This one starts off with my current favorite song. Honestly, I have repeat played Paul Westerberg’s cover of “These Days” to the point of nearly murdering it during the past three months, but I can’t help it. I love his raw singing on it so much (especially in contrast with the vocal smoothness of the Jackson Brown and Nico versions).
In other news. I think I have finally found a name for this themed series of mixes, and it is the very one I have given to this mix. Maps and Legends is, I believe, an apt title not only for this particular set of occasionally twangy, sometimes acoustic, always heartfelt songs, but I think it describes quite well this particular style that goes back to the very first O’Pinionated Mix I posted. On the page that follows I have linked retroactively to the 5 other mixes that I feel fit in this category.
This one in particular is about as close as I get to country music folks…
(As always you can stream or right-click/control-click to download and the tracklisting is after the jump)
O’Pinionated Mix – Maps and Legends
Some silly statistics about this mix. It contains:
- 5 songs with locations in the name (from Randy Newman, Yo La Tengo, Emmylou Harris & The Low Anthem, Ryan Adams and Lucinda Williams) making the Maps and Legends title even more appropriate,
- 4-5 Covers (These Days, Oklahoma, U.S.A., Asshole, To Ohio and depending on how you count it, Ingrid Bergman)
- 3 super-collaborations (Billy Bragg & Wilco, Emmylou Harris & The Low Anthem and Paul McCartney is a cowriter and collaborator with Elvis Costello on So Like Candy)
- 3 songs referencing celebrities (I think)
- 2 low-key country blues jams from the late 60s (Jig-Saw Puzzle, Oh! Sweet Nuthin’)
Playlist For O’Pinionated Mix – Maps and Legends
- Paul Westerberg – These Days
- Beck – Woe On Me
- The Rolling Stones – Jig-Saw Puzzle
- Matthew Sweet – Winona
- Elvis Costello – So Like Candy
- Randy Newman – Louisiana 1927
- Billy Bragg & Wilco – Ingrid Bergman
- R.E.M. – Maps And Legends
- Wilco – Theologians
- Yo La Tengo – Oklahoma, U.S.A.
- Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers – Asshole
- Emmylou Harris & The Low Anthem – To Ohio
- Pavement – Major Leagues
- The Velvet Underground – Oh! Sweet Nuthin’
- Elliott Smith – Between The Bars
- Iron & Wine – Lean Into the Light
- Ryan Adams – La Cienega Just Smiled
- Frank Black – I Burn Today
- Lucinda Williams – Bus To Baton Rouge
- Bob Dylan – Buckets of Rain
Links to Previous Maps and Legends Mixes