Twelve Months of Music Part 3: A March Mix
Mar 01 '06
The Bottom Line in like a lamb, out like a lion...
There are plenty of ways for people to talk about change. Mathematicians use a little triangle shaped symbol they call "delta." Advertisers use side-by-side pictures labeled "before" and "after." Documentary filmmakers use time-lapse photography scenes. But somehow none of these seem right for describing the month of March.
Of all the months each year, March seems the most closely tied to the idea of change. Not only is there that "in like a lamb, out like a lion" saying, but there's also the transition from winter to spring. The way that the world switches from bitterly cold winter blizzards to warm, refreshing spring rain, that annual exchange of heavy outerwear for lighter spring jackets, the outdoor activities that suddenly rise in popularity once again – none of those are easy to capture through conventional means.
That's why I turn to music. With all the complex lyrical subtleties and rich, expressive arrangements in rock and pop music, there's nothing better for capturing the intricate changes that make up March. While no single song can wrap itself around the whole month, here's a set of twelve songs that work together to handle the job:
Changes by David Bowie
There's the sentimental nightclub piano pop, full of sweeping strings and sweet crooner vocals. At the same time, there's the rollicking, raunchy honky-tonk rock with that sax line and the thumping bass riffs. Bowie's effortless shifts back and forth in tone make Changes a superb choice to show off the radical shifts that the world around us undergoes throughout March. The lyrical musings on uncertain futures and uncertain pasts simply serve as icing on top of an already sublime cake.
♬ every time I thought I'd got it made
it seemed the taste was not so sweet
so I turned myself to face me
but I've never caught a glimpse
of how the others must see the faker
I'm much too fast to take that test ♬
Whatever It Is by Ben Lee
March is the time when the world seems to wake up and start to rouse itself back to life. As winter melts away people are drawn outdoors once again, and the find themselves with a drive make something, anything out of the promise of bright sunny days around the corner. With his simple, repeated acoustic guitar riff and the gently resonating keyboards that round out the background, Lee captures that fleeting mixture of uncertainty and exciting possibility that so many people feel upon waking up on a lazy Saturday morning with the sun streaming in through the window. He urges us on to embrace the myriad possibilities that March opens up to us.
♬ and you're dancing, and you're looking kind of crazy
and your arms are making little circles
there are reasons, there are reasons you can find out
so do it, whatever it is, whatever it is
just do it, whatever it is, whatever it is ♬
Sloop John B by The Beach Boys
March may be a time of change and rebirth, but there's also a wistful sense of self-reflection that pervades the month - a feeling that we just can't live of to the possibilities and that lie before us, that giving in may just be easier. The Beach Boys, with their jangly folk rock instrumentation, their sweet falsetto vocals, and their subtle major and minor chord changes, offer us that warm, comforting feeling of capitulation. Even with the endless possibilities that open up with March, sometimes it can be most comforting to sit back and let life move on without us.
♬ we come on the sloop John B, my grandfather and me
around Nassau Town we did roam
drinking all night, got into a fight
well I feel so broke up, I want to go home ♬
Basement Apartment by Sarah Harmer
Harmer's blend of deft acoustic guitar picking, chunky percussion lines, jangly electric guitar noodling, and breathy, expressive vocals straddle the line between energetic pop and sentimental country rock. The song features a restrained, subtle, tentative energy that seems to mirror the gradual, hesitant return of the myriad animals who've been hiding away for the winter. And Harmer's lyrical tale of watching the world come alive from an underground vantage point only heightens the song's end-of-hibernation vibe.
♬ now we live out where the street ends
in a basement apartment just like our friends
we always said that we were different
but you know now that we weren't ♬
Kamera by Wilco
A steady, chugging rhythm on the acoustic guitar. Rusty sounding, washed-out chimes. A sense of detachment and dreaminess in the vocals. There's a warm glow to the song, yet Jeff Tweedy and Wilco still keep listeners away at an arm's length. Just as March's fickle weather, with its strong winds, unexpected downpours, overcast skies, and occasional freak snowstorms remind us that there's a complex world out there that lies outside of our control, Kamera shows us a world that lies in a hazy shade. It's like watching the world pass by through a dingy window that's gone all winter without a proper washing.
♬ I need a camera to my eye, to my eye, reminding
which lies I have been hiding, which echoes belong
I've counted out days to see how far
I've driven in the dark with echoes in my heart ♬
True Dreams of Wichita by Soul Coughing
With its languid upright bass rhythms and its subtly insistent hi hat flourishes, True Dreams of Wichita is all relaxed, restrained cool. There's a sense of dangerous cool in the song, but it's held in check by the soft simple arrangement, much like the last lingering vestiges of winter keep our lives quiet for much of March. But then there's the bridge - the sudden samples stabbing out of the speakers, the unexpected instrumental freak-outs, the frenzied madness that fills Mike Doughty's voice - they blindside us out of left field, filling the song with an energy and an excitement to match those days in March where the temperature suddenly shoots up and draws us all outdoors.
♬ I've seen the rains of the real world
come forward on the plain
I've seen the Kansas of your sweet little myth
you've never seen it, no
I'm half drunk on the drinks you mixed
through your true dreams of Wichita ♬
She Will Have Her Way by Neil Finn
There's a warm and inviting to this first single of Neil Finn's solo career. The layers of jangly guitar, the resonating drum beats, and the multi-tracked aaahh's in the vocals all combine to create a fuzzy, fluffy atmosphere that lures listeners in with it's siren's call. With its lush arrangement, She Will Have Her Way mimics the way that spring's slow, but steady return coaxes even the most stubborn of hibernating creatures back into the bright, beautiful world that's lain hidden for so long.
♬ I might be old, but I'm someone new
she said
I'm so sore that I could cry
always
in the night lay your tired arms
and she will have her way
and somehow I will still believe her ♬
Knock Yourself Out by Jon Brion
Somehow, Jon Brion's existential anthem from the film I ❤ Huckabee's manages to embrace all the musical tenets of classic Americana, yet it still comes across with the feel of an Irish folk tune. But that's beside the point for now. Combining a jangle of acoustic guitar, a sharp rasp of harmonica, pub house fife arrangements, and ringing chimes, the song comes across with an old-timey folk sentiment, perfect for self-reflection and introspective musing, much as March is a perfect time to reflect on where we've come so for in the year and where we're headed next.
♬ why we're put in this mess
is anybody's guess
it might be a test or it might not be anything
you need to worry about
but if you're still in doubt
go and knock yourself out ♬
Grace Kelly Blues by the Eels
More quiet introspection with this song, starting with the salvation army brass band that opens up the song, to the simple acoustic guitar strumming, to Mark Oliver Everett's gravelly vocals that sing about lives of quiet desperation. The song's energy ebbs and flows with an effortless grace that matches the gradual swell of energy throughout the month of March as the weather warms up and chases away the last remnants of winter. And while much of the song's lyrics are downtrodden and filled with ennui, there's an upbeat, uplifting ending that that offers us the promise of a fresh start with the return of spring.
♬ but me I'm feeling pretty good as of now
I'm not sure when I got here and how
sun melting the fake
smile away
I think you know I'll be okay ♬
Gaucho by Steely Dan
As with any other Steely Dan, every single note is placed just so with an obsessive precision. Between the flowing liquid saxophone lines, the cascading chimes, the splashy cymbals, the synthesizer lines that seem the linger just behind the beat, and every other sound labored over by recording engineers, Gaucho weaves a fine tapestry for Donald Fagen's lyrical character study of a captivatingly quixotic homeless individual. Dan's gaucho is an outsider, left behind in a world that has moved beyond the simpler times - a feeling not too uncommon in March from those still clinging to winter, not yet ready to move on with the rest of the year.
♬ who is the gaucho, amigo
why is he standing in your spangles leather poncho
with the studs that match your eyes
bodacious cowboys such as your friend
will never be welcome
high in the Custerdome ♬
Vienna by Billy Joel
March's annual warming trends are usually enough to encourage even the most reclusive homebody to venture outside for a while, but there's always the temptation to run out blindly with no regard to the consequences. In Vienna, Billy Joel counsels us from a wizened perspective, reminding us to slow down and take the time to live in the moment, rather than bouncing around like pinball from one new experience to the next so quickly that life becomes a blur. And with the song's bluesy, soulful piano arrangement, orchestral highlights, and accordion flourishes, the music blends splendidly with Joel's warmly restrained vocals to capture that March feeling that life is getting more exciting slowly but surely, and that we mustn't rush it too quickly.
♬ slow down you crazy child
take the phone off the hook and disappear for a while
it's alright you can afford to lose a day or two
when will you realize
Vienna waits for you ♬
Before I Go by John Hiatt
For a song with no drums driving the rhythm forward, Before I Go is one of the strongest tour-de-force singer-songwriter anthems to come along in years. The solid stomp-rhythm guitar and the effervescent mandolin intensity give the song a natural, organic energy that imitates the explosive growth that spring brings along with it for its annual return. Hiatt fill his vocals with a pied piper's allure, leading off on some unknown path towards a brighter future full of unknown possibilities and exciting challenges around the corner, just as March and the return of springtime energy point towards the endless possibilities of the rest of the year.
♬ I've been sleeping for some hours
just woke up and you were there
like the morning, like the flowers
sunlight whispering in my ears
red tail hawk shooting down the canyon
put me on that wind he rides
I will be your true companion
when we reach the other side ♬
And by the time March draws to a close thirty days later, there's no denying that we've left our starting point far behind. There's nothing we can do to hold out against March's drastic changes, but hopefully these twelve songs can help make the journey, with all its unexpected twists and turns, go just a little more smoothly.
Why stop here? Be sure to also have a look at:
January
February
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