You know that feeling when you just wanna blow town and find newer, better adventures somewhere across this great big earth? This playlist is for you. Whatever your reason – searching for a purpose, leaving disappointing people behind, just something new – there’s a song or series of songs for you here.
Now, you might be noticing a pattern: I’m always including a Minnie Riperton and Madonna song. Well, that’s because I love them so much! Ha!
One other singer I deeply love is Nancy Wilson who starts us off with her energetic rendition of “Don’t Rain On My Parade.” It’s a Streisand classic, but Wilson’s version is less Broadway and more hep cat. It also bangs like no other version that I’ve heard with the marching band intro and driving snare trills that feel like a train chugging right atcha before BAM! – “Hey world, here I am!” I was tempted to add “The Grass Is Greener” but thought a more melancholic vibe was needed for this list. We don’t want to go, but damnit, we have to.
Burt Bacharach is my favorite pop composer, and I’d be remiss if I didn’t include “Promises Promises,” my anthem for when life disappoints and I gotta go it on my own. Its swing and booming timpani makes me want to jerk my hips to the beat, flicking off those “Promises” with every sideways thrust.
The whole list started after I was belting it out to “Gloria” by Laura Branigan. It’s so totally 80s with the clash of live instruments and synths, and that poppy upbeat chord rhythm that exemplifies Italo house. It is a remake of an Italian song, after all. But this time Gloria is on the run…after someone…then has to escape because maybe the mob is after her? Who knows, I just know the synth glides and repeated chords make it a great song to run to or away from life.
It gets a little religious and sci-fi in “Sally Ride,” a Janelle Monae track that’s like a space-Odyssey gospel. It combines traditional gospel elements (river, the news, Mary, the word, God) and space travel (comets, space suit, fly to the stars) in a way that takes you to church.
Of course, I had to end with the Moses Hogan version of “Swing Low, Sweet Chariot.” Because death is the ultimate adventure.