Songs For Tonight, Tomorrow and 2024
Call it a replay? I took my 2022 New Year's Eve "Resounding" column and resurfaced it in case you need some tunes.
Greeting to all from the end of 2023!
Not my favorite year. Not my worst year. Onward we go.
At my place, we’re going to low-key it as usual with an assortment of bubbles, some red, some orange, maybe half a Xanax, possibly an early Radler, who knows?
I didn’t add any new songs to this New Year’s Playlist (find it on Spotify, with links below) but I HAVE decided to more broadly and loudly tout my all time favorite New Year’s Song, from the brilliant Mac McCaughan — Superchunk, Portastatic, Merge Records (which is sadly still relevant in whatever American this is and may or may not continuing being.
So here’s the song and I’ve added the sing-a-long lyrics below it — I know this by heart and sing it all the time. Learning lyrics is fun! Make it a New Year’s Resolution.
Let’s make 2024 better, people.
[Verse 1]
Oh, it was a year when everybody died
And it was a year when the adults and children cried
For the loss of their hope, for the loss of their youth
And next year might be better but I don't see any proof
[Pre-Chorus]
And this year it seemed like nothing really mattered
You could say any horrible thing and rise to the top of this shitheap
[Chorus]
So if you still have friends
Raise a glass with them
Saying, "Happy New Year, Prince can't die again"
"No, happy New Year, Prince can't die again"
[Verse 2]
Okay, but this could be a great year if you're rich
Or if you're a racist craving an authoritarian hand
And the sun will shine on you if you hate women
And then the sun itself will turn us all to sand
[Pre-Chorus]
Yeah, this year it seemed like nothing really mattered
You could be any horrible thing and rise to the top of this shitheap
[Chorus]
So if you still have friends
Raise a glass with them
Saying, "Happy New Year, Prince can't die again"
"No, happy New Year, Prince can't die again"
[Verse 3]
So gather with your retrograde relations at the table
Nursing hangovers with hatefulness and fear
Remember who needs to get out and see the world
Play the long game, muster up some cheer
'Cause if they believe that nothing really matters
All that winning might end sooner than they think
We might not have democracy or freedom anymore
But resistance will be hatched around this drink
[Outro]
And yes, you you still have friends
So raise a glass with them
Saying, "Happy New Year, Prince can't die again"
"Happy New Year, everything ends"
"Happy New Year, the South won't rise again"
"No, Happy New Year, gotta work to make that arc bend"
"Yeah, Happy New Year, away from these old white men"
"Yeah, Happy New Year, at least Prince can't die again"
"Happy New Year, it can't be this one again"
It was only a matter of time, probably. I’ve been doing two Christmas playlists on Spotify since 2015 and they only grow bigger (and, thanks to you, more popular). So it was finally time to tackle New Year’s Eve songs. Except, there’s only one problem. There’s not many of them.
There’s a few New Year’s Day songs, including one iconic number from a band you probably used to like and don’t so much anymore — but the song still slaps, as the kids used to say.
That said, I still think the first song on this playlist is the greatest modern New Year’s song because it tapped into those recent, horrible times (that were held at bay but not put to rest in this country, unfortunately). And yeah, it sucks that Prince is dead. But as the song says, at least he can’t die again. R.I.P. Prince and let’s hope we’re not putting a tombstone on democracy or freedom anytime soon.
When I went looking this year — and hey, I found 84 songs that cover 5 hours — the deepest well of songs resided in the nebulous description of “next year” and what that might mean, what it will bring. In retrospect, that makes sense. “Next year” is fertile ground for the imagination whereas New Year’s Eve is, well, a bit more limiting.
All of these playlists are public on Spotify (and the Christmas ones have a home on Apple Music). I will link both of the Christmas playlists below the new one just in case you’re still feeling merry, as I hope you are.
The thing that immediately became clear when I saw this post (and the embedded graphic) was that I had no choice but to listen to Prince's Sign O' The Times. After a tense week with my younger (Evangelical, Election Denying, conspiracy theorizing, gun fetishist, proud Florida Man) brother, the death of my father and the ensuing (and ongoing) nastiness that dealing with the Estate has proved to be kind of killed any celebratory mood this year for me.
The one bright spot that happened this year was The Inherited Dachshund, Toby the Love Sausage and I hoisted a neat shot of Don Julio 1942, toasted The Sausage and announced that 2024 HAD to be better.
"He's runnin' with a gang
Called the Disciples
High on crack
Totin' a machine gun..."
Long live Mac, and Merge Records. What a ridiculously great roster they have.