WARMER MIXTAPES #54 | by Ben Daniels of A Sunny Day In Glasgow
1. The Magnetic Fields | Dancing In Your Eyes
I love songs that feel happy and sad at the time and this is the best one. And I am just a sucker for all of the imagery here... Young, in love, autumn... Kind of pathetic I guess, but yeah. Never regret your time with me...
2. Galaxy 500 | Tugboat
I feel like this song has followed me around more and had more of an impact on my life than any other song I've ever liked. I wish I wrote the lyrics to this song. They all seem like they should appear on billboards or something.
3. Buddy Holly | Rave On
My parents were barely alive when this was made and it feels weird to me to pick a song made decades before I was born, but I feel like this song sounds so pure and perfect. I think it's the best Rock 'n' Roll/Pop song ever of all time. The well-a-hell-a in the very beginning always gets me. I really wish I could go back in time and see a Buddy Holly concert, I bet they were so much fun.
4. The Modern Lovers | Don't Let Our Youth Go Waste (from Precise Modern Lovers Order (Live In Berkeley And Boston))
The version from Precise Modern Lovers Order. The only fun times in High School were when I was with my friends listening to Jonathan Richman. We all probably wasted our youths but this song made us all really try not to.
5. Kraftwerk | Franz Schubert
+ Endless Endless... This is the best song to take a nap to. When I first got computer audio-editing software, the first thing I did was make a hour+ long loop of this song so I could put it on and fall asleep to it. I mean that as a compliment. Also, I think if I ever have to kill myself or am executed for some reason, I will request that this be played as I die.
6. Cocteau Twins | The Spangle Maker
No one has any idea what Elizabeth Fraser is singing in this song and it's so much better because of it. It's pure emotion, and there's so much emotion. It builds up steadily for a few minutes and then just gushes. It's overwhelming.
7. Nirvana | Milk It
The first concert I ever went to was Nirvana with The Breeders and Half Japanese. It was one of the best nights of my life, I can't believe I was allowed to go. I was a scared kid and got thrown into the mosh pit during One Divine Hammer by The Breeders. But the one song that has always stayed with me was Milk It by Nirvana. I had In Utero then and had listened to it a million times before the show and never liked that song. But seeing them play it and hearing him scream during the chorus was too much. It just blew me away. I still remember how I felt seeing that. Now it's easily my favorite Nirvana song ever.
8. R.E.M. | I Believe
I love Michael Stipe's lyrics and these are up there with my favorite of his. Always liked I believe in coyotes, and the version of this song from Tourfilm is even better when he adds the poem and sings the song before hand. I usually hate it when songs try to tell me to do things like dance or have fun or feel better about myself or make the world better, but this song does that in such an inspiring and wonderful way.
9. jj | Masterplan
I just got this record a few weeks ago but I can't stop listening to it. I'm in love with this band. Fear my masterplan...Me and my bay bee...
10. Sam Cooke | Bring It On Home (Live At The Harlem Square Club)
+ Having A Party... Bring It On Home is the most intense song I've ever heard. It starts with this really soulful version of You Send Me that is pretty crazy and then out of nowhere the band just kicks in and the songs gets so much more intense... Everybody's with me tonight!... And then the crowd starts singing along and it's just amazing. The last song on this record is the song Having A Party, which is this nice little whatever pop song, but somehow here it is the saddest most beautiful thing you will ever hear. If you listen to the whole album all the way through, but the time you get here you just get this sad feeling in your stomach, like summer is ending, there's nothing you can do, but you really really want the song to keep going. Sam Cooke was insanely talented.
