Twelve Months of Music Part 5: A May MixMay 01 '06 Write an essay on this topic.The Bottom Line In honor of the only month that's also a helping verb, here's another list of songs to sum up this next phase of the year. If April showers bring May flowers, what do May flowers bring? Pilgrims. Alright. I apologize. It's a terrible joke. And yet there's a simple, elegant, innocent playfulness to it. It takes us back to that carefree silliness that few people know once they've moved on past grade school. Part of growing older is getting too bitter and cynical to appreciate such jokes. But whenever May rolls around, the exciting changes in the world around us draw out that tiny spark of carefree exuberance that still holds on inside each of us. The way they daylight has grown long enough to keep us out well into the evening, the abundance of flora and fauna that comes out of hiding in both the rural areas and our own backyards, the skimpy warm weather outfits that emerge from the backs of closets - they're all enough to remind us of what it means to be alive, and the most natural reaction is go a little giddy with silliness. To celebrate that giddy feeling, along with all the reminders of what it means to remember that we're alive, here's a mix of twelve songs that tie the month of May up into a nice, neat package: Catch My Disease by Ben Lee No, it's not a song about some pandemic waiting to spread sickness throughout the world. Lee's disease is an infectious exuberance for the wonders of everyday life that surround us. Everything aspect of the song is steeped in a giddy sense of childlike innocence and wonder - the toy piano riffs that open up the song, the handclap rhythms that run through the entire song, the sing-along lyrics that repeat "and that's the way I like it" over and over in each verse. It's a song of pure, carefree joy that captures the unstoppable excitement the bright, sunny May days offer us. ♬ my head is a box filled with nothing and that's the way I like it my garden's a secret compartment and that's the way I like it, that's the way I like it ♬ The Birds and the Bees by Patrick & Eugene It's awfully hard to take a song that uses a ukulele and a theremin as main instruments very seriously, but the frenetic vaudevillian vibe to the song makes it clear that neither Patrick nor Eugene was aiming for high art with this song. There's a genuine celebration of the splendor of nature buried in the lyrics here, but on the surface, the one is one big musical cartoon, tugging and stretching the arrangements like silly putty. For every spontaneous, giddy act of nonsense inspired by last May afternoons, The Birds and The Bees serves as a perfect point of inspiration. ♬ the birds and the bees are flowing in the trees the sun is in the sky just for you and I the sky is perfect blue, no could would spoil the view it's a sign from above that shows that we're in love ♬ Everybody Wants to Rule the World by Tears for Fears It's an unmistakable opening guitar riff. It's a synth rock arrangement with a pure pop giddiness to keep the song light and carefree. It's a lyrical look at the weight of the world and the emotional resolve needed to soar past them and experience true carefree joy. May's bright, sunny days invite us to throw away all of our worries and really live for the moment, for the first time in the year, and this classic pop gem makes the temptation to throw out all our responsibilities all the harder to resist. ♬ there's a room where the light won't find you holding hands while the walls come tumbling down when the do I'll be right behind you so glad we've almost made it so sad they had to fade it everybody wants to rule the world ♬ (Nothing but) Flowers by The Talking Heads By the time May starts, the year has had a chance to rouse itself, shake off the cobwebs of winter, and start to warm up. These changes, though, really switch into high gear for May, and it's easy to feel like we've been left behind as the whole world comes alive around us. It might be a bit of an exaggeration, but the lyrical story in (Nothing but) Flowers about society's collapse and the unstoppable return nature's dominance is a feeling that often seems no more than a step or two away throughout May. ♬ there was a shopping mall now it's all covered with flowers you got it, you got it if this is paradise I wish I had a lawnmower you got it, you got it ♬ The Sweetest Thing by U2 U2 may be best known for their songs full of bombast and aggression, but they're more than capable of stripping back the noise and playing things soft and sentimental. On The Sweetest Thing, Bono and company wrap us in relaxed piano riffs and resonant guitar noodlings like thin, flowing layers of gauze. Light and airy, surreal and fuzzy, U2 captures the dreamy feeling of love and excitement that descend on us out of the blue during those bright, sunny May mornings that greet us time and again throughout the month. ♬ my love she throws me like a rubber ball oh oh oh, the sweetest thing she won't catch me or break my fall oh oh oh, the sweetest thing ♬ Yeah by Zwan I don't fully understand how a song can feel so light and relaxed on the one hand, but also so solidly boisterous and rocking at the same time. I could sit here all day and analyze what Billy Corgan and his post-Pumpkins project do to cover both ends of the energy spectrum without ever sounding forced or cluttered, but I wouldn't end up any closer to answer than when I started. Likewise, I could spend all day contemplating how bright, sunny May days can feel so languid and lazy, but can also feel so inspiring and stimulating. It's so much easier just to let the music and the sunshine wash over us, carrying us away to wherever they're headed. ♬ I gave you everything what'd you give to me? a pocket full of empty rings with diamonds that can sing the most that I could ever hope is that you'd start to feel so real ♬ Coming Up Roses by Owsley The baroque feel of power pop music always evokes the pastoral feel of fine classical music for me. Sure, Coming Up Roses may create that feel through electric guitars rather than through violins and flutes, but Owsley the springtime imagery that Owsley conjures up in no less authentic than anything by Beethoven or Vaughan Williams. With its mellifluous harmonies, its languid tempo, its sunny key changes, and its sweeping orchestral climax, it's easy to close our eyes and let the song sweep up away to a wide open fields where the flowers have opened up to full bloom in celebration of May's warming weather. ♬ one day you will wake up and you'll be able to forget the sadness, get into the gladness of love and its way and you will not fight it while everyone dozes, you're coming up roses ♬ Push th' Little Daisies by Ween You know that jokes that snotty grade school kids like to tell that make no absolutely no sense? The ones that are simple infuriating if you're not willing to embrace them as the dumbest thing you've ever heard? That's what Ween created with Push th' Little Daisies. It's nothing more than two or three simple electric guitar chords and a synthesized drum beat under some deranged, nonsensical vocals that sound like they were recorded under the influence of too much helium. I can't decide it the song is annoying because it's so catchy, or catchy because it's so annoying. Either way, Ween have distilled the essence of May's energetic, childlike giddiness down to its purest form and served it up in a crisp, three minute package. ♬ when you lie, kiss your baby bye bye bye and if you're true, the whole wide world is smiling with you when we see nothing's wrong with you and me time will tell, it might even bring a wedding bell ♬ Sunny by Bobby Hebb On its surface, May is all about giddy, energetic pop music, but that doesn't mean that there's no room for some classic smoldering soul with a little more depth to it. Put together the back beat guitar riffs, the driving snare drum beat, the slowly building horns, the slightly sinister jazz chords in the arrangement, and Hebb's velvety vocals, and you end up with an slice of sincere love and devotion. The month of May may best known for its bright, sunny days, but Sunny reminds us that the month has more than enough excitement to offer with it's nights as they grow warmer and more sultry. ♬ Sunny, thank you for the smile upon your face Sunny, thank you for the gleam that shows its grace you're my spark of nature's fire you're my sweet complete desire Sunny one so true, I love you ♬ Good Good Feeling by Wes Cunningham We open up with a soft woman's voice counting "one, two, three, four," and soon we move on to a light, plinky guitar rhythm like something out of a toy music box. Soon Wes Cunningham adds his vocals into the mix, singing out a celebration to all the simple pleasures that life has to offer. As the song's energy ebbs ands flows, hitting the explosive high points at just the right moments, the song comes together as a pure slice of pop bliss. Even if you've never heard it before, this is the song that plays in the back of your mind on those May mornings when you get to sleep in until almost lunchtime, waking up with the sunlight streaming into your room and a whole day of lazy mischief awaiting you. ♬ good morning, yeah I see the sun is out to kiss you hello lover, how your warm skin moves me I am moved ♬ And Your Bird Can Sing by The Beatles If ever there were a guitar riff that sounded exactly like warm sunshine on a soothing May morning, the opening lines to And Your Bird Can Sing are a perfect example. There's just the right levels of flash, jangle, and glitter to those guitars energize us and inspire us to seize the day ahead. Lyrically, there's a sense of uncertainty and hesitation to the song, but it's tempered by the promise of unknown excitement to come, just as May offers countless unexpected surprises for those willing to seize the moment. ♬ you say you've seen the seven wonders and your bird is green but you can't see me you can't see me ♬ Light and Day / Reach for the Sun by The Polyphonic Spree The bright, sunny days. The warm (but not too warm) weather. The lazy weekends with countless recreational possibilities. All of May's characteristics nudge us towards a spontaneous celebration of life. The Polyphonic Spree, with its twenty-nine members and the multi-colored robes they wear in concert, are a living embodiment of that spontaneous celebration. Even without seeing them perform life, the celebratory nature of the group shines brightly. Sunny, shimmering horn arrangements, layered vocal harmonies, cascading keyboard riffs, symphonic strings - they all blend together into an overwhelming sonic collage that drags us along for the wild ride that May offers to us with each new day. ♬ you don't see me flyin' to the red one more you're done just follow the seasons and find the time reach for the bright side you don't see me flyin' to the red one more you're nuts just follow the day follow the day and reach for the sun ♬ And in the end, May might seem a little shallow and superficial on the surface. It's a time break out the warm weather clothes and head out just to be seen. Deep down, though, it's a month that reminds us that we're alive and that we need to seize the day, whether it be to achieve those dreams that have always been waiting at the back of our minds, or just to head out for some good mindless mischief. Why stop here? Be sure to also have a look at: January February March April  |
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