The First Days of Spring

So Seattle had its warmest January on record this year, and while it got a little colder in February, it's officially spring in Seatown. Everything is starting to bud and bloom, and along with the rain, we've had glorious days of sun--we hardly know what to do with ourselves. So it is time for a new playlist.

Now I've never made a spring playlist because spring doesn't really exist in Utah. Basically you get April where it rains a lot. But it's still snowing in March, and by May it's practically summer, (there are a lot of songs which could be spring-y, but actually work better for summer), and April, for me, is probably one of the least memorable months of the year--nothing happens!--so spring? I'm like whatever... So I'm sort of at a loss at how to put together a spring playlist, but here goes nothing.

• "The First Days of Spring," appropriately enough, by Noah and the Whale. This is the title track from their latest album. It's a band from London that Megan turned me onto. The album is a break-up album about moving on and starting fresh--the very essence of spring. I don't know if it's epic, but at six-and-half minutes, it's quite long. "It's the first day of spring / And my life is starting over again." I'm also including their song "Blue Skies" since we've had so many sunny, blue skies in Seattle lately.
• "Sweet Disposition" by The Temper Trap. Now while I sort of think of Spring as a tart--here's a week of warm weather, and them bam! blizzard--this is what all spring songs should be like: sweet, ethereal, bright, and lovely with this light undercurrent of energy.
• "Another Sunny Day" by Belle and Sebastian. Sunny days in the garden, and rainy days stuck inside. This is my first B&S song which I quite like, and I need to get more into their stuff. If you're a knower of the Belle and Sebastian tell me which songs I need to get, spring and otherwise. I'm also considering "We Rule the School" and "Asleep on a Sunbeam."
• "Folding Chair" by Regina Spektor. I'm not really sure what this song is about, but I think it's a little bit fun, innocent, and bittersweet. "Maybe one day you will understand / I don't want nothing from you but to sweetly hold your hand." Also, Regina literally sings like a dolphin.
• "Father Lucifer" by Tori Amos. One of my favorites from Tori, it's more vignette than full-fledged song. "You always did prefer the drizzle to the rain / Tell me that you're still in love with that milkmaid." And the bridge is gorgeous.
• "Sweet Darlin'" by She & Him. A bright little song that captures the twitterpation of spring so nicely. This is my first She & Him song; I'm also toying with "Sentimental Heart." Suggestions?
• "Lust" by Tori Amos. This is one of the most sonically unusual songs I've heard. It almost feels like you're listening to it underwater--there's something atmospheric about it which somehow says spring to me. "So she prays for a prankster / And lust in the marriage bed."
• "Origin of Love" from Hedwig and the Angry Inch. My favorite song from Hedwig, it's an origin story (I love origin stories), and isn't spring an origin story too. It's kind of sad for spring though.
• "The Same Tattoos" by FENCES. I don't know--this is a Seattle band that I heard on TBTL, and I like the song. The tune is nice and mellow and upbeat, the lyrics maybe not so much: "It's not like you were really gone gone gone gone / But you were / And I never felt love." Doesn't have anything to do with spring.
  
• "Happy Phantom" by Tori Amos. A playful song about what might happen after we die, with some darker notes of reflection. "And I will never need / Umbrellas in the rain / I'll wake up in / Strawberry fields every day." Like Tori says, sometimes we need to hang out with Death for awhile, but then we have to go out and live.
• "Every Time It Rains" by Charlotte Martin. I have never cried so much as when I listened to this song, but that's another story. And rain is a metaphor for tears after all. "Every time it rains / I know it's good to be alive / And every time it rains / I know I'm trying to survive."

So that's what I have so far, mostly songs about rain or sun and love. After searching around on the Internet looking for spring playlists, I have a handful of song in my iTunes wishlist that I'm not quite ready to buy. "Mr. Blue Sky" by Electric Light Orchestra, "Daffodil Lament" by The Cranberries, "T-Shirt Weather" by The Lucksmiths, "Long-Forgotten Fairytale" by The Magnetic Fields, "Somewhere Over the Rainbow" by Tori Amos, "Testament to Youth in Verse" by The New Pornographers, "Raindrops from the Sun" by Imani Coppola, and "A-Punk" by Vampire Weekend. I like Vampire Weekend though I don't quite love them like everyone else. Anyway, I think their stuff works better for summer, but "A-Punk" might just work for spring.

So, what think ye? Send your recommendations my way!