The Songs of Semester 74

Throughout the semester, there’s been a lot of general music-ing going on. As one of MCS 74’s many resident music nerds and guitar aficionados, I decided it would be a good idea to let y’all in Internetland know what we’ve been jamming to:

“Piano Man” – Billy Joel; “Fast Car” – Tracy Chapman; “Big Black Car” – Gregory Alan Isakov; “Rolling in the Deep” – Adele; “Better Together” – Jack Johnson; pretty much anything by Noah Kahan or The Lumineers:
Every week or so, a bunch of us do all of these songs and more as singalongs at the piano. I’m a big fan of joining in on Noah Kahan songs on the guitar.

“American Pie” – Don McLean; “Valerie” – Amy Winehouse; “The Adults Are Talking” – The Strokes; “Breakin’ Dishes” – Rihanna; “Dance Yrself Clean” – LCD Soundsystem:
These songs are in heavy rotation in the various Chewonki dish crews. I’ve learned from experience that the more danceable the songs are, the quicker the work actually gets done. Here’s my dish crew’s playlist: Dish Crew Playlist

“Merchandise” – Fugazi; “Big Yellow Taxi” – Joni Mitchell; “Talkin’ ‘Bout A Revolution” – Tracy Chapman; “Double Dare Ya” – Bikini Kill; “Why Go to War” – William Onyeabor; “Blowin’ in the Wind” – Bob Dylan:
A few weeks ago, a few other students and I helped organize a school meeting about protest music. It was really cool to hear other people’s interpretations of these songs. At the end, we all joined together to sing “Blowin’ in the Wind,” which was really awesome. Check out MCS’s other favorite protest songs here: Protest Songs Playlist

“Pink Toes” – Childish Gambino; “Lonesome & Mad” – Under the Rug; “Nobody’s Soldier” – Hozier; “Counting Cards” – Rainbow Kitten Surprise; “Same Old Song” – The Lumineers:
At the end of every day, Adrian announces his Song of the Day, a random song that fits his mood at the moment. These are some of the highlights. There’ve been some pretty awesome ones so far, which we’re saving in a playlist: Song of the Day Playlist

“The Star-Spangled Banner”; “Gold Soundz” – Pavement; “Best of Wives and Best of Women” – Cast of Hamilton; “Hickory Dickory Dock”:
These were some of the songs a lot of us had stuck in our heads during solos. Don’t ask.

Anything by Kafari:
Kafari was the resident musician at this year’s New England Youth Identity Summit in Portland, which some of us attended a few weeks ago. He’s an incredibly talented jazz pianist and beatmaker. In addition, he’s an absolute god at the rhythm bones (kind of like a wooden version of spoons). A lot harder than it looks (I can vouch).

“Arrowsic” – David Mallett; “You Can Close Your Eyes” – James Taylor:
Sue West and Scott Andrews, two of the original Chewonki staff members, came to give a presentation about the early days of the foundation as one of our Friday night speaker events. At the end, they played these two songs for us, with Scott on guitar. David Mallett is a local legend—I really have to check his music out.

“Today or Tomorrow” – Karate; “Space Travel Is Boring” – Sun Kil Moon (Modest Mouse cover); “It Could Always Be Worse” and “Penn State Got Burned Down by Lettuce” – Blasting Trout Overbite:
These are the songs I’ve performed at coffeehouse performances so far. As a State College resident, I’m obsessed with Blasting Trout Overbite, a band I found out about last year. It’s the quirky and extremely prolific musical project of several early 2000s Penn State film majors. While their music is very unpolished and unpredictable, their first album, Let’s Glue Stuff to Things, is unironically really good.

“Il jouait du piano debout” – France Gall; “L’ours” – Christophe Maé & Youssou N’Dour; “Aux arbres citoyens” – Yannick Noah:
Every Friday in French, one of the three people in my class chooses a French song, which we all listen to and talk about. These have been some of the highlights.

“Selele” – Jupiter & Okwess; “CCF (I’m Gonna Stay With You)” – Car Seat Headrest; “Bull Believer” – Wednesday; “Coup de foudre” – Franco & le TP OK Jazz; “Besties” – Black Country, New Road; “Stereo” – Pavement; “Never Ending Math Equation” – Modest Mouse; Anything by MJ Lenderman:
Some of the songs I’ve been vibing to a lot the past couple of months.

Hamilton Original Broadway Cast:
Best singalong material of all time, hands down.

Keep track of what we’re listening to here:
The Chewonki Semester 74 Scrapbook