The Soundtrack Of Your Life - 2024 National Playlist Day

Today is National Playlist Day 2024. I have to confess to not knowing about this particular day before but I wholeheartedly endorse the reasons behind it, helping people living with Dementia. The theme, The Soundtrack Of Your Life, is difficult to contain within one playlist because my playlist would end up easily containing a couple of thousand songs!

I think I remember mentioning here on the blog that I use music as a form of therapy in order to help with my memory because due to my Epilepsy I do struggle at times from forgetfulness. Music has the ability to switch a light on and shine it in the dark places and with the aid of a song a picture can emerge of a memory - an event, a person, a place or the circumstances in which that song, tune or lyric can be put into. Now, I'm no medical authority on such matters and probably don't even use the right terminology, but hopefully you get what I mean. 

Down below is a new Playlist I put together to celebrate the day. Each of the 20 songs point to memories in my own life where the songs have been there in that moment and serve as a reminder. I won't go into the reasons for picking each song, as you might find that a bit tiresome. On my iTunes, my YouTube Channel and my Phone I have loads of Playlists that I make use of when I'm having a really tough time.

Playlist For Life encourage folks to make their own Playlists using Spotify (the link is at the bottom of the page), but I don't use that particular platform because I also like visual images as well, so My Playlist is on YouTube,

My Playlist
01 Unsafe Building - The Alarm
02 Don't Lose Your Dreams - Pete Wylie & Wah The Mongrel
03 In A Big Country - Big Country
04 Born For A Pupose/Reason For Living - Dr Alimantado
05 Call Of The Wild - Die Toten Hosen
06 Lion & The Lamb - TV Smith
07 1976 - The Boys
08 I Will Be Your Shield - Billy Bragg
09 Love Shine Bright - Culture
10 Let The Day Begin - Black Rebel Motorcycle Club
11 I Fought The Law - The Clash
12 Polaroid Picture - Frank Turner
13 The Weight - Mavis Staples & Levon Helm
14 Out Of Hand - The Mighty Lemon Drops
15 Title Holder - The Interrupters
16 My Love Will Not Let You Down (Live) - Bruce Springsteen & The E Street Band
17 Hour Of Need - Madness
18 Not Dark Yet - Shelby Lynne & Allison Moorer
19 Hymn To Him - Dion (Featuring Patti Scialfa & Bruce Springsteen)
20 I Wish You Were Here - Dropkick Murphys

 

GO HERE TO MAKE YOUR OWN PLAYLIST.

This Machine Rising - Dropkick Murphys and the Songs of Woody Guthrie

The aim of this particular post is not an examination of the lyrical content of the Woody Guthrie songs that the Dropkick Murphys have written the music for but a rather a bringing together in one place of the albums, the new documentary and a recent live show from Hellfest 2024 to enjoy, play loud, dance, sing-a-long and marvel that songs written so long ago have the ability to speak into our lives decades after Guthrie first put pen to paper. Because we have no idea how Woody Guthrie himself would have created the music for these songs, we are left in the hands of a band from Boston who are largely known for their Celtic Punk sound to do it for us. The fact that they have created two excellent albums from their sessions and barely lost sight of their own unique sound is a testament to the quality of the songs and their own desire to show musically that Guthrie still has something to say.

A couple of days ago the Dropkick Murphys relased their documentary 'This Machine Rising' that spotlights the making of their albums 'This Machine Still Kills Facists' (2022) and 'Okemah Rising' (2023) that feature the lyrics of Woody Guthrie.

 "This Machine Rising tells the story of the acoustic songs we wrote around a pile of Woody Guthrie’s unpublished lyrics. These songs get to the core of what the band believes in — and what we’ve always stood for...Acoustic folk and protest music has always been one huge chunk of the puzzle that makes up Dropkick Murphys. We were trying to find lyrics to hit the same areas that were important to us – social and economic injustice, organizing the working class, standing up to fascism or conservative values that we don’t agree with, fighting for the working class people…There are a lot of similarities in the band’s mindset. To read these lyrics that were written in the ‘30s or ‘40s that are so apropos to today, it’s kind of scary and powerful at the same time because it’s so relevant now."  Ken Casey (Lead Vocalist)

Listen and Watch Videos from the album

 

Listen and Watch Videos from the album

The lyrics of Woody Guthrie were not new to the Dropkick Murphys, they had first used them on the 'Blackout' album in 2003 with the song Gonna Be A Blackout Tonight:

Also on 'The Warriors Code' album (2005) with I'm Shipping Up To Boston: 

One of the things I love about the Dropkicks is that they have a bond with their community and a love for the working man and any injustice done to workers. When they were last in the UK they took the song All You Fonies and rewrote parts of it in support of the Union workers:

"In support of all our Union friends in the UK fighting the good fight against the elitist Tory political party we made this music video in association with the RMT (The National Union of Rail, Maritime and Transport Workers). On our recent UK shows we changed the words to the song All You Fonies (Bound To Lose) to All You Tories in support of the striking railroad and transit workers, nurses , fire fighters, teachers, postal workers, ambulance staff and health workers . The song is recorded Live at Motorpoint Arena in Cardiff Wales and the live video footage is from Cardiff and the Wembley Arena show in London. Animation provided courtesy of the RMT. Best of luck in your struggle friends. Yours in Solidarity, Dropkick Murphys"

 The band will be out touring the UK in 2025, here's the dates:

Feb 04: Birmingham O2 Academy
Feb 05: Glasgow O2 Academy
Feb 06: Manchester Academy
Feb 07: Cardiff Utilita Arena
Feb 08: London Alexandra Palace

If you have never seen them live then their recent set at Hellfest 2022 will be a good introduction (the 2024 show I can't embed but you can watch it here)