Planted and Enchanted: Vol. 6 - July '20

Jul 15

“Want to get myself back in again
The soft dive of oblivion
I want to taste the salt of your skin
The soft dive of oblivion (Oblivion)”

— Third Eye Blind, How's It Going to Be

You can enjoy the Planted and Enchanted: Vol. 6 playlist in its entirety on Spotify. Just click on the included Spotify plugin.

Playlist Highlight: Third Eye Blind, How's It Going to Be

“How's It Going to Be” is best song from the nineties (I should clarify, not just the 1990’s, I’m also including the 1890’s and 1790’s as well) and I’m going to explain to you why.

Let’s address a few questions out of the gate, because if I don’t, you may be too distraught or exasperated to continue:

Q: Isn’t “How’s It Going to Be” like the third best song from a mediocre band that only had one good album?

A: No, it’s the best song from the 90’s and it happened to be made by a mediocre band that only had one good album.

Q: So, you’re seriously suggesting that it’s better than Smells Like Teen Spirit, One, and Paranoid Android?

A: Yes, that’s how being the best works.

Q: Is this just one of those annoying hipster articles that relies on click-bait contrarian opinions in a lazy attempt to get clicks?

A: No, this song kicks major ass. I’ll list my rationale below (REASON NUMBER FOUR WILL SHOCK YOU!).

***

I didn’t come from a music-loving family. As far as I can remember, my dad kept just three CD’s in his Isuzu Rodeo: Tom Petty’s Greatest Hits, Cracked Rear View, and Yes I Am. As for my mother, she once told me that she went to a Bruce Springsteen concert during his iconic “Born in the U.S.A.” tour and FELL ASLEEP DURING THE MIDDLE OF THE SHOW.

WHAT (and I cannot stress this enough) THE HELL?!?

Worse still, not many people at my high school were into music either. It was a semi-rural Georgia public school (some of the classrooms faced a neighboring farm where you could see horse stables; we named one of the piebald colts King Leonidas. He had the best head of hair I’ve ever seen. Maybe he was born with it. Maybe it was MANEbellene… Let’s move on.) The kids listened to mostly Country and Hip Hop which didn’t suit my introspective tastes and my exposure didn’t stray much further than Classic Rock FM Radio staples.

It wasn’t until college where I made more like-minded friends and we began trading mixed cd’s (Wait. What’s the statute of limitations on pirating music from Limewire again?) and I became immersed in a deeper pool of genres and artists. Around the same time and after making some extra money betting on sports (Wait. What’s the statue of limitations on offshore gambling again?) I had some capital to start building a proper vinyl collection. The problem was, I didn’t know which records I should target. Eventually, I settled on using Rolling Stone Magazine’s Top 500 albums list as my guide (by the way, 10 years in, 314 down) not only for records to seek out but also to use as an industry benchmark whereby I could partition “good music” from “bad music.”

If I liked a record and it ranked highly, I used it as proof that I had good taste. If I liked a record and it didn’t appear on their list, I concluded that the music must not be that good - or at the very least - historically relevant and worthy of admiration - and as such my personal opinion of that music waned. Similarly, when new albums came out from bands I liked, I peeked at the Pitchfork score to see if I had permission to enjoy it.

How silly was I being? I had inadvertently become one of those terrible music snobs you hear so much about (which upon reflection is nearly as bad as falling asleep at a Bruce Springsteen concert.) Of course music is subjective which makes authoritative rankings and lists of all kinds inherently illogical and foolhardy.

There is however a catch, each individual (even King Leonidas) does get to decide what the best songs, artists, and albums are because the only criteria that matters is their own idiosyncratic preferences. That’s how I am able to conclude that this month’s spotlight track is the best song of the 90’s. Now, with that being said, I can still present a framework for why I feel this way (I did promise you reasons after all):

Relistenability - Look I know spellcheck says it’s not a word, but you know what I’m talking about. If you’ve ever stood dumbfounded trying to figure out how a gaggle of nine year old girls can sit and watch Frozen 2 back-to-back-to-back without getting bored, then you’re familiar with this phenomenon. Spotify doesn’t share this data, but this song has to be among my lowest percentage skipped. In other words, if it comes on, I’m not shuffling to another song. It’s 23 years old and it still feels fresh - and if I pull into a parking lot and it’s still playing, I keep my car idling until it’s finished - which, when you think about it, is the highest compliment you can give to a song.
Themes - I’ve always been drawn to songs that are misunderstood, often due to incongruities between the song’s narrative and the underlying tempo and instrumentation. At first blush, you’re likely to surmise it’s about one thing, but upon closer inspection, there is an entirely different interpretation waiting for you. How’s It Going to Be is a terrific example.
A cursory listen and it’s a song about a man that’s on the brink of breaking up with his girlfriend because their relationship is dysfunctional and often violent. Before he does, he considers this bizarre future in which this person that he’s shared such an intimate past is going to slowly become distant and unfamiliar. Eventually brushing right past him like a stranger in a crowd. On its face, it’s a breakup song. Unusual in the respect that it’s told from the prospective right before the breakup rather than right after, but it’s a breakup song none the less
…But wait a second, if you really give it a listen, it’s not a breakup song at all. In fact you could argue it’s the opposite. It’s a song about getting back together. At the tail-end, there’s a major ramp in both tempo and volume and then we get the most thematically relevant lines of the entire track:
“Want to get myself back in again
The soft dive of oblivion
I want to taste the salt of your skin
The soft dive of oblivion (Oblivion)”
The first line of this quatrain is both an oblique nod to the physical act of sex (hey, it was the 90’s) as well as the more direct implication of trying to restart the relationship. The second and forth lines combine to repeat the word oblivion three times. Oblivion of course is the state of being unaware or unconscious of what is happening. Our narrator has just spent the entire song laying out the logical reasons for the breakup and thinking about what life will be like after he does. However, his love (or at least passion) for her is so great he pivots at the last moment and decides he doesn’t want to give her up.
His only choice is to force himself into a place of non-thinking (oblivion), because giving his predicament any level of thought would prevent him from going back. It’s a metaphor for addiction and insight into why it’s common for people to return to romantic partners despite a lengthy track record of abuse and debilitation.
So, the song’s last utterance of “How’s it going to be” isn’t reflecting on what life will be like without her (like each of the earlier instances), but rather pondering how the relationship is going to be different this time around. Will they be able to resolve their issues or will the cycle continue?
Of course the song ends and us listeners are never explicitly told, making it our responsibility to draw our own conclusions. This is simply excellent writing with heavy themes, a clear story line, and an M. Night Shyamalan worthy twist all crammed into four minutes. Most novels can’t pull that off in 300 pages.
Flexibility - No I’m not talking about its ability to do downward dog, forward folds, or warrior two poses, I’m talking about the situations in which you could find yourself hearing this song being played where it doesn’t feel out of place. It’s a great song to drive to, a great song to walk to, a song you could play in the background during the family’s weekly competitive game of Rummikub, it could appear on a nostalgic 90’s Pop as well as Alternative Rock playlist.
Song flexibility is rarer than you think - even among the all-time greats. Imagine being at a family picnic and your cousin Kyle cranks up “Kid A” out of nowhere. Everyone is going to raise their eyebrows and grandma is going to think Kyle is back on the “marijuana cigarettes.” (Don’t be like Kyle.)
Personal Significance - The best songs transport you back to a place in time, allowing you to relive the warmth of a fond memory. Playing competitive baseball growing up, I remember travelling to tournaments with my teammates and this song, “Fly” by Sugar Ray and "All Star" by Smash Mouth were constantly being sung at the top of our lungs. (Those were fun times, and it also makes me realize I peaked as a person between the ages of nine and twelve.)
To sum up the points of this month’s playlist: Don’t be ashamed to like the things you like and don’t forget to pay closer attention to your favorite music as there are often hidden treasures lurking beneath. And be sure to do it sooner rather than later, because after all, the years start coming and they don’t stop coming.
Enjoy this month’s playlist; it’s Evan tested and King Leonidas approved.

What is Planted and Enchanted?

If you’re anything like me, you surely have a “junk drawer” somewhere in your home. It probably consists of an old flashlight with dead batteries in it, a handful of rubber bands alongside some pens running low on ink, enough loose keys for you to qualify as a middle school janitor, some birthday cards given to you years ago (how quickly can I throw these away without it being rude? Better wait another decade just to be safe.), the box to your old iPhone simply because it’s a pretty darn cool box, and a small library of service manuals for among other things: your refrigerator, hot water heater, and that Instant Pot you used just the one time.

I don’t consider my junk drawer “worthless” mind you, but rather see it a collection of delightful discoveries (Hey! I didn’t know I had a yo-yo!), and delightful rediscoveries (So that’s where my playing cards were!).

That’s my aim for this playlist series: Planted and Enchanted. A monthly track list consisting of songs that likely won’t fit perfectly together in a classic album sense, but are useful in planting the seeds of discovery of new genres, artists, and songs as well as the unearthing of music you loved but had long since forgotten about. Who knows, there may even be a hidden theme or two that the savvy listener can piece together. The best part about this playlist? If you don’t like it, that’s okay. We are talking about junk after all.

If you have a specific song that you’ve recently discovered or come to love, we’d love to hear from you. Just email us at freshcutfinds@gmail.com. We’re planning to roll out more content and a new playlist series in the coming months. Stay tuned!

Each month, we put together a playlist of our favorite discoveries new & old. Each playlist will be about the length of a mix CD (80 mins) and will be sent around the 15th of each month. Subscribe with your email address to receive the monthly Planted and Enchanted playlist, plus other occasional speciaty playlists.

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Evan Hammonds

Planted and Enchanted: Vol. 6 - July '20

Off the Beaten Path: Vol. 4 - Childish Gambino

4th of July: The Land Remains