The iPod Playlist for a Plague

Social distancing..."The Plague of Thebes" by Charles Francois Jalabert (1842)

Armagideon Time (The Clash) [“A lot of people won’t get no supper tonight
A lot of people won’t get no justice tonight…”]

Bad Moon Rising (Creedence Clearwater Revival) [“I see a bad moon a-rising
I see trouble on the way
I see earthquakes and lightnin’
I see bad times today 

Don’t go ’round tonight
It’s bound to take your life
There’s a bad moon on the rise…”]

Coming Home (Falling in Reverse) [“Transmission from the stars
A message from the atmosphere
Etched into my heart
Your purpose there is still unclear
The ghost of you lives on
Through everything I see and touch...”]

Don’t Stand So Close to Me (Police)

Doomsday Clock (Smashing Pumpkins) [“I love life everyday, each and every way
Kafka would be proud to find out
I’m certain of the end; it’s the means that has me spooked...”]

Eve of Destruction (Barry McGuire) [“And even the Jordan river has bodies floatin’,
But you tell me over and over and over again my friend,
Ah, you don’t believe we’re on the eve of destruction.”]

The Fifth Plague (Laurie Anderson) [“Beasts of the field we stand
Somewhere between darkness and man
Part of the plan
Part of the proof
Of the fifth plague“]

Five Years (David Bowie) [“News guy wept and told us,
Earth was really dying
Cried so much his face was wet,
Then I knew he was not lying…”]

Gimme Shelter (The Rolling Stones) [“Oh, a storm is threat’ning
My very life today
If I don’t get some shelter
Oh yeah, I’m gonna fade away..

War, children, it’s just a shot away
It’s just a shot away...”]

Hammer to Fall (Queen) [“Tow the line and play their game
Yeah, let the anesthetic cover it all
‘Til one day they call your name
You know it’s time for the hammer to fall…”]

 

A Hard Rain’s A-Gonna Fall (Bob Dylan) [“I’ve stumbled on the side of twelve misty mountains,
I’ve walked and I’ve crawled on six crooked highways,
I’ve stepped in the middle of seven sad forests,
I’ve been out in front of a dozen dead oceans,
I’ve been ten thousand miles in the mouth of a graveyard,
And it’s a hard, and it’s a hard, it’s a hard, and it’s a hard,
And it’s a hard rain’s a-gonna fall…”]

It’s the End of the World as We Know it (R.E.M.) [“…and I feel fine...”]

Just One Kiss (The Cure) [“Somebody died for this
Somebody died for just one kiss
Just one kiss...”]

King of the World (Steely Dan) [“No marigolds in the promised land
There’s a hole in the ground
Where they used to grow
Any man left on the Rio Grande
Is the king of the world
As far as I know…”]

The Light Behind Your Eyes (My Chemical Romance) [“So long to all of my friends
Every one of them met tragic ends
With every passing day
I’d be lying if I didn’t say
That I miss them all tonight
And if they only knew what I would say”]

London Calling (The Clash) [“The ice age is coming, the sun is zooming in
Meltdown expected, the wheat is growin’ thin
Engines stop running, but I have no fear
‘Cause London is burning, and I, I live by the river…”]

The Man Comes Around (Johnny Cash) [“And I heard, as it were, the noise of thunder
One of the four beasts saying,
‘Come and see.’ and I saw, and behold a white horse“]

No Sound but the Wind (Editors) [“We can never go home / We no longer have one…”]

Out in the Country (Three Dog Night) [“Before the breathin’ air is gone
Before the sun is just a bright spot in the night-time
Out where the rivers like to run
I stand alone and take back somethin’ worth rememberin‘…”]

The Plague (The Mountain Goats) [“There will be cotton clouds
Above the fields as white as cream
There will be loud singing in the churches
As we all come out to take one for the team
And all our great schemes and plans
Will slip like fishes from our hands...”]

Quatuor pour la fin du temps (Olivier Messiaen)

Rapture (Blondie) [“And you get in your car and you drive real far
And you drive all night and then you see a light
And it comes right down and lands on the ground
And out comes a man from Mars
And you try to run but he’s got a gun
And he shoots you dead and he eats your head…”]

The Seventh Seal (Scott Walker) [“Anybody hear of plague in this town
The town I’ve left behind was burned to the ground
A young girl on a stake her face framed in flames cried
I’m not a witch God knows my name...”]

Supper’s Ready (Genesis) [“Out in the garden, the moon seems very bright
Six saintly shrouded men move across the lawn slowly
The seventh walks in front with a cross held high in hand
And it’s hey babe your supper’s waiting for you
Hey my baby, don’t you know our love is true?“]

Two Suns in the Sunset (Pink Floyd) [“I think of all the good things
That we have left undone
And I suffer premonitions
Confirm suspicions
Of the holocaust to come.”]

Until the End of the World (U2) [“We ate the food, we drank the wine
Everybody having a good time
Except you
You were talking about the end of the world…”]

Waiting for the End of the World (Elvis Costello) [“…You may see them drowning as you stroll along the beach
But don’t throw out the lifeline till they’re clean out of reach / Waiting for the end of the world 
Waiting for the end of the world
Dear Lord, I sincerely hope you’re coming
‘Cause you really started something...”]