I’m Getting Older, Too: A Coverfolk Mixtape
(from Bowie’s Changes to Dylan’s Back Pages!)
Though the folk camp skews older, it is not irrelevant that I am older than most music bloggers. Age matters, in the intersecting world of music and homage which we inhabit. Our tastes are formed by the mass media clutter and the countercultural alternative scenes of our own individual youths; even as our collections diversify and improve in time, our touchstone foundations are always a product of the worlds of our teens and twenties. My formative years covered the emergence of MTV, and assume the three minute narrative as compass and companion; I think fondly of cassettes, and think in CD format better than any; though we cover Dylan and The Beatles here too, the songs that ring truest as tribute to me spring from the 80s and forward, and from my father’s record collection.
Generational grounding is a common thread here at Cover Lay Down – I have made no secret of the ways in which my own time-and-space history brings me to Mary Lou Lord, Nirvana, or Michael Jackson, to pick a diverse sample. But in truth, there are more personal reasons to muse on aging today: as of yesterday, my wife is 40, too; today we head North for an in-law’s retreat in the woods to celebrate, with friends and family, food and drink.
But although we exchange our trinkets, gratefully, gifts seem trivial: we are young at heart, and work hard in our own ways to model youth for our children, and to maintain a seemingly effortless and innate childlike wonder. Most days, that is blessing enough.
To be fair, it gets harder every year to be young. But there is compensation: as I have come to own the winding path that has led me here, I find myself pensive yet fearless in the face of further age. And being here, now, without fear and with curiosity intact helps me be a better parent, a better husband, a better teacher, a better me.
Some songs about growing older, and checking in on the changes, then – covering the gamut from pensive to protesting, from aging gracefully to railing against the dying of the night. May you cherish the moments in time you inhabit, and put them away carefully when they are through. May you, too, sing your histories and futures.
- Getting Older: A Coverfolk Mixtape [zip!]
- Jack Johnson: A Pirate Looks At 40 (orig. Jimmy Buffett) [2004]
- Luke Vasella: Pacing The Cage (orig. Bruce Cockburn) [2010]
- Matt Skinner: Mother’s Little Helper (orig. Rolling Stones) [2009]
- Abby Mae and the Homeschool Boys: Landslide (orig. Fleetwood Mac) [2010]
- Peter Paul & Mary: 75 Septembers (orig. Cheryl Wheeler) [1995]
- The Deadly Gentlemen: A Touch Of Grey (orig. Grateful Dead) [2012]
- Blind Corn Liquor Pickers: Once In A Lifetime (orig. Talking Heads) [2005]
- Seu Jorge: Changes (orig. David Bowie) [2003]
- Matt Tyler: Glory Days (orig. Bruce Springsteen) [2006]
- Martin Simpson: Strange Affair (orig. Richard Thompson) [2011]
- Ana Egge: In The Backseat (orig. Arcade Fire) [2007]
- Tom Corwin & Tim Hockenberry: My Back Pages (orig. Bob Dylan) [2002]
- Audra Mae & The Forest Rangers: Forever Young (orig. Bob Dylan) [2011]
- Ben Harper: Angel From Montgomery (orig. John Prine) [1992]
Cover Lay Down is back from the summer folkfields with new features twice weekly! See you soon!
Category: Mixtapes 3 comments »
August 13th, 2013 at 8:30 pm
Great music and wise words. Thanks!
August 16th, 2013 at 10:50 am
Happy birthday–i’m assuming a birthday triggered this introspection. Yours is one of the few blogs that was around when I got started back in 2005 and is still around. Very few true bloggers are left.
November 4th, 2013 at 10:39 am
Great mix!
Judging by the title, I’m guessing “Landslide” is one of your favorites too.