Songs for a Year

I often classify music seasonally. Most of my iPod playlists are divided according to mood, but mixed in that collection you’ll find spring, summer, autumn (my favorite!) and winter. And then there’s a playlist that carries me through them all: Songs for a Year.

I’ve been listening to that list a lot lately, for obvious reasons. My body’s in January, at work my mind is torn between February and March. And with this soundtrack running in the background, I’m contemplating all of what’s ahead in 2009.

Here’s my list, complete with lyrics to justify each song’s inclusion (just for kicks!). What would you include on Songs for a Year?

Next Year, Baby by Jamie Cullum (twentysomething)

“Next year, things are gonna change
Gonna drink less beer, and start all over again
Gonna read more books, gonna keep up with the news
Gonna learn how to cook, spend less money on shoes
I’ll pay my bills on time, and file my mail away, everyday
Only drink the finest wine, and call my Gran every Sunday”

When She’s Near by Fiction Family (Fiction Family)

“When she’s near the new year’s here

And there is not a resolution that I can’t do

I see things clearly when she’s near me

When she’s near me, all the world is new”

Leap Year by Maria Taylor (11:11)

“The wind sounds angry
But my coat’s kind
Wrapped in blankets
In the daylight
Winters longing
Summer close behind
In a hurry
But there’s so much time”

St. Patrick’s Day by John Mayer (Room for Squares)

“nd if our always is all that we gave
And we someday take that away
I’ll be all right if it was just ‘til St. Patrick’s Day”

A Year with You by Maia Hirasawa (Though, I’m Just Me)

“And summer came all too fast

I couldn’t breathe, you couldn’t talk

The city just pushed us down

We fell asleep to a darker sound

The clouds were grey too”

Wake Me up When September Ends by Green Day (American Idiot)

“Summer has come and past

The innocent can never last

Wake me up when September ends”

Halloween by Ryan Adams

“This isn’t Christmas, this is Chinatown and those are pretty lights
Just use some more and put ‘em on your make-up dolls
A painting on the underneath that never smiles on the scene
Is just like Christmas if it was Halloween”

If I had Wings by Andrew Osenga (Souvenirs and Postcards)

“Hello November, I need surrender

I need to let October die”

A Girl Named November by Abby Hebert (a super cute tune by a local gal who happens to be a friend’s roommate)

“November, November, it’s time to say goodbye

Don’t forget to lock the door,

Close the curtains, mop the floor

Leave this chapter of the book

And don’t forget what lonely took from you”

Winter by eastmountainsouth (eastmountainsouth)

“Now one more winter
has passed so silently
and I’m tired of longing
that you’ll come back to me”

A Long December by Counting Crows (Recovering the Satellites)

“It’s been a long December and there’s reason to believe
Maybe this year will be better than the last”

Get Me through December by Alison Krauss (A Hundred Miles or More)

“Just get me through December
A promise I’ll remember
Get me through December
So I can start again”

Come Back Down by Joe Purdy (Only Four Seasons)

“Because there’s only four seasons
and this ones almost gone.
Yeah, these nights feel so good
but this one’s almost gone.”

White Winter Hymnal by Fleet Foxes (Fleet Foxes)

“I was following the pack
all swallowed in their coats
with scarves of red tied ’round their throats
to keep their little heads
from falling in the snow”

Empty Hearts by Josh Ritter (The Historical Conquests of Josh Ritter)

“There’s a friend that I have
And for her I’ll go back
You see all of these empties that I’m holding
They’re too much for a man
Empty arms, empty hands
And she’ll know me by the sound of my hoping
Singing don’t let me into this year with an empty heart”