I was listening to Nick Cave's "Red Right Hand" and I started thinking about how there is a certain cool vibe to that song that is only sometimes achieved. It's something that people like Nick Cave, Tom Waits, and Leonard Cohen have in spades, but that doesn't have a clear label. I also think that the meaning of the word "cool" is sometimes lost as the word has become synonymous with "good", but not everything that is good is cool. Cool is reserved for a certain feeling of subdued intensity, of a laid back passion. This mix is designed around that feeling and it doesn't even matter if you listen to it with black socks and sandals on, listening to this mix will make you cool.
If you have a subscription to Beats, you can listen to it
here. Otherwise, the image below links to a YouTube playlist which unfortunately has advertisements between songs (thus messing up the flow) and is missing the final song by Bob Dylan (I used an Ed Sheeran cover instead because his version stays close to the original).
*click for YouTube playlist*JT's Guide to Cool1. Lou Reed: "Take a Walk on the Wild Side"
2. Nick Cave: "Red Right Hand"
3. Tom Waits: "Clap Hands"
4. Lana Del Rey: "Video Games"
5. The Rolling Stones: "Paint it Black"
6. Johnny Cash: "Hurt"
7. The Animals: "House of the Rising Sun"
8. Leonard Cohen: "Everybody Knows"
9. Nancy Sinatra: "Bang Bang"
10. Amy Winehouse: "Back to Black"
11. Legendary Shack*Shakers: "Swampblood"
12. Howlin' Wolf: "Smokestack Lightning"
13. Charles Bradley: "Why is it so Hard?"
14. Screamin Jay Hawkins: "I Put a Spell on You"
15. John Prine & Iris DeMent: "In Spite of Ourselves"
16. Mazzy Star: "Fade Into You"
17. PJ Harvey: "The Dancer"
18. 16 Horsepower: "American Wheeze"
19. Cowboy Junkies: "Sweet Jane"
20. Seasick Steve: "Dog House Boogie"
21. Les McCann and Eddie Harris: "Compared to What"
22. Muddy Waters: "I Love the Life I Live"
23. Peggy Lee: "Fever"
24. Bob Dylan: "Don't Think Twice, It's All Right"
