...and our favorite #lockdown playlists

We’re sharing our experiences, thoughts, and uncensored opinions during lockdown, quarantine, and self-isolation. For some of us, it’s DAY 47. 

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Bella Ciao

RJD, #Beirut, #Lebanon

As soon as the lockdowns began, I started putting together a playlist that I called Corona Morona. 

Year of the Cat was the first song by Al Stewart. It’s been a year from hell for me. January alone was as long as a whole 12 months and it spiraled from there…

I then added: Help me make it through the night by Gladys Knight and the Pips, L’italiano by Toto Cutugno in honor of Lombardi, Dream a little dream of me by the Mamas and the Papas, Closer and Closer Apart by Mary Chapin Carpenter, to name a few.

And then came the most poignant one of all for me, Bella Ciao is placed at the top of my playlist from the series La Casa De Papel. This song was reinvented from an old Italian folk song originating from the women in the paddy fields in the late 19th century as they sang it in protest of harsh working conditions. During the 1940s, it was used as an anti-fascist song symbolizing freedom and in the case of this particular series, symbolizing protests against entire governments. 

It is just so exemplary of life in Lebanon, where we have been living for the past 30 years, a big money heist by the political class that rendered us 40% poorer and with Corona, we reached a whopping 60%! 

The song has been played over and over during the protests on the streets since October 2019. In Lebanon, a local artist, Shiraz even made an Arabic version of the song. 

So every morning, I blast the speakers on my roof garden while I water my vegetables and make the whole neighborhood remember that we are living a worse reality than the hostages in the series! 

Here is the Corona version!

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CoronaDance the Night Away

RafifJ, Malaga, Spain

Music: it’s one of the outlets that has gotten me through the past 47 days of lockdown.

In BC days, I had my music pretty neatly classified based on what I was doing or where I was: Airplane, Rafif’s Disco Night, Pool at Alex’s Place in Crete, and Hangin’ with the Girls are just a few. Then there’s Working on Deadline (classical) and Fun Work (jazz).

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Along came the Coronavirus and new playlists: Staying At Home and Trying Not to Lose My Mind.

My final compilation, called Coronavirus 2020, makes me dance as I fumble through my 7 Interchangeable and Recurring Phases of Lockdown: Anxiety, Elation, Boredom, Loneliness, Frustration, Irritation, and Happiness.

One of my all-time favorites is Time Warp from the Rocky Horror Picture Show – click to play it and DANCE.

So what else is playing at my place? Here are another 15 songs to get you moving:

1. Car Wash (Rose Royce)
2. Safe and Sound (Capital Cities)
3. Missing (Everything But the Girl)
4. You Sexy Thing (Hot Chocolate)
5. Hotel California (Gypsy Kings version)
6. Some Nights (Fun)
7. I Will Survive (Gloria Gaynor)
8. Killer Queen (Queen)
9. We Are Family (Sister Sledge)
10. Where is the Love (Black Eyed Peas)
11. You Spin Me Right Round (Dead or Alive)
12. Counting Stars (OneRepublic)
13. I Don’t Fee Like Dancin’ (Scissor Sisters)
14. Can’t Stop the Feeling (Justin Timberlake)
15. We Like to Party! (Six Flags)

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Sadder Than a Country Western Song

Charlie, Metro #Washington, DC

My music preferences are generally pretty schizoid. When I meet a potential dating partner, one of the first two questions I ask is, “Have you ever listened to Glenn Gould’s recording of Bach’s Goldberg Variations, and have you ever listened to Asleep at the Wheel?”

If the answer to either question is “No,” it’s time for me to move on.

It may sound strange, but lately I’ve skewed more to listening to Asleep at the Wheel and Country Western generally. That’s because I want to hear music that will cheer me up. And as sad as CW lyrics can be, they’re way more uplifting than what they’re yammering about on the news. The news today is sadder than a Country Western song. Whoever thought Tammy Wynette singing D-I-V-O-R-C-E or Waylon Jennings wailing about Luckenbach, Texas could cheer up my day.

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Get Down Tonight!

Tina F., Fairfax, #Virginia

At the beginning of the #COVID-19 life-changing experience and the #shutdown I was so amused to find songs that related to this situation. Some were quite funny and had me laughing and dancing. Yes, dancing in the privacy of my home, because no one wants to see me dance. I dance a little like Elaine from the Seinfeld episodes.

The Internet blew up with memes and songs containing clever lyrics and videos. Mostly I was listening to the older songs with lyrics that sounded as though they were written for the current state of affairs. Bobby Brown’s warning of Can’t Touch This was now incredibly poignant. The Bee Gee’s Stayin’ Alive gave me encouragement. When frustrated I turned to Queen’s I Want to Break Free.

It was Iggy pop’s song Mask, with its ironic double entendres, that took the cake. I’ll share a few of those lyrics with you, and as you read, think only of the coronavirus and the current situation.

“…..You’re wearing a mask

You look better that way

Are you my friend? Are you my plumber? Are you my God?

What do you do?

Wearing a mask, You’re wearing a mask

You’re wearing a mask, Which mask are you?…..

……critics fronting franticly in New York city, every body in L.A just plain licking ass or having it licked, irony in place of balls, balls in place of brains, brains in place of soul, where is the soul?, where is the love?, where am i?

Which mask are you? …..”

Iggy Pop

But soon I was fed up with all the songs that related to my state of mind like So Lonely, I Want to Hold Your Hand, All by Myself, and many others. Even the reassurance of Gloria Gaynor’s I Will Survive was not comforting .

I had to switch it off. All of it. The only way I could listen to music was to find the sing-along songs that did not relate to any pandemic, fear, aloneness, or virus.

I found catchy tunes like Brown Eyed Girl, Wild Horses, and Twist and Shout are the best way to feel uplifted. Or better yet, songs with no lyrics at all, like Santana’s Europa are ideal. By the way….I’m still “dancing.”

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