tandem players
DJ Snake had the culture caught in the middle of a cheating love affair, another lover takes us on a walk of eleven blocks past a café and the girl he can’t forget, a country man likes strong coffee and love to country songs, and an American rocker elucidates the process of making coffee, black with soul. This roundup of seven songs played throughout the year show how music played coffee with true grit.
ONE. Miranda Lambert
Better in the Long Run,’ The Weight of These Things”
“Cheap red wine, straight out of a coffee cup
One more down to drink you off my mind
Lord knows I’ve tried a thousand times to give you up
But it’s closing time and we both know why”
Miranda Lambert’s album title can be considered transparent considering a high profile separation from her former husband and country singer Blake Shelton. It seems that a love, is her vice and one which she can’t give up. To not be able to give up something is a weighty thing. And, if a coffee cup can hold a substance to help, then let it be here to have and hold.
TWO: WRABEL
11 Blocks, Wrabel
“It doesn’t feel right when I’m grabbing a coffee
The same old spot, but I’m on my own
I feel okay in the day, but at nighttime
You know how I get when I’m alone”
American Singer
A man walks a literal eleven blocks, and in doing so could reach the home of his former lover. As he traces moments of their relationship, one moment includes a coffee shop that used to be their spot. As he realizes how close he is to a past love despite having a new love at home, he’s torn between the physical distance between them and the actual time that has passed – four years. Oh love… lost.
THREE: Rival Sons
‘Black Coffee,’ Rival Sons
“Black coffee (ooh) is my name
Black coffee (black coffee) ooh, is my thing
Black coffee (ooh) freshly ground and fully prepared (with sugar please)
Black coffee, mmh that’s where it’s at”
American Rock Band
Could anything be more poetic and especially American, than the lyrics of making black coffee? This romantic ode praises coffee and tea, but the coffee is where the love affair is from his skin to his soul. That’s where its at. Hello Ethiopia, you’ve always been the soul of coffee.
FOUR: DJ Snake feat Bipolar Sunshine
‘Middle’, Let Me Love You
“Staring at two different views on your window ledge
Coffee is going cold, it’s like time froze”
French DJ, Record Producer
Lost in a daydream. BiPolar Sunshine writes along with DJ Snake’s as the former’s coffee gets cold as they reminisce on mistakes made and a different future, one where his lover is in the middle and not dearly departed to a new relationship. Who hasn’t been there? Just promise the coffee will be warm, next time.
FIVE: Gallant
‘Bourbon’, Ology
“Cause I loved in cold blood and got used to it
Angels say trust the detox
But I’m shaking I need it like bourbon in my coffee cup”
American Singer
Gallant is a man on a detox and he can’t handle it.
The reference “bourbon in a coffee cup” comes from an infusion drink that’s a traditional holiday coffee. Firs, the coffee, then raw sugar and gentle ounces of Bourbon. It’s thought that this track also refers to Gallant’s faith . Given the title itself means a subject of study, faith could very well be that subject.
SIX: Blake Shelton
‘Doin it To Country Songs’, If I’m Honest
My alarm clock is a radio
95.5 gets me ready to go
I’m heading to my job, drinking coffee strong
And I’m doing it to country songs
Country Singer
Living a very public breakup and a new relationship, the singer includes a staple character of country music storytelling, strong coffee. But, he isn’t too sad, there’s seems to be lovin’ happening. And, yes to his own genre of music.
SEVEN
Sandy Hook Promise, “Evan”
“He spoke the words somber, as softly as he can
the world stood still and the sky opened up
I made my way to fill up my coffee cup.”
Its pen pal culture passed across etchings in wood on a schoolhouse table. And, because music also comes in the form of story and commercials, Sandy Hook Promise holds some of the most powerful song writing and storytelling of the year.
Watch it here:
For this story’s mixtape, enjoy it here: