No Left Field
The show for busting boundaries and expanding possibilities.
No Left Field
Nostalgia, Longing, Fun
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Welcome to Part 1 of Summer Music 2026!
In this episode, Rowena and Jason dig into music from Jason’s past epic summer roadtrips with his family. Be ready: Jason is not a trained vocalist! But he does what he can with what he’s got.
You can find Jason’s playlist on Apple Music here. It includes all the songs mentioned in the episode, in the order mentioned, plus the entirety of the “ultimate album of every summer” that Jason reminisces about late in the pod.
Unfortunately, platform interoperability isn’t what it should be in 2026, so if you’re on Spotify, Google Music, or another provider, it’ll be harder to assemble the list.
After recording, Jason confirmed that “Closer” by The Chainsmokers (feat. Halsey) was indeed released in 2017, not 2016.
A couple errata. First, the proper credit for “Titanium” goes to David Guetta, not Zedd. Second, the song on Calvin Harris’s “Funk Wav Bounces, Vol. 1” is “Skirt on Me,” not “Skirt on Ya."
If you enjoyed the episode, please follow the podcast and give us a 5-star rating. It will help others find us.
And please drop us a line: noleftfield@gmail.com
Welcome to No Left Field, the show for busting boundaries and expanding possibilities.
SPEAKER_01And we have fun doing it.
SPEAKER_04Do we go?
SPEAKER_01Hey listeners, summer 2026 is in full swing. So Rowena and I sat down to record the first of two episodes about summer music. Be sure to check the show notes for a link to my playlist and also for corrections to a couple tiny mistakes. Grab your flip-flops, a fruity beverage, and whatever else floats your summer boat. And settle in for Jason's grand tour of summer music adventures.
We begin
SPEAKER_09I'm excited about this recording.
SPEAKER_01I am too.
SPEAKER_09It's our second annual summer music part one.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, right, because we gotta do it in two.
SPEAKER_09Yeah. So today we're going to get into your summer music playlist 2026.
SPEAKER_07Uh-huh.
SPEAKER_09And next episode, likely, we'll get into my summer playlist.
SPEAKER_01That's the current plan. I wasn't really, I was actually kind of stressing out about how to do my playlist and how to approach summer music 2026. Two main reasons. One is I'm just not generally tapped into the music zeitgeist very much these days. Uh mostly because my my golden era, and we'll hear a lot more about this later, but the golden era was the road trip era. Um, and both the girls were in middle school and high school, and um we were just more dialed in. And I I'm a little bit insecure because like you have all these ways that you, and this was discussed in our other summer music episode, you have all these ways that you stay dialed into the music zeitgeist. And so I was I was feeling just like, how can I even contribute? And mostly I'm listening to podcasts, I'm just not even listening to that much music. So I was a little bit just kind of insecure about that. And then there's also this particular summer is just it's a hard, as as you know, for folks who've listened to our earlier episodes, it's just been a really difficult time.
SPEAKER_06Yeah.
SPEAKER_01And I haven't been feeling particularly celebratory, and it's nice to declare summer, and we think we've been doing a great job with that. And but at the same time, it's just like I'm summer 2026 has been challenging for me.
SPEAKER_07Yeah.
SPEAKER_01Because it's just it, you know, and we don't have any big outings to the mountains or anything like that. So I just did some little, some introspecting, and I thought, okay, well, then what have what what what could be potentially interesting and relatable for folks to listen to? I thought, well, I'm feeling a fair amount of nostalgia this summer about summers past. And so much of that has to do with the fact that for so many years we had built into our lives as a family. So Colette, myself, and our two daughters, our road trips to Montana to visit my old home where my parents were still living year after year after year. That's that was our clock with no hands. That was our get away from it all, and slow down. And we had all these hours in the car to listen to music. And um that's how I got my dose of so many good things, including my dose of music every summer. And um, it didn't really hit me until this summer how much I miss it. And I was thinking, why? Okay, well, our last trip before my parents moved was June of 2021, five years ago. June of 2022 was um for various reasons, a wonderful summer of international travel, two trips to Spain, um, and some other trips as well. And that's just kind of what it was a great summer for that reason, for a different reason. Summer 2023 was largely organized around my Western States hundred-mile race, and and then what happened after that, and we did get to go to Hawaii and visit my folks after that. Summer 2024 was getting ready to go off on this wild academic year adventure, leading the the hundred students around the world. And then last summer was recovering from that.
unknownYeah.
SPEAKER_01And then here we are in summer 2026. And I'm really feeling this gaping hole around this blissful slowdown time and music listening time that we used to have. So I thought, okay, well, why don't I just compile a list of songs from the best, most epic uh road trips?
SPEAKER_04Yeah.
SPEAKER_01From those times. And uh and talk about those songs a little bit.
SPEAKER_04I love it.
2012: The epic roadtrip
SPEAKER_09And it's not lost to me that there's a big event about to happen in less than a month's time that also might be intervening to the nostalgia. We mentioned the cake earlier, but my god, your your eldest daughter is gonna get married.
SPEAKER_05Yeah, three weeks.
SPEAKER_08Three weeks from today, what?
SPEAKER_05Yeah.
SPEAKER_08Three weeks from today.
SPEAKER_09That's kind of oof. That's giving me a little vertigo, honestly. Like the clock with no hands is going. So I can appreciate this kind of like look look back to gather energy and vibes from Road Trip. Greatest hits.
SPEAKER_01Yeah.
SPEAKER_09Let's hear them.
SPEAKER_01Okay. Um, I'm gonna repeat a story that I shared on the previous summer music uh episode. Great. Which ended up being released this season.
SPEAKER_03Yes.
SPEAKER_07Yes.
SPEAKER_01And on that pod I shared the following story because this is what kicks it all off. Summer 2012. This was the summer, so we moved to Nanjing in summer of 2011. And so summer 2012 was our first summer back after our first year. Right. And we had just completed an absolutely lovely, blissful time with you here and you and your family here in San Francisco. And we were hitting the road and we swung by Greens to go. Right. So the famous vegetarian restaurant Greens had this beautiful to go thing. It was just like getting food for the car because it was gonna be a long drive to Portland to go stay with Stephanie, David, and their boys.
SPEAKER_08Oh my god.
unknownYeah.
SPEAKER_01And um we got the food and pulled out of the parking lot, and if I think it was Mariette, our older daughter, who said, Why don't we turn on the radio? So we turned on the radio. And playing on the radio at that moment was stronger. Parentheses, parentheses, what doesn't kill you by Kelly Clarkson.
SPEAKER_03Amazing.
SPEAKER_01And that was the start of the whole thing. It was like we that like we just the radio, I don't know if we turned the radio off the rest of the summer. I mean, in summer of 2012, it was so epic. Here was our itinerary.
SPEAKER_07Okay.
SPEAKER_01Actually, where did we start? Okay, and we actually we started that summer. We might have started in Philadelphia. I'm not sure. With our east, our East Coast. We did an East Coast swing as well each of these summers. So that was in there somewhere. But our driving tour was San Francisco, Portland, Seattle, and then Missoula, Montana with my folks for probably a week and a half or so. Jackson Hole to rendezvous with my brother and his wife and three kids for a couple of nights. Denver to visit Colette's big sister Mary Elise. Las Vegas to see my uncle Phil and his family, San Diego to see Colette's extended family, Hawaii.
SPEAKER_03Oh my gosh.
SPEAKER_01Where we gathered with Colette's family, and I'd never been, none of us other than Colette had ever been to Hawaii. This was Kauai. Um we stayed with her folks for three nights in one place and then four nights in a different place, and then took the red eye back to LA and had a super fun day with Helen and Joel and their two kids at the beach in Los Angeles.
SPEAKER_09In Los Angeles. Okay. Yes. Right.
SPEAKER_01Before getting on the plane the next day and flying back to China.
SPEAKER_07That's all.
SPEAKER_01So we were in a lot of places. Yeah. Okay. A lot of places to have to associate with various songs. Um and so and a lot of hours in the car with the radio on. That's the context for all of this and for all of the 2012 songs that I will now get into.
SPEAKER_07Yay.
SPEAKER_01So I'm just sort of going to mention a few places, not all of the places, but some associations with some of the songs on the playlist from the places. So first of all, we're big fans of Michael Fronti and Spearhead.
SPEAKER_07Yeah.
SPEAKER_01Huge fans of Michael Fronti and Spearhead. Uh he had an album that came out in 2010, and the album is called Sound of Sunshine. Um, and that was just huge. So either we were listening to the radio or we were playing stuff from our own collection.
SPEAKER_07Um CDs.
SPEAKER_01Um no, we were past CDs. Uh see 2012 would have been iPods. Still. Yeah. Yeah. Uh the only iPhone person in our family at that time was Colette, and we didn't have, we weren't able to play music. Yeah, it was iPods. I think it had to be iPods because it wasn't CDs. Okay. Yeah. So that was in heavy rotation throughout the whole road trip. Okay. But most of my memories, my my distinctive memories with that album are connected with some of the favorite songs on that album are connected to Missoula.
SPEAKER_07Okay.
SPEAKER_01But coming back from an epic running adventure in the mountains and playing that album. And I'll just mention the name there. They're in the playlist, but some of my favorite songs are um the title track, uh Sound of Sunshine. Uh Hey, Hey, hey, which is this super uplifting, very like danceable song. Um about just like life and love and staying in the moment. Umly thing missing was you, is this like super cheesy, like super cheesy love song.
SPEAKER_09Um I love the lyric.
SPEAKER_01Searching for an island in the sky in the stars, the size of you and me. Oh yeah.
SPEAKER_09That is such a beautiful lyric. And you might know that Ed and I associate our love with what we call the demitas, which is the we need to put me a Disa.
SPEAKER_00You call it the demitos.
SPEAKER_09Well, the demitas because it's like a little tiny, tiny tiny. So that lyric really sweeps to me.
SPEAKER_01I love it that she looked up the lyrics. That's the sweetest thing.
SPEAKER_09Oh, yeah. I looked up the lyrics, and I will say that I, because there were 37 going on 38 songs, I had to group that.
SPEAKER_01My god, Rowena. The commitment. Listeners, are you hearing? Oh my god.
SPEAKER_09Okay, so that particular song, only thing missing is you. Was you was you is in the category cabana cannabis vibes.
SPEAKER_01Totally. Oh my god.
SPEAKER_09Did we say WC cabana?
SPEAKER_01Yep. I mean, well, go with cabana cabin.
SPEAKER_09Cabana cannabis vibes.
SPEAKER_01Cabana cannabis.
SPEAKER_09Cabana cannabis. When in my ad on zoom in, but maybe. Or cabana cannabis vibes.
SPEAKER_01I love that name.
SPEAKER_09Okay.
SPEAKER_01You came up with that name, yeah.
SPEAKER_09I came up with that name. Hey, hey, hey. I have under the category pray, pray, pray.
SPEAKER_01Oh, yes, it's a very spiritual song.
SPEAKER_09Sound of sunshine.
SPEAKER_01Mm-hmm.
SPEAKER_09Club smells like coconut. Hence the coconut emoji when we were.
SPEAKER_01Oh, there we go. Oh yeah. Yeah. Growena put a coconut emoji on something in our text exchange. I was like, what's up with that? She said, wait till the pod. So now I know.
SPEAKER_09Club smells like coconut. And by the way, the music video for that is at taken at Venice Beach.
SPEAKER_01Oh, no way. I've never seen it.
SPEAKER_09I haven't seen it either.
SPEAKER_01I'm not a video watch.
SPEAKER_09Venice Beach says summer to me. So and I feel like that song might be the most explicitly summery song of your summer playlist. The word sun or sunshine is referred to some 20 times.
SPEAKER_01My god, you count it.
unknownYeah, I did a little count.
SPEAKER_01Oh my god, Romina.
SPEAKER_09Okay.
SPEAKER_01What an interlocking.
SPEAKER_09I just have to go back to one. I'm not gonna keep bugging about this, but like stronger. Um is on my fight hype group.
SPEAKER_01Good fight. Good.
SPEAKER_09Fight hype.
SPEAKER_01Excellent. Oh my god, I cannot believe you did this. Okay.
SPEAKER_09Well you'll there were themes, right? And it's like, okay, where where is where where does that like what what is the palette of Jason's summer playlist?
SPEAKER_01Well, thank you. And I mean then obviously the whole concept of sound of sunshine, hello, you know, summer.
SPEAKER_07Yeah.
SPEAKER_01Sunshine. There's one other song, um, headphones. Did you do you remember that one? As opposed to there's the Bjork song, obviously.
SPEAKER_09No, and there's I I mean, I was like, there's a connection intimacy, visceral experience, plugging the headphones into my body, right? Vibrations from the headphones, and like honestly, headphones, right? Not earbuds.
SPEAKER_07Right.
SPEAKER_09Headphones. Um, so I think that's a very beautiful song, which is on my water melancholy.
unknownOkay.
SPEAKER_01Oh my god, Romina, I love it so much. Water melancholy.
unknownWow.
SPEAKER_01Okay. So
2012: The epic roadtrip continues
SPEAKER_01we move on from Missoula and we're in Jackson Hole, and there's two songs that I particularly associate with our stop in Jackson Hole. So actually, it was before actually before we got to Jackson Hole, we spent the night in West Yellowstone, Montana. And um I had to get up pretty early because I wanted to go on a, I think it was an eight-mile run that morning. And um we're in the we're in the in this little motel, and like so everybody was awake.
SPEAKER_06Nice.
SPEAKER_01And there was a song that had been part of our rotation that for some reason, maybe it was Mariette, wanted to hear that morning. And it was Everybody Talks by Neon Trees.
SPEAKER_05Amazing. That was Wienaki's time.
SPEAKER_01Such a such a rocker of a song, right? So I just have this memory of playing that song like in the morning before my run. And I went out on my run and it was like 37 degrees outside. West Yellowstone. West Yellowstone, if you check it, it's it's often the nation's low temperature. Okay. It's uh up over 6,000 feet and it's in a valley, and so yeah, so it was 37 degrees. Um, and I remember my hands being really cold. Um, and then we get to Jackson Hole and we meet up with David and his family, and I learned how much he hated the song Payphone by Maroon Five.
SPEAKER_08How did you learn that?
SPEAKER_01Um, I think maybe one of his boys mentioned how much he hated it.
SPEAKER_08Okay. Oh, interesting.
SPEAKER_09Because it was flaying in your orbit. What was right.
SPEAKER_01Like how did Payphone become the subject of I don't remember.
SPEAKER_09Okay.
SPEAKER_01I don't remember. But I just remember David saying how much he hated that song, which I just found interesting. And I actually, after the summer, I ended up sending him like a link. I said, you have to hear this. And he it was a link to Payphone.
SPEAKER_09It's like a little brotherly love.
SPEAKER_01Little brotherly love for my big bro.
SPEAKER_09How do you how do you feel about the song?
SPEAKER_01I I I love the song. Um, and I have to be very um precise. I love the version without Whiz Khalifa.
SPEAKER_04Oh.
SPEAKER_01Yes, and I'll tell you why. Okay. Because I feel like the like the Whiz Khalifa rap, it's a completely different song with the Wiz Khalifa rap. With the Whiz Khalifa rap, it's it's turns into like a diss, fuck you kind of a song.
SPEAKER_04Yeah.
SPEAKER_01At its root, I don't think that's what payphone is. Payphone is a vulnerable expression of loss and pain. And just listen, listen, listen, listen to the desperation and just this the in in um Adam Levine's voice. Uh I'm at a payphone trying to call home all my change I spent. I showed, yes, cheesy metaphor. Where have the times gone? Baby, it's all wrong. Where are the plans we made for if happiness for if happy ever after did exist, I would still be holding you like this.
SPEAKER_09I have it in the coming of age fairy tale.
SPEAKER_01Oh, interesting. Yeah. So there's the Whiska rap, which instead of the following lyrics that I can remember. So it's like, I'm at a payphone, and then Whisk Kalifa comes in. No.
SPEAKER_05And this one's like, ooh, yeah, yeah, no, baby. Don't hang up so I can tell you what you need to know. Baby, I'm begging you, just please don't go so I can tell you what you need to know.
SPEAKER_01So it says the vulnerability continues, right?
SPEAKER_07That's beautiful.
SPEAKER_01Right. Right. It's just like it's just like this, it's this, it's this, like this little breather from the angst, but and it's just this moment of vulnerability. And come on, I mean, you know, I'm a sucker for that. I'm a sucker for a sad song. A heartbreaky song. And it's a heartbreaky song. Again, that version of it. Now, I'm not, I just want to be really clear. You know, I'm as big a hip-hop fan as anybody. Like I really cut my adult listening teeth around hip-hop back in my late teens and early twenties. So I have no problem with Whiz Khalifa. Um, I just like for me, it just I don't like how that alters the vibe of the song. And uh this feels like a more honest and vulnerable expression, which is just something that for my tastes, right? It just suits my tastes so much more.
SPEAKER_09I love the falsetto with what you just sang. And actually the register that Adam Levine sings in is like it it pulls on your heartstrings. It does, it does.
SPEAKER_01And one other um Maria was also really into Maroon Five and that song in particular. So she and I shared that. And actually, when we flew to Hawaii later in the summer, we were I was in one aisle and she was across, and we were listening one earbud in each to pay phone.
SPEAKER_07Oh, oh. Right.
SPEAKER_09Come on.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, exactly.
SPEAKER_09That's sorted.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, those were recorded. These are way before AirPods.
SPEAKER_09Wow. Yes.
SPEAKER_01So we drove from Jackson Hole to Denver and spent a couple nights with at Mary Elise's place. No, we spent a couple nights in a hotel and visited Mary Lise at her place. And so here's I I had an abscess on my back that had become very uncomfortable.
SPEAKER_07Okay.
SPEAKER_01And I made an appointment at a medical facility in Denver to have it lanced.
SPEAKER_07Oh my God.
SPEAKER_01And for whatever reason, on the drive back to the hotel or to Mary Elise's from the medical procedure, I had the radio on, and What Makes You Beautiful by One Direction came on. It was a song I was already familiar with, but just sometimes you listen to a song and then the song just kind of hits you in a different way in a random setting, in a random moment. And that was the moment for me. And it was just, it was the moment where I was just like, this is a great song. This is a great, beautifully constructed piece of music. Um, it's got so much. It's got so much. Um, and so that's an association that I have with that song.
SPEAKER_09And that's kind of a lovely thing, as your body was um maybe not presenting you with something beautiful. Right?
SPEAKER_01Like my abscess.
SPEAKER_09You had the abscess. You didn't know you were beautiful because of the abscess, and that's what made you beautiful.
SPEAKER_01Maybe a bit of a stretch. But thank you. But that does okay. I will, I was gonna leave out this detail, but I'm gonna throw it in because you said what you said, and how absolutely unbeautiful my abscess evidently was from the perspective of the medical professional who lanced it. It was totally numb, so I couldn't feel anything. But he's like, oh God, uh that that was whoa, that was something wow.
SPEAKER_07Oh my god.
SPEAKER_09That's what makes you feel. Wow. Impressive. An impressive, memorable summer abscess.
SPEAKER_01Exactly. Which was going to keep me out of the water in Hawaii for a couple days. Because we were coming up on our Hawaii trip.
SPEAKER_07Yeah. Okay.
SPEAKER_01Um, but you know, it was okay. I was ha really happy to get it taken care of. So by the way, as I'm telling you st as I was noting down these stories, it was hit me just just how often a song can be particularly connected to an otherwise random moment.
SPEAKER_04Okay.
SPEAKER_01Um a song can become thematic.
SPEAKER_04Yeah, totally.
SPEAKER_01And uh be also be connected to these random moments like driving back from the medical professional.
SPEAKER_09Isn't that amazing? Yeah, totally. Seared into your brain. Seared into your brain. Available on the hippocampus.
SPEAKER_01Is that what it is?
SPEAKER_09Yes.
SPEAKER_01Love your brain expertise.
2012: It’s ain’t over!
SPEAKER_01Okay. Okay. So then we go, I don't, there's nothing in particular. I'm associated after Denver, we drive to Las Vegas, we drive to San Diego, and then we end up in Hawaii. And there's a number of songs from the driving around back and forth on Kauai of songs. Uh and so much of this, by the way, is also closely connected with Mariette because she's such a music lover. Yeah. Um and I think we had a shared appreciation for some somebody that I used to know. Um, by I don't know, how's it Gautier? Go. It's pronounced Gautier. Okay. Thank you.
SPEAKER_03I looked at it.
SPEAKER_01Thank you. Gautier featuring Kimbra.
SPEAKER_03Yes.
SPEAKER_01And it's just, it's got a totally unique vibe, that song. Do you did did you know of the song before?
SPEAKER_09Yes.
SPEAKER_01Okay.
SPEAKER_09Yes. Huge fan of the song. Go ahead. I have more to add.
SPEAKER_01What I love about the song is not only just just like the the the sort of it's got these sort of low-key vibes, but also like this, like this, it's pent up. It's a very pent-up song. And you get to the first uh chorus, and Goche just lets loose.
SPEAKER_05You didn't have to cut me out.
SPEAKER_01And and it's just they're just unleashing all of these feelings suddenly.
SPEAKER_05And then it's sort of, no, you're just somebody that I used to know. Somebody.
unknownYeah.
SPEAKER_01And then it kind of calms down. And then Kimbra comes in and talks, gives the completely other perspective of the other partner in the relationship. And it reminded me of another pop song that did this from way back when in the early 1980s, which was um Don't You Want Me by Human League. Yeah. Which didn't actually make my playlist because it doesn't fit into this summer song. But it's like, you were working as a waitress in a cocktail bar when I met you. And he's talking, he lifted her picture up and gave her all these opportunities. And then she comes on and says, I was working as a waitress in a cocktail bar. That much is true. And then she tells her version of the story. So somebody that I used to know kind of reminds me of that funny dynamic.
SPEAKER_09The camera also unleashes. I love that word to define that kind of vocal quality. Used to know. Okay, so I did a little deep dive. Also in my watermeloncholy.
SPEAKER_01Okay, there's perfect, yes.
SPEAKER_09Those those do samples. So Gautier recorded this at his parents' house in Australia. Um and had been like really just like having so much, you know, interesting, a really fascinating experience collaging samples together like that. So Gautier is like the project of the musician Wally, somebody or other. And um and hit this project Gautier was him doing a lot of the stuff, including using a lot of samples, playing the drums, etc. Um, this is this this struck me. So I watched this because I had seen this blurb like what happened to Gautier. There's there will be no new music from Gautier ever. Post the the viral sensation of this song. And I watched this little documentary of it.
SPEAKER_01This song, somebody that I used to know?
SPEAKER_09Yes. This song, which blew up, right? Two billion watches of the music video, which by the way, have you seen the music video? No, you gotta watch the music video.
SPEAKER_07Okay.
SPEAKER_09The music video, I think, like next levels the song.
SPEAKER_07Okay.
SPEAKER_09Yeah, and that's that's all I'm gonna say. All right. But he said his influence, his influences are quote unquote, left field pop music. No, yes, he does, left field. He was like, I don't know. He would call it left field pop music, and I was like, yes, I gotta put that in a pod. No left field pop music from Gautier. We are your friends.
SPEAKER_01Oh my god, that's so great. He should be our fan.
SPEAKER_09Yeah, he should be our fan too. Yes. Let's make it reciprocal.
SPEAKER_01Um, that is a great find.
SPEAKER_09And another awesome fact about this song is that it got all these awards. One of them, uh Prince was at the podium opening the envelope, and before he named Gautier and somebody I used to know as the winner, he said, Oh, I love this song. Ah so Prince. Wow. Fangirling, your song is very notable and a very positive thing to then cut off, right? So go to no more new songs, which to which he just said, like, I it's I wanna I wanna be able to write personally. I want to be able to have a personal life.
unknownWow.
SPEAKER_09And wow. I can't like get on that hype train.
SPEAKER_07Incredible.
SPEAKER_09I'm gonna do other things. He's writing music, he has a band, he might do some other like independent projects, but no more gotier. So that's that's a little that's a little um that's a little gift for you to get even more into that.
SPEAKER_01Thank you, and check out the video. Thank you for that. That's really cool. That's really cool. So that's one of the Kawhi songs.
SPEAKER_09Okay, amazing.
SPEAKER_01Uh Lights by Ellie Goulding.
SPEAKER_09Yes.
SPEAKER_01Did that make one of your categories?
SPEAKER_09Which Yeah, lights, it did. They all made one of my categories. Lights.
SPEAKER_01Golding, right? Not Golding.
SPEAKER_09It's O U.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, but I think the thing is pronounced Golding.
SPEAKER_09Okay, she'sh. Uh, it's in my coming-of-age fairy tale category. Okay, so afraid of the dark.
SPEAKER_01Mmm. And it's also it's also got this, I don't know, um, kind of magic feel to it.
SPEAKER_09Yeah. Yeah. I was I like had recognized it when I listened to it again, but I listened to it a few more times and I like the electronic-ness of it.
SPEAKER_04I like the um yeah, I like the quality with which she's singing.
SPEAKER_01And I didn't realize it was actually about being afraid of the dark. I hadn't listened to the lyrics closely enough.
SPEAKER_09Well, I looked it up on Wikipedia.
SPEAKER_01But still.
SPEAKER_09Yeah.
SPEAKER_01But still.
SPEAKER_09Yeah.
SPEAKER_01Then we have titanium.
SPEAKER_09Titanium.
SPEAKER_01Titanium. Is that did I not put that on the list? Oh no. Oh my gosh. Oh. Wow, this is an uh a clerical, a clerical error. With apologies to you, Rowena.
SPEAKER_09That's okay. I'm I'm adjusting. You can pick category for it. Is that okay?
SPEAKER_01Do I know all your categories? Yeah.
SPEAKER_08Um what tell me about Titanium?
SPEAKER_01Do you know the song?
SPEAKER_08I do, right? Sing me some of it.
SPEAKER_01Okay, I'm gonna with apologies, listeners. I'm just gonna go straight to the chorus.
SPEAKER_07I am Titania. Do you know who that vocalist is? Um Sia. Oh, Sia? Yes. Not chandelier?
SPEAKER_09It's chandelier. Chandelier is also on my list. Okay, okay, okay.
SPEAKER_01In a future year.
SPEAKER_09Okay, okay.
SPEAKER_01But this was the first taste of Sia that I ever got.
SPEAKER_03Okay.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, it's the the credit is to Zed. And so it's Zed Titanium featuring Sia. Yeah, so that was Hawaii. Mariette was really into that song too. Um Chasing the Sun by the Wanted, which I never really got that into, but I'm mentioning it because what was happening is, you know, one of one of my music buddies is Colette's younger sister, Stephanie.
SPEAKER_09Love it.
SPEAKER_01And so we were all getting together with Colette's extended family. Yes, also a party girl. Really fun. And she uh she's like, What have you been listening to? What have you been listening to? And so I was introducing her to some of the songs we've been listening to, and she's like, Oh, I gotta play this song for you. And she played Chasing the Sun by the Wanted. And it's got this whole catchy, find us chasing the sun. Right. Very catchy.
SPEAKER_02You heard this? This is this is part of the Kawaii.
SPEAKER_01Kawhi, yes. I mean, I remember the moment where she puts the earbuds or the headphones or whatever it was on me and is playing that song for that. Yes.
unknownOkay.
SPEAKER_01Um, and then oh sorry.
SPEAKER_09War with Kawaii.
SPEAKER_01Also Kuiet. And then the final oh no, please.
SPEAKER_09No, I'm not at the end of Kauai, I want to come back.
SPEAKER_01Okay. Because I'm about to mention the final Kauai song. Great. Which I listened to again last night, and I think I want to just actually keep listening to because I love it so much. And that is Good Time by Al City and Carly Ray Jepsen. It's just, it's like the ultimate summer song.
SPEAKER_07Yes, it is.
SPEAKER_01It's the ultimate so it's just good times. And the whole idea, like, we don't even have to try.
SPEAKER_09It's always a good time. That is in my bubblegum bumpin' flamingo float.
SPEAKER_07There you go. Exactly. Perfect. Perfect. Perfect.
SPEAKER_09With the the sun emoji, sun emoji, gas tank emoji, lipstick, lips, strawberry lemon.
SPEAKER_01My god, your brain is so amazing.
SPEAKER_09I oh my god. I love this song so much. I you do too. Joyful collaboration. It's bicultural. Canadian and U.S. Owl City's out of Minnesota. Carly Ray out of Ontario. Um, I love that they both, it's mutual aid. It was on Owl City's fourth album, The Mid Summer Station. Stop it. And Carly Ray Jepsen's second album, Kiss. Is that not The Song of the Summer?
SPEAKER_01Oh my god.
SPEAKER_09Summer playlist. Um I love that so much.
SPEAKER_01Yeah. And okay, thank you for that. Those are some great additional pieces. That wraps up Kauai.
The last of 2012, and on to 2014
SPEAKER_09Okay, I want to come back to the wanted just for a second because I knew nothing about the wanted. Okay. Again, feet they're the there were the chasing, chasing the sun. And um I didn't know anything about them. I learned that they're a boy band. An Irish British boy band that is about five years older than another boy band that you've already mentioned.
SPEAKER_01One Direction.
SPEAKER_09And got knocked out by One Direction. And there was beef.
SPEAKER_01There was beef. Beef. Wow.
SPEAKER_09One Direction came along.
SPEAKER_01Uh-huh.
SPEAKER_09And apparently Zane from One Direction called Max from the Wanted Chlamydia Boy on Twitter for no apparent reason, except maybe like Max's ex-fiance was hanging out with one of Zane's girlfriends and they were talking and he cheated on her or some shit. Like this Twitter, a little Twitter battle to which um the wanted Max offered to settle it in a boxing match.
SPEAKER_01The cage match that we're still anticipating might happen someday.
SPEAKER_09Um nothing, nothing came about. But then interestingly, so the wanted got knocked out by one direction.
SPEAKER_01They were a little less wanted ultimately, I think, in one direction.
SPEAKER_09They were unwanted.
SPEAKER_01At that time, the one direction was up. Right. And they knocked out the less wanted.
SPEAKER_09The less wanted.
SPEAKER_01Uh-huh.
SPEAKER_09Um, and then the the the last sort of interesting uh fact is that uh The Wanted had a reunion in 2021 as like a cancer charity tour. Um they were gonna make a greatest hits album for one of their members who had a green tumor.
SPEAKER_00Oh. Oh, that's so sad.
SPEAKER_09Ended up dying in 2022. And of course, we know that Liam Payne ended up dying from uh uh maybe uh intoxication with an adulting fall in one direction. So, so you know, what is the moral to the story?
SPEAKER_01Uh don't eat beef.
SPEAKER_09Don't yes, says the vegetarian.
SPEAKER_01Exactly. Well pescatarian. Pescatarian.
SPEAKER_09Oh, pescatarian, okay.
unknownYes.
SPEAKER_01Um see where beef gets your row. See the beef gets your row. See where beef gets your row.
SPEAKER_09Okay, we could just leave it at that.
SPEAKER_01Yes. And boys, maybe and boy bands. Yeah. Yeah. Okay. Um, great.
SPEAKER_09And of course wrapping up kawaii.
SPEAKER_01So that's it. So there's one more song for the for 2012. And by the way, this is the longest. So part of my experience, part of my experience, I I went through, I had I had Gemini dredge up the top 10 Billboard summer hits from 2012 to 2021. 2012, I knew nine of them. Oh, that's true. 2021, I knew zero of them. Oh, that's true. So there's the so 2012 really is the peak. The very first summer is the peak, so there's not as many songs in future years.
SPEAKER_09That was 15 years ago. 15 summers ago.
SPEAKER_0114. 14. Thank you.
SPEAKER_0714!
SPEAKER_01Still, it's almost 15. It's a lot of summers. It's a lot of summers. Um so we took the red eye, and we were picked up by Helen and Joel. Or no, we had our rental car. We met them so I think we met them in Santa Monica. That's what we did. The the beach there in Santa Monica. Maybe it was Zuma Beach. I'm not sure. It was a lovely beach in Southern California in the LA in LA. And um we were going in and out of the water, just having the most, the loveliest time. And then Helen or Joel or Collette or I, one of us, was either humming or just started singing the chorus from We Are Young by Fun.
SPEAKER_07Amazing.
SPEAKER_01And then another person joined it. And then by the time we got to the climax of the chorus, we got Glow Brahir. We were all belting it out at full volume.
SPEAKER_07Oh my lord.
SPEAKER_01And these people, there was like a young couple who like turned their heads, looked at us and applauded.
SPEAKER_07It has that whole thing. Anthem.
SPEAKER_01It's an anthem. It's a total anthem. It's a total anthem. Yeah. Yeah.
SPEAKER_09Um tonight.
SPEAKER_01I mean, what a declaration. Tonight. That's we are young. I know, because it's got that whole intro. Totally is like.
SPEAKER_07Yes, go. No. Featuring Janelle Monet. Mm-hmm.
SPEAKER_09So that made me listen really. Yeah, I wrote Antha. Antha.
SPEAKER_01There you go.
SPEAKER_09Featuring Janelle Monet made me listen to her vocal. I was like, Janelle Monet. So I didn't know about Janelle Monet in 2012. Um and I had to go back and like listen for it.
SPEAKER_08It's subtle.
SPEAKER_01I haven't actually listened for it, so I will do that next. Okay. Good. Yeah, but I mean it whole starts with the the and he's giving this kind of monologue about being in this state. And there's this whole thing about mutual like supporting a friend in need kind of theme. Um and then this whole celebratory anthem thing, and then it comes right back at the end. The bar closes and you feel like falling down. Is that what it is? I'll carry you home tonight. It's beautiful. It is. It's just absolutely beautiful.
SPEAKER_09That's awesome, Jazz.
SPEAKER_01And then yeah, so 20, the the epic summer of 2012 then came to a close and we and we flew back to China. Then we fast forward to 2014, which was our transition year. That summer was our transition from China. We're skipping 20. I mean it would just be way it would be way too long. It would be way too long. That's why I focused in on these particularly epic moments in our lives where summers and summer music played a particularly profound role. So uh we had just moved to the Bay when summer kicked off in earnest in early July. Um and um I as I was scanning my brain for songs from that summer, I was just noticing there was this sort of this bittersweet transitional tinge to all of them. Because transitions are always you're always letting go of something. And as wonderful and as as just like dreamy as our return to the Bay Area after a decade away was, there's always loss as well. So there was and then adjustments to the new stuff and and everything. So there's just this this the vibe, the energy that I associate with this is this bittersweet transitional energy. I'm actually gonna go back because the first song I wanted to mention chronologically, um I became aware of as we were just about to leave Nanjing. And Mariette introduced it to the family. And that is Chandelier.
SPEAKER_09Yes.
SPEAKER_01Right?
SPEAKER_09That's Rowena Panting with the pleasure.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, it is such a Rowena song.
SPEAKER_09And you know the music video for that one, right?
SPEAKER_01Yeah, yeah, yeah. No, I'm not I'm not a video watcher, I'm telling you. Oh, okay. Wait, is this the one where you're seeing a woman from behind?
SPEAKER_09No.
SPEAKER_01Oh, that's a different one, okay.
SPEAKER_09Is there a Sia video where you're seeing a woman from behind? I think so. You would remember this fucking video.
SPEAKER_01Okay, alright, alright, good. Alright, so there's two videos I gotta see.
SPEAKER_09Yes, the other one is for somebody that you used to know.
SPEAKER_01Thank you. Um Okay, sorry. But yeah, the transitional part, it was I just remember how hard it was specifically for Mariette to leave Nanjing. Because she had this just sweet group of friends that she'd gotten from Nanjing International School the three years that we were there. You got to meet some of those wonderful people. Yeah. Yeah. Um So then here we are by the bay, and there were just some songs that were in high rotation that left a deep impression from that time.
SPEAKER_09Categorized chandelier. Yes. Wishful drinking slash diving.
unknownOkay.
SPEAKER_01Right?
SPEAKER_09Don't love the drinking and driving, but well, it's wishful drinking or wishful. Oh, there we go. Okay. Drinking slash.
SPEAKER_01Okay. All right. Okay. Thank you. Not to judge, Ronnie.
SPEAKER_09Right. No, I know. No drinking.
SPEAKER_01Judgment free zone here. Or not. Um so uh Rude by Magic.
SPEAKER_07Yes.
SPEAKER_01And I went back and listened to it again the other night. It's just such a wacky little song, and it's so catchy.
SPEAKER_09It's so catchy. It's in my cannabis canvas. Sure. No cabana.
SPEAKER_01Cabana cannabis, cabana can, cabana can. Banana can of Yeah.
SPEAKER_05Um, it's and it's just such a silly why you gotta be so rude. Don't you know I'm human too? It's like it's so quiet.
SPEAKER_01Very, very catchy, fun. Anyway, marry that girl. Marry her anyway, marry that girl, no matter what you say.
SPEAKER_09How is that sitting with you this three weeks away from the Eddie?
SPEAKER_01Are you gonna come to me and say, Can I have your daughter for the rest of my life? Say yes, say yes, because I need it's like, buddy, you haven't done that yet.
SPEAKER_07No.
SPEAKER_01You're missing a step. He hasn't come to me in in yeah, I'm going to put my foot down, except that he's a wonderful guy and he's gonna be a wonderful husband for her, so I don't want to I don't want to stop that stuff.
SPEAKER_09That's just giving uh Skyla saying, what do you want to say, water? Exactly what I was gonna say.
SPEAKER_01This was for our listeners, this famous moment with my godchild, Skyla. Um, if you want to understand this child, this is gonna give you some great insights. She had been assigned, you were just having dinner over at our place. She'd been assigned the task of getting beverages for everyone, and she kept going around, like looking and pointing her finger and saying, What do you want to drink? Say water. And I before she got to-finger pointing. No, there was the finger pointing. And before they got to me, I had witnessed them doing this with two other people and was starting to laugh. And what I noticed was both people said water.
SPEAKER_03So what did you say?
SPEAKER_01I don't remember, but it probably wasn't water.
SPEAKER_03Good. Kidding yourself.
SPEAKER_01Well, because we both share being the younger sibling, and it's like, I'm not having that. Right. As a younger sibling, I'm gonna make trouble for the person who's making trouble for me. Right. So get that. Week shit out of here, kiddo. Thank you. Yeah. So anyway, so that's rude. And then um Shake It Off by Taylor Swift. I have a very specific memory. I would I just finished co-leading a new resident orientation retreat for international house residents where I was working. And uh Colette and the girls had come and joined. And we were driving out to the beach afterwards. This is in West Marin, uh Walker Creek Ranch, and we just rocked out to shake it off. And we got done. Mariet said, that's our family jam. Yeah.
SPEAKER_09Yes. It's so fun. It's such a good single.
SPEAKER_01Totally. And I mean, I guess that moment was a little bit after summer, technically, but we've been jamming all summer to that song. And then um this one I really enjoyed revisiting a couple nights ago is Dark Horse.
SPEAKER_09Katy Perry.
SPEAKER_01Katy Perry and Juicy J.
SPEAKER_09Juicy J. Yeah, that's that a that's a near one.
SPEAKER_05But the bass and the wee wee-wee, weo, wee weo.
SPEAKER_01I'm a little flat on the first note. Sorry, listeners.
SPEAKER_05Um It's just so it's so atmosphere.
SPEAKER_01Yes, perfect.
SPEAKER_04I also don't let a nice fight hype.
SPEAKER_01Totally, totally. And then my favorite part. There's no gold bird.
SPEAKER_07Well done. Wrong time. Thank you. Juicy Jimmy.
SPEAKER_05Yeah.
SPEAKER_01So that puts a bow on 2014. You're
2016: Country, and the ultimate Song of the Summer
SPEAKER_01skipping 2015, and we're going straight to 2016. Because now country music enters our world. Oh, we were just younger. I I was asking Mariette the other day if she remembers how the country music came in, and she said she just remembered we were just out in the middle of playing. We weren't sure, but there was nothing we wanted to play from our stuff, so we turned on the radio in and I think it was in Nevada. Somewhere between Reno and Winnemucca is what I remember.
SPEAKER_03Playlist right there.
SPEAKER_01Somewhere between Reno and Winnemucca. And I'm not sure what the first song was that came on, but it's it very well might have been Mud on the Tires.
SPEAKER_07Okay.
SPEAKER_01By Brad Paisley, which it has become one of my favorite songs of any genre. But I want to just say a couple things. First of all, about that song. Yeah. We thought it had come out in 2016, and it was only when I started researching for this that I found it came out in freaking 2003. It was already a classic by the time we became aware of it in 2016. But what I feel like about there's a certain branch of country music that I am susceptible to. What I think this particular branch of country music is really good at is capturing a moment. A really deeply felt human moment or series of moments. And so that song is all about just going out and then it's connected to nature. It's it's my home. It's Montana. I mean, it's beyond Montana, of course. But like I didn't, there's all kinds of reasons I don't like country music. And it's it's there's a lot of negative associations from childhood with with parts of Montana culture that I don't identify with. So there's it's it's a very complicated picture for me. But as an adult, this sort of country song might warm its way into my heart because there's a particular way that a particular way that it has for genuine human expression, and mud on the tires is perfect. And nature, nature is often woven in. And that's a part of it as well. So it's all about going out and camping with his honey. Uh and I remember the first line, it sounds, it sounds like a stereotype of a country song. I got some good news. Bank finally came through, and I'm holding the keys to a brand new Chevrolet. I'm like, oh wow, we're singing about pickup trucks. Chevrolet did some product placement in there in that song. Yeah. So it's like, what am I listening to here? But then, but then it just it just gets into there's a place that I know about where the dirt road runs out, and we can try out the four-wheel drive. Come on, baby, what do you say, girl? I can hardly wait to get a little mud on the tires. And then it's so, but it gets it just gets prettier from there.
SPEAKER_09It does, it gets melodic, it gets melodicer, it gets higher.
SPEAKER_01Yeah.
SPEAKER_09I love the chorus, and I'm a fucking sucker for making multisyllable words out of single-syllable words like four syllables, yeah.
SPEAKER_01To be done to be not to be out there soaking up the moonlight.
SPEAKER_00I've got the perfect place in mind.
SPEAKER_01It's in the middle of nowhere. Only one way to get there. You gotta get a little mud on the tires and the fiddle's coming. The fiddle's coming. Oh brat Oh Moonlight on the duck blind, catfish on the trout line, sunsets about nine this time of year. We could throw a blanket down, cricket singing in the background, more stars than you can count on a night this clear. I mean it just paints a picture, right? It paints a picture. And I know this picture. I don't know about moonlights and duck blinds and catfish on trout lines.
SPEAKER_09Should they be catfish lines? Like trout on trout lines.
SPEAKER_01I don't I might I I I don't know what that's about, but I have fished in the rivers and streams of Montana. I have camped out God knows how many times under the million trillion star skies of Montana. Talk about more stars than you can count. And sunsets actually quite a bit after nine in Missoula, Montana this time of year. Well, not this time of year, but June. So anyway, very deeply relatable to me.
SPEAKER_03That is beautiful.
SPEAKER_09And I am talking out my patu when I say, Don't you catfish out and catfish lines, so forgive me.
SPEAKER_07I mean, I have no idea no idea what that's about.
SPEAKER_09An a gorgeous homage to the song. Thank you, Jason.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, yeah. And I'm sorry, I was I was off key a little bit there. So I was I was I was off key. So then one other one other country song from summer 2016 that really sticks with me is um Dan and Shay, Dan plus Shay, ground up. Oh from the from the ground up, not ground up. From the ground up. Did you did you listen to it, Jim?
SPEAKER_09I did! I didn't know that song. I didn't know that song. That's a new category for us called sexy duets.
SPEAKER_01Sexy?
SPEAKER_09I think it's sexy. I think that it's it's sweet.
SPEAKER_01It's about an old couple who's been around 65 years in that house.
SPEAKER_09What could be sexier?
SPEAKER_01That's great. It's good. But but um talk about open, honest expression of love.
SPEAKER_07Yes.
SPEAKER_01This beautiful relationship that's been going on for all these decades. For worse or for better song. I can't I can't remember the words that well. But it's beautiful. Just beautiful, touching, lovely.
SPEAKER_04Yeah.
SPEAKER_01So that's two country highlights. I just want to mention a couple also rans from 2016.
SPEAKER_07Um wait, did I get the uh did I get the year wrong on that?
SPEAKER_01I didn't I got the year wrong on that. So I'm not gonna mention it. Um okay, well, maybe it's in the wrong year, but it's closer by Chain Smokers featuring Halsey. I think it's actually 2017.
SPEAKER_04Also in my sexy duets.
SPEAKER_01Yeah. Like, I'm not a Chain Smokers fan. I'm not even that big of a Halsey fan. And it's it's like it's a song I like against my better judgment. Because it just it's not the kind of song that I think I would normally like, but it kind of just ropes me in because I don't know, two things. Um one is the kind of vulnerable baby, pull me closer in the back seat of your robe that I know you can't afford.
SPEAKER_00Like that tattoo on your shoulder.
SPEAKER_01Pull the sheet right off the corner of the mattress that you stole from your roommate back in Boulder. We are never getting older. So first of all, that this I know it's a brilliantly constructed.
SPEAKER_07Yeah.
SPEAKER_01Like very poetic. Yeah. And very relatable also. And it's and it's like, baby, pull me closer. Let's get close. The song's called Closer. And this whole We Ain't Never Getting Older. I mean, as I get older, it's like, yes, well, we're actually all getting older. But there's the there is this sort of like invocation of eternal youth.
SPEAKER_07Endless summer.
SPEAKER_01End of exactly, there you go. Endless summer. Totally. And then I'm also the other thing is I'm a sucker for a good, I guess I don't know if you call this a coda. It's kind of a moment between whatever the last chorus is and whatever they're doing to wrap up. And so there's this moment. Uh and and it's also uh, yeah, this yes, it's it's it's I was gonna say Carly Ray, but it's not Carly Ray, it's Halsey. There's this moment um where they finish so we ain't never getting older.
unknownWe ain't never getting older.
SPEAKER_01They just build it and build it and it gets echoey. And I just, I don't know. I'm a sucker for that. I'm a sucker for that. It's just it's a climactic moment.
SPEAKER_05It is, right?
SPEAKER_01Yeah. Um, so that's an also Ryan. Again, I might have the wrong ear, so apologies if I do. And then another one is um, This is what you came for, Calvin Harris uh featuring Rihanna. Yeah, just super.
SPEAKER_09That's uh I think that is in my Club Snow's like coconut.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, good one. Club Snow's like good one. Okay, wrapping up 2016, the song of the summer of this is like the song of the song of the song of the song, the song of the summer.
SPEAKER_07Can't stop the feeling!
SPEAKER_01And my one enduring memory of a specific experience of that song is with you and Ed and Colette at Samuel P. Taylor Park, where we were camping with all the kids, and you led us in a dance as we were playing that song, and the kids were horrified. Um, and I think also kind of amused and entertained.
SPEAKER_07That's amazing.
SPEAKER_01Um Do we have a video of that somewhere? We do, we do have a video of that somewhere. Yes, we do. Um, but that song.
SPEAKER_04Yeah. JT.
SPEAKER_01Okay, we were talking, I think, just last week about songs that come in, do what they have to do, and are gone. This and then they're gone. I'm out. Don't linger at all. And this song fits that to its heap. And also the musical construction, the structure of that song musically is so non-standard. It's like it's it's it's a crescendo. Every it's like 16 bars each of these. Is it six? I I counted them. I think it was 16 bars each of this. So I got this feeling down in my soul, in my bones, in my bones. It goes electric. Go ahead. No. No, no, you I think you know right now. When I turn it on, or something like Tony No. Okay, anyway. So it's it's like it gets you with this great rhythm right away after that's like about a five-second intro, and then you're right into it. Because I got that sunshine in my pocket. Sunshine in my pocket? Summer, hello. Got that good soul in my feet. So so he's kind of picking up the bead a little bit, and then it gets kind of kind of dance hall-y dreamy. Under the lights where everything goes. Nowhere to hard when I'm getting you close. When you girl, you already know. So just imagine, just imagine, just imagine. Nothing I can see but you, but you danced. When we danced, yeah, okay, messing up the words. But so that's then the fourth, we're now into the fourth. Very, very it's like building, building, building, building, building, and then can't stop the feeling! And that's just twice. God, I really missed that note. Um just twice, and then boom, back to the second verse. They do it again, and then um got this feeling in my body two times, I think, maybe a little bit more than that, and then done. Out. So anyway, there's just there's so much in there that makes it a perfect summer song.
SPEAKER_09In my bubble down bump and flamingo float category.
unknownNice.
SPEAKER_01Nice. Love it. I love it.
2016-2021
SPEAKER_01A couple footnotes. Um that summer was also the summer that Colette's younger sister, Stephanie and husband Adam, visited us, and we had an epic four-hour karaoke night at our place.
SPEAKER_07Wow.
SPEAKER_01Four hours. Whoa. Yes. Okay. Yes. And um and Steph came right out and asked us, what's what's the song, what's the song of the summer? And I just I said, can't stop the feeling. She's like, yeah. Like everybody knew it. There was no disputing that was the song of summer in 2016.
SPEAKER_09Uh songs. A decade ago.
SPEAKER_01You got the math right.
SPEAKER_07Thank you.
SPEAKER_09Thank you.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, no, thank you. Okay, so those are the really epic years. So we're gonna sort of fast forward now through uh some honorable mentions from some songs. 2017 was another epic travel year. We had three road trips: one to the East Coast, one to Southern California, and then one to Montana. We saw the solar eclipse with my parents that summer. Um, and Helen and Joel and their family also visited us here early, like at the beginning of the summer, and they had heavy rotation. The Calvin Harris album, Funk Wave Bounces, Volume One.
SPEAKER_07Yeah.
SPEAKER_01And there were four songs on that that Marietta and I in particular really, really liked, which are uh I don't have them listed here, so I'm gonna do it from memory if I can. Um, Heat Stroke, Skirt On Ya, Feels, and what am I forgetting?
SPEAKER_09Um Well was this is what you came for from that?
SPEAKER_01That was from 2016.
SPEAKER_09Wrong yeah.
SPEAKER_01I'm gonna pop over here Slide. Slide, yes. Slide Slide.
SPEAKER_09Slide is in a new category called Bucket.
SPEAKER_01Oh, nice one. Nice one. Nice one. So those four songs w were in heavy rotation in that summer. Um Despacito.
SPEAKER_04Despacito. Sexy duet.
SPEAKER_01Really, really good. And just uh my memory of main memory of that song was one of my colleagues at International House talking about how uh that's how irresistible that song was. How you just couldn't couldn't help but start dancing to it. Um and then my very, very favorite song from that whole year was also a summer song, which is Castle on the Hill by uh Ed Sharon.
SPEAKER_04I want to hear you talk about this song because I know you love it so much.
unknownOh God.
SPEAKER_01Heartfelt, powerful, allegorical, bittersweet coming of age tale is what I have down.
SPEAKER_09Yes, yes, coming of age fairy tale.
SPEAKER_01There you go. Yeah, it's just like it's just it's the it gets at this whole longing of lost youth. Um, and yeah, that's really what like longing of lost youth, but but but not only that, it's not cynical, right? It's like there's still hope at the end. He comes back, so he starts when I was six years old, I broke my leg. I was running from my brother and his friends. And then he goes to 11 and he's starting to mess around with some stuff, and then like and then and then of course the chorus is like driving at 90 down old country lanes, listening to Tiny Dancer. And that's just so evocative, right? Like, like I can't say that I was driving 90 down old country lanes listening to Tiny Dancer, but I was out with my friends listening to music in the car. Yeah. Um, and then he fast forwards to adulthood and all the divorced people and one's brother overdosed, and like this is like life as an adult. Um, and it comes like I can't wait to go home is this line that leads into each of the each of the choruses. Um and uh oh God, and his vocalizing in the song is just so, it's so like I there. I could not karaoke that song in a million years because of the the the I can't gonna try it here. The the the sort of shout that he gives. I don't know, I don't know if you know what I'm talking about, but I'm not I can't say I'm not gonna try it. So there, that one, that one. Yes, that was good. That's better than I could have done for sure.
SPEAKER_09Well the lion like my first kiss on a Friday night. Yeah, reckon I did it right.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, totally. Oh my god. I remember feeling like I was that was that actually my first kiss? Wendy Wojahowski.
SPEAKER_07Wendy, if you're listening.
SPEAKER_09My first kiss with Jim Samaki.
SPEAKER_01Really?
SPEAKER_09Samaki Samaki.
SPEAKER_01Nice, nice, nice, nice. So anyway, so that was um yeah, love that song. Absolutely love that song. Okay, 2018. One song to mention, two songs to mention. They're both country. Luke Bryan, Sunrise, Sunburn, Sunset. Brilliant country song. Yes. And then probably my favorite. Okay, I said mud on the tires was Five More Minutes by Scotty McCreary. Try to listen to that without getting a lump. Yeah, okay. Try to try to listen to that without getting a lump in your throat.
SPEAKER_09Yeah.
SPEAKER_01But to me, the song is just, it's just again, it's like we're all gonna die. Can we just have a little more? Can I just have a little more? Just five more minutes. Just five more minutes. Um 2019, Senorita by Sean Mendes and Camilla Cabello.
SPEAKER_07Camilla Cabello.
SPEAKER_01Sexy Dwo-Eyed for sure. And and also just like, you know, I know you're not good for me, is like it's true. La la la.
SPEAKER_00Ooh, you I should be running. Ooh, you keep me coming for you.
SPEAKER_01So there's a very strong chemical attraction there. Um 2020, we just scared. We didn't do a road trip that summer. It was COVID.
SPEAKER_07Yeah.
SPEAKER_01And that was exactly. And then 2021 was our final big family road trip to Montana. And I don't really recall much of anything from the radio. As I mentioned, I don't think I recognized a single one of the Billboard top 10 from that summer. But we did have an album in our heavy rotation, and I, especially in my heavy rotation, which was Michael Fronti, um, Work Hard and Beatles. Love it. And there were a few songs, and I have a very specific memory talking to you and Ed on my birthday, June 18th, 2021. I had just gotten done with this just heavenly long run in this beautiful place that I have a lot of memories from. And um there was a voicemail from Ed and it called Ed, and you were there, and we just had a nice chat on my birthday. It was just five days after his heart attack. It was June 13th, right?
SPEAKER_07Uh-huh. Wow.
SPEAKER_01Yeah. And what I remember was I mentioned this album to the two of you, and I said, it is just such a great album. And you will love it, and you will find it uplifting and soothing, and all the Michael Fronti things. So I just remember that conversation and just how present that album was for me there in Missoula. And also that the summer, I remember actually being um listening to that album a lot in San Diego in early July, around the time of Colette's dad's memorial service. Um so just a lot of associations there. And then also later, later, a little bit later, we had this three-night stay in San Luis Obispo with Helen and Joel on our way back from the memorial service, heading back north home. And and this album, and it's it's just figures prominently in all of that. So, like summer 2021 to me is that album. And songs, um, specific songs, I got you, it's the first song, Good Shit Happens, just so great. Yeah. Star Small, Think Big, and Is It Worth a Penny to You are my four favorite songs. And then there's the title track, Work Hard and Be Nice, which has the most ed line of just about any song I could think of. I don't want nobody to know that I got a soul with a great big hole in the middle of it, and I'm just trying to fill a little of it.
SPEAKER_04Oh wow.
SPEAKER_01And the thing is, he's he's saying, I don't want nobody to know, but in saying it, he's he's he's everyone knows. And that's just so Ed.
unknownYeah.
SPEAKER_07Yeah, it is.
SPEAKER_01It's so Ed, and the how generously he shares with all of us and more and more publicly about all of the holes in his soul and how he's trying to just fill a little trying to fill a little of it.
SPEAKER_09Yeah, there's so much humility. Except for I Can Still Feel You. Did you mention that?
SPEAKER_01Oh, no, I didn't. Thank you. I it didn't, it is on my list, yeah.
SPEAKER_09Which I have in the water melancholy category. Yes. The others I had a new category for. Oh Good Shit Happens, I got you. Is it worth a penny? Start small things, big work hard and be nice. The category is pray, pray, pray. Did I mention that?
SPEAKER_03Maybe I said hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, was in the pray, pray, pray.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, no, totally. And that's the thing about Michael Franci, right? It's so spiritual too. Without being God focused, it's all spiritual stuff.
SPEAKER_09So interesting that that ended your playlist because I felt like you were conjuring songs to support you in this summer, in this moment. And all of this feels like because good shit happens is the title, but the song is like bad shit happens.
SPEAKER_07Yeah.
SPEAKER_09We know. Don't forget good shit happens, good shit happens too.
SPEAKER_01Right. Yeah. It's all these stories about all this bad shit that happens.
SPEAKER_09All this bad shit. And I feel like, is it worth a penny? I mean, there's like a lot of like despair. What's wrong with our society? How why aren't we taking care of each other? We're hyper capitalistic. We're not taking care of our planet. Work hard and be nice, like, like no wasted effort. I feel like the subtext of so many of these songs is ripe for us to tap into when we're feeling like you've expressed your feeling this summer. And I just was like, that's so interesting that you're sort of associating it with this previous time, but it's so what resonant and present in in the waters of this summer.
SPEAKER_01Thank you for that. Maybe I'll go back and listen to those songs again with that um lens.
SPEAKER_09I hope you do. That's a great idea. I just confess that like I we didn't take your advice and listen to this record. Like, I must have been consumed by heart attack land because Yeah, well, of course. This is well, yeah, but also like not taking the good medicine of the music that could have supported us back then. But I'm so glad to have it on my horizon now. Well, good. This was my first exposure and such a different from the reggae fusion feels um Sound of Sunshine. This felt more um indie rock or like rock to me. So that was nice too. Like it was a different Michael Frontex spirit.
SPEAKER_01So thank you for that. Yeah, I'm definitely gonna go back and give those songs another listen with that lens. I
Two big reveals
SPEAKER_01can still feel you um is really different from the others. What would what did you put that in?
SPEAKER_09I what did I call this?
SPEAKER_01Which category did you put? I can still melancholy.
SPEAKER_09Oh, pray, pray, pray.
SPEAKER_01Oh, I can still feel you if it was some before.
SPEAKER_09I can still feel you. No, I put in water melancholy.
SPEAKER_01Water melancholy, totally. And the thing is, it's a cheesy little song. It's a cheesy little song, but it's got this dance beat that's really catchy. And it's again, it's just so vulnerable. It's so vulnerable. And there's what happened, it's sort of it does its thing, but then it hit there's a moment in the song that just totally got me. And it's um, I think it's the end of the second verse where he's saying, So put your hand in mine, won't you show me a sign that you're here with me in heaven tonight? Come on and shine your light when I'm closing my eyes. Let me know everything will be alright. So it's Oh Michael, come on, it's so beautiful.
SPEAKER_09So beautiful. Do you associate it with like grieving uh like the a person who has passed on?
SPEAKER_01Um, not a specific person who has passed on.
SPEAKER_09Okay.
SPEAKER_01Um no. When you heard it, did you?
SPEAKER_07I did. I mean, I felt yeah, yeah, I did. That's all I'll say.
SPEAKER_01Okay, you're not gonna you're not gonna say anything more than you're gonna say who?
SPEAKER_09I'm not gonna say who.
unknownOkay.
SPEAKER_01That's my list. I have one more It's an album. That's not on the list because it's an album, but is actually for me the most iconic musical association with summer as a whole in my entire adult life. And that is Yeah, what I also have a song of the summer for 2026, which I'm gonna reveal.
SPEAKER_09Okay, okay. I want you to just like unpack a little bit before you tell me like what makes it the song of the summer.
SPEAKER_01Like what makes the album of the summer.
SPEAKER_09What makes it the album of the summer, the most iconic album of the summer?
SPEAKER_01The album of all summers.
SPEAKER_09The album of all summers.
SPEAKER_01And this is also something that I haven't this album I would listen to religiously at least once in its entirety from start to finish, every summer on the road trip. And I haven't done it now for several summers, which is another, it's another indication of a hole in my life. Right. Um, and there would usually this, I would listen to this album, um, usually because I think the girls didn't really like it. Colette doesn't love it. There's some songs on it that she likes. Um and so there would usually come a moment on the way back towards California from Montana where they'd all be sleeping. And that's when I would put it on and just have my own little heaven. And are you can I reveal it now? Or do you want to know more first?
SPEAKER_09So it's like it's associated with your experience, your summer experience. My summer experience, okay. And like an intimate summer.
SPEAKER_01We'll go back a little further to the very first time. This album came out in 2003. And that summer I finished my PhD in May of that summer. And whew! Boy, I didn't have a job then either. Actually, I taught intensive Mandarin at UC Berkeley that summer. Um, but after that, I didn't have any jobs lined up. And I was trying to get a foot in the door of the intercultural training world, and there's the Summer Institute for Intercultural Communication. They had these one-day workshops up in Portland. And so I took a road trip and I put this album on on the drive from Reading up to Weed, the base of Mount Shasta.
SPEAKER_03Reading to Weed.
SPEAKER_01Yes. And uh that's what started the tradition of me on a road trip listening to this.
SPEAKER_09It set you right somehow.
SPEAKER_01It like set me right somehow, yeah. And then all the summers when we were like coming back from Beijing, always listened to, always listen to it, always listen to it. And there was also this moment after we had moved back here, it was 20 2014, and we were on the road in Idaho, and um Sawtooth Mountains off to the left, and I had this album playing, and I saw it was like you could see the name of the album that was playing. There was a time, a long time, in the late single-digit late aughts where I didn't know if I was ever gonna go on another summer road trip with my family. And I had this longing and nostalgia for past times and past road trips. And this album played such a central role in that. So I look over and I see the title of this album, and I just there was this little chuckle to myself. I was like, wow, how blessed am I that I'm here in this moment and this album is playing in this place with my family on another epic road trip that I thought I was never gonna get to do again.
SPEAKER_07Yeah.
SPEAKER_01Summer Sun by Yola Tango.
SPEAKER_07Wow.
SPEAKER_01It even has summer in the name. And it also has sun in the name.
SPEAKER_03Yes, it does.
SPEAKER_01It's like in your face, read that one and weep. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. And I know you're not a big Yola Tango fan, but I think it's just I think I've shared this with you. Just Ed doesn't play the right Yola Tango songs.
SPEAKER_07Okay, okay, okay.
SPEAKER_01He plays you all the long the read, like screeching guitar ones. That's a whole thing they do. I don't like it either.
SPEAKER_09Yeah, okay. You're challenging me. I'm gonna listen to it. Check it out.
SPEAKER_01Check it out. Every song. Okay, completely unique. Okay, completely different from all the other songs. They are just busting genres throughout that entire album.
SPEAKER_03Okay.
SPEAKER_01Yeah.
SPEAKER_03Okay. Yeah.
SPEAKER_01From start to finish.
SPEAKER_03Album came out in 2003?
SPEAKER_01Came out in 2003.
SPEAKER_03Which is also the first time you listen to it.
SPEAKER_01The first time I listened to it.
SPEAKER_03Yes.
SPEAKER_01Yes. Thank you. Yeah. So that that for me is like the ultimate like album of every summer. Except the recent one. So I got to get back to it somehow. Song of the summer, 2026. Because astute listeners will have noticed that up until now I haven't mentioned anything after 2021 because I've been so out of touch. But we're going to fast forward now to 2026.
SPEAKER_06Wow.
SPEAKER_01We are. And I don't think you're going to be surprised to hear what the song is because you were there when Mariette and I jointly declared this to be the song of summer in 2026.
SPEAKER_05Sweet dreams come after hours. Nothing that's not a love. You should never sleep alone, cause love to take you home when there's nothing left but diamond necklace on you. Go.
SPEAKER_00I just want to love you, lag, love you lag, love you lag, love you lag, etc.
SPEAKER_01Oh my god. So this is J Hope and Miguel. I don't know much about Miguel. It's I mean, J Hope is the star of the song. J Hope is from BTS. According to Marietta, he is the best dancer in BTS. She went and saw a J Hope concert. She is a BTS Army person. She loves the individual artists, Junk Hook being her favorite because he's so beautiful. But she loves J Hope. And she introduced this song to me, and it just caught me and got me right into it. And it's it's also it's got the uh did you put this in a cat? No, you didn't because you didn't know what it was. I wonder what category this would go in. I mean Yeah, yeah. I mean, it's a sexy love song for sure. But it's not a duet. It's not a duet. It's not a duet. It's a very sexy love song.
SPEAKER_09So a little, I would say like cabana cannabis for what I would be doing if this cabana is hoping, don't go.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, I don't know, but it but it's got it's got a so it's got the dreamy, floaty feel to it.
SPEAKER_09Club smells like coconut. Maybe, maybe more like the club smells like coconut.
SPEAKER_01Yeah. Totally is. Mm-hmm. I could totally that like the that's like the suntan, oh coconut suntan lotion smell. Yeah, totally.
SPEAKER_09Yeah, it's not so club.
SPEAKER_01Right, right. But it's like yeah, I'm more coconut than club.
SPEAKER_09Yeah, more coconut. Sexy coconut.
SPEAKER_01Okay, because it's it's in a category of its own, folks. Category of its own. That's it. That's what I got, bro.
SPEAKER_09That's a wrap.
SPEAKER_01Yeah. That's a wrap.
SPEAKER_09That's a beach cover.
SPEAKER_01I am so appreciative of the uh what that's a hell of a process you got. I mean, that took a lot of time. And attention.
SPEAKER_09You what? You splashed my appetite. Well, thank you so much for you know, we love music together.
SPEAKER_01We do.
SPEAKER_09We love music together. That's like a deep part of our friendship and bonding, um, which I'm so thankful for. That I have a friend, a music lover friend in you. Um, and I was excited to get to know you better by listening to your playlist.
SPEAKER_04That's all for this episode of No Left Field. If you enjoyed it, give us a five-star rating and follow the podcast. That will help others find us. Until next time, may our left fields be ever expanding.