Nocturnal Contemplations
My Mixtape’s A Masterpiece is a weekly feature in which a guest compiles a playlist around some theme. This week Jackie Jardine assembles 12 songs for that peculiar headspace where we’re awake but should be sleeping. Read Jackie’s thoughts on each song and listen along to the Spotify playlist on top and/or the YouTube playlist at the bottom of the post.
Your head hits the pillow, soft and cool. The blankets envelop your aching body. Your eyes close in anticipation of the night’s dreaming. Turn over. Rearrange. Tug the blankets back into place. Flip the pillow to the cool side. Flip it again and realize there is no cool side. The dim red digits of the alarm clock glow mockingly from your bedside table, burning into tired retinas. Did I lock the door? Did I pay my Visa bill? Does Donny from sixth grade know I had the perfect comeback to that thing he said to me once twenty five years ago?
Sleep evades us for a miscellany of reasons: relationship troubles, financial worries, physical discomfort, a crisis of existentialism. Y’know, a totally normal nightly routine of tossing, turning, wondering, hoping, plotting, and with any luck…dreaming sweetly. These 12 tracks represent the precarious place we mentally find ourselves when we’re meant to be sleeping.
1. “El Condor Pasa (If I Could)” by Simon & Garfunkel
There’s a beautiful, if not slightly frantic energy to “El Condor Pasa.” The fragility and fleeting nature of all living things. Our mortality and collective lack of control over nature is in juxtaposition with quietly disarming vocals. Insomniac Fact: “El Condor Pasa” is a cover/English adaptation of a Peruvian folk song.
2. “Sad American” by Kaki King
Award-winning guitarist, Kaki King, finger-plucks her way into our frontal cortex and lingers there. Also a skilled vocalist and composer, King is as expressive on her instrumental pieces as she is through her lyrics. “Sad American” almost rivals sleep.
3. “God’s Gonna Cut You Down” by Johnny Cash
It doesn’t matter if you believe. It doesn’t’ matter if I believe. All that matters is that the Man In Black believes with such conviction, it’s almost enough belief by proxy. Insomniac Fact: This track is from American V: A Hundred Highways (2006), which was Cash’s first posthumously released album that topped both country and pop charts.
4. “2:1” by Elastica
Arguably the most indecisive song on the mix. In what could be considered the realtime of this virtual cassette, this is the part when you realize you’re fighting a futile battle with the bed. May as well just start worrying about tomorrow, I guess.
5. “Don’t Let Me Be Misunderstood” by Nina Simone
You may know The Animals’ version. You may even know the funky “Esmeralda Suite” mix from The Bride’s final standoff with O-Ren Ishii in Kill Bill: Vol 1. But this is the first recorded version, and Nina delivers it with the soul it so richly deserves.
6. “The Greatest” by Cat Power
Cat Power (aka Chan Marshall) sings from the bottom of an empty glass, in the back of a smoky room, situated neatly rent-free in your head. A reflection on regret, despite best attempts… before dying and having the proverbial town hold a parade on your burial spot?
Damn.
That escalated quickly.
7. “Tie Up My Hands” by Starsailor
Relationship over. Bummer. Time to toss and turn some more and stew in the bitter lumps of your lover’s memory. Or you could wallow with vocalist James Walsh. It would be all too easy to get lost in Starsailor’s Brit-Pop sensibilities, if not for all the misery.
8. “Burn Your Fun” by Holly Golightly & The Brokeoffs
Another warning against the hellfires which await your hedonistic ways!? Yes! Sort of. Holly Golightly has the irony of a lifelong diner waitress. She sounds like a pack of Pall Malls dipped in saccharine. It’s bluegrass/rockabilly apple pie. May as well raid the fridge, since you’re S T I L L A W A K E.
9. “Maps” by Yeah Yeah Yeahs
Lead singer and post-punk provocateur Karen O yelps, screeches, howls and growls on Yeah Yeah Yeahs 2003 album Fever To Tell. But when she’s vulnerable, boy is it a gut-punch. “Maps” showcases her vocal ability and vulnerability alike.
10. “Into Dust” by Mazzy Star
Feeling inconsequential? Infinitesimally small? Disposable? Whether it was a bad breakup or just your everyday what-is-the-meaning-of-life type long night, Mazzy Star has you covered.
11. “Moon Song” by Phoebe Bridgers
To be fair, much of the Phoebe Bridgers catalogue could fit this mixtape. But vocally speaking, “Moon Song” has an especially ethereal quality. The lyrics are matter-of-fact and more than just a little raw. Insomniac Fact: Phoebe Bridgers’ album Punisher was nominated in four categories at the 2021 Grammy Awards ceremony.
12. “Right Where It Belongs” by Nine Inch Nails
After a long and sleepless night, you probably did more introspective toiling than any one person deserves. And “Right Where It Belongs” is just the reflective study on personal desires versus reality to really wrap up this masterpiece. Soon you’ll have to start a new day, hopefully with some added wisdom, some closure, and some caffeine.
