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      A (Sad) Playlist for the 2023 New York Mets

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      Fifteen songs that tell the tale of a rough season.It’s impossible for Mr. Met to look sad, but trust us, he would at this point in the season if he could.Frank Franklin Ii/Associated PressDear listeners,This week, there has been joy neither in Mudville nor in Queens — home of the New York Mets, a team enjoying a catastrophically disappointing 2023 season.The Mets began the year with high hopes for a deep postseason run and with an even higher payroll (somewhere near $350 million before luxury tax payments, making them the most expensive baseball team in history). But after Tuesday’s trade deadline, at which point the Mets had a 50-55 win-loss record, the organization all but gave up on 2023, trading away most of their best pitchers and a few sluggers to boot, in exchange for a bunch of admittedly exciting young prospects who will nonetheless probably not blossom until at least (gulp) 2025. The remaining Mets responded by losing three games in a row to the Kansas City Royals, currently one of the worst teams in M.L.B., but also — a little more salt in the wound, please — the very team to which they lost the World Series in 2015.Suffice to say, I’ve not been listening to a lot of happy music the past few days.In his highly entertaining 2021 book “So Many Ways to Lose: The Amazin’ True Story of the New York Mets — The Best Worst Team in Sports,” the journalist Devin Gordon writes, “There is a difference between being bad and being gifted at losing, and this distinction holds the key to understanding the true magic of the New York Mets.” Yet again, the Mets have fulfilled that reputation and somehow found a novel way to fail, in the process inventing an entirely new flavor of pain to inflict upon its fan base. It’s honestly kind of impressive.As any librettist or opera composer knows, some tragedies are so grand that they must be expressed in music. And though I am but a humble newsletter writer, I know this, too. So here it is: a playlist for the 2023 Mets.You will not hear Timmy Trumpet (the man behind the triumphant entrance music for our closer, who was injured in freakish fashion in March) on this playlist. You will hear the Smiths, as the 2023 mood is closer to sumptuous anguish. You’ll also hear classics from the Who, David Bowie and Talking Heads, alongside newer songs from Palehound and the long-suffering Mets fans Yo La Tengo.You don’t need to root for the Mets, or even like baseball, to listen to this playlist. Actually, if you don’t, it will work as a primer to help you understand the complicated tale of woe that is the Mets’ 2023 season. But if it somehow compels you to devote yourself to the orange and blue, I offer you a hearty welcome. Misery loves company.Listen along on Spotify as you read.1. The Smiths: “Heaven Knows I’m Miserable Now”Though it is possible to describe the psyche of a Mets fan in a playlist comprised entirely of Smiths songs — “Panic,” “Please, Please, Please Let Me Get What I Want,” “You Just Haven’t Earned It Yet, Baby” — the title of this jangly ditty from 1984 sums things up pretty succinctly. (Listen on YouTube)2. Peggy Lee: “Big Spender”When the billionaire hedge fund manager Steve Cohen bought the Mets in 2020, he became the wealthiest owner in the M.L.B. Going into the 2023 season, he clearly wasn’t afraid to spend, or pay the luxury tax. As a result, he assembled the most expensive roster in baseball history. What could possibly go wrong? I’m sure Peggy Lee, in this snappy 1966 rendition of a showstopper from “Sweet Charity,” couldn’t possibly guess! (Listen on YouTube)3. The Magnetic Fields: “Come Back From San Francisco”“Come back from San Francisco, it can’t be all that pretty when all of New York City misses you,” Shirley Simms sings on this 1999 song by the Magnetic Fields — a sentiment shared by some New Yorkers earlier this season when former Mets and current Giants like Michael Conforto, J.D. Davis and Wilmer Flores all got off to hot starts just as the Mets’ bats started going cold. (It’s also a sentiment plenty of older New Yorkers still feel about the Giants organization itself.) (Listen on YouTube)4. The Big Bopper: “Chantilly Lace”At least Pete Alonso was hitting some very big bops at an astounding pace — 20 home runs by the end of May. As the Big Bopper would say, “Hello, baaaaby!” (Listen on YouTube)5. David Bowie: “Boys Keep Swinging”Indeed they did — whether or not they were making contact with the ball. If only they were having as much fun as Bowie on this 1979 glam-pop gem. (Listen on YouTube)6. The Who: “The Kids Are Alright”An undeniable bright spot for the 2023 team has been the offensive prowess of a group of very young rookies who earned the nickname “The Baby Mets”: the 23-year-old infielders Mark Vientos and Brett Baty; and the 21-year-old catcher Francisco Álvarez, who at press time had hit more home runs this year than any other catcher in baseball. The kids are all right! (Listen on YouTube)7. Palehound: “Eye on the Bat”“Suckers will all tell you to keep watching for the ball, but we know better than that,” Palehound’s El Kempner sings. “Keep your eye on the bat.” Good song from a recently released album I’ve been enjoying; bad advice for the New York Mets. (Listen on YouTube)8. SZA featuring Ty Dolla Sign: “Hit Different”I began to wish they would. (Listen on YouTube)9. The Everly Brothers: “June Is as Cold as December”Brrr. The Mets won just seven games and lost 19 in June — a month so disastrous that The Athletic’s Tim Britton wrote an article asking, “Did the Mets just complete their worst month in franchise history?” This being the Mets, though, he found plenty of others, writing, “Note that this is a non-exhaustive list. There are other very bad months that did not make the cut.” (Listen on YouTube)10. Smokey Robinson & the Miracles: “A Fork in the Road”Another silver lining, though, was the 30-year-old Japanese pitcher Kodai Senga — making his M.L.B. debut this season with the Mets — and his elusive signature pitch, the “ghost fork,” named for the way it suddenly disappears from the strike zone. (Listen on YouTube)11. Yo La Tengo: “Fallout”It wouldn’t be a Mets playlist without some Yo La Tengo. The long-running New Jersey indie-rock band is named after a great, if possibly apocryphal, story involving the former Mets Richie Ashburn and Elio Chacón, and this year the band’s Ira Kaplan threw out the first pitch at a Mets game. The title of its latest album, which features the fuzzy single “Fallout,” also expresses a sentiment that is relatable to many Mets fans: “This Stupid World.” (Listen on YouTube)12. Ace Frehley: “New York Groove”The Mets play this stomping, irresistibly catchy glam-rock tune — written by the British producer Russ Ballard, but popularized by the native New Yorker Ace Frehley — after every home game that they win. So for a hopeful moment in July, when the team kicked off the month with a six-game winning streak, it was a song that actually got some play. (Listen on YouTube)13. Talking Heads: “Burning Down the House”But it wasn’t enough. As the trade deadline neared, the team began selling off some of its most valuable assets: First, the closer David Robertson and the starting pitcher Max Scherzer. Then, at the trade deadline on Tuesday, they just started burning down the house. Baseball’s most expensive roster ever had officially gone bust. Here’s your ticket; pack your bags. (Listen on YouTube)14. George Strait: “All My Ex’s Live in Texas”And now ours do, too: Scherzer has joined Jacob deGrom on the Texas Rangers, while Justin Verlander has returned to his former team, the Houston Astros. George Strait, I now know how you felt when you recorded this 1987 hit. (Listen on YouTube)15. Hot Chocolate: “You Sexy Thing”And yet … at least technically, the season is not over. Rooting for the Mets means ya gotta believe in miracles. (Listen on YouTube)All the fans are true to the orange and blue,LindsayThe Amplifier PlaylistListen on Spotify. We update this playlist with each new newsletter.“A (Sad) Playlist for the 2023 New York Mets” track listTrack 1: The Smiths, “Heaven Knows I’m Miserable Now”Track 2: Peggy Lee, “Big Spender”Track 3: The Magnetic Fields, “Come Back From San Francisco”Track 4: The Big Bopper, “Chantilly Lace”Track 5: David Bowie, “Boys Keep Swinging”Track 6: The Who, “The Kids Are Alright”Track 7: Palehound, “Eye on the Bat”Track 8: SZA featuring Ty Dolla Sign, “Hit Different”Track 9: The Everly Brothers, “June Is as Cold as December”Track 10: Smokey Robinson & the Miracles, “A Fork in the Road”Track 11: Yo La Tengo, “Fallout”Track 12: Ace Frehley, “New York Groove”Track 13: Talking Heads, “Burning Down the House”Track 14: George Strait, “All My Ex’s Live in Texas”Track 15: Hot Chocolate, “You Sexy Thing”Bonus tracksIf you are curious how I came to devote my life to the perpetual misery that is Mets fandom, you’re in luck — I wrote an essay on that very topic last year, for the briefly shuttered and soon-to-be-revived magazine Bookforum. Viva la Mets! Viva la Bookforum!Also, I mentioned Devin Gordon’s delightful Mets book, so I would be remiss if I did not also recommend Gordon’s equally delightful 2018 New York Times Magazine profile of the Mets announcers Gary Cohen, Keith Hernandez, and Ron Darling, “the Magi of Mets Nation.”And if you’re looking for new music, this week’s Friday Playlist features tracks from Mitski, Wilco, Jorja Smith and many more. More

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      8 Songs About August

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      The dog days are over. Here are some tunes to celebrate.Florence + the Machine, escaping the dog days.Jose Sena Goulao/EPA, via ShutterstockDear listeners,Happy August. It’s the month of out-of-office auto replies, finally breaking heat waves, and — if the songs about August are to believed, anyway — waning summer romances.After an especially brutal July, we’re finally enjoying some pleasant summer weather here in New York. I’m celebrating by going for runs in nearby parks, venturing into parts of my apartment that are not directly in front of the air-conditioner, and, of course, putting together a playlist in honor of this lazy, hazy, hopefully milder month.Songs about August tend to be languid, wistful and suffused with the feeling that Lana Del Rey once named, with appropriate vagueness, “that summertime sadness.” Some of us look forward to summer all year, but by August that sense of too-much-dessert can set in, leaving us secretly pining for the first rustles of September — or at least that unseasonal cold wind in August that sets the scene for Van Morrison’s entry on this playlist.In addition to Van the Man, today’s selections include a weepy country standard, a detour into early psych-pop from a once and future Bee Gee and yet another Taylor Swift song about the cruelty of summer. (Not that one, though.) The dog days are over. Maybe not yet for good, but at least for now, and I’d say that’s reason enough to rejoice.Listen along on Spotify as you read.1. Carole King: “The First Day in August”“On the first day in August, I wanna wake up by your side/After sleeping with you on the last night in July,” Carole King begins this gorgeous ballad from her 1972 album, “Rhymes and Reasons.” A chill of melancholy quivers through the piano-driven song, but the resonant yearning in King’s voice provides warmth. (Listen on YouTube)2. Taylor Swift: “August”The dreamy, anguished eighth track on Swift’s 2020 album “Folklore” has become a feverishly beloved fan favorite among Swifties (and even some Swift skeptics). “August” is part of a trio of “Folklore” songs that depict a love triangle from different characters’ perspectives, and given that it’s told from the vantage point of “the other woman,” it’s the most gloriously melodramatic of the three: “So much for summer love and saying ‘us,’” Swift sings, “’cause you weren’t mine to lose.” (Listen on YouTube)3. Waxahatchee: “Summer of Love”Though Katie Crutchfield doesn’t specifically mention August on this acoustic lament from “Ivy Tripp,” her 2015 album as Waxahatchee, something about its rueful sense of nostalgia evokes the pathos of summer’s end. “I can’t make out a face in the picture of palm trees,” she sings in a keening wail. “The summer of love is a photo of us.” (Listen on YouTube)4. Rilo Kiley: “August”Now, from Crutchfield to a band that inspired her so profoundly that she has a tattoo of its second album: Rilo Kiley. Though Jenny Lewis sang many of the Los Angeles group’s best-known songs, the guitarist Blake Sennett takes the lead on the gently buoyant “August,” from its 2001 debut album, “Take Offs and Landings.” (Listen on YouTube)5. Van Morrison: “Cold Wind in August”Released to high expectations in 1977, Van Morrison’s “Period of Transition” was, as its title suggests, a bit of a departure from his more blistering, mystical albums of the early 1970s. An undeniable highlight is its closing track, the soulful “Cold Wind in August,” which features inspired piano playing from the album’s co-producer, Dr. John. (Listen on YouTube)6. Robin Gibb: “August October”In 1969, Robin Gibb briefly quit the Bee Gees and embarked upon a solo career. A year later, he released the baroque, delightfully strange album “Robin’s Reign,” his only solo LP of the 1970s. The mournful “August October,” an ode to the stasis of heartbreak, opens the album, and was later covered by a huge fan of “Robin’s Reign,” none other than Elton John. (Listen on YouTube)7. Waylon Jennings: “The Thirty Third of August”The country singer-songwriter Mickey Newbury penned this down-and-out tear-jerker, but Waylon Jennings was the first to make it more widely known, when he recorded it for his 1970 album, “Waylon.” Countless other artists have covered it since, though if you want to hear what is perhaps the most gut-wrenching rendition, check out David Allan Coe’s. (Listen on YouTube)8. Florence + the Machine: “Dog Days Are Over”Well, let’s at least hope. (Listen on YouTube)Meet me behind the mall,LindsayThe Amplifier PlaylistListen on Spotify. We update this playlist with each new newsletter.“8 Songs About August” track listTrack 1: Carole King, “The First Day in August”Track 2: Taylor Swift, “August”Track 3: Waxahatchee, “Summer of Love”Track 4: Rilo Kiley, “August”Track 5: Van Morrison, “Cold Wind in August”Track 6: Robin Gibb, “August October”Track 7: Waylon Jennings, “The Thirty Third of August”Track 8: Florence + the Machine, “Dog Days Are Over”Bonus TracksPour one out for one of my first favorite movie stars, Pee-wee Herman. Preferably: “Tequila!”Speaking of movies, if you’re looking for a reason to enjoy some theater air-conditioning that is not that pair of summer blockbusters you have almost certainly heard about, I’d highly recommend “Afire,” the latest from the German director Christian Petzold, who happens to be one of my favorite working filmmakers. “Afire” is like a bleaker and more biting Éric Rohmer movie — just as many enviable summer-vacation vibes, plus some dark twists. (The Times’s chief film critic, Manohla Dargis, liked it too.) More

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      Barbenheimer: The Unofficial Playlist

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      10 songs marked by aesthetic contrasts for the movies’ big opening weekend.Are you a Barbie girl in the Oppenheimer world?Universal Pictures, Warner Bros.Dear listeners,A long awaited day has finally arrived: the cinematic collision of matter and antimatter represented by the two biggest and perhaps most thematically divergent summer blockbusters opening on the same date. To all who celebrate, a very happy Barbenheimer to you.The conversation around “Barbie” and “Oppenheimer” runs the risk of relying on lazy stereotypes about gender essentialism and taste: men are from Mars, and women are from Venus; “Oppenheimer” is for boys, and “Barbie” is for girls. But what I find so amusing about a lot of the “Barbenheimer” memes is the way they also subtly make fun of those assumptions and treat the idea of “masculine” and “feminine” aesthetics as something more artificial, interchangeable and downright laughable than they might at first appear to be.I admit that the Barbenheimer memes are still making me laugh. (Well, the good ones.) Even the jokes about how ridiculously overdone the Barbenheimer memes are at this point are making me laugh. I wanted to make my own contribution. So, behold — Barbenheimer: The Playlist.Sometimes a good playlist is all about cohesion and tonal similarity. But when compiling a collection of songs, I also love playing around with aesthetic contrasts — the wilder, the better. And I definitely went a little wild on this one.Yes, this playlist segues one of Leonard Cohen’s most depressing songs ever into Natasha Bedingfield’s feel-good mid-aughts radio hit “Unwritten.” It also follows a Nine Inch Nails song with a fake pop song that interpolates (a generous word in this context) that same Nine Inch Nails song. One thing it does not contain is “Barbie Girl.” Even I know my limits.But for all its zany juxtaposition, I hope you find something to enjoy in each of this playlist’s extremes. We all contain multitudes — in each of us, an inner “Barbie” and an inner “Oppenheimer.” Here’s a soundtrack to satisfy of both them.Listen along on Spotify as you read.1. Dolly Mixture: “Baby It’s You”The Shirelles were the first group to record the sweetly swooning “Baby It’s You” — written by Burt Bacharach, Luther Dixon and Mack David — a hit, but I love the driving tempo of this version from 1980, by the underrated British post-punk band Dolly Mixture. (Get it? Dolly?) (Listen on YouTube)2. Nine Inch Nails: “Head Like a Hole”Trent Reznor’s recording career began with a gnashing roar, as this pummeling track kicked off Nine Inch Nails’ 1989 debut album “Pretty Hate Machine.” The chorus sounds like someone upending an entire drawer of cutlery, and it still absolutely and unequivocally rules. RIP J. Robert Oppenheimer; you would have loved Nine Inch Nails. Maybe. (Listen on YouTube)3. Ashley O: “On a Roll”In a 2019 episode of the sci-fi anthology show “Black Mirror,” Miley Cyrus played Ashley O, a fictitious pop star with a Barbie-pink bob and a creepy holographic alter ego. One of Ashley O’s hits, hilariously, interpolates “Head Like a Hole” and changes its most brutal lyrics to empty, #girlboss-worthy slogans: “I’m on a roll, riding so high, achieving my goals.” (Reznor, a fan of the show, approved the use of his music, including a rework of “Hurt” called “Flirt,” which, tragically, did not make the episode.) “On a Roll” is so dystopian and absurd that it is legitimately enjoyable — or at least catchier than anything heard on “The Idol.” (Listen on YouTube)4. Mclusky: “To Hell With Good Intentions”“And we’re all going straight to hell!” yells Andrew Falkous, from the middle of an inferno of guitar noise, on this propulsive and darkly funny single from the Welsh rock band’s beloved 2002 album “Mclusky Do Dallas.” (Listen on YouTube)5. Hannah Diamond: “Every Night”Excessively sugary, synthetically glossy and slightly uncanny, “Every Night,” from 2014, sounds as though it were written and performed by an AI program schooled on ’90s Jock Jams and Max Martin hits. But it’s actually the work of Hannah Diamond, the British musician and visual artist who has worked with the experimental pop collective PC Music. (Her recent single, “Affirmations,” has a slight Ashley O vibe about it, too.) (Listen on YouTube)6. Leonard Cohen: “Avalanche”The morose opening track of Cohen’s “Songs of Love and Hate,” from 1971, “Avalanche” is … definitely one of the songs of hate. (Listen on YouTube)7. Natasha Bedingfield: “Unwritten”If ever a CW coming-of-age dramadey is made about my life (it won’t be), I feel this should be the theme song. Curse “The Hills” for getting there first. (Listen on YouTube)8. Lou Reed: “Waves of Fear”Here’s Lou Reed doing his best Danzig, from his 1982 solo album “The Blue Mask” — one of the middle-period gems buried in his vast discography. The song is both cartoonishly macabre and a very convincing evocation of an anxiety attack: “Waves of fear, pulsing with death/I curse my tremors, I jump at my own step.” (Listen on YouTube)9. Sophie: “Immaterial”The great electronic performer and producer Sophie, who died in 2021, looks beyond the limitations of the material world and reaches for something transcendent and liberatory on this swirling pop fantasy. It’s from her first and only full-length album, “Oil of Every Pearl’s Un-Insides,” from 2018. (Listen on YouTube)10. The Gap Band: “You Dropped a Bomb on Me”This is the way this playlist ends. Not with a whimper, but with a jam. (Listen on YouTube)I’ve got more songs than a song convention,LindsayThe Amplifier PlaylistListen on Spotify. We update this playlist with each new newsletter.“Barbenheimer: The Unofficial Playlist” track listTrack 1: Dolly Mixture, “Baby It’s You”Track 2: Nine Inch Nails, “Head Like a Hole”Track 3: Ashley O, “On a Roll”Track 4: Mclusky, “To Hell With Good Intentions”Track 5: Hannah Diamond, “Every Night”Track 6: Leonard Cohen, “Avalanche”Track 7: Natasha Bedingfield, “Unwritten”Track 8: Lou Reed, “Waves of Fear”Track 9: Sophie, “Immaterial”Track 10: The Gap Band, “You Dropped a Bomb on Me” More

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      How Do We Split 2 Taylor Swift Eras Tour Tickets Among 4 Friends?

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      The magazine’s Ethicist columnist on how to fairly divvy up two Eras tour tickets among four friends.Because of the challenges with Ticketmaster in the fall, three friends and I were able to buy only two tickets to the Taylor Swift Eras tour during the original sale, and resale tickets are now absurdly expensive.Our dilemma is how to decide which two friends get to go to the concert. Although all four of us would love to go to the concert, one friend and I are arguably the biggest Swifties of the group. That said, I already attended an Eras Tour concert last month with my family. I would still love to go again, but maybe I should recuse myself, given that my three friends haven’t been.It’s also worth noting that there was unequal effort put into procuring the tickets; for example, two of my friends didn’t submit to be entered for “Registered Fan” status, which could have improved our odds of getting tickets. Is there a fair way to divide the tickets? Or is the best option to choose a random-number generator? — Name WithheldFrom the Ethicist:How should scarce goods be allocated? Some people endorse the principle that, in a formula that emerged in the 19th century as a core communist ideal, we should give “to each according to their needs.” The need principle may lie behind the implication that the tickets should go to the two “biggest Swifties,” and also, perhaps, the implication that, having already attended a concert in this tour, you might have cause to recuse yourself.Then there’s the idea, central to utilitarianism, that goods should go to those who will get the most out of them. This line of thought might explain why you’re uncertain about that act of self-recusal. A very different idea is that goods should go to those who put in the work of getting them. John Locke famously proposed, more than three centuries ago, that land belonged to those who had “mixed their labor” with it. (See also: the Little Red Hen and her bread.) That’s presumably why you mentioned the unequal effort your friends put in.I’m skeptical, though, that these various approaches will yield an amicable resolution. Who has the greatest need? Who would get the most out of it? Who put in the most effort? You’re unlikely to agree on these things. Even if you could, you’d have to decide which principle you should follow, or — if you feel the pull of more than one — how you should balance the principles. And, by the way, would such principles let you limit the possible recipients to the four of you? There will always be people out there with greater needs, people who would get more out of the concert, people who labored harder if less successfully at ticket procurement. Given these perplexities, I’m drawn to your final suggestion. But you don’t need a random-number generator. A round of rock-paper-scissors should suffice.Readers RespondLast week’s question was from a reader whose two best friends were taking Ozempic to lose weight. They disapproved of their decision, and wrote: “I’m conflicted about the safety and popularity of these drugs for weight loss, and so I’ve remained silent whenever this topic comes up. Our annual trip is coming up, and I fear I’ll be forced to offer my opinion about their weight loss, especially since the trip involves time at the pool. Should I compliment them to keep the peace? Or is there a tactful way to make my differing opinion about these drugs known?”In his response, the Ethicist noted: “It’s not the job of friends to play doctor. People who have been prescribed semaglutide will have received medical advice about possible side effects. More than a few will have experienced them. You imply there’s a moral problem about taking the drug, but you don’t say what it is. … Not knowing what your specific concerns are, I can’t tell you how to broach them. But if what’s really bothering you is the thought that your friends are taking the easy way out, well, I doubt that’s a cogent position. In any case, the evidence is clear: Moralizing weight issues doesn’t help solve them.” (Reread the full question and answer here.)⬥There is no better way to ruin a friendship than to discuss a friend’s weight. As the letter writer did not reveal her moral objections to the drug, it’s even more incumbent on her to avoid any discussion of it. Until she is able to voice her concerns coherently and in a kind and respectful manner, she needs to stay silent. — Wendy⬥I agree with the Ethicist when he says, “Moralizing weight issues doesn’t help solve them.” But he doesn’t explicitly tell the letter writer what they need to hear: Don’t comment on somebody else’s weight. Period. Their weight is not your business. There should be no moral superiority attached to this topic. — Lisa⬥The Ethicist missed the mark here. The letter writer clearly has a moral objection to their friends’ full-throated endorsement of, and participation in, a diet culture that has damaging repercussions far beyond those a given individual taking Ozempic may experience. When thinness becomes “easy,” it also becomes compulsory in the eyes of many, leading to the further marginalization of those in larger bodies. — Emily⬥Our friends don’t need us to judge them. Instead, they need us to listen and support them. If the letter writer’s friends are taking Ozempic to drop 20 pounds, it is not her place to judge. The friends could want to look and feel better, which is their prerogative. Here, negativity can be misconstrued as jealousy, so perhaps the letter writer should explore those feelings. — Kathleen⬥In our family, we have a saying, derived from a long family history of eating disorders and discomfort with body image: “No body talk.” We tell interlocutors that we are uncomfortable talking about people’s weight and appearance. Period. Rather than criticizing her friends’ choices, your reader can simply say, “No body talk,” and leave it there. — Katherine More

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      6 Odes to Ohio

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      The state has inspired memorable songs by Randy Newman, R.E.M., King Princess and more.R.E.M.’s Michael Stipe, perhaps suggesting we put our heads together and start a new country up.Martial Trezzini/European Pressphoto AgencyDear listeners,For six of the past seven summers, I’ve spent a long weekend visiting college friends in northern Ohio — a part of the country with which I was previously unfamiliar but has now come to feel like a home away from home. A highlight of these trips is always, weather permitting, when we get to tube lazily down the Cuyahoga River. We tend to start the drive with this excursion’s unofficial theme song: “Burn On,” Randy Newman’s wry but warmly sung ode to that time in 1969 that the infamously polluted Cuyahoga caught fire.More than 50 years later, the fact that we can comfortably float in the Cuyahoga speaks to the success of the high-profile cleanup campaigns that have restored the river to its past glory — so much so that in 2019, the conservation association American Rivers named it “River of the Year.” I did not even know that was a thing. Congrats, Cuyahoga!Newman isn’t the only musician to be fascinated by the plight of this particular river. A song called “Cuyahoga” appears on R.E.M.’s great fourth album, “Life’s Rich Pageant”; Michael Stipe uses the word as a metaphor not just for environmental degradation but for the seizing of land — and even language — originally belonging to native people. “This is where they walked, this is where they swam,” Stipe sings, then adds with bitter irony, “Take a picture here, take a souvenir.”Perhaps because of the sing-songy, vowel-heavy composition of its name, the state of Ohio itself has inspired quite a few notable tunes. I collected a few for today’s playlist — from the likes of Harry Nilsson, King Princess and Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young — to round out those musical odes to the 2019 River of the Year.Will this be the first in a long series of 50 Amplifier installments, each devoted to songs about a specific state? Well, even Sufjan Stevens couldn’t finish his 50 States Project, so I’d say don’t hold your breath.Listen along on Spotify as you read.1. Randy Newman: “Burn On”“There’s a red moon rising on the Cuyahoga River,” Newman begins in that inimitable voice, accompanied by his own plinking piano, “rolling into Cleveland from the lake.” Released on his 1972 album “Sail Away,” “Burn On” is featured in the opening montage of the classic 1989 baseball flick “Major League,” because — according to a Wikipedia statement without a citation that I will choose to believe anyway — the director David S. Ward said the song was “the only one he knew of that was about Cleveland, Ohio.” (Had he never heard “Cleveland Rocks”?) (Listen on YouTube)2. Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young: “Ohio”Recorded just two weeks after the fatal 1970 incident at Kent State University, when the Ohio National Guard killed four students and wounded nine more, the searing “Ohio,” featuring lyrics by Neil Young, was rush-released the following month and effectively tapped into the countercultural consciousness. (Listen on YouTube, because this one isn’t on Spotify for presumably Young-related reasons)3. R.E.M.: “Cuyahoga”On “Life’s Rich Pageant,” “Cuyahoga” is preceded by the jangling single “Fall on Me,” a song about the effects of acid rain. Taken together, these tracks indicate the band’s growing social conscience and its particular focus on environmentalism. (Listen on YouTube)4. King Princess: “Ohio”This rollicking live staple frequently closed out King Princess’s early shows. Some of her fans were so vocally upset that this song did not appear on her debut album that, in a 2019 Instagram story, the artist born Mikaela Straus cheekily wrote, “I recorded a version of Ohio that is almost done so everyone just calm down.” She kept her word: The sultry studio version of the song — addressed to a former flame who’s gone home to the Buckeye state — appeared on the deluxe edition of the album “Cheap Queen.” (Listen on YouTube)5. Damien Jurado: “Ohio”Ohio is also depicted as a mythical elsewhere — a love interest’s faraway home — in this heart-wrenching acoustic ballad by the Seattle singer-songwriter Damien Jurado. It appears on his 1999 album “Rehearsals for Departure” and also on many, many mix CDs I burned in college. (Listen on YouTube)6. Harry Nilsson: “Dayton Ohio 1903”What is it with Randy Newman and Ohio? He wrote this sweetly nostalgic ditty and recorded his own version for “Sail Away,” though in the spirit of mixing thing up, I chose Harry Nilsson’s version from the earlier, 1970 album “Nilsson Sings Newman.” The song recalls a simpler time, when people dropped by for tea and, perhaps, the Cuyahoga ran clear and blissfully inflammable. (Listen on YouTube)Burn on, big river,LindsayThe Amplifier PlaylistListen on Spotify. We update this playlist with each new newsletter.“Odes to Ohio” track listTrack 1: Randy Newman, “Burn On”Track 2: Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young, “Ohio”Track 3: REM, “Cuyahoga”Track 4: King Princess, “Ohio”Track 5: Damien Jurado, “Ohio”Track 6: Harry Nilsson, “Dayton Ohio 1903”Bonus tracksThis 2009 New York Times report, pegged to the 40th anniversary of the Cuyahoga catching fire, has a lede so vivid it is worth quoting in full: “The first time Gene Roberts fell into the Cuyahoga River, he worried he might die. The year was 1963, and the river was still an open sewer for industrial waste. Walking home, Mr. Roberts smelled so bad that his friends ran to stay upwind of him.”Also, it feels almost sacrilegious to talk about the music of Ohio and not mention Guided by Voices, so cue up “Glad Girls” — or another of the approximately 71 billion rippers the Dayton band has recorded over its career — and crank the volume up. More

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      The Majesty of the Cure’s Live Show

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      Robert Smith’s band cast a spell on New York this week. Listen to a playlist that showcases the long-running group’s onstage power.Robert Smith onstage at Madison Square Garden on Thursday, during what’s become one of the year’s buzziest tours.Nina Westervelt for The New York TimesDear listeners,Earlier this week, I was listening to “Pictures of You,” one of the many great singles by the British band the Cure, on the subway. It’s a song I’ve heard approximately one million times, and yet when I put it on, time still seems to slow down and everything around me becomes suspended in a romantic haze. I am almost positive the strangers sitting across from me were engaged in a simple conversation about directions. But as Robert Smith yelped dreamily — “Remembering you standing quiet in the rain, as I ran to your heart to be near” — I convinced myself that one of them was actually expressing their unrequited love.Such was the perspective-altering spell the Cure cast Thursday, on the closing night of a sold-out, three-show run at Madison Square Garden. Given its longevity, stylistic variety and staggering quantity of singles, the Cure is almost too easy to take for granted. But the buzz surrounding this current U.S. tour — “The Cure Are This Summer’s Hottest Rock Tour. Yes, Really,” declared a recent headline in Rolling Stone — suggests we have finally decided to appreciate, en masse, these unlikely, 60-something rock gods in all their glory and enduring weirdness.And we’re going to do the same today here at The Amplifier, with a playlist culled entirely from the Cure’s live albums. (Listen along on Spotify as you read.)Earlier this year, Smith became something of an internet folk hero when he publicly took on Ticketmaster for adding its usual litany of mysterious fees to tickets his fans had purchased; he also tried to limit scalpers’ resales to keep prices affordable. (In a rare concession, Ticketmaster agreed to partially refund some Cure fans.)Thursday night, I got the sense that this was not something Smith was just doing for show: This is a band that noticeably, palpably cares about its fans.The merch prices were the lowest I’ve seen at a venue like the Garden in many years — at $25, T-shirts were going for about half what most arena-filling acts charge these days. And onstage, Smith emitted a sincere sense of gratitude that I found transfixing. He spent the first five minutes of the set walking to every single corner of the stage and gazing out intensely, as though he were trying and very nearly succeeding in the impossible task of making meaningful eye contact with every one of the thousands of people in the arena.Yes, Smith still styles himself like a kinder, gentler version of the Joker. But that is about the only concession to spectacle the band makes onstage. The Cure held the audience in a trance without any of the special effects, pyrotechnics or state-of-the-art visuals that most other artists use at a venue that size. Here were six guys just playing their instruments, occasionally striking exaggerated rock poses, but mostly just letting this majestic music speak for itself.At 64, Smith’s voice has held up almost eerily well. There it was, filling the venue to the rafters in the present tense: that same distinct, keening howl heard on beloved records like “Three Imaginary Boys,” “Kiss Me, Kiss Me, Kiss Me” and “Disintegration.” But perhaps the most striking revelation of the live show is Simon Gallup — one of the most appropriately named bassists in rock history — who plays his instrument slung low and constantly reminds the audience how integral his playing is to the Cure’s overall sound. Down in the murky depths of a Cure song, Gallup plays so insistently that his bass riffs are usually as hummable as whatever Smith and Reeves Gabrels (speaking of great rock names) are playing on guitar.Today’s playlist is an appreciation for the Cure’s reign as a top-notch live act. Save for a few tracks from the excellent 1993 live album “Show” — recorded in Auburn Hills, Mich., in the afterglow of the band’s 1992 album “Wish” — it is mostly filled with recordings from the last decade or so.You’ll hear songs from the band’s headlining sets at festivals like the British event Bestival and the artist-curated Meltdown festival, which Smith hosted in 2018. Many songs come from the most immaculately recorded of the Cure’s later live albums, “Anniversary 1978-2018,” which documented a triumphant, career-spanning set at London’s Hyde Park. In those recordings, you’ll hear the engulfing majesty of “Plainsong,” the springy bounce of the perpetual singalong “Just Like Heaven” and the slightly slower tempo at which they have been playing “Boys Don’t Cry,” which teases out some of the sumptuous atmospherics of what was once a spikily arranged post-punk song.May the whole playlist put you in one of those dreamy, rose-colored hazes that brings out the drama and romanticism in everything.Let’s cut the conversation and get out for a bit,LindsayThe Amplifier PlaylistListen on Spotify. We update this playlist with each new newsletter.“The Majesty of the Cure Live” track listTrack 1: “Pictures of You (Live in Hyde Park)”Track 2: “Lovesong (Live in Hyde Park)”Track 3: “In Between Days (Live in Auburn Hills, Mich.)”Track 4: “Just Like Heaven (Live in Hyde Park)”Track 5: “The Last Day of Summer (Live in London)”Track 6: “Plainsong (Live in Hyde Park)”Track 7: “Friday I’m in Love (Live in Auburn Hills, Mich.)”Track 8: “Boys Don’t Cry (Live in Hyde Park)”Track 9: “Jumping Someone Else’s Train (Live at Bestival 2011)”Bonus tracksAs we do each Friday, we’ve selected a Playlist’s worth of new releases for you to enjoy this weekend. This time around, you’ll hear collaborations between Beck and Phoenix, Amanda Shires and Bobbie Nelson, and a brand-new track from Aphex Twin, among other gems. More

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      Readers’ Picks: 12 Pride Anthems

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      A playlist with personal stories about the ways music plays a vital role in struggles, triumphs and self-expression.Diana Ross’s “I’m Coming Out” has soundtracked many more.Mike Blake/ReutersDear listeners,A few weeks ago, I asked you to submit songs to help create the ultimate Pride playlist. As usual, you delivered. Big time.Today’s Amplifier is made up entirely of your suggestions and your stories. Some of these songs gave you the courage and enthusiasm to come out, and some are the tracks that you think best encapsulate the spirit of Pride.A few might be a little obvious — could we really have a Pride playlist without Diana Ross and Sister Sledge? — but that just makes them easier to share with your chosen family. Some of these songs address the queer experience directly, while others have been adopted — perhaps with a flair of camp — as unofficial anthems. And, as you may have guessed, almost all of them will make you want to dance.Thank you to each and every one of you who submitted a song and your comments; it was a total joy to read about the ways that music has played such a vital role in your struggles, your triumphs and your self-expression. As one reader (who also wrote the entry for the fourth song on the playlist) so eloquently put it, “Pride is all about overcoming the shame, the fear, the darkness in our lives and coming alive.” Amen to that.Listen along on Spotify as you read.1. Thelma Houston: “Don’t Leave Me This Way”1976 was the year I “emerged.” I discovered the joy and positive energy in the clubs filled with others like me. We danced and built important, supportive friendships, and found safety in numbers. Coming out was a longer journey of self-acceptance. This song was heard over and over, and brought everyone out on the dance floor together. It gave me hope. — Mark Pettygrove, Palm Springs, Calif. (Listen on YouTube)2. Perfume Genius: “Slip Away”Most of Perfume Genius’s songs speak to queer desires/experiences, but this one is especially colorful. “Slip Away” is a queer ballad about a relationship constantly under scrutiny by others, ultimately choosing each other over external pressures. It took years for me to start dating after I came out, but this song continued to remind me of the validity and power of queer love, no matter what anyone else may say or do. — Arley Sakai, Portland, Ore. (Listen on YouTube)3. Sophie B. Hawkins: “Damn I Wish I Was Your Lover”“Damn I Wish I Was Your Lover” by Sophie B Hawkins gave voice to my gay teen desire in a way that I couldn’t articulate at the time. She sings about a kind of exquisite longing that is so germane to the queer experience: uncontrollably erotic, unrequited, transgressive and liberating. This song gave me permission to step into feelings that had hitherto been scary to me. It gave me permission to love. — Brendan Healy, Toronto (Listen on YouTube)4. Joe Jackson: “Steppin’ Out”I moved to San Francisco when this song was popular, and while the song is not specifically L.G.B.T.Q.-themed, it was all about the strong positive energy of living life out loud. San Francisco was a place to explore who I was, to get away from family and expectations and fears. I knew Joe Jackson was gay … I felt that he was talking to us! — David Silver, Kalaheo, Hawaii (Listen on YouTube)5. Tom Robinson Band: “2-4-6-8 Motorway”This was 1978, and my biggest fear as a teenage proto-gay in Scranton, Pa., was not that I would be shunned by my family, or die alone, or anything similarly dramatic. I worried that I would have to grow a mustache and learn to love disco. The existence of the out gay rocker Tom Robinson suggested that there were other options. “(Sing if You’re) Glad to Be Gay” is a more obvious T.R. choice, but “2-4-6-8 Motorway” was much more fun. — Michael Logan, Los Angeles (Listen on YouTube)6. Bronski Beat: “Smalltown Boy”As a 19-year-old gay woman, the song “Smalltown Boy” by Bronski Beat gave me courage to come out and escape to a world where women could love women, men could love men. “Smalltown Boy” is not necessarily about running away from a heterosexual upbringing but toward pride, freedom and acceptance. — Dawn Groundwater, New York (Listen on YouTube)7. Madonna: “Holiday”I like to joke that I came out the same time Madonna’s first album did. Coming out in suburbia in 1983 was so different. There were zero role models and not even a place to go to find my people. To me, “Holiday” was a metaphor for that place where I could live inside a bright, shiny rainbow. — J.P. Streeter, Alameda, Calif. (Listen on YouTube)8. Pet Shop Boys: “Go West”When I need a burst of gay freedom I dance it out to “Go West” by the Pet Shop Boys. It makes me feel like there’s a perfect place where I can really start a new life … in the open air … where people like us are free to be who we are! Go ahead and listen to it. I dare you to not be dancing by the end! — Jack Terry, Northville, Mich. (Listen on YouTube)9. CeCe Peniston: “Finally”I was a couple of years into my military career and had been on temporary duty in June 2001. I took a few extra days of leave at the end, which happened to coincide with Seattle Pride. Even though it was cool and rained off and on, the outdoor stage at the Eagle had CeCe singing “Finally” at the first Pride event I’d ever attended, and it felt amazing to “finally” be there. She gave it her all for the slightly damp crowd. I couldn’t believe my luck to hear these ladies I’d hammed to in high school and went back for Pride in Seattle a couple more times when I could. — Eric, Kentucky (Listen on YouTube)10. Diana Ross: “I’m Coming Out”My coming out song at the age of 38 was “I’m Coming Out” by Diana Ross. After all of the great disco/gay-themed songs of the late ’70s, this is the one that got to me and led me to take that big step, partly due to the fact that it was by the legendary Diana Ross, who had such influence, being a global star. Everyone loved this song, making it an easy access statement for me in my quest to come out. — Harry N. Cohen, Queens (Listen on YouTube)11. Cass Elliot: “Make Your Own Kind of Music”Every single word of that song captures the feelings of knowing you are different and sharing that with the world will be hard. It may be rough, you may be alone, but you have that special song that the world needs to hear. Somehow, the dose of reality in that song, that you may lose some people in your life who “cannot take your hand,” is oddly reassuring. There may be a price to pay to sing your song, but it pales in comparison to the feeling of being free to sing it. I heard it first in the movie “Beautiful Thing,” bought the soundtrack, listened to it on repeat for what seemed liked hundreds of times and then came out to my family and friends. — Jared Schrock, Pittsburgh (Listen on YouTube)12. Sister Sledge: “We Are Family”As a young woman who grew up in a small town in Oklahoma, I felt quite alone as I realized I was a lesbian. The first time I heard “We Are Family” by Sister Sledge in a gay/lesbian bar and every person in the room hit the dance floor for a group dance, I knew I wasn’t alone. Many of us have to create our own families, families of choice, because our biological families rebuke us. “We Are Family” says right out loud that you can create a family. — Becky Wood, North Carolina (Listen on YouTube)“We Are Family” still feels like optimism one dreams for in Pride — in melody, production, lyric, and in spirit, more so than any other song I know of. — Patience NewburyAt the legendary show bar/entertainment complex El Goya in Ybor City, Fla., the entire drag show cast came onto the stage at the end of the Friday and Saturday night performances to lead the S.R.O. crowd in this iconic song. By this time the eclectic and dapper crowd have abandoned their tables to line the perimeter of the ample show bar and belt out the song right along with the queens. For the first time in my life, I felt a part of a group. Seems like we all had arrived at a big family reunion and everyone knew all the words as we joined hands and looked each other right in the eye. Finally, we were united and we were home. — Nina Gros, Louisville, Ky.Padam padam,LindsayThe Amplifier PlaylistListen on Spotify. We update this playlist with each new newsletter.“Readers’ Picks! 12 Pride Anthems” track listTrack 1: Thelma Houston, “Don’t Leave Me This Way”Track 2: Perfume Genius, “Slip Away”Track 3: Sophie B. Hawkins, “Damn I Wish I Was Your Lover”Track 4: Joe Jackson, “Steppin’ Out”Track 5: Tom Robinson Band, “2-4-6-8 Motorway”Track 6: Bronski Beat, “Smalltown Boy”Track 7: Madonna, “Holiday”Track 8: Pet Shop Boys, “Go West”Track 9: CeCe Peniston, “Finally”Track 10: Diana Ross, “I’m Coming Out”Track 11: Cass Elliot, “Make Your Own Kind of Music”Track 12: Sister Sledge, “We Are Family”Bonus tracksYes, this playlist is mostly upbeat and celebratory, but plenty of you also shared the songs that made you feel seen in your lower moments. I particularly appreciated this suggestion, from Kenny in Brooklyn, of the young Chicago singer-songwriter Claud’s melancholy ballad “Tommy”:“This song helped me name the unique depression that comes with body dysmorphia. Listening to ‘Tommy’ made me realize that I will be happier in relationships once I accept being trans. It’s a very sad song about not being seen in your body, and there’s a comfort that comes with sharing and naming that sadness with others.” More

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      Wes Anderson’s Best Needle Drops

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      Hear songs that memorably accompanied scenes in “Rushmore,” “The Royal Tenenbaums” and more.Gwyneth Paltrow as Margot Tenenbaum in “The Royal Tenenbaums.” She’s always late, but worth waiting for.Touchstone PicturesDear listeners,One day when I was 14, I stayed home sick from school and watched a weird little movie called “Rushmore” on Comedy Central. When it was over, I thought to myself, “Oh, so that’s what a director does.”I had never before encountered a movie that so distinctly seemed to come from a single person’s perspective. The filmmaker Wes Anderson had created his own alternate reality, with its own color scheme, its own vernacular, and — perhaps most crucially — its own killer music. I wanted to live inside of that world. I bought the soundtrack as soon as I could.For aspiring aesthetes, Anderson’s movies can be gateway drugs. Eager to catch all of his cinematic references and influences, his films led me to the work of directors like François Truffaut, Yasujiro Ozu and Satyajit Ray. But the songs in his films are vehicles of discovery, too. I’d never heard the Creation’s “Making Time,” that garage-rock classic with guitars that rev like a souped-up engine, or the Who’s gloriously bombastic rock opera “A Quick One, While He’s Away” until I saw “Rushmore.” I learned about Nico from “The Royal Tenenbaums” and Seu Jorge from “The Life Aquatic With Steve Zissou.” Anderson’s carefully curated soundtracks felt, to me, like eclectic, handmade mixtapes.As I got deeper into movies, I realized that even the most personal-seeming film is the result of collaboration with countless others: cinematographers, production designers, wardrobe stylists, and, of course, music supervisors. The needle drops in most of Anderson’s films are the result of his longtime working relationship with the music supervisor Randall Poster. In more recent movies, like the Oscar-winning “The Grand Budapest Hotel” and the underrated “The French Dispatch,” he’s also worked with repeatedly with the composer Alexandre Desplat, who has composed intricate and appropriately quirky scores that help bring Anderson’s worlds to life.In honor of Anderson’s new movie, “Asteroid City,” which I am very excited to see when it comes out this weekend, I put together a playlist of some of the most iconic and unexpected songs featured in his films. Quite a few have become inextricably tied to Anderson scenes. Never again will I hear “These Days” without picturing Margot Tenenbaum walking off a Green Line bus in slow-motion, or “A Quick One, While He’s Away” without imagining Herman Blume destroying poor Max Fischer’s bicycle. Sic transit gloria, indeed.Listen along on Spotify as you read.1. The Creation: “Making Time”The tracks used in Anderson’s movies often serve as unofficial theme songs for characters, reflecting the way they see themselves — the song playing in their own heads as they walk down the street. Fischer, the scheming protagonist of “Rushmore,” is too square to truly embody the bratty, take-no-prisoners attitude of this jangly 1966 rocker from the British band the Creation; for him, it’s more of an aspirational soundtrack. (Listen on YouTube)2. The Ramones: “Judy Is a Punk”Anderson is a master of the montage, and many of his most memorable ones rely on a great, propulsive song to give its disparate shots a unified mood. One of my favorites compiles footage of a private detective’s dossier on Margot Tenenbaum’s secret life in “The Royal Tenenbaums.” The sonic jump-cut from silence to the Ramones’ explosive “Judy Is a Punk” sets the moment apart from the rest of the film, and makes all of Margot’s exploits seem that much cooler. (Listen on YouTube)3. Paul Simon: “Me and Julio Down by the Schoolyard”Or maybe this is my favorite montage in “The Royal Tenenbaums.” When the disreputable patriarch Royal, played indelibly by Gene Hackman, wants to bond with his precocious, track-suited grandsons Ari and Uzi, he takes them out for some light mayhem: go-karting, water-balloon-throwing and petty larceny — all to the tune of Paul Simon. It’s against the law! (Listen on YouTube)4. Seu Jorge: “Life on Mars?”Anderson’s 2004 feature “The Life Aquatic With Steve Zissou” featured the Brazilian musician Seu Jorge as a kind of one-man Greek chorus, singing acoustic covers of David Bowie songs in Portuguese. The melodies are so universally recognizable that you don’t need to understand the language to at least hum along to Jorge’s tender, sweetly crooned renditions of classics like “Rebel Rebel,” “Starman,” and of course, “Life on Mars?” (Listen on YouTube)5. Nico: “These Days”It’s the scene that launched a million Halloween costumes: Richie Tenenbaum waits for his escort from his days on the circuit, his sister, Margot. As usual, she’s late — but well worth the delay as she gets off the bus in her ever-present fur coat and raccoon-rimmed eyes, to the heart-stopping musical cue of Nico’s “These Days.” (Listen on YouTube)6. The Beach Boys: “Old Folks at Home/Old Man River”Several Beach Boys songs are used to great effect in “The Fantastic Mr. Fox,” but none as stirringly as “Old Man River,” which soundtracks a heavenly moment at the end of the film when the animals find themselves in a supermarket. “Get enough to share with everybody,” Mr. Fox instructs, “and remember, the rabbits are vegetarians and badgers supposedly can’t eat walnuts.” (Listen on YouTube)7. Françoise Hardy, “Le temps de l’amour”In “Moonrise Kingdom,” from 2012 and set in 1964, young Sam and Suzy run away together and attempt to live out their own feral version of adulthood on an island. Among their possessions is a portable record player for 45 RPM singles, meaning they can soundtrack their own lives. Just before the awkward beachside dance that results in their first kiss, Suzy puts on Françoise Hardy’s 1962 single “Le temps de l’amour,” an achingly perfect choice for a 12-year-old trying on an air of sophistication like a pair of too-big high heels. (Listen on YouTube)8. The Rolling Stones: “Ruby Tuesday”As it’s used in a crucial scene in “The Royal Tenenbaums,” this early Stones classic casts such a rosy, romantic glow that you almost forget that you’re rooting for Richie Tenenbaum to end up with his adopted sister. (Listen on YouTube)9. The Kinks: “This Time Tomorrow”Like the Beach Boys in “Fantastic Mr. Fox,” sometimes an Anderson film will feature several songs from a single artist. Anderson’s fifth feature, “The Darjeeling Limited,” conjures its Indian setting by using instrumentals from the films of Satyajit Ray, though its placement of several songs from the Kinks’ 1970 album “Lola Versus Powerman and the Moneygoround, Part One” — including the sweetly bleary “This Time Tomorrow” — serve as reminders that the film is filtered through a Westerner’s sensibility. (Listen on YouTube)10. The Who: “A Quick One, While He’s Away”Yet another top-tier Anderson montage, from “Rushmore”: a battle of petty acts of revenge between Fischer (Jason Schwartzman) and Blume (Bill Murray), given an anarchic grandeur thanks to this nearly nine-minute epic by the Who. Fun fact: While the version that appears on Rushmore’s official soundtrack is from the Who’s unrivaled 1970 concert album “Live at Leeds,” the version used in the film comes from the storied 1968 BBC special and eventual live record “The Rolling Stones Rock and Roll Circus.” (Listen on YouTube)11. Van Morrison, “Everyone”Anderson has a knack for ending his movies with a bittersweet, emotionally resonant song that lingers in the air long after the credits roll. One of my favorites is “Everyone,” the clavinet-kissed Van Morrison track that rings out at the end of “The Royal Tenenbaums.” At once melancholy and hopeful, it’s the perfect way to conclude a movie that pierces your heart even as it’s making you laugh. And I think it’s a pretty good ending for this playlist, too. (Listen on YouTube)The Amplifier was written in a kind of obsolete vernacular,LindsayThe Amplifier PlaylistListen on Spotify. We update this playlist with each new newsletter.“Wes Anderson’s Best Needle Drops” track listTrack 1: The Creation, “Making Time”Track 2: The Ramones, “Judy Is a Punk”Track 3: Paul Simon, “Me and Julio Down by the Schoolyard”Track 4: Seu Jorge, “Life on Mars?”Track 5: Nico, “These Days”Track 6: The Beach Boys, “Old Folks at Home/Old Man River”Track 7: Françoise Hardy, “Le temps de l’amour”Track 8: The Rolling Stones, “Ruby Tuesday”Track 9: The Kinks, “This Time Tomorrow”Track 10: The Who, “A Quick One, While He’s Away”Track 11: Van Morrison, “Everyone”Bonus TracksSeriously, behold that performance by the Who in “The Rolling Stones Rock and Roll Circus,” and bow down to Keith Moon in all his glory. Some people believe that the reason the Stones shelved the TV special and did not officially release it until 1996 was that they thought the Who upstaged them. I’ll let you be the judge: Watch this performance and ask yourself if it’s an act you’d want to follow.If you’re looking for new music, too, this week’s Playlist has fresh tunes from Meshell Ndegeocello, Doja Cat, Peggy Gou and more. More