"Songs We're Thankful For":
The Modern Pea Pod's November 2005 Mixtape
Do you mind if we get a little personal? This time of year, as you're surely aware, is about giving thanks for the things in life you appreciate. So why should the Modern Pea Pod's music page be any different? We don't write about music for our health, or because we like the sound of our own voices (although, to be fair, the latter is true as well). We write about music because we're passionate about it; because somewhere along the line, some great song touched each of us the way only the best music can. This isn't a list of the greatest songs ever written, or even our all-time favorites - that kind of objectivity is beyond the grasp of mere mortals. Instead, we offer for your consideration 22 songs that we love...as simple as that. Our reasons for loving them are as varied as the tracks themselves, but it's the sincerest way to celebrate Thanksgiving we can think of. And we hope that this inspires you, too, to reflect on the music that can make any season in your life special.
Side A
0:05 - Smokey Robinson: "I Gotta Dance to Keep from Crying" (2:39)
Aaron: "This track's incredibly morose lyrics of heartbreak contrast a bit with an upbeat '60s soul tune that just can't help but swing. Yet the result is a song so incredibly fantastic that it's become the first thing I reach for when I need something to lift me out of a gloomy mood. Something getting you down? Do what Smokey does: dance your mother fucking ass off."
(Available on Early Classics)
2:44 - De La Soul: "Eye Know" (4:13)
Jon: "This is the song I want to play for everyone who says they don't like hip hop. It encapsulates everything I love about 3 Feet High and Rising and about good hip hop in general: tight samples and inventive, flawless rhymes that wind up sounding unexpectedly perfect. Plus, who can resist a groovy sample of Otis Redding whistling?
(Available on 3 Feet High and Rising)
6:57 - Elton John: "Amoreena" (5:02)
Zach: "Hey, indie kid. Yeah, you with the haircut. Think you're too hip to dig Elton John? Well, fuck you - Tumbleweed Connection is a great album, and 'Amoreena' is one of its indisputable highlights. With soaring melodies, barrelhouse piano and proto-glam guitar runs (not to mention a notebook full of Bernie Taupin's evocative pop poetry), the future Sir Elton spins a tale of down-home longing that sounds as much at home nestled between odes to Jack Daniels and arsonous sacrilege as it does over the credits of Dog Day Afternoon. Forget the gap tooth, the Lion King soundtrack and that self-prostituting duet with Eminem. This, my friends, is the real deal."
(Available on Tumbleweed Connection)
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