Five Songs I've Been Enjoying

Some tunes for your summer playlist

Thank you to everyone who has subscribed to my newsletter. Since I started about two months ago, I have tried to send one edition out a week with a long-form essay plus other shorter thoughts on music that I think you might find interesting. I am currently in the middle of writing my next piece for the newsletter—a longer essay than I have typically tackled—which I am very excited about (if you follow me on Twitter, it won’t be too hard to guess who I am writing about) and wanted to take a bit more time to work on. I hope to have it out by the end of next week. In the meantime, I would like to share a few songs that I have been listening to quite a bit recently. Think of them as my suggestions for your summer playlist. Hope you enjoy!

That Sunday, That Summer
George Benson

A rare bonus track from George Benson’s 2013 tribute to Nat Cole, this is a sweet version of Cole’s 1963 hit. Benson approximates Cole’s direct, warm and precise phrasing backed with a vocal choir. Pure nostalgia to recall the lost summers of youth.

Good Riddance (Time of Your Life)
Glen Campbell

A preview of an upcoming previously unreleased filmed concert by Glen Campbell at Los Angeles’ The Troubadour from 2008. Campbell takes this Grunge era classic and makes it his own—complete with endearing comments about how warm it is up on the stage.

Float On
The Floaters

I heard this on the radio a few weeks ago. I don’t recall at all when I last heard it, but when the refrain started, I began to sing along. A classic example of Quiet Storm soul.

The Swimming Song
Loudon Wainwright III

Loudon Wainwright III is a singer-songwriter whose view is, more often than not, askew. He is also a dedicated swimmer—he even once wrote a piece in the New York Times listing the top open bodies of water in which he has swimmed. This ode to the joy of swimming opens his 1973 album, Attempted Mustache.

The Soul is the Rock
Gordon Lightfoot

This epic from Lightfoot’s Cold on the Shoulder can haunt one long after hearing it. The song features one of his greatest couplets, all about a late-night rendezvous at the outer edge of town, which is a whole short story in four lines.