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| "Ugh, kill us already." |
I know we haven't known each other long and, again, thank you for not pressing charges, but, dammit, I love you. I know it's not cool to say - unless, of course Mark Wahlberg said it in a movie. But you know if he did, it would be in some cop film where his smoking hot female partner lies dying in his arms. Is that Marky Mark displaying new-found vulnerability? Probably not. She's dying, after all. Where's the vulnerability in that?
Come on, man, a beautiful woman has ten seconds to live and all you can do is take ten seconds to say three words? If Rosario Dawson is my partner and she's sprawled on the sidewalk staring desperately into my eyes, bleeding out from a gut shot, she and I having been together through thick and thin for five years, I can't count the number of times she has saved my ass...I would literally be snorting tree roots if not for her.
So, yeah, Rosario's Dawson's character is dying in my arms, the camera comes in close, her eyes are losing focus, she starts pretending to smoke a cigar, what's that about? I've got ten seconds max:
"COME ON BABY, DON"T YOU GO DYING ON ME, LET ME GET YOU OUT OF THAT BLOODY SHIRT SO I TRY TO STOP THE - well, hello ladies."
Okay, maybe "I love you" woulda worked just as well.
On with the playlist!
I And Love And You - The Avett Brothers
Hey, don't leave. Just listen. Enjoy it like it's it's the first song you've heard after months in captivity. You don't even hear it, as overhear it basting out of the earbuds of the guy who just rescued you. You're on a plane back to the mainland, 35,000 feet above the earth, the noise of the bullets that broke an eternity of silence still ringing in your ears, and above it all, you hear...music.
You start thinking about getting back home to the one you love, emotions, feelings that you had to bury inside to stay alive come bursting forth. You start crying like a baby. The soldiers don't veen notice. You think they haven't seen it all before? This is a special day to you. This is Tuesday to these bad-ass motherfuckers.
Maybe you get a different movie in your head when you hear it. The thing I like most about it is how much it not only sounds like a song that was recorded in 1973, but there's just something about it that makes it feel like it's been around that long.
Loving You Is Killing Me - Aloe Blacc
I love the sentiment of this tune: "Loving you is choking me slowly." I mean, that's love right there. Knowing that this person has you pinned, man. They've got the leverage. They own you. Aloe Blacc sings the shit out of this song, too. Even though it's got a contemporary production, they do capture the feel of a '60s soul platter. Maybe not quite Marvin or Otis, but we'll take what we can get.
You Make Loving Fun - Fleetwood Mac
I like to think that Christine actually wrote this song during a moment of great happiness in her marriage to John McVie. The truth is that she probably wrote it for someone else and John probably knew it. It's funny how folks needed soap operas in the '70s when we kids knew the best one going was Fleetwood Mac.
Let's see, you've got got John and Christine, then you add Lyndsay Buckingham who is invited to join the band but only if his girlfriend Stevie can join too. First off, is there any other time in rock history when such a demand didn't ultimately blow up in everybody's faces? Of course, when it did, the band were smart enough to roll tape during the whole sordid process.
That's why this song, as well as the sentiment, is so needed. Loving should be fun.
Today, I Started Loving You Again - Merle Haggard & Tammy Wynette
Look, I don't need an excuse to play this live version of Merle and Tammy doing one of Merle's greatest tunes, but there's something to be said for the additional interplay that comes when the song becomes a duet.
You start to see things through someone else's eyes and, in doing so, remind yourself just why you were so crazy about them in the first place. Merle's sung the song so many times, I'm sure, that even when he phones it in, he does so quite tunefully and doesn't fuck with the phrasing like Willie's been doing for the past thirty years.
But when Tammy takes her turn, damn, now this song's gonna get sung. Of course, Tammy's charm, aside from a great set of pipes, is that no matter who she's paired with, she makes it believable. You really feel the heartache, the betrayal, and the brave face that hides a half-mended heart.
Sunday You Need Love, Monday Be Alone - Trio
There's a mesmerizing simplicity to this tune that fits perfectly with the sentiment of needing love when you need and wanting to be left the hell alone. Until the next time you need it. The refrain comes to take on a almost hypnotic reggae rhythm, perfectly juxtaposed against the vibrating post-punk drum-and-guitar attack.
I find it endlessly entertaining that there is no bass on the track despite being produced by renowned bassist Klaus Voormann (friend of the Beatles, appearing on Lennon, Starr and Harrison solo albums).