A good pop song makes you feel like you’re 17 years old again. We could cast about for other impressionistic and arbitrary definitions of what a good pop song is (or, more easily, does), but today, with summer fading fast, this’ll do: Seventeen again. Even if on the whole 17 wasn’t so great the first time around for you, a good pop song makes you think it was. Updating the iPod prior to this long Labor Day weekend, we came across a peach we’d downloaded months ago. We thought it was pretty neat at the time, especially considering the source, but we got distracted and it went hiding in our ten-billion-song shuffle of a hard drive.
One reason it makes us feel like we’re 17 again is that it’s about being 17 (or 16, or 15). The references and images tick off like a list of stuff we did in those teenage summers, not counting all the bits about sexual confusion. The song is “Driver Education,” and it’s by Amy Ray. Yes, one of the Indigo Girls. No, we can’t believe we’re writing about one of the Indigo Girls here on the Playboy Blog either, but just listen to the song -- she’s different on her own. It’s electric and has a get-out-on-the-highway beat, another good trait for a Labor Day song.
Did we mention it’s free and downloadable now? It’s free and downloadable now. And so is everything else on the playlist below, which we, being in a high-school state of mind, might call something like “Awesome Labor Day Road Trip Mix 2007, Dude.” All go well with sunshine and highway, and they will almost all fit on one disc. All but one of the links go directly to mp3 files.
You didn’t really think you were going to do any work today, did you?
Amy Ray, “Driver Education”
Harlem Shakes, “Carpetbaggers”
New Young Pony Club, “Ice Cream”
Old 97’s, “Doreen”
Cassettes Won’t Listen, “Fuck and Run”
Josh Rouse, “Directions” (Epitonic – download link is on right-hand side of page)
The Long Blondes, “Once and Never Again”
The Noisettes, “Scratch Your Name”
Stephen Malkmus, “Jenny and the Ess-Dog”
All-Girl Summer Fun Band, “Dear Mr. & Mrs. Troublemaker”
Okkerville River, “Our Life is Not a Movie or Maybe”
Belle & Sebastian, “Another Sunny Day”
Los Campesinos, “We Throw Parties, You Throw Knives”
The Mooney Suzuki, “99%”
The Shins, “Kissing the Lipless”
Locksley, “Why Not Me”
The Weakerthans, “Aside”
The Fauves, “The Dirt Bike Option”
Hot Hot Heat, “Bandages”
The Apples in Stereo, “Energy”
Cold War Kids, “Hang Me Up To Dry”
The New Pornographers, “Mass Romantic”
The Boggs, “Little Windows”
The Postal Service, “Such Great Heights”
Mink, “Talk to Me”
Spoon, “The Underdog”
Credit where due – thanks to these sites for giving the people a little taste for free:
http://www.spinner.com
http://www.theweakerthans.org
http://www.epitonic.com
http://www.pitchforkmedia.com
http://www.thefauves.com
http://www.newwestrecords.com
http://www.subpop.com
http://www.matadorrecords.com
http://www.krecs.com
http://www.daemonrecords.com
http://www.playboy.com/magazine/cds
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Comments on this entry:
Awesome! Thanx for the links.