So this is the one for making the exact middle of the night slip by… Back in the days when I used to do a lot of team road-tripping, we determined that 3:41 (the whole minute) is the exact middle of the night. If you make it past 3:41, you can go all night. They try harder and harder to stop you up until 3:41, and then they just give up.
Depending on the nature of the night, the mellow period comes either before or after the giddy period. You know the kind of time–when you think some old Miles Davis, or maybe Tom Waits singing Ol’ 55 would be appropriate (although I passed these over as too obvious). The sun has been down so long you don’t remember it, the night goes on and on around you, and nostaglia and a sweet melancholy settle in…
These songs are for that time of the night…
- Adam Stemple • Black on Black (from 3 Solid Blows To The Head)
- “Pitch is for wimps. Go for timbre.” That’s what he said. Still, even timbre can be late night mellow, especially when it comes with a nice piano intro to lead into the night. Logic all escapes us now.
- Bob Marley • Redemption Song (from Uprising)
- I don't have a lot of songs in my collection that could be described as “holy”. This is probably the premiere one. Well, maybe the second one, after John Cale’s cover of Cohen’s Hallelujah. I can relate to this one a lot more than Cohen’s though–I love the idea of escaping from mental slavery, and that it’s our own job to do so. Acoustic Live in 1980.
- Yes • Shoot High, Aim Low (from Big Generator)
- The only Yes song that you can enjoy without needing a lot of chemicals. And it makes a surprisingly good road trip song, too. There’s a definite vibe of a road trip ending in a caper gone wrong. Live Performance With Photo-montage
- The Chieftains with Roger Daltrey • Behind Blue Eyes (from An Irish Evening)
- Don't get me wrong, I like The Who, but this version works better for me, especially in the mellow part of the night. Daltrey's voice aged well. I’ve certainly had times in the middle of the night when I narcissistically wanted my companions to preserve me from the follies of my own poor decisions.
- Cowboy Junkies • 'cause Cheap Is How I Feel (from The Caution Horses)
- I have a small crush on Margo Timmins. I have since I was in high school, and played hookie to hitch down to Toronto and catch a Trinity Session-era show. Probably every Junkies song could work on a mellow mix, but a little artistic self-loathing seemed called for.
- Etta James • Damn Your Eyes (from The Definitive Collection)
- Nothing works in the middle of the night like a bitter breakup song. And some someone-else-loathing, with just a tinge of regret, makes a nice capper to the self-loathing song.
- Leonard Cohen • Alexandra Leaving (from Ten New Songs)
- I'm a huge Cohen fan, and this is the best track off of his latest. Of course Lennie doesn't get all the credit, since this is loosely based on The God Abandons Antony by Constantine P. Cavafy. Almost all Cohen also could work on a mellow mix, but you have to be careful not to overdose. This track has the kind of knowing optimisim in the face of length experience of life that characterizes someone like Lennie.
- Ryan Adams • The Rescue Blues (from Gold)
- Everybody wants to see you suffer. Sounds like a good theme for a middle of the night song, n'est-ce pas?I’ll admit, I mostly just like the sound of this one–it’s not lyrical genius. Live In Jamaica.
- Richard and Linda Thompson • Down Where the Drunkards Roll (from I Want to See the Bright Lights Tonight)
- Yes, still more Richard Thompson. Apparently I seem to think the Minks need to know RT. The first time I ever heard of Richard Thompson was a beautiful woman performing this song solo in a hotel lobby in Atlanta. It's been in my head ever since. You can be a sailor who's never left dry land. I get that. I really get it.
- The Beat Farmers • Where Do They Go?
The linked lyric is wrong. I’m sure that the first line is “Car Nazi’s burn rubber”. (from Tales Of The New West) - The melancholy of growing up, and away, nicely wrapped up by Country Dick Montana in one bittersweet package. Danny used to sing this one, and invest it with all the melancholy it deserves. You wouldn’t change your decisions, but that doesn’t mean you don’t regret some of the consequences of them.
- Lloyd Cole • Chelsea Hotel #2(from I'm Your Fan – The Songs of Leonard Cohen)
- Probably my favourite Leonard Cohen song. It's probably the worst kept secret in the world that this song was inspiried by Lennie's tryst with Janis Joplin in the famous New York hotel. It would be a great song anyway, but only Cohen could tack on that brilliant last line. Of course, Lloyd Cole sounds better singing it. In a perfect world this would start playing at 3:41AM. Get educated and hear the original
- Darlene & Co • Blues on a C-Harp (from Motel Darlene)
- This is my favourite song about receiving wisdom from a barstool prophet. It has the perfect line “My mind is in pieces and the pieces are sharp” in it. Darlene, by the way, is a badass biker poet who's from the same part of Northern Ontario (roughly) as I am.
- Rob Lutes • Alcohol (from Gravity)
- Living on drugs and a strong constitution. Wow, I'm glad I don't live there any more. This is another break-up song, but one that comes from one of those marvelous booze-sodden gypsy affairs, that you either survive and occasionally feel nostaglic about, or that completely destroy you.
- Derek Hines • Suicide Is Painless (from Yet Another Monday Date)
- The song from M.A.S.H., sung when The Painless Pole (the dentist) is “committing suicide”. Covered here by Waterloo jazz man Derek Hines (who was also the front man at one time for EZ Jelly and The Friggin' Buckaroos, but that's another story.) If there was one man in KW who knew about mellow, it was Derek Hines.
- Dr. John, The Night Tripper • I Walk on Guilded Splinters (from Gris-Gris)
- The perfect voodoo song. The strutting master of vodun stalks proudly through the night, Papa Loa riding right there with him. This plays really well on a rural highway at 3:41 AM. A little bit of a live performance
- Johnny Adams • The Real Me (from Johnny Adams Sings Doc Pomus)
- I think this is the only song I love that I ever first encountered in a sitcom. This will absolutely rip your heart out.
- Recoil • Want (from Liquid)
- This is a Nicole Blackman poem, set to music. I don't think I have ever heard anything sexier than Nicole's voice.
