Happy June! This is our first post!!!! For this momentous occasion our editor has asked his family to start it off :) So this month we have playlists from Peggy Cecil, Robb Cecil, Clara Cecil, and John Cecil. We hope you enjoy!
All playlists descriptions and 📝notes are by the playlist author
Life
Peggy Cecil (Annapolis, MD)
1. "How Great Thou Art" - Elvis Presley
📝 Born and raised in Memphis, TN music started with gospel and combine that with the King of Rock-n-roll and you have perfection
2. "Puppy Love" - Donny Osmond
📝 The very 1st concert I attended. Renee McKee and I sang and performed this song in our 6th grade talent show and won 2nd Place!
3. "Life in the Fast Lane" - Eagles
📝 One of the best albums ever! Listening to the entire album on repeat the day it was released on the built in stereo with my 1st boyfriend.
4. "Bennie and the Jets - Elton John
📝 Playing this was pure magic with my friend Sonja. We would save our money buy the record and rush home to listen over and over.*
5. "Inside Out" - Phil Collins
📝 I seriously thought I was going to marry him! I sat 3rd center row by myself and gave him a rose and was just sure it would be love at first site😆
6. "Domino (Pt. 1 & 2)" - Genesis
📝 I saw Phil and Genesis more than any other group or person and I loved every single second!
7. "Sweet Love" - Anita Baker
📝 She stole my heart and soul from the beginning, she is such a songstress and seeing her at Wolftrap was a highlight
8. "Such Reveries" - Duncan Sheik
📝 I saw him in concert and almost ran away with the band!
9. "83" - John Mayer
📝 The lyrics of this song hit so close to home-my mother got rid of my Dick Tracey lunchbox without asking!!
10. "Love Shack" - The B-52’s
📝 Cage dancing at the club with Ann my forever partner in crime
11. "Soak Up the Sun" - Sheryl Crow
📝 My babies in the back seat saying play it again!
12. "It’s Too Late" - Carole King
📝 Falling in love again with Beautiful on Broadway!
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Music to my Core!
Robb Cecil (Annapolis, MD) -- These songs transcend time and not only are etched in my memory but in my bones. I was born in 1960. The 60’s was a turbulent time. The Vietnam War, cultural revolution, generational divides. Then came the music from these poets who mostly were in the early 20’s. The music transformed society to something better. The music emphasized love, togetherness and inspiration. The music healed us as a Country. I had 4 older and 3 younger siblings, there was always a record player on somewhere in the house blasting out the tunes (to the chagrin of my parents). When John came up with this idea, my initial playlist response was simply to give him Abbey Road from the Beatles and Pink Floyd Dark Side of the Moon. What else can be said. Growing up, music was such a tangible experience. You were enamored with the album cover art work, you held the vinyl in your hand placing it on the turntable, you played the ENTIRE album as the artist constructed. It was quite ritualistic. I buy my first car when I was 16. It did not a matter it was a hand me down Dodge but I immediately installed Jensen co-axle high clarity speakers. It is 1978 and the car is packed to the brim with my albums, Advent Loudspeakers, Technics turntable and high powered Sony receiver… and enough clothes to get me by for a couple weeks. I joined the college radio station right away as a freshman, WMTB 89.9 FM at Mount Saint Mary’s College. The “Mount” was a mix of New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Delaware, Maryland and Virginia kids that brought a varied collection of music energy to this small Catholic liberal arts College in Emmitsburg, MD located in the foothills of the Blue Ridge Mountains. “All the way to the left and a bit to the Right” was WMTB tag line. In those days you had a dial on your radio or receiver to find the FM station which tag line was quite metaphorical for the times. At the radio station I found my people and my love… Music. Man was I hooked. I was a DJ for 4 years channeling my creativity. We were on the Air from 6:00 a.m. to 2:00 a.m. (we had to get a little sleep). I would do 2-3 shifts every week for 4 years.
1. "Us and Them" - Pink Floyd
📝 I am 13 years old when Dark Side of the Moon was introduced to the world. I was blown away. Apollo had landed on the Moon in 1969 and Lunar was “In”. It is a masterpiece conceptual album. The high fidelity is unmatched.
2. "Because" - Beatles
📝 We would spend our summers at the Cecil’s Grandparents working Farm in Great Mills, MD. There was a record player in the parlor. We hardly ever watched TV. We listened to music instead. I would play the Beatles over and over during these formative summers. Both Let it Be and Abbey Road were the favorites. John, Paul, George and Ringo. These “kids" writing the music and lyrics about love. They were the healers. As John and Paul summed it up for their farewell lyric on Abbey Road “And In The End The Love You Take Is Equal to the Love You Make”.
3. "Baker Street" - Gerry Rafferty
📝 My Dorm mate and fellow DJ Bob from New Jersey let me borrow this album and said give it a listen. Wow, not bad for a first album Gerry.
4. "The Low Sparks of High-Heeled Boys" - Traffic
📝 Steve Winwood at his best coming from Blind Faith then Traffic. The song is beautifully composed.
5. "Dawn: Dawn is A Feeling" - Moody Blues
📝 Talking about a band ahead of its time. Pure poetry. A concept album that must be listened to in its entirety. “This Day Will last a Thousand Years" line is one of my favorites. I played this song on a CD player to Peggy on our Wedding Day as we exited the Church popping champagne in the limo.
6. "He Ain’t Heavy, He’s My Brother" - The Hollies
📝 Love Anthem from the 60’s/70’s.
7. "Goin' Down to Laurel" - Steve Forbert
📝 Introduced to Steve Forbert’s music in 1978 at WMTB on his debut album. Cross between Petty and Dylan. Love this song. What foreshadowing in my Life. I marry the love of my life Peggy from Mississippi-and end up practicing law in Laurel, MD for 25 plus years. Though the song is about Laurel, Mississippi where Steve Forbert is from.
8. "We’ve Only Just Begun" - The Carpenters
📝 Karen Carpenter has this perfect pitch. Song of hope and inspiration.
9. "Wish You Were Here" - Pink Floyd
📝 Had to choose a second song from Floyd. On my first date after meeting Peggy, we are in Fells Point Bar in Baltimore and a band of two acoustic musicians start playing Wish You Were Here. A magic moment.
10. "Reelin' in The Years" - Steely Dan
📝 Had to include Steely Dan in the Mix. A great groovin tune from two terrific songwriters/musicians who surrounded themselves with the best studio musicians in the world.
11. "Love, Reign O'er Me" - The Who
📝 A Rock Opera. Must listen to the double album in its entirety to understand the genius of the Who. A message of Love
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Songs about the Water Cycle
Clara Cecil (Amsterdam, NL) -- I started by thinking about some of my favorite songs, and I noticed that there was a common theme of water emerging. I’ve also been thinking about the water cycle (#sustainability), so it was only natural to merge these two interests to create this here playlist: Songs about the Water Cycle. Part educational. Part inspirational. Full-on jam.
1. "How Far I’ll Go - Auli'i Cravalho
📝 Moana understands the cyclical power of the Oceans in the water cycle
2. "In the Air Tonight" - Phil Collins
📝 Phil Collins was really talking about Evaporation
3. "Drops of Jupiter" - Train
📝 While I don’t know what exactly is meant by “drops of Jupiter in her hair,” I like to think of this as Condensation and Water Storage in the Atmosphere
4. "Begging for Rain" - Maggie Rogers
📝 Nobody likes a drought
5. "Let It Go" - Idina Menzel
📝 The Queen of Water Storage in Ice and Snow
[Sub-playlist: Songs about Rain]
6. "Come Clean" - Hilary Duff
📝 Let the rain fall down!
7. "Unwritten" - Natasha Bedingfield
📝 Feel the rain on your skin!
8. "She Will be Loved" - Maroon 5
📝 I don’t mind spending every day, out on your corner in the pouring rain!
9. "Set Fire to the Rain" - Adele
📝 Physically impossible in the real world; metaphorically beautiful
[End of sub-playlist]
10. "Dive" - Olivia Dean
📝 I’m a Tidal Wave of questions marks and you’re just surfing!
11. "Cry Me a River" - Justin Timberlake
📝 Streams flow like Justin’s tears
12. "Baby’s Tears Blues" - Mort Garson
📝 Plants play a very important role in the Infiltration and Surface Runoff stages of our water cycle
13. "The Lakes" - Taylor Swift
📝 Freshwater Storage!
14. "Dust in the Wind" - Kansas
📝 Without water - especially Groundwater! - all we are is dust in the wind
15. "Water Cycle Song" - Have Fun Teaching
📝 To close us out, a very literal - but very educational! - take on the water cycle
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every 2 (part 1)
John Cecil (On the road somewhere in the US) -- Every 2 songs remind me of each other or relate in some way that kinda scratches an itch. I've been working on this idea for about 3 years now and currently the larger playlist is about 9 hours now long.. soo there's definitely more parts to come :D
1. "I'm with You" - Avril Lavigne
2. "Cherbourg" - Beirut
📝 These were the two songs that started this whole idea. I was listening to a lot of Beirut at the time and I remember hearing a vague Avril Lavigne song around the halfway mark of Cherbourg...
3. "Swallowing Grains" - Duncan Fellows
4. "Dog Milk" - Palm
📝 Swallowing Grains is for sure the more poppy song but in the background you get a hint of what is the steel drums rhythm on Dog Milk
5. "Ready to Go" - The Dip
6. "Young Tom Rose" - Ripe
📝 Both relatively mellow tunes tied together with their horns and melody but the Ripe song becoming kind of grand feels like a nice addition
7. "Sorrow" - The Brother Brothers
8. "Sing to Me (feat. Karen O)" - Walter Martin
📝 I was almost driven mad trying to remember what the little melody in Sorrow reminded me of (a theme in this series) and I love how it's sad song, happy song
9. "The World's Biggest Paving Slab" - English Teacher
10. "Myriad Harbour" - The New Pornographers
📝 The similar structure is enough for me
11. "Naeem" - Bon Iver
12. "Just Wanna Be With You" - The Cast of High School Musical
📝 I will not apologize for this! My sister and I grew up watching High School Musical religiously and come on that piano is so similar I love it
13. "Broadcasting" - Blood Cultures
14. "Zion Wolf Theme (Unfinished)
📝 :)
15. "Put a Light On" - Generationals
16. "Boys Latin" - Panda Bear
📝 Feels like they're from the same planet type of funky
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That's all for June, see you on July 1!