I was putting together this list and I randomly discovered that all but one of the artists were classified as “blue-eyed soul.” (Which is just another way of saying white folks singing black folks music.*) So I moved poor Anthony Hamilton to another list, named this one “Blue-Eyed Soul,” felt bad for a moment about segregating my playlist, let laziness win over racial harmony and moved on with my life.
Enjoy.
(ALSO? Enjoy the fact that I finally figured out how to work the damned Grooveshark player AND the fact that we are debuting one of many of the brand-spankin’ new banners Lizzie and Isaiah have designed for us. And it’s not even your birthday….)
It Hurt So Bad – Susan Tedeschi
Sweet baby Jesus, y’all don’t wanna know how many times I played this on repeat in my room and hollered out the lyrics. You know that scene in Bridget Jones’s Diary where she’s all drunk and belting out “All By Myself”? Yeah…that might have happened with this song. Except I was probably drunk off Seven & 7’s…actually I most definitely was drunk off of Seven & 7’s. 2006 was a weird year…
Love is a Losing Game – Amy Winehouse
I can’t even make a joke about this one. Despite her place as a punchline for so many years, I really and truly believed that Amy Winehouse would pull out of her downward spiral and become amazing again. It still pains me that she didn’t…
Let Me Leave – Marc Broussard
I have no idea how I got Marc Broussard’s album, “Carencro,” but it’s one of my desert island albums. It’s also one of the few albums that Jethro and I agree on, so it makes for good driving music so there are less road trips conversations like this:
“God, really, Jethro? The Wall again?”
“I need something to counteract all your booty music.”
“It is SMOOTH R&B…how ’bout you put in some more Nickel Creek, that’ll put me to sleep and you don’t have to hear me bitch.”
“Or I can put in some more of your moaning and wailing girl music, like that damn Dixie Chicks “Let him fly” song you always have on repeat…”
“That is a PATTY GRIFFIN song, the Dixie Chicks COVERED IT!!”
“Whatever, it’s still crap.”
“YOU SHUT YOUR WHORE MOUTH, BLASPHEMER!”
We don’t travel often.
Can’t Make You Love Me – Bonnie Raitt
As much as I love Tank and Boyz II Men, their cover versions of this do not hold a candle to Bonnie. And anyone who says otherwise will need to meet me outside, after school, by the bike racks.
Someone to Love – Jon B.
I HAD to throw this one in. Oh, 90’s R&B, I love you to bits. Jon B was not particularly handsome or spectacularly talented, but he sounded like Babyface and that was enough for me.
Let It Be Me – Ray Lamontagne
This is another one of the artists Jethro and I agree on. His music is like Tom Waits music for me; when I hear it I automatically get in a certain frame of mind. But whereas Tom makes me feel like I should be on a bar stool, poking at my ice with a little red straw and wondering what the hell I did with my life; Ray makes me feel like I should be driving in the rain, pulling over on the side of the road for no reason and just staring out the window, watching as the fat drops fall.
Or something. I might be getting too maudlin here and should say something vaguely funny.
Balls.
*One day we might have a conversation about racial terms, commonly accepted norms and self-identifying. Today is not that day.
Kind of a Mess 