How are you doing over there at home? Missing going outside? Missing the chats with total strangers in your favorite bar? Well I do! So here’s something I came up with it. Something that happens quite often when I am out is that me and a friend try and come up with certain songs that fit within a certain subject. This here is the outcome of a fictional talk about songs that are about being in quarantine. Sure, there are hundreds more that you can come up with, but here are mine.
Queens of the Stone Age – Go With the Flow
It’s better not to be stubborn. This is what the world is now and you are not really in a position to change anything. You could go outside of course and don’t care about the new rules but that you are a selfish asshole. IT’S NOT FOR YOU!! Stay inside to keep others safe. This is the world now for at least a few weeks. So sit down, open a beer and go with the flow. It makes life a lot easier.
White Stripes – Seven Nation Army
Apart from this being a song about a large army trying to stop one man it seems that it is going to take a while to stop the virus. Oh, and also, the song is infectious. An indie hit that is being hummed in football stadiums all over the world.
Legendary band from the 80’s. Sure it’s about the beer but it has the name corona in it and every chance you have to drop the name Minutemen should be taken advantage of.
Joy Division / Therapy? – Isolation
If you are depressed about being stuck at home for most of the time the classic Joy Division track ‘Isolation’ is the song for you. If you are angry about the whole thing listen to the Therapy? Version.
CNS&Y – Teach Your Children Well
We, like so many other parents, are now burdened with the task to teach or young son things he was supposed to learn in school. Not that a 5 year old has much to learn already but we do our best to teach him well.
Billy Bragg – There is Power in the Union
The slowing economy is completely changing the world in many ways. Millions of jobs are lost and others try to do their job as save as possible. Just this week an Amazon worker was fired for expressing concerns about this. Governments are trying to help as much as possible but many workers still need representation. Billy Bragg can point the way again. This is a reworking of an older folk song but we need the unions to save jobs, work and lives.
A song about young people standing on street corners growing up. The standing together in groups has been postponed for a little while. It is also a song about the dreams you can have when you grow up before the reality of adulthood sets in. We are going to have a generation of people changed by this experience. But let’s still dream of building rockets.
Presidents of the United States of America – Peaches
“Millions of peaches, peaches for me”
And the best line in a popsong ever written by someone not called Dylan: “peaches come from a can, they were put there by a man”. Yes hoarders, you have 20 cans of peaches now, time to look up recipes.
In one of the most poignant episodes of televion in the last couple of years Jason Aldean played this Tom Petty song on Saturday Night Live. A week before during his show in Las Vegas a shooting killed over 80 people in the audience. That same week the legendary Tom Petty died. A song about perseverance, something we all very much need right now.
“No I’ll stand my ground, won’t be turned around
And I’ll keep this world from draggin me down”
R.E.M. – It’s The End of the World as we know it
It really is!
I was at heat wave stricken Werchter festival in 1999. It was hot and I didn’t drink enough. Metallica, Blur, Pavement, Marilyn Manson and many more I saw while it was scorching. The closer was R.E.M. and just before the started an epic thunder and rain storm provided relief to thousands.
We have more time now to listen to music for emotional relief.
If you have any songs to add, feel free to add them.
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