Twelve Months of Music, Part 11: A November Mix
Nov 01 '06
The Bottom Line As they days grow short and the cold winds whip through us, it's time for a musical mix to prepare us for November.
It could just be the distortion that comes from looking at one's childhood through the lens of two decades, but I remember the Novembers of my youth quite differently. It used to be that October would cool things drown gradually, easing us from the bright, sunny days of summer into the cool crispness of fall, and then November brought on a light dusting of snow as a smooth transition into the winter that waited just around the corner. It was never all that much snow - just a light dusting - but it made the change of seasons smooth and seamless and gave November a clear sense of style and character.
These days, though, it seems like November has fallen through the cracks. October still cools things off and takes us firmly out of any linger summer mindset, but the first signs of winter don't appear until late December at the earliest. That light dusting of snow and the clear briskness is gone, and nothing has taken its place. November has turned into a forgotten grey wasteland, overlooked and ignored as the grey rainstorms and cold winds assault us. It's a month to be survived, rather than a month to be savored.
As the feelings that November conjures up evolve, so must the music that embodies those feelings. Years ago, the music that defines November would have been very different, and perhaps it may change drastically again in the future, but for now, here are a dozen songs that sum up my current reaction to the month.
You Can't Always Get What You Want by The Rolling Stones
We start out the song right away with the cold crispness of November captured in the vocals from that choir of boy sopranos. As those fallen angelic voices fade away, Keith Richards' soft, folky guitar riffs take up the slack, highlighted by a wistful french horn line to highlight the month's overall bleak atmosphere. Once Mick Jagger's vocals saunter in the mix, there's no denying the slow building energy and excitement, but the somber poetry of the lyrics mixed in with the rich gospel elegance keeps the tune grounded in November's earthy introspection.
♬ I saw her today at the reception
in her glass was a bleeding man
she was practiced at the art of deception
well I could tell by her blood-stained hands ♬
Losing My Religion by R.E.M.
Coming as it does late in the year, November's dreary desolation can make it feel like we'll never make it all the way through to the end. It's enough to shake our resolve in any lengthy goals we've set for ourselves throughout the year. The title alone of Losing My Religion is enough to make it a perfect November song. Add in Michael Stipe's quavering, pained vocals, full of futility and isolation imagery, as well as the minor-key diminished chords arrangements on the mandolin, and the whole experience becomes transcendent. That single-note mandolin line that plays out the end of the song is a better definition of the month than any dictionary could ever provide.
♬ every whisper, of every waking hour
I'm choosing my confessions
trying to keep an eye on you
like a hurt lost and blinded fool
oh, no, I've said too much
I've set it up ♬
Broke Window by Gary Jules
Bleak as November is, there are some songs that fit the month without playing the depressing, nihilistic card. Care and point: Gary Jules' Broke Window. Between the soft, chugging percussion rhythm straight out of a Woodie Guthrie composition, the pensive steel guitar solo following in the footsteps of Jerry Garcia, and Jules' own deep, dreamlike vocals, more than a little reflective and tarnished, wafting past on a cool, crisp breeze, the song is the very epitome of those bright, sunny November afternoons that keep us going through the month. They may not be fit for spending much time outdoors, but they're perfect to watch from the warmth behind a picture window, even if it's cracked.
♬ loaded tongue and dirty fingers
queen of her mother's house
come step outside feeling full moon high
let's see what we can live without ♬
Don't Dream It's Over by Crowded House
For a song so fondly remembered by everyone who came of age in the eighties, Don't Dream It's Over is surprisingly depressing. The lyrical imagery is full of disappointment, disillusionment, and sheer indifference, and that haunting organ solo is the stuff of weepy daydreams about love that can never come true. Just like our thoughts during November, the song reflects on better times that can never be re-captured, and at the same time, it holds out hope that good things will come again someday if we can just survive through the darkness.
♬ now I'm towing my car, there's a hole in the roof
my possessions are causing me suspicion, but there's no proof
in the paper today, tales of woe and of grief
but you turn right over to the TV page ♬
Sleepwalk by Santo and Johnny
Throughout its cold, bleak chill, November is still capable of producing a few sparks of romance. It's finally time once again to curl up under a blanket with a loved one to spend a night in enjoying a warm, crackling fireplace. Despite its surf rock roots, Sleepwalk has November romance written all over it. The soft, languid snare drum rhythm. The steel guitar slides up and down the melody. The deceptively understated desperation in the soft rise and fall of the emotions. It's cool, detached, and more than a little hauntingly mysterious, just like November, and there are few songs like it that can help us forget November's chill while keeping us firmly entrenched therein.
♬ ... ♬
Walk on the Ocean by Toad the Wet Sprocket
It always seems that summer has a monopoly on the year's excitement, and November is the point where all those summer memories really begin to fade like photographs left out in the sun too long. Mixed in with the earthy, autumnal violin, accordion, and mandolin arrangement of Walk on the Ocean is a melancholy tale of those memories starting to grow dim. Glenn Phillip's defiantly pained vocals filled with frustration and betrayal embody the disillusion that comes with the November realization, mistaken or not, that all of the excitement we've felt earlier in the year is gone for food.
♬ now back at the homestead, where the air makes you choke
people don't know you and trust is a joke
don't even have pictures, just memories to hold
that grow sweeter each season as we slowly grow old ♬
Yardwork in November by The Actual Tigers
Certain instruments simply scream out cold autumn chill. Of course, given which instruments they are, perhaps scream isn't the best word. French horn, brushed snare drum, muted organ, softly picked folk guitar. Yardwork in November pushes them all towards the forefront of the arrangement, layering them together into a soft, billowy, Americana folk arrangement. The song's pensive atmosphere is bolstered by Tim Seely's introspective, what-does-it-all-mean lyrics, creating a fine backdrop for those moments of reminiscing that crisp November afternoons seem to inspire.
♬ in a way
it's rather sad to see the good times ebb and flow
but there's another day
I'm slowly realizing that's the way it goes
and know I know ♬
Livin' on a Prayer by Bon Jovi
Yes, I know what you're thinking. Bon Jovi's bombastic hair metal sound has no business as a part of November's stripped down, dreary desolation. And you're right. But I'm not talking about the original version here. We're dealing, rather, with the brand new arrangement the group created for This Left Feels Right, where the song is slowed down and set to an arrangement of haunting synthesizer chimes and resonant acoustic guitar rhythms. Stripped away from the overblown electric guitars, the pain and desperation in the vocals (shared here between Bon Jovi himself and actress Olivia D'Abo), the sheer autumnal desperation shines through, transforming a summer anthem into something much darker and colder.
♬ Tommy's got his six-string in hock
now he's holding in what he used to make it talk
so tough, it's tough
Gina dreams of running away
when she cries in the night, Tommy whispers, baby
it's okay, someday ♬
Smoke by Ben Folds Five
The imminent end of the year is enough to kick start a few moments of personal reflection and self-assessment. With a temperature dropping far below the freezing point and a sunset arriving earlier and earlier each day until the workday ends in inky blackness, November can shoo away almost all of our pleasant memories of the year thus far. Smoke embodies that sense of regretful, grief-stricken reminiscing in its poetic lyrics, while the three-quarter time harmonium rhythms highlighted by lightly syncopated snare drum and the Five's plaintive harmonies simply bolsters the song's stark autumnal imagery, full of the melancholy of a community bonfire after a loss from the local football team on their last game of the year.
♬ where do all the secrets live
they travel in the air
you can smell them when they burn
they travel
those who say the past is not dead
stop and smell the smoke ♬
Paper Bag by Fiona Apple
The song's loping, jazz-crooner rhythms lends a relaxed to the entire tune, but there are still plenty of coolly detached flourishes to keep the song grounded in November's pensive introspection. The soft Salvation Army band arrangement in the background, the resonant piano chimes, and Apple's on deep, breathy vocals all seem to reflect images of bare trees and frost on the windows. Close your eyes and you can easily picture Apple singing this outside wrapped in a heavy coat as her breath condenses in the cold with each poetic lyric. Mix in those lyrical images of melancholy isolation, and we have the exact feeling of those long stretches of cold, dreary, overcast days that come every November.
♬ hunger hurts, and I want him so bad, oh it kills
'cause I know I'm a mess he don't wanna clean up
I got to fold 'cause these hands are too shaky to hold
hunger hurts but starving works when it costs too much to love ♬
Things Have Changed by Bob Dylan
In November, it's almost impossible to escape the sharp sound of dead leaves crunching underfoot - a sound mirrored in the steady shaker rhythm behind Dylan's Things Have Changed. Other reflections include the song's slow, unceasing acoustic guitar rhythm like the still chilling winds that seem to last for the entire month, and Dylan's trademark raspy vocals, reminiscent of the way we all feel when the first winter flu takes hold. Even if we don't pay any attention to the lyrics, the song feels like November. Listen in to the poetry, though, and there's a tale of desperation and bitterness waiting to be discovered, full of all the feelings of frustration we feel as we think back on all the opportunities we've missed out on throughout the year.
♬ I've been walking forty miles of bad road
if the Bible is right, the world will explode
I've been trying to get as far away from myself
as I can
some things are too hot to touch
the human mind can only stand so much
you can't win with a losing hand ♬
Thanksgiving Day by Ray Davies
If there's one bright shining beacon that keeps everyone going through the desolate wasteland of November, it's the promise of the holiday season waiting to shift into full gear at the end of the month with Thanksgiving. Leave it to a quintessential British popster like Ray Davies to capture such a uniquely American holiday so succinctly. There's a little bit of old school R&B in the mix courtesy of the saxophone fills, and there's a whole lot of gospel coming from the electric piano and the soulful choir, but the song is primarily a classic pop gem, polishing up all the warm, nostalgic tricks that Davies perfected with The Kinks. Thanksgiving Day closes out our mix with a hearty, familial embrace to remind us that as trying as November can be, we must never forget how good life can be.
♬ now Papa looks out of the window
the sight brings a smile to his face
he see all his children coming back home
together on this special day
come on over, come on over
come on over, it's Thanksgiving Day ♬
As difficult as November can be to get through, it's an important step in the year. Whether we use the time to slow down an switch to a hibernation mode for survival, or whether we use the shock of the sudden chill to spur us on to a few last big projects for the year, everyone's lives veer off in a new direction when November comes to town. Hopefully these songs will help make the transition a memorable one.
Why stop here? Be sure to also have a look at:
January
February
March
April
May
June
July
August
September
October
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