Dan's Playlist

When I was a five-year-old I said I wanted to be a cowboy. That’s not quite what I meant though. I really had no interest in cows at all. I meant that I wanted to be a good guy, and vanquish the bad guys. I wanted to pull my six-shooter from its holster, twirl it around my trigger finger and shoot the pistol out of my enemy’s hand. In short, I wanted to be the Lone Ranger. I even had a dream that he left me a white horse just like Silver in the basement. The dream was so vivid I literally had to go down the basement to see for myself. I was crushed. https://open.spotify.com/track/44IIQu5ssU1dH6v709L2UF?si=1035ec1976a442cd The William Tell Overture (Royal Philharmonic Orchestra)

I lived on though, to dream of being a baseball player. Being left handed I chose to idolize only left-handers. Warren Spahn, the great left-handed pitcher who played for the Milwaukee Braves is my all time favorite. When I was a kid we didn’t have a team in my home town yet so I was a Braves fan, basically because the guys across the street had a cousin named Roger who lived in Milwaukee and they were Braves fans because he was a Braves fan. We all thought Roger was incredibly cool. I may have met him once but I’m not sure. In 1962 the Twins came to Minnesota, so I ditched the Braves and never looked back. By1965 the Twins were in the World Series while the Braves finished fifth. Sorry about that Roger. The Twins did lose the series in the seventh game but it was to another great left handed pitcher, Sandy Koufax, who also won the Cy Young award that year. The next year the Braves moved to Atlanta and 25 years later they were vanquished by the Twins in the 10th inning of the seventh game of what is reputed to be one of the greatest games in World Series history. Sorry about that Atlanta. But I digress. Left-handed baseball heroes rule! I cried the day the left-handed center fielder of the Twins, Lenny Green, was traded (You never even heard of Lenny Green, right?). https://open.spotify.com/track/2iRfjwzPsooCskZrrlsgcC?si=9bd388842692488e Center Field (John Fogerty)

It wasn’t long until I discovered something more interesting than cowboys or baseball. Girls. Unfortunately, they didn’t discover me. Perhaps I should have talked to one. In hopes of luring one into my lair I got a guitar, a Harmony as I recall. I learned to play it. Well, two songs. The House of the Rising Sun and Don’t Think Twice It’s All Right. Unfortunately there was nobody to not think twice, except in my imagination (see horse, above). https://open.spotify.com/track/7IsXXgpowAB48crGjV1oGb?si=72dce888b6a84dad Don’t Think Twice (Peter, Paul and Mary)

My fantasy life continued into high school where I had so many girlfriends I didn’t know what to do with them all. https://open.spotify.com/track/4DZAH8eiqSAkMIE9l5D71U?si=07e2dc30e5304440 Everybody’s Trying to Be My Baby (The Beatles)

Actually, I would probably still be waiting for a date to this very day if Connie had not asked me to the Sadie Hawkins dance. She became my girlfriend. We even had our own song. https://open.spotify.com/track/6vUhLEkY17FlxjEysVA6SX?si=6b06da8c989f4f3d Love is Blue (Paul Maurait)

Love is blue and so was I, particularly when she dumped me for my best friend. I still know Connie. I saw her recently at our 50th high school reunion. I’ve gotten over it. I’m sure she’s sorry she let me get away. They all are.

Next came drugs, obviously. Fortunately I already had plenty of experience living in a fantasy world so I only occasionally lost track of who I was. More than once I arrived at Gates of Hell but I survived. Not everyone did. As my mother would say, “It’s all fun and games until someone gets their eye poked out.” https://open.spotify.com/track/4vpeKl0vMGdAXpZiQB2Dtd?si=60b812970a4a4a6a White Rabbit (Jefferson Airplane)

Next stop. Vietnam. I didn’t go. I had a high draft number. If I had gone to Vietnam this is pretty much how I think it would have gone down. I arrive in a helicopter. In my imagination it’s always a helicopter, never a plane or a jeep or anything. Twenty minutes later I’m dead. I’ll spare you the gruesome details. I would not have made a good soldier. https://open.spotify.com/track/1qRA5BS78u3gME0loMl9AA?si=18f4eb8532984e4d For What it’s Worth (Buffalo Springfield)

Then wife, kids, work, work, work, work. https://open.spotify.com/track/3zw4FTrVNfy2teEkV9FOvh?si=4f58c04f0dc7492f Money (The Beatles)

Let’s shift gears, drift back through time, and move on to some notable musical moments from my life.

I was born. What a lucky day for the world. A couple years later along came my sister, which I regarded as a colossal mistake on my parent’s part. She was out to get me from the very start. By the time she could crawl she was in attack mode. Picture this. I’m minding my own business sitting in my little chair at my little table playing those little yellow 78 rpm records on my little record player when a fuzzy beast in yellow pajamas starts barreling toward me at full speed. My only defense was to yell “get er get er get er” at the top of my lungs. There’s nothing like being set upon by a screaming banshee to disrupt your appreciation of Mahler’s Symphony No. 5 in C-sharp minor. And she got off scot-free with this kind of behavior. https://open.spotify.com/track/0cqcRqZgkNHanWQ8slYA0v?si=44d33f0824dc4ea7 Mahler’s Symphony #5 (Chicago Symphony Orchestra)

My parent’s generation disapproved of our music. And I didn’t get theirs. Not then. Then one day a song came along that everyone liked. I could tell because it jumped from our teenage oriented stations KDWB and WDGY, to their grown-up station, WCCO, the good neighbor to the north. This song was the first from my generation to hit everyone where they lived. https://open.spotify.com/track/2YplrdHMBoRdnHgMeHEwHm?si=f736bd013c3f41d5 The Sound of Silence (Simon and Garfunkel)

We baptized our three kids at the headwaters of the Mississippi River. I don’t know if that was kosher or not with The Big Guy but it was good enough for my mother. Maybe kosher isn’t the right word though, since she was a Lutheran. For each kid we sang a song during our little ceremony by the water.

The first born was Sam, so naturally the clouds parted and a white bird flew over the headwaters at the moment we began our ceremony. That actually happened. It was a fabulously beautiful yet utterly terrifying moment for any red blooded Orthodox Atheist. Someone’s actually in charge of this show?

Song for Sam: https://open.spotify.com/track/1qli6fjEVdmMgssWy55eiZ?si=a4c924f9cdff4de7 Forever Young (Bob Dylan)

The Second born was Mike (name requested by Sam), quiet and reliable, with a sly and dry sense of humor. Later, when he was older, he and I would cruise through the forest and listen to public radio pledge drives or think of other names we could have given him instead of Mike. Ebenezer or Dudley or Natron for example.

Song for Mike:https://open.spotify.com/track/1U9VFOijLQJ8eysZL2TIur?si=27a39392e9844a05 Wheels (Emmylou Harris)

Third born was Sally who was small and cute and talked like a Smurff. Now she’s an intake nurse at a big city jail. Whether you’re jacked up on meth or a soccer mom in a skimpy bikini picked up for drunk boating on Lake Minnetonka you’ve got to deal with Sally so you better calm down. My advice: don’t mess with Sally. She's a badass.

Song for Sally: OK, I can’t remember what we sang for her, but I can tell you why I named her Sally. There had never been any Sallys in the family. I never knew anyone named Sally. But there are more songs with Sally in them than you can shake a stick at, and yeah I love music enough to name my daughter for a reason like that, even if I had to fight with my wife about it. So we named her Sally, and sure enough she definitely turned into a Sally. I recently made her a playlist of songs with the name Sally in them. Let me know and I’ll send you a link. https://open.spotify.com/track/5Sz09kaSzvpTC8lgm5W8Mt?si=9405366771cd41b9 Mustang Sally (Wilson Pickett)

My first wife made the mistake of marrying me. She stuck around to raise three wonderful human beings. But she did eventually find someone who deserved her. I could say a lot of things about her, but she always did remind me, in a good way, of Miss Fanny. https://open.spotify.com/track/0P7DoyGrr4Wp9w5TotEtUC?si=79bc54d1510b4ba9 The Weight (The Band)

For a long time I was a middle school teacher, and yes, middle school students are crazy. They’re what you’d call an acquired taste. We got along fine. One day in Home Room we were twiddling around doing nothing in particular when one of my students put a song on the, what, a boom box I guess is what we had then. I had heard of the performer and thought she had a dumb name. Who knew she would become one of my all time favorites, for all kinds of reasons. She's a true original. Lady Gaga. https://open.spotify.com/track/5R8dQOPq8haW94K7mgERlO?si=d3495995cf664ff2 Poker Face (Lady Gaga)

I got me a second wife. I recently read that while 50% of American marriages end in divorce. 80% of the people who divorce give it another shot. As everyone knows Americans aren’t quitters. Unfortunately 60% of those who remarry divorce again. Me, I’m one of the lucky ones. Sometimes you meet someone and you say to yourself, “Oh, this is how it’s supposed to be”. So now we’re partners and crime, and ‘til death do us part, and so forth. https://open.spotify.com/track/6rfLsrKGZomfX07XBIFBD0?si=86460a8884d0414f She Makes It Easy Now (Jesse Winchester)

She deserves a playlist of her own but here are a couple of the songs that would be on it. She has a rich fantasy life of her own so here was her go to song back in the day. https://open.spotify.com/track/6BUuoR1kG1rRag718ibuOn?si=5edd5080555243c8 Betty Lou’s Gettin’ Out Tonight (Bob Seger)

When we got married I played a song for her (Not on my guitar, I didn’t feel like House of the Rising would set the right tone). It made her cry. She says it still makes her cry every time she hears it (not in an Oh my God what have I done way). I always figure you rack up some points when you make someone cry with a photo or a song or a good quotation. https://open.spotify.com/track/3KfbEIOC7YIv90FIfNSZpo?si=ea290729d0614479 In My Life (The Beatles)

We have a song of our own of course. You’ll see I’ve come a long way since Love is Blue. https://open.spotify.com/track/1k691v8ChLgDiuLLKnjyj6?si=4a4123d345df49d0 In Spite of Ourselves (John Prine and Iris Dement)

I’ve got a PlayList named Road Trip that I’ve been adding to for years. I know for certain I could drive from my home in Minneapolis to Havana Cuba without having to replay any song. I know what you’re thinking: “Don’t forget your passport”. And I know what you’re wondering: “What’s the first song on the playlist?” I added it on July 13, 2014. https://open.spotify.com/track/128pBRZZgdi3BhS104k5Qv?si=4785334e19ce477e Runnin’ Down a Dream (Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers)

Here’s the latest addition to the list from the other day: https://open.spotify.com/track/1HdfxVZOOR8xKJCBtPUS1C?si=4e203b8021d84386 Ghost Repeater (Jerry Foucault)

Let’s turn the corner again and devote a few songs to the people who make the music.

The performer I am most sad to say I never saw in concert is Linda Ronstadt. The list of everybody in love with Linda would be oh so very long. Every song she chose to record became the best version of that particular song (in my humble opinion) and this is my favorite of all her recordings: https://open.spotify.com/track/2xSRbk3sr64mBiM9CABJXL?si=7f589748508547ff Crazy Arms (Linda Ronstadt)

Sometimes when a musician dies you feel as though a close friend has died. I know you’ve felt that way. The one that got to me the most was the death of Steve Goodman. A real troubadour. Often, the intro to a song was a hilarious ten minute story. I was lucky enough to get to see him play a few times at The Earl of Old Town in his home city of Chicago one hot, sticky summer when I was employed as a Traveling Stock Boy in the Windy City. https://open.spotify.com/track/4pVcnUkvpGekOYmi6Lqhc6?si=0f97e4fcf6f9413f Somebody Else’s Troubles (Steve Goodman)

There are some groups that have such a powerful impact when you see them live that it’s impossible to capture in a recording. Those of us who are fans of Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band always came away from concerts with that feeling. https://open.spotify.com/track/56lhDZNQ5J47aog6mGKeGk?si=0452b2fea9a4452d Thunder Road (Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band)

And sometimes there’s a song that tears you apart every time you hear it. Here are a couple that do it to me. https://open.spotify.com/track/1SUK3up4f7zyeWKLz3jeCN?si=016a91ae49c042d9 Kozmic Blues (Janis Joplin) https://open.spotify.com/track/1z6tpD6U2PHree0uvx4Eck?si=1344ce6f63ba489d Chimes of Freedom (The Byrds)

Of course I must include the song that gets my vote for the Greatest Rock and Roll Song of My Generation. May I have the envelope please. Ladies and gentlemen, The Rolling Stones. https://open.spotify.com/track/0t7ttzoe3dV0mah4lBI2kx?si=22c37a4e248d4e93 Gimme Shelter (The Rolling Stones)

Some day I’ll die, I guess. Not really my idea. There’s good news though. You’re all invited to the funeral! It will be at a bar. In my imagination, an open bar. The playlist will take days. But you’ll hear these two songs for sure. https://open.spotify.com/track/23xk9Rf7oIHVUU1JvmXYFn?si=dfb54c72b9bd461c Mony Mony (Tommy James & The Shondells) https://open.spotify.com/track/1A7hIo1C8jacIQ5ZiCjc8g?si=4ee3b324de6a4b19 Wild Night (Van Morrison)

I’ll come to your funeral if you come to mine.Hope to see you there.

At the end of most episodes of the Lone Ranger, the town’s people are often left shuffling around in amazement as he rides off in the distance, and as his horse rises up on his hind legs he shouts, “Hi, ho, Silver, away!” And invariably some feller mutters, “Who was that masked man?”. I don’t know. Maybe it was https://open.spotify.com/track/6YEq8UF9EYlMrIVWc35CPH?si=127683e6397d4085

See you around

The full playlist: https://open.spotify.com/playlist/3hVTWkvuLRWrDLWBdihNsL?si=35a0bbcf713f4d6b