Another Year, Another Mixtape

Perhaps this mixtape would have been better suited for December, but now you’ll be ahead of the curve for 2012.

It wasn’t until I had put this mix together that I realized what a downer most New Year’s songs tend to be. I guess artists don’t see it as the refreshing moment that the parties we all throw would make us think it is. Or maybe we’re all kidding ourselves and New Year’s really isn’t a time for parties, but a time to be sad?

1. U2 “New Year’s Day” – This is perhaps the most obvious song on the list, but one that could not be left out. The first stanza, with lines like “All is quiet on New Year’s Day” and “Nothing changes on New Year's Day,” speaks volumes for its simplicity. The song was originally released in 1982 on the album War, and has aged surprisingly well. But most U2 songs have, even if the band itself has not. Bono generally isn’t particularly philosophical with his lyrics, but this song shows that the man has the ability if he so chooses.

2. The Limousines “New Year’s Resolution” – This band may be unfamiliar to most reading this, but they are going to be a big part of the next decade. Keyboard based power-pop seems to be making a come back (see: Neon Trees), and the Limousines will be a part of that. This song is from their debut Scrapbook EP. The band recently signed to Dangerbird records (Silversun Pickups, Minus the Bear, Fitz and the Tantrums), and look to have a big 2011. I really like the line, “We wasted the first few hours of a brand new year wishing we could fly.” Isn’t that how every New Year should start? I think so.

3. Death Cab For Cutie “The New Year” – If you didn’t play this at least once on New Year’s Day then you are probably a robot, or you’re dead inside. This is the quintessential New Year’s song, in my opinion. “So this is the New Year, and I don’t feel any different” starts the song from Transatlanticism, the band’s fifth album. And the depth of lyrics continues from there. It’s a song meant to get one thinking, and it does every time I give it a listen.

4. Prince “1999” – This song isn’t necessarily a New Year’s song, but there is no party like a New Year’s party, and there is no party song like “1999.” This is probably Prince’s best known song, but it didn’t even get into the US top 40 when it was first released. It was later re-released as a single and still only peaked at #12 in the US. The song has surprisingly melancholy lyrics, especially “Everybody’s got a bomb, we could all die any day.” Life is a party, and parties weren’t meant to last…

5. Foo Fighters “Next Year” – A great Foo song on a less than stellar Foo album, this song is similar to “1999” in that it is pretty apocalyptic in its lyrical content, but unlike “1999” it isn’t a party anthem. Prior to There Is Nothing Left To Lose Foo Fighters hadn’t released many ballads, but this album was full of them. While some of the drum fills don’t fit particularly well, the song itself is solid.

6. Parachute “The New Year” – This angsty tune on an otherwise angst-free album shows a side of Parachute that is rarely seen elsewhere on their debut album, Losing Sleep. Like “1999” the lyrics of this song are darker than the music. It’s a pop song about ending a relationship and wanting to start a new year to start fresh without the other person. I know the feeling. I think most people do, unfortunately.

7. The Decemberists “Record Year” – This is perhaps the least New Year of the collection, but this song always gets me in an introspective mood, and I’ve always associated that feeling with New Year’s. “And in the annals of the Empire/Did it look this gray/Before the fall?”

8. Wild Light “New Year’s Eve” – This band, and the album on which this song appears, hasn’t been given a lot of my time, but this song stands out from the couple times I’ve tracked this collection. Another one about sadness and melancholy, but grasping the despair that the end of a year seems to bring so well that it couldn’t be left off this mix. The lyrics really attack a person as its target without mentioning whom. But we know they got into a fistfight on New Year’s Eve.

9. Band of Horses “The End’s Not Near” – The only good thing I can say about the FOX TV show The O.C. is that they had some really good music. I think I watched two episodes of the show and never bothered going back for more. This song is on the 6th compilation bearing the show’s name and the final episode used the song’s first line as its title. This is actually a cover song, the original artist is the New Year, but I like the Band of Horses version a lot better.

10. Bouncing Souls “New Day” – One of my favorite punk bands, and one of the most introspective of the 90s bands of that genre. Though these New Jersey punks partied hard, and wrote songs about it, they also had a softer side. “Change is coming our way, just like a new day” pretty well sums up what the New Year is all about.

11. White Lies “Come Down” – From the London band’s recently released sophomore album, Ritual, this song is perhaps the slowest of that collection. White Lies have a very heavy Joy Division influence on their sound, and their lyrics feel that influence, too. “I know I said I’ll see you/When it gets to New Year/But now that all the rain stopped falling/All I think is getting out of here.”

12. Jimi Hendrix “Auld Lang Syne” – This was recorded live at the Filmore at the start of 1970. As Billboard.com said in a post titled “’Auld Lang Syne’: Five Great Performances”: “The guitar god proves you don't even need lyrics to ring in the new year right.”