Coming Soon To A Playlist Near You
While the Prodigal’s rehab following his automobile accident has been agonizingly slow and subject to setbacks, he is still capable of providing, on occasion, a moment or two of sunshine.
He currently attends a program to evaluate and improve his work skills with the goal of achieving that ardently desired status of gainfully employed. As a bonus, he has also become romantically interested in a woman who is enrolled in the same program.
Last night, he asked me for help burning a mix CD. I reluctantly agreed, recalling that the last such CD he requested featured acts on the lines of Insane Clown Posse, D12, and Ol’ Dirty Bastard.
The Prodigal then proceeded to fill me in on his love interest’s music preferences (a tactic I believe he picked up from one of his consultations with Lady Lawanda) and then revealed his plan to offer his friend a CD of Leonard Cohen and Anjani songs.
After prolonged discussion1 and soul-searching, he arrived, after a false start or two, at the final listing displayed below - the one that concludes with Tom Petty’s estimable rendition of Runnin Down A Dream.2
While this mix might not exactly the playlist his father would have contrived, it is certainly close enough to warm the paternal cockles.
And if he is shrewd enough to use the music of Leonard Cohen and Anjani Thomas to win over his potential beloved, there is some kind of progress being made in establishing beneficial neural circuits.
Now I can worry about the consequences of the CD successfully fulfilling my son’s goals for it.
The Prodigal’s Playlist
- Suzanne - Leonard Cohen
- Tower Of Song - Leonard Cohen
- Blue Alert - Anjani
- In My Secret Life - Leonard Cohen
- Ain’t No Cure For Love - Leonard Cohen
- First We Take Manhattan - Leonard Cohen
- I’m Your Man - Leonard Cohen
- Dance Me To The End Of Love - Leonard Cohen
- Thanks for the Dance - Anjani
- Closing Time - Leonard Cohen
- A Thousand Kisses Deep - Leonard Cohen
- Hallelujah - Leonard Cohen
- Waiting For The Miracle - Leonard Cohen
- Whither Thou Goest - Leonard Cohen & Anjani
- Runnin Down A Dream - Tom Petty
Footnotes
- The discussion included, for example, my recommendation that he include the Judy Collins cover of A Thousand Kisses Deep, which was immediately and not a little derisively rejected on the grounds that Ms Collins’ version was, compared to Mr Cohen’s own performance, “not sexy enough.” He also explained, in the manner one used to educate a particularly slow five year old, that obviously Dance Me To The End Of Love would be followed by Thanks For The Dance.↩
- I am not privy to the strategy leading to the last minute addition of Mr Petty’s song.↩
