Lost Headless Loser

Right now, we’re in the middle of a lot of things: Midterms, a pandemic, 2020, October, college, an election. And with all that going on, it’s pretty easy to lose track of your own skull. Personally, I think I lost mine a while back in March somewhere off the coast of Lake Michigan, but somehow, I’m still going. Who knew 2020 would turn us into a bunch of cockroaches blessed with the ability to live without our heads. 

When I came across “Headless Horseman” by The Microphones, I knew I wanted to center a playlist around it. The lyrics “I walked aimlessly around / With a flaming pumpkin head” resonated with how it feels and has felt to go on living through this chaotic and turbulent year. To go with my headless theme, I knew I had to make the cover photo Shel Silverstein’s illustration of a person sitting on their lost head from his poem “The Loser” (attached below). 

With the 27 songs on this playlist, I hope to take you on a journey that will help you reclaim your head for the hour and 50 minutes it takes to listen. While you listen, you should travel through three phases. First, losing. From “Headless Horseman” to “Man of Oil,” you get to be super sad. Then, around “Drunk Drivers/Killer Whales,” you get some songs you can scream-sing in the shower or while you drive around. “Think Long,” one of my favorite songs by Modest Mouse, ends your journey of catharsis. Now, we get some hope. In “Dance and Sing,” Bright Eyes tells us, “I’ll grieve what I have lost / Forgive the firing squad / How imperfect life can be / Now all I can do is dance on through.” “Waitin’ for a Superman” by The Flaming Lips and “Are We Alright Again” by the Eels (a 7 in a week pick from a bit ago) continue our train of hope. 

The playlist winds down with “Blame It on the Tetons.” I like the lyrics, “Everyone’s a fire burning / With no one to put the fire out,” because I think that is something easily forgotten right now. We forget that we’re all in this together, a bunch of lost headless cockroach losers making our way through 2020 with flaming pumpkins for heads. I wanted to round the playlist back to The Microphones with “I Felt Your Shape,” and then, finish it off with “Lua.” Conor Oberst sings, “When everything is lonely / I can be my own best friend,” which I think is how we all felt during quarantine and continue to feel as the aftershocks of the pandemic disrupt our social lives. I hope that when you listen to this playlist, you get to feel a little less alone. Maybe you find your head or maybe you don’t. All that matters is that you take the time to remind yourself that it’s not just you; I lost my head, too. 

xo, Maddie 

“The Loser” by Shel Silverstein

Mama said I'd lose my head If it wasn't fastened on.

Today I guess it wasn't

Cause while playing with my cousin

It fell off and rolled away

And now it's gone.

And I can't look for it

Cause my eyes are in it,

And I can't call to it

Cause my mouth is on it (couldn't hear me anyway

Cause my ears are on it),

Can't even think about it

Cause my brain is in it.

So I guess I'll sit down

On this rock

And rest for just a minute…