of this?

3:23

And I think it's also, I

3:25

think about the verse, if there is a

3:27

point to being good, then where's my reward? Which

3:30

is something I think a lot of people always often

3:33

think about. I'm doing all the things

3:35

I'm supposed to do. And why

3:37

are all these things... Happening. Yeah.

3:39

She also asks why do we always

3:41

seem to lose the good ones,

3:43

right? And the people who

3:45

are just doing the worst possible

3:47

things seem to thrive. Yes. That

3:50

is something I definitely think

3:52

from time to time. Yeah.

3:54

It is interesting that so

3:56

many people picked this song and

3:58

not all of them came

4:01

to it because they

4:03

were necessarily struggling or

4:05

hurting or unhappy. A

4:07

lot of people, in fact, were feeling

4:09

great, you know, and Saturn just

4:11

sort of underlined their feelings for them

4:13

and sort of reinforced how they

4:15

were already feeling. I think, you know,

4:17

she asks, SZA does in the

4:20

song, asks all these big questions. about

4:22

why we're here and what's the

4:24

purpose of suffering and things like that.

4:26

But her voice, just the

4:28

sound of her voice, the little

4:30

arpeggiated synths, yeah. The production

4:33

value in this just really

4:35

give us that otherworldly

4:37

connection. Yeah, and it just

4:39

says everything's gonna be okay. Or

4:41

even if everything isn't gonna be okay

4:43

or we don't know, it's okay

4:45

to ask these questions. Right. Yeah. All

4:48

right, let's go to one of the

4:50

voice memos we got, and this is

4:52

from a listener named Josh in Dayton,

4:54

Ohio, and the song that he picked

4:56

is Laura Marling's Child of Mine. My

4:58

wife and I were blessed to have

5:00

our first child on April 12th this

5:02

year. Being parents has completely transformed our

5:04

lives. I've never known time

5:06

to go by so quickly, and I don't

5:09

want to miss any moment. I've

5:11

never known a love this strong. Laura

5:13

Marling's song, Child of Mine, is

5:15

a beautiful, tender and poetic reflection.

5:17

on raising a child. I always

5:19

end up crying hard during the bridge. Long

5:21

nights, fast years, so they say. Time

5:24

won't ever feel the same. And I

5:26

don't want to miss it. No, I don't want

5:28

to miss it. And I'm not going to miss it,

5:30

child of mine. I'm so thankful to have a

5:32

song like this. To be able to

5:34

remind myself, even when times are hard,

5:36

the nights are long, that I don't

5:38

want to rush any moments with this

5:41

wonderful, amazing daughter of mine. You

5:56

and your dad

5:58

are dancing in

6:00

the kitchen Life

6:02

is slowing down but

6:05

it's still bitchin' I

6:08

got myself a rod

6:10

but I could break

6:13

it My back is

6:15

still as strong as

6:17

I can make it

6:20

Plus you're mine So

6:24

who would rush right

6:26

through it, child of mine?

6:29

Child of mine.

6:33

Child of

6:35

mine. Everything

6:42

you want is in

6:44

your reach right now.

6:47

Anything that's not, I

6:50

have to teach them. So

7:13

this song, Child of Mine, is from Laura

7:16

Marling's album, Patterns. We just talked about another

7:18

cut from it. called Patterns

7:20

and Repeat on our Best Songs

7:22

of the Year episode and this

7:24

whole album just absolutely floored me

7:26

for much of the same reasons

7:28

that our listener Josh and Dayton mentioned

7:31

Laura Marling became a first -time mom not

7:33

that long ago and she actually recorded

7:35

much of this album with her daughter in

7:37

the room and she kind of played

7:39

the songs for her daughter that way. In

7:41

fact you hear a little sort of

7:43

recording at the top there that makes me

7:45

think that is from one of the

7:47

sessions with her daughter sitting there listening. It

7:49

made me feel so warm. I don't

7:51

have children of my own but so many

7:54

of the the lyrics of it felt

7:56

very familiar in terms of the things that

7:58

I'd heard my mother say. There

8:00

is one, she says, I can't protect

8:02

you there, though I'll keep trying. Sometimes

8:04

you'll go places I can't get to, but

8:06

I've spoken to the angels who'll protect you.

8:10

And man, if that don't

8:12

perfectly capture sentiments that

8:14

my mother has expressed, it

8:16

is definitely something that I wanted

8:19

to play for her. Josh, our listener

8:21

who wrote in, two things he

8:23

said that I will co -sign on, the

8:26

idea that It is so hard. It

8:28

is so much work. But even at

8:30

its worst when you're just like, oh

8:32

my god, this is awful. It's still

8:34

the greatest thing in the world. And

8:37

yeah, just that whole idea, again,

8:39

about time, Laura Marling talks

8:41

about and Josh talked about it.

8:44

Just the days are long, the years

8:46

are short, all the things that

8:48

felt like an eternity in the moment.

8:50

And you realize, wow, that was

8:52

maybe two days or a week or

8:54

something like that. But Josh,

8:56

the listener who picked the song,

8:58

his story and his reflections, I think,

9:00

are a good example of what

9:02

we heard a lot in our call

9:04

-out this year. Just a lot of

9:06

joy. A lot of joy. A

9:08

lot of joy and almost defiant joy

9:10

and intense gratitude. It wasn't all

9:12

just, you know, tear -jerkers this year.

9:14

That sort of actually is a great

9:16

sort of segue, I think, into

9:18

the next song. Yeah. This next one

9:20

was from Michelle, a listener in

9:22

Philly. Yeah. And the song she picked

9:24

is Beyonce's. to hands to heaven.

9:26

And the reason this song hit me

9:28

so hard is that I am

9:30

45 years old and finally met the

9:32

love of my life. After

9:34

going through so much,

9:37

I finally found the person I know

9:39

I want to spend the rest of

9:41

my life with. And that

9:43

song speaks directly to

9:45

finding that true love and

9:48

feeling like everything is

9:50

going to be alright. Yeah,

10:06

yeah, yeah, yeah.

10:15

Oh. Oh,

10:22

oh, oh. So

10:50

if you know the song, it's really

10:52

sort of clear that The part that

10:54

really was resonating with Michelle is that

10:57

last part of finding that person. Finding

10:59

that person that you've been waiting your

11:01

whole life for is you have been surrendering

11:04

and you've been figuring out who you

11:06

are and putting yourself together and here is

11:08

that other person. that you've been waiting

11:10

for. Yeah. I love that. Yeah. No, I'm

11:12

so glad we picked this one too

11:14

because, you know, what a gift to find

11:16

true love at any point in your

11:18

life. But you know, she made a point

11:20

of saying, you know, she's in middle

11:22

life now and she's just so grateful now

11:24

to have found it. That is just

11:27

such a gift. I think one of the

11:29

things that's great about this song, Two

11:31

Hands to Heaven, is that it suggests a

11:33

lot of struggle, but it's not too

11:35

explicit about it. It's sort of implied, in

11:37

fact, the whole idea that she's got

11:39

a drink in her hand and both hands

11:41

are raised to heaven, like that could

11:43

be a celebration. or an

11:45

applee. I always think about

11:48

the surrendering part of putting

11:50

your hands into heaven, but

11:52

it's a very complex song.

11:54

Yeah, there's a lot going on

11:56

in it. Beyonce says something

11:58

like 10 ,000 steps to find

12:00

the time of your life, I

12:02

think. There's

12:05

a journey there and also

12:07

acknowledgement and just that one little

12:09

line that often the path

12:11

to to happiness is a lot

12:13

of work it is yes so that

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13:39

right, let's get to another one of the

13:41

written comments we got. This is for the

13:43

song 25 by the band Lake Street Dive.

13:45

This is a song that I played on

13:47

the show actually earlier in the year when

13:49

it came out. It was picked by Sue

13:51

in Cleveland. And Sue says,

13:53

I turned 69 this year and I'm retiring

13:55

at the end of the year. My

13:57

mom passed away in August. All

13:59

these life changes have me thinking about

14:01

my life and what's coming next. I'm happily

14:03

married and I have been for many

14:06

years, but this song made me remember the

14:08

first time I fell hard for someone

14:10

in college. I've never quite gotten

14:12

over that man, my first grown -up love. This

14:15

song sums up those feelings of new

14:17

love and how sweet it feels from

14:19

a distance of decades. I

14:29

quite remember how I

14:31

thought we'd work

14:33

it out I guess

14:35

I would move

14:37

to California or you

14:39

to Boston I'd

14:41

learn to like to

14:44

stay at home

14:46

or you'd learn to

14:48

like going out

14:50

And although the stories

14:52

that I tell

14:54

myself about us now

14:58

Don't take me

15:00

to the grave

15:02

I'll be an

15:04

old woman Somebody

15:06

else by my

15:08

side But I

15:10

will always be One

15:33

of the things that Lake Street

15:35

Dive is so good at is storytelling.

15:38

It doesn't matter what

15:40

song it is, the

15:42

storytelling and their music

15:44

always gets me in

15:46

my feelings. And then

15:48

you add on top of

15:50

that Rachel Price's voice and

15:52

you just don't have any

15:54

choice but to feel all

15:56

the emotions. And I

15:58

noticed as I was sort of looking over what we're

16:00

going to be listening to. There's a

16:02

lot of songs about memory. A

16:04

lot of songs about the

16:06

past and nostalgia. And

16:08

they are able to tell this story

16:11

and thread that needle in such a

16:13

very simple way where it's very specific

16:15

to whoever in the group was a

16:17

songwriter. But you can pull your own

16:19

parts of your own past loves and

16:21

easily lay it on top of that.

16:23

Yeah, it is not hard to relate.

16:26

to a lot of the ideas and

16:28

feelings that come up in the song.

16:30

At least for me, at this point

16:32

in my life, and I'm sure many

16:34

other people too, I think the thing

16:36

that I am moved most by in

16:38

this song is that, you know, this

16:41

person who's reflecting on their youth in

16:43

the past and it's long gone, but

16:45

they only have good things to say

16:47

about this person that they're thinking about,

16:49

right? Right. And that is something, you

16:51

know, that just deeply moves me whenever

16:53

I see that kind of kindness in The

16:56

way that love can endure like that

16:58

even when you know you weren't right for

17:00

each other in the long run that

17:02

you wish only the best for him. You

17:05

know, you and I both brought our

17:07

own picks and songs that we want to

17:09

talk about. Let's just go ahead and do

17:11

yours because it's a good one. Sure. My

17:14

pick is a song traditions

17:16

by Don Rashard and Spencer

17:18

Zahn. And it's a

17:20

very simple song, but there is a line

17:22

in it that just kills me every

17:24

time. You call it lucky. I

17:26

call it blessings. You

17:59

call it lucky, I

18:01

call

18:04

it blessings

18:06

On

18:08

game day,

18:11

my

18:13

brother wears

18:15

Saint

18:17

shoes Must

18:20

be

18:22

a frank

18:24

thing Cause

18:27

when I wear

18:29

them shit, they

18:31

lose My baby

18:33

don't go nowhere

18:35

without his Carolina

18:37

blues Your mama's

18:39

boy, she a

18:41

Tar Hill fan

18:43

too You call

18:45

it superstition, it's

18:47

a calling tradition You

18:58

call it lucky, I

19:00

call it blessings. Does

19:11

this make you think of your mom? It

19:13

does. It makes me think of

19:15

my mom. It makes me think

19:17

of my grandmothers. It makes me

19:19

think of all of those people,

19:21

not even just the women in

19:23

my life, but the people in

19:26

my life who sort of layered

19:28

onto me the different sort of

19:30

cultural, family bits that really made

19:32

me who I am. And

19:34

a lot of them having to do with

19:36

faith. Because when I think

19:38

about what some of our

19:40

superstitions or what Don is saying

19:42

are really our traditions, a

19:45

lot of them are about faith, you

19:47

know, wearing the Saint shoes, hoping

19:49

they'll win, wearing your, it's all

19:51

about us, these small little acts

19:53

of faith. Yeah. hoping that we

19:55

do our part and it's hard

19:58

to believe in those things and

20:00

they may not make sense to

20:02

anybody else. And

20:04

that for me is why the line,

20:06

you call it lucky, I call

20:08

it blessings is so important to me.

20:10

Well, when I listened to this,

20:12

I immediately clocked two things. One, North

20:15

Carolina, even though you're from South

20:17

Carolina, right? Yeah, but the Carolina's and

20:19

family because I know how important

20:21

family is to you. Yeah. And I

20:23

kind of thought this was actually

20:25

a nice companion piece to the Duran

20:27

Jones. Yeah, it is. I thought

20:29

about like, oh, here I am

20:31

again picking another thing that really sort

20:34

of speaks to my southern upbringing, all

20:36

these sort of like family parts. Faith.

20:38

Yes, exactly. All these things that

20:40

sort of help inform who I am.

20:42

And like I said, it's not

20:44

a super complicated, complex song, but it

20:46

really just sort of gets to

20:48

the root of who I am. Yeah.

20:50

Now, I get it. And it's

20:52

such a beautiful song, too. This

20:55

whole album is such a... There's so

20:57

much serenity in it, right? It is just

20:59

gorgeous. It was hard to pick what

21:01

song because I love so much of the

21:03

album. Yeah. And that album's called Quiet

21:05

in a World Full of Noise. You

21:07

want to get me to listen to something?

21:09

Call it. quiet and a world full of

21:11

noise. And that title track is

21:14

absolutely beautiful. I definitely recommend people check

21:16

it out. Well, the song that I

21:18

picked also speaks to faith a little

21:20

bit and is also, I think, pretty

21:22

simple to follow, but yeah, is

21:25

just so moving and powerful to

21:27

me. It's a song that I

21:29

played earlier in the year on

21:31

the show. It's called God Person

21:33

by Maddie Diaz. I

21:40

come here to

21:42

watch Other people know

21:44

what I can

21:46

only guess at Cause

21:48

I'm never sure

21:50

And I don't like

21:52

commitment if there's

21:55

something more They sing

21:57

their songs close

21:59

in their eyes Seeing

22:01

the light in

22:03

a different light How

22:05

does that happen? Why

22:08

is it beautiful? Why

22:10

isn't magic and

22:12

tragic? I don't

22:15

know I'm not

22:17

a God But

22:20

I'm never not

22:22

searching Looking

22:25

at the sky staring

22:27

at the ocean If

22:29

something to know then

22:31

I wanna know it

22:33

I wanna hold it

22:35

I wanna feel it

22:37

And maybe I can't

22:39

say That I'm not

22:41

a God person Talking

22:47

to my dad Talking

22:49

about my mom After 20

22:51

years What the hell

22:53

went wrong How can I

22:55

avoid Making the same

22:57

choices And stay on the

22:59

Carolina coast Living in

23:01

This my song of the

23:03

year This song just...

23:05

And I have spent so

23:07

much time Trying to

23:09

understand Why does this song

23:11

just devastate me? It's

23:14

not explicitly joyful or

23:16

sad But I think it's,

23:18

you know When her

23:20

voice starts to soar a

23:22

little bit I'm not

23:24

a God person But I'm

23:26

never not searching Looking

23:29

at the sky Staring at

23:31

the ocean If there's something

23:33

to know then I wanna

23:35

know it I wanna hold

23:38

it I wanna feel it

23:40

And maybe I can't say

23:42

That I'm not a God

23:44

person There's just so much

23:46

awe life in that moment

23:48

I don't know that sort

23:50

of simple at life Is

23:52

all wrapped up in this

23:54

song to me When you

23:56

sent it and I sort

23:59

of settled on what my

24:01

song, they were such

24:03

perfect companion pieces. Yeah. Because

24:05

one song is sort of

24:07

asking the questions, and

24:09

the other song is not giving

24:11

an answer, but sort of figuring

24:13

out your way to an answer.

24:16

And this is me asking the questions

24:18

about it. I think for me

24:20

too it's the idea that she is

24:22

finding God or the possibility of

24:24

God in all of these tiny little

24:26

things in life. One of which

24:29

she says at the very top of the

24:31

song is like going to a show with people

24:33

or something just standing in the presence of

24:35

others. And

24:42

I see the ocean

24:44

Where it all came from

24:47

And where it's all

24:49

going I'll never know But

24:51

sometimes I can feel

24:53

it And maybe I can't

24:56

say that I'm not

24:58

a God person I talked

25:00

with Maddie Diaz briefly

25:02

about this song She said

25:04

she almost didn't include

25:07

it on the album I'm

25:09

like, oh my gosh, I'm so glad you did.

25:11

Yes. So that was from the Maddie Diaz album,

25:14

Weird Faith. All right,

25:16

Mitra, let's get to another one of

25:18

the voice memos we got. Yeah, we

25:20

got a lot of emails and voice

25:22

memos from listeners about pets. Pets, yes.

25:24

So this one comes from Olivia in

25:26

Washington state. And the song

25:29

she picked is Love Song from a

25:31

Dog by Shovels and Rope. I was

25:33

listening to a random playlist and I

25:35

had the music interrupted by a phone

25:37

call from my vet. They were calling

25:39

to give a not so great health

25:41

update on my dog. And

25:43

my dog has been my best

25:45

friend through everything. So

25:47

as I'm sitting there taking in this

25:49

terrible news and I'm crying and

25:51

telling my dog how much I love

25:53

him, as soon as the

25:56

call wrapped up, the playlist just kicked back

25:58

on and started playing the next song

26:00

and love song from a dog came on.

26:02

It might sound kooky, but it felt

26:04

like I was meant to hear it in

26:06

that moment, like my dog was trying

26:08

to tell me how much he loved me

26:10

right back. And I

26:12

think this song is just

26:14

such a beautiful ode to

26:16

that special bond and partnership

26:18

between a human and their

26:20

dog. Dogs are just so

26:22

loyal and loving, and they give so

26:25

much to us. And it's nice

26:27

to get that little moment to hear

26:29

from their perspective. So...

26:31

still cannot listen to this song

26:33

without crying. Heck, I can't even talk

26:36

about it without crying. And

26:38

I know my remaining days

26:40

with my soul dog are numbered,

26:42

but I am forever grateful

26:45

for this beautiful touching song. But

26:59

my mother and my

27:01

team, running in

27:03

my dream, fastest

27:06

you

27:08

ever seen.

27:14

When I met you, it

27:16

was just like being born. There

27:20

was no past to

27:22

mourn. In

27:28

this necklace

27:30

I adore

27:33

Never worry

27:35

about a

27:38

storm Every

27:40

night I'm

27:43

warm One

27:45

word And

27:48

I'm running

27:51

One word

28:02

a colorblind lovesick fool Runnin'

28:05

like I'll die if

28:07

I don't get to you

28:09

Runnin' like I got

28:11

more legs than two Runnin'

28:13

like it's something that

28:15

I was born to do

28:28

I remember when I lost a dog that I had

28:30

had for 14 years. This was a few years

28:32

ago. Somewhere I saw, and I

28:34

don't remember where I saw it or who

28:36

said it, but somebody said, we're here

28:38

on this planet to learn how to be

28:41

good. And dogs already

28:43

know how to be good, so they don't

28:45

need as much time as we've got. So

28:47

I thought that was a lovely explanation for

28:49

why we don't get as much time with

28:51

our dogs as we'd like. I

28:53

love the chorus of this song. Yeah.

28:56

It's so fun, running like I'll die

28:58

if I don't get to you. But

29:00

also, I love that structure

29:02

of talking about the love,

29:04

the loyalty, the companionship that

29:06

that character in the song

29:08

wants to sort of make

29:10

sure they have. You are

29:12

the center of their world.

29:16

and inevitably they become the center of

29:18

your world. Well,

29:46

this was a song that I missed this year.

29:48

I don't know how I did, but I'm so

29:50

glad that our listener Olivia in Washington State left

29:52

a voice memo about it, and we got to

29:54

hear it. Support

29:58

for this podcast and the following

30:00

message come from Lagunitas Brewing Company.

30:02

Since 1993, Lagunitas has

30:04

been challenging the status quo, brewing innovative

30:06

beer, and crafting stories along the

30:08

way. Featuring a wide range of craft

30:11

brews, cult classics, and non -alcoholic options,

30:13

there's a seat at the bar

30:15

for everyone. This

30:26

is another voice memo we got

30:28

from a listener named Mary in Massachusetts,

30:31

and she picked Kendrick Lamar's song, Man at

30:33

the Garden, from his album G and

30:35

X that just came out. This year, Man

30:37

at the Garden by Kendrick Lamar hit

30:39

me in a way that I really wasn't

30:41

expecting from the very first listen. that

30:43

repeated refrain, I deserve it all.

30:46

It lodged itself in my mind, sort of like

30:48

a mantra. I feel like

30:50

every time I revisit the song, I

30:52

find new layers to unpack, especially

30:54

that ending crescendo. Tell me why

30:56

you think you deserve the greatest of all

30:58

time. It always brings me to tears. It's

31:00

such a profound and challenging question. and

31:03

it really makes me reflect on my own sense

31:05

of worth. What do I really deserve and why?

31:08

For years I've struggled with undervaluing myself

31:10

and this song feels like a wake -up

31:12

call at its heart. It reminds

31:14

me that while greatness may be subjective,

31:16

we all deserve peace and may be

31:18

the courage to believe in our own

31:20

potential. Twice

31:22

emotional stability a sound body and

31:24

tranquility. I deserve it all Like

31:26

minds and less enemies stock investments

31:28

more entities. I deserve it all

31:30

VVS is white diamonds gene next

31:32

with the seat back reclining I

31:34

deserve it all Put my homes

31:36

on the beachfront Flying private what

31:38

you eat for lunch I deserve

31:40

it all The respect and the

31:43

accolades Lamping on the island watching

31:45

castaway I deserve it all For

31:47

heavy good that passed away Send

31:49

2 .5 million on the average

31:51

day I deserve it all Keep

31:53

my name by the world leaders

31:55

Keep my crowds loud inside the

31:57

beats I deserve it all More

31:59

money, more power, more freedom Everything

32:01

having the loudest I deserve it

32:03

all I

32:18

thought this was an interesting

32:20

one to share because you know

32:22

where I grew up it

32:24

was a real sort of pull

32:26

yourself up by your bootstraps

32:28

you know Don't complain, just do

32:30

your job, keep quiet, expect

32:32

nothing in return. And it's taken

32:34

me a very, very long

32:36

time. I mean, I'm still not

32:39

comfortable with it, but it's

32:41

taken me a very long time

32:43

to get to a point

32:45

in my life where I was

32:47

even a little comfortable with

32:49

the idea of getting anything at

32:51

all. You know,

32:53

I still can't relate to the,

32:55

I don't know, the defiance or

32:57

whatever, the confidence in this song,

32:59

the confidence that he has saying

33:01

that, you know, he deserves it

33:03

all. But I mean, well, I

33:05

think when I look at the

33:07

lyrics and I listen to him,

33:09

I'm thinking about the fact that

33:12

he's saying, I put in the

33:14

work. Of course I deserve this.

33:16

And that's a hard thing to

33:18

really settle within yourself because we're

33:20

conditioned to not sort of make

33:22

that declarative statement of like, yeah,

33:24

I deserve this. And I think

33:26

it's even more a push in

33:28

him doing that as a young

33:30

black man from a certain community

33:33

to say, All these things, I

33:35

put in the work. I did the hard stuff.

33:37

I did the hard stuff physically, emotionally,

33:40

professionally. I deserve happiness

33:42

and peace, as Mary

33:44

said. Yeah, I love that. the

33:47

point that Mary made, sort of at the very

33:49

end of her voice memo was, what

33:51

do you deserve for all of

33:53

this? And as she points out,

33:56

and it's in the song too,

33:58

it's like, I deserve love and

34:00

peace. And it doesn't everybody. Right.

34:02

And since this has come out,

34:04

I have seen so many people

34:06

in social media saying, yeah, Kendrick

34:09

said I deserve it all and

34:11

he's right. Yeah. Well, I mean,

34:13

he is Kendrick. He is Kendrick.

34:15

But you know, that speaking into.

34:17

onto us or speaking into us,

34:19

pouring into us via this song.

34:21

Like, yes, it is okay to

34:24

claim your joy and your success.

34:26

You do deserve it all. And

34:29

what a great song. It is a

34:31

great song, too. Yeah. All

34:33

right, let's get back to some of the

34:35

written comments we got. Our next one comes

34:37

from Marcia and Belfast, Maine. The

34:39

song she picked is One Last Dance by

34:41

Baby Rose. Marcia says, the

34:43

first time I heard this song, I cried.

34:46

Baby Rose sings hauntingly of running into

34:48

a former lover and how the

34:50

feelings still burn. As I age

34:52

and reflect on past friends and lovers, memories

34:55

of broken relationships bring an aching

34:57

swell of emotions. And I hope those

34:59

people know, even when these

35:01

connections either slowly drifted apart or

35:03

burned down in raging flames, my

35:06

heart still has a place for them and

35:08

gratitude for their place in my life. Drive

35:17

so hard, but I

35:19

can't forget you And

35:21

I know that things

35:23

have changed Didn't think

35:26

I'd see you again

35:46

But for old time It

36:32

has a lot in common with

36:34

that 25 from Lake Dive that all

36:36

idea of know, back at someone

36:38

who was a part of your life

36:40

and having only good things to

36:43

say. Yes. And great storytelling in it

36:45

as well. I immediately was seeing

36:47

them encounter each other street. Yeah, and

36:49

like, oh man, you look great.

36:51

Ah. It It was not

36:53

expecting you to look that good. I

36:57

love it. I love. the nostalgia

36:59

this song and know, shout out

37:01

to Bad Bad Not Good on the

37:03

production and been there phenomenal sort

37:05

of giving us that feel. and

37:07

she, maybe Rose this amazing, beguiling voice

37:09

that you know always every time

37:12

I listen to her I'm trying

37:14

to like, wait I'm just trying to

37:16

figure it out. Yeah. So just

37:18

all adds into this sort of

37:20

almost my mind black and white sort

37:22

of feel. tones. Exactly. Yeah. Yeah.

37:24

Oh yeah So good. Do

37:27

know the singer Celeste? Do you know

37:29

her Do you know her Strange? No,

37:31

I don't know that one. Oh no. We're

37:33

going to do a bonus song here. Let's play

37:35

a little bit of Strange. Okay. I am

37:37

still me, you

37:40

are still

37:42

you

37:44

in the

37:46

same

37:48

place, isn't

37:51

it

37:53

strange how

37:55

people

37:57

can change

38:14

Oh man. Again,

38:18

I'm sitting here in my

38:20

mind, seeing the movie. Yeah.

38:22

I'm seeing these scenes. Yeah. I

38:25

don't want to take anything from

38:27

Baby Rose. One last dance. It's

38:29

a great, great song, too. This actually,

38:31

quite a few people picked this song

38:33

from Celeste. Strange. But

38:36

we were only doing new stuff, so

38:38

I couldn't do it. I think this

38:40

came out maybe, gosh, four or five

38:42

years ago, and it just devastated me

38:44

when I first heard it. But it's

38:46

that same idea, you know, like all

38:48

the people in your life who were

38:51

total strangers, then you become friends, you

38:53

become lovers, and then strangers again. And

38:55

because there's that line in the Baby

38:57

Rose song of, I

38:59

know you'll be all right if you never see

39:01

me again. Yeah. Like, we're probably never gonna see

39:03

each other again, but I'm good. I

39:05

know you're good. And we've

39:07

made those different stages in

39:09

our lives. I love those

39:11

stories of figuring out how people come

39:13

together and how they fall apart. Oh,

39:16

so beautiful. OK,

39:18

well look, we'll put together a playlist

39:20

with full versions of all of these

39:22

songs, and a whole bunch of the

39:24

other ones that the listeners submitted, because

39:26

there were just way too many we

39:28

could put on here. But if people

39:30

search for NPR on Spotify or Apple

39:32

Music, they'll find the playlist. Hit hard

39:34

in 2024. But let's do

39:36

one more, and so many we could

39:38

choose to go out on. But I

39:40

thought we'd pick this one from Adrian

39:42

Linker, the singer Adrian Linker. It's called

39:44

Sadness as a Gift. And

39:46

I don't know, not really any additional

39:48

commentary, really needed on that idea

39:51

of sadness as a gift. There's

39:53

this great line, I don't remember where I

39:55

heard it, where someone said, what is grief but

39:57

love and duery? From...

39:59

Was that from you? No, that

40:01

was from Marvel. That was from

40:04

Wanda and... Oh, you're right. Vision.

40:06

Vision says that, yes. Vision says

40:08

that. What is grief? Thank

40:10

you, Marvel. The Marvel Universe. Super

40:13

deep, but that is so true. What

40:15

is grief, but love enduring? And so anytime,

40:17

yeah, whenever I got sad about losing

40:19

somebody or whatever, I think, well, what a

40:21

gift to be able to - Exactly. That

40:23

they left you with so many great

40:25

memories. Exactly. Yeah. Yeah. All right. Well, anyway,

40:27

this song from Adrian Linker, Sadness as

40:29

a Gift. It was picked by Michael in

40:31

Massachusetts and he writes, if love is

40:33

a gift, so too is the sadness that

40:35

accompanies our memories once it's gone. Holding

40:38

our hand while we visit the

40:40

past or the future, we once imagined

40:42

how sad, how wonderful it

40:44

is that the love we shared with

40:46

someone never really dies. And

40:48

then Michael says, it hit me hard

40:50

before, during, and after my short -lived

40:52

relationship this year. What can I

40:55

say? I'm a yearner. You know what,

40:57

Michael? I'm a yearner too. Same

40:59

here, Michael. You're in good company. So

41:01

we'll go out on this. Thanks so much,

41:03

Mitra, again. Thank you so much for having

41:05

me, Robin. And a quick

41:08

reminder to keep listening after the song

41:10

as we continue to celebrate the 25th

41:12

anniversary of All Songs Considered. Steven Thompson

41:14

and I have been looking back at

41:16

the show's number one songs from across

41:18

the years. Coming right up, we're going

41:20

to look back at the year 2009. face

41:37

away, leaning

41:39

on the

41:42

windowsill. You could write

41:44

me someday and I think you

41:46

will. We could see

41:48

the sadness as a

41:50

gift and still feel too

41:52

heavy to hold. Snow

41:56

falling, I

41:59

try to keep All

42:23

right, as I mentioned, we're celebrating the 25th

42:25

anniversary of All Songs Considered all this spring

42:27

and into the summer by looking back at

42:29

our number one songs from across the years.

42:31

We're doing a different year

42:34

in each episode. This week we are

42:36

up to 2009. Stephen

42:38

Thompson back again to talk about what stands

42:40

out from that year. Hey, Stephen. Hello,

42:42

Robin. You know, Stephen, I still laugh when

42:44

I think about how we were going

42:46

to do all 25 years in one episode.

42:49

We're just going to sit down and

42:51

knock out 25 years of music. As

42:53

long as you pick one 20th of

42:55

a song for each year. I mean, we're

42:58

not even playing full songs, but I,

43:00

you know, I thought, maybe it'll be

43:02

a little long. Oh, but what

43:04

folly that was, because we're only up

43:06

to 2009 now. And we're kind of

43:08

doing this as a name that tune,

43:10

you know, we're trying to surprise each

43:12

other with our picks here. What's the

43:14

first thing that you think of when

43:16

you think music in 2009? I'm

43:18

glad you asked, what do you think of when you think

43:20

of music in 2009? Because I thought you were going to

43:22

be like, what's the first thing you think of when you

43:24

think of the year 2009? What is the first thing you

43:26

think of when you think of 2009? I

43:28

would, I was thinking because I got

43:30

divorced in 2010. And so I think

43:32

of 2000. as like, we are in

43:34

the best economy since 1928. Oh

43:38

gosh, that was a terrible time. Now

43:41

that you mentioned it, I was totally underwater.

43:43

So happy to remind you. Yeah, I was

43:45

totally underwater in my house and I had

43:47

to sell it. I remember that. Yeah, I

43:49

had to cut a check to the buyer.

43:52

I had to pay them. Anyway,

43:54

we digress. Anyway, we digress. You'd probably

43:56

like me to play a song. So

43:58

this is your number one song for

44:01

you. Oh, it's my favorite song cuz I'm

44:03

trying to represent I love this song

44:05

but to me this represents 2009. do it

44:07

yeah oh

44:11

yeah. Home.

44:22

Edward Edward Sharper the Magnetic

44:24

Zeroes. Very good Bye

44:53

chocolate candy, Jesus

44:55

Christ. Apple

45:07

Oh, let

45:10

me come home,

45:12

home is where

45:15

I'm with you Oh,

45:32

let me come home,

45:34

I'm with you This

45:36

song represents 2009 in

45:38

a lot of ways

45:41

And one of those

45:43

ways is just in

45:45

terms of the larger

45:48

themes of what music

45:50

was sounding like There

45:52

was kind of this ever increasing

45:54

number of bands where they just

45:56

seemed to acquire more members as

45:58

they moved through the world. As

46:00

I recall, there was an all

46:02

-songs intern, really nice guy, who

46:04

like I can't remember what instrument he played,

46:07

but he wound up joining Edward Sharpe and the

46:09

Magnetic Zeroes for a time. Oh, really? It's

46:11

like my internship's ending. Might

46:14

as well just go and play

46:16

the triangle for Edward Sharpe and the

46:18

Magnetic Zero. I don't remember what

46:20

he actually played, but this for me

46:22

is kind of kicking us into

46:24

the stomp and clap era. This

46:26

is the, we have four drummers. You

46:30

don't want to know what our tour

46:32

bus smells like. But

46:35

like but big you kind

46:37

of banned as community and as

46:39

as kind of a flood

46:41

of Emotions and that for me

46:43

was the experience of hearing

46:45

Edward Sharpen the magnetic zeros for

46:48

the first time at Rachel

46:50

Ray's day party at South by

46:52

Southwest You know was like

46:54

walking into the room and seeing

46:56

this huge disheveled Band of

46:58

oddballs play this this song that

47:01

is just a flood of nostalgia

47:04

and emotion that it is

47:06

recalling. It's just like a song

47:08

that is just a flood

47:11

of all the things you appreciate

47:13

about life. And listening back

47:15

to it now, there is this element, I

47:17

mean, part of it is you played the

47:19

part of the song where it's like, holy

47:21

moly, me oh my, and I'm like, oh,

47:23

this is so cloying. But at the same

47:25

time, all of my resistances fall away. This

47:27

is a very sweet song. And

47:29

to have this shambles, come

47:32

in really spoke to me in

47:34

2009. Yeah, and they brought that

47:36

to the tiny desk as well. Oh, such a

47:38

classic. It really is. And it makes me

47:40

think, you know, as we've

47:42

gone through all these years, we have

47:45

been reminded of trends and things like

47:47

that as you mentioned the stomp clap

47:49

there was a real arc to that

47:51

as well that I think was dictated

47:53

in no small part there's lots of

47:55

things but dictated in no small part

47:57

by the punishing economics of touring with

47:59

27 people in your band or whatever,

48:01

because that all began to you know,

48:03

it kind of peaked then it started

48:06

to fade away where you didn't get

48:08

all the stomp clap anymore just because

48:10

It's the economics of paying for drummers.

48:12

right And just moving people

48:14

around and, you know, but

48:16

that's a great pick. And that is a band I've

48:18

not thought of in a long time. So

48:20

did a version of this

48:22

show, an anniversary show in 2016

48:24

for songs considered Sweet 16. I've

48:27

that along the way here we've been

48:29

doing this. And the song that we

48:31

picked for 2016 was Grizzly Bears Weeks,

48:33

which I think that's a pretty great

48:35

pick. But I'm going to go with

48:37

my personal favorite from 2009 and I

48:39

think you might know what this is.

48:42

All right. Are

48:54

you stuck? It's beautiful.

48:56

Is this alluvium? Oh no, that's a

48:58

good guess though. Oh,

49:05

is this antlers? Yeah.

49:07

Okay. I'm

49:15

scared. Okay.

49:55

Okay. So

50:06

that incredible voice belongs to Peter

50:08

Silberman. If you remember him, yes,

50:10

this album from the antlers. called

50:12

Hospice that came out in 2009

50:15

and this is the song Kettering

50:17

from it. Hospice

50:19

was a feel -good -wrong. It really

50:21

was. For

50:23

the whole family, it's just a

50:26

devastating album about this, a woman

50:28

who's dying of bone cancer and she's

50:30

in hospice. And Peter

50:32

Silberman has been, you know, he

50:34

was very reluctant at the time

50:36

to talk about how autobiographical the

50:38

album was, but he did

50:40

say that it was based at least in

50:42

part on things that did happen in

50:44

his life and in his relationships. And

50:47

this album, it just wrecked me

50:49

in all the best ways. And

50:51

I still reach for it every

50:53

now and then. It is all emotion.

50:55

It's very beautiful. But it is

50:57

like, it's going for your tear ducts. It's

51:00

not messing around. And it

51:02

sounds beautiful, but

51:04

there's a rawness to it. that I

51:06

really appreciate. And when I kind

51:08

of scanned through, what was my favorite

51:10

album of 2009? It was this

51:12

record called The First Day of Spring

51:14

by Noah and the Whale. Oh,

51:16

yeah. Beautiful record. But that is a

51:18

heartbreak record. That's a concept album

51:20

about a breakup. And not

51:22

to knock Grizzly Bear. Right.

51:24

But for me, Grizzly Bear is a

51:26

great band that always left me cold.

51:28

Yeah. And like those guys are still

51:30

out there doing great work. They're doing

51:32

film scores and they're incredible Yeah, like

51:35

it's not a knock on grizzly bear

51:37

at all But like I didn't feel

51:39

like I had the really the language

51:41

to speak about it Yeah compared to

51:43

to what we're talking about with Edward

51:45

Sharp and the antlers two very different

51:47

bands that are still like going for

51:49

like an emotional big swing Yeah, we're

51:51

only playing a little bit here of

51:53

two songs Yeah, there is no way

51:55

to be comprehensive about an entire calendar

51:57

year, especially when we're We're squeezing out

51:59

about 50 different genres. I know. But

52:02

you must have, if you want to just

52:04

rattle off a few others from that year that

52:07

stand out to you. Oh my gosh, well

52:09

I mentioned Noah and the Whale. This was, 2009

52:11

was when my love affair with the band

52:13

Y Oak began. What a great

52:15

band. Swell season put out a

52:17

gorgeous record in 2009. Nico Case put

52:19

out a phenomenal record in 2009. Yeah,

52:22

tons and tons of stuff. I mean, I

52:24

again, like I don't even know. Oh my God,

52:26

the thermals. Oh yeah. Thermals had

52:28

a string of you could you could

52:30

drop many different calendar years and find

52:32

a great record by the thermals. But

52:34

certainly Jason Lytle, he had yours truly

52:36

the commuter. Fever Ray had an incredible

52:38

album that year. Lord Gibson. Beasts

52:40

of Seasons was 2009. We've already been talking

52:43

about... Sharon Venet and had a big record

52:45

that year. Yeah. The number one alternate pick

52:47

for me, though, that I was gonna play

52:49

was a cut from Fan Farlow, which is

52:51

another great stomp clap. Great stomp and clap

52:53

band. And a really lovely tiny desk, if

52:55

people go back and check that out. You

52:57

know what else came out in 2009? White

53:00

and nerdy. No. By Weird

53:02

Al Jankovic. I think it's

53:04

the greatest Weird Al Jankovic song.

53:08

But we'll go out on this and until

53:10

next time, thanks Stephen. Thank you Robin.

53:12

And for NPR Music, I'm Robin Hilton. It's

53:14

All Songs Considered. Thank

54:56

you for

54:58

watching! Cue

55:01

the music!

55:05

O -i -i -i -i

55:07

-i -o Tidato

55:10

Takumi, o -i

55:12

-i -i -i -o La

55:20

la la la

55:22

la la la

55:24

la la la

55:27

la la la la la

55:29

And I'm

55:32

going back home

55:36

And go

55:41

And home

55:59

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