KEVIN McCORRY, HOST: I’m Kevin McCorry and this is ‘Jukebox Journey.’
[MUSIC MONTAGE: “Crying” by Roy Orbison, “Cry Baby” by Janis Joplin, “Cry Me a River” by Justin Timberlake]
KM: We’re unstuck in time, jumping through decades and genres, meditating on a theme.
This week: Facing the darkness
[MUSIC: “You Want It Darker” by Leonard Cohen]
KM: It’s that time of year again: The sun sets at quarter to five. You’re still adjusting to the clock change and on comes the slow march towards shorter and shorter days.
[MUSIC SWELL]
KM: Leonard Cohen from 2016.
It can hit you with a wallop…that feeling of dread that the curtain is falling on you too soon. It’s like you’re under heavy blankets and it’s easier just to stay down.
[MUSIC: “I See a Darkness” by Bonnie ‘Prince’ Billy]
KM: From 1999, Bonnie ‘Prince’ Billy.
The leaves are dying. The temperatures are dropping. And if there’s a time of year for wallowing, maybe this is it.
[MUSIC MONTAGE: “Needle in the Hay” by Elliot Smith, “Born Under a Bad Sign” by Albert King]
KM: Elliot Smith from 1995 and Albert King from 1967.
To be human is to suffer. Even in lives of joy and love, we carry pain, shame, guilt, and fear. We steel ourselves to the world to survive each day. We find solace in prayer, in purpose, in kinship, in art that strikes the right chord, even if it’s a sad one.
[MUSIC: ‘It’s Not Just Me, It’s Everybody’ by Weyes Blood]
Some songs are best listened to in the dark….Like this 2022 track from Doylestown-native Weyes Blood.
[MUSIC SWELL]
KM: Same with this from 2019 from Lana Del Rey:
[MUSIC: “Hope Is a Dangerous Thing for a Woman Like Me to Have – but I Have It” by Lana Del Rey]
KM: The bleakness feels therapeutic — brutal honesty, beautifully arranged — like here with Beth Gibbons singing on Kendrick Lamar’s 2022 confessional:
[MUSIC: “Mother I Sober” by Kendrick Lamar, with Beth Gibbons of Portishead]
KM: Out of the gloomyness, though, November sets the table for the holiday season, and with it the ancient wisdom of customs shared though cultures and religions.
The bright busyness of kitchens. The reasons to gather. Candles to be lit. Bulbs to be strung. We fill the darkening days with lumens of our own creation.
Because to hope is also to be human. Maybe dangerous, but definitely vital. It’s belief in the potential for a brighter tomorrow. Faith that we can carry on until we revolve back towards the light.
[MUSIC: “Shake it Out” by Florence + The Machine]
KM: From 2011, Florence + The Machine.
I’m Kevin McCorry and this has been a Jukebox Journey on WHYY.
=====NOTES==============
And be sure to catch up on the full back catalogue of episodes at whyy.org/jukeboxjourney. And if you have an idea for a theme, let me know at jukeboxjourney@whyy.org.
the WISDOM OF TRADITIONS…filling the dark days with cherished holidays of light
A reminder that we can be the creators of our own light, of each other’s light.
Reminder that we manufacture our own light
But through the music there can be catharsis….
‘I Know It’s Over’ by The Smiths
‘Waitin’ ’Round to Die’ by Townes Van Zandt
Crying by Roy Orbison
WISDOM OF TRADITIONS…filling the dark days with cherished holidays of light
A reminder that we can be the creators of our own light, of each other’s light.
Reminder that we manufacture our own light
END:
[MUSIC: “Shake it Out” by Florence + The Machine]
I’m Kevin McCorry and this has been a Jukebox Journey on WHYY.
Fade into you…Mazzy Star
Fade to black…metalica
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