♫ “I’ve Got Problems” ♫♫
A Pill-sized Playlist to Get Over Problems to
Can anyone else relate?
Especially with our current set of challenges, I’m sure we’re all “going through some things” at the moment. Some more than others… personally, I’ve been steadily losing my marbles now since somewhere around 2013, I think! Between therapists and medication, sometimes it seems like we’re all just barely balancing our lives and keeping it all together. Well, this mix is more of a celebration or embrance of the fact we all have problems. It’s fun.
In fact, as one of my favorite mixes created thus far — both to listen to and to put together — it proudly earns the very first “Out Of This World” badge for any of my playlists. I hope you enjoy listening as much as I enjoyed creating it!
Scroll down to UNSPOOLED to read about song selection and the best lyrics… there’s a great video I’ve included there from that legendary closing scene in Fight Club that highlights The Pixies song you’re probably more familiar with than you might realize. If not, you better get used to it because it’s one of my favorite songs — covers of it show up all over a lot of my mixes.
Know the perfect song I’m missing?
I value your opinions and personal music knowledge! If you have any suggestions for this mix, please add them to this collaborative Spotify playlist! Your suggestions will show right away, in realtime, and do I pay $10.00 to anyone who’s recommendation I use!
TRACK TITLES
By the way, I certainly don’t choose which songs to include based on their titles, and they aren’t always as reflective of the topic or focus as you might expect. Sometimes they are spot on, though, and I feel like this mix is definitely one of those cases. I mean, it almost reads sequentially:
- The Therapist
- I’m Not Ok
- (I’ve Got) Problems
- Inaction
- Interlude
- Terrible Things
- It’s Been Emotional
- High Low
- I Wanna Get Better
- Where Is My Mind?
SONG LYRICS
Well, we start off with “The Therapist” by Foreign Air, the perfect appetizer for a mix with this theme. ⤸
“What’s wrong with you?
Tell me all your secrets
Get it out
I don’t know why these monsters
Are trapped in my head
I keep trying to put them to bed”
I especially like how well the first song rolls into the second, “I’m Not Ok” by Weathers, which starts with what’s kind of the perfect segue. ⤸
“I know I’m a handful / but that’s why you have two hands…”
That track’s followed by favorite song on this mix and my favorite song by the Weathers as well. I can’t help but absolutely love the flow and sentiments of “Problems.” I’m actually just going to let its lyrics speak for themselves on that one. They’re all pretty fantastic.
Get Adam J. Schuster’s stories in your inbox
Join Medium for free to get updates from this writer.
We Are Scientists picks up where that leaves off with “Inaction.” ⤸
“When this keeps coming up again and again
If everybody knows how it’s gonna end
Why doesn’t someone stop me?”
A recent discovery of mine was Brick + Mortar called “Terrible Things” ⤸
“Sometimes I think of doing terrible things
I know I shouldn’t think it but I do anyway, oh oh
Maybe I’m just crazy like I got a disease”
A brief, 4-second clip from the movie soundtrack for 1998's “Lock, Stock And Two Smoking Barrels” breaks up the mix a little and prepares our eardrums for a slight change in its flow/feel. “High Low” by The Unlikely Candidates coasts us into a much software side of the spectrum. ⤸
“Sometimes I get so high so low
Where did all my good friends go
Sometimes I get so high so low
Where did all my good friends go?”
A light, RAC remix of “I Wanna Get Better” by Bleachers song that seems to come from that deep and heartfelt realm of emotion is. ⤸
“I didn’t know I was lonely ’til I saw your face
I wanna get better, better, better, better
I didn’t know I was broken ’til i wanted to change
I wanna get better, better, better, better”
As a special treat to any listeners of mine who haven’t heard the absolute gem that closes this track, a hybridized cover song by Harley Poe of “Where Is My Mind?” by The Pixies (one of my all-time favorite songs) and “The Sweater Song” by Weezer, my favorite all-time band. Can’t beat that in my book! Moreover, though, Harley composes a really unique and special sound to these covers I’ve never heard of (and believe me, I thought I’d heard anyone who’d ever covered that song by The Pixies). If you haven’t heard it yet either, you’re going to be very happy that you are about to. I’m going to let those lyrics speak for themselves, too, in this case. Happy listening!
P.S. If you’re not sure you remember the original song he’s covering, think back to the picturesque closing scene of a cinema cult classic you’ve probably seen and the tune might just jog your memory. Here’s that scene in its glory:
