It’s party time at A Symposium of Popular Songs, though we’re going to oscillate wildly between the kind of party you go home from in an ambulance and the kind of party where you sit in the corner and pet a cat. Send me your song recommendations at symposiumofsongs@gmail.com!
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0:00
Randy Newman, “Mama Told Me Not to Come” (12 Songs, 1970)
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3:16
Reading: F. Scott Fitzgerald, The Great Gatsby
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7:42
Bruce Springsteen, “Spirit in the Night” (Greetings from Asbury Park, New Jersey, 1973)
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12:36
Bat for Lashes, “Laura” (The Haunted Man, 2012)
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17:23
Reading: Soren Kierkegaard, Journals
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18:26
Black Country, New Road, “Salem Sisters” (Forever Howlong, 2025)
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21:32
Courtney Barnett, “Nobody Really Cares If You Don’t Go to the Party” (Sometimes I Sit and Think and Sometimes I Just Sit, 2015)
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24:30
Reading: John Updike, “The Taste of Metal”
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29:45
Sam Cooke, “Having a Party” (single, 1962)
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32:10
Stevie Wonder, “The Party at the Beach House” (Stevie at the Beach, 1964)
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34:12
Lesley Gore, “It’s My Party” (I’ll Cry If I Want To, 1963)
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39:10
The Velvet Underground, “All Tomorrow’s Parties” (The Velvet Underground and Nico, 1967)
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46:57
St. Vincent, “…At the Holiday Party” (Daddy’s Home, 2021)
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51:01
The 77s, “You Walked in the Room” (Sticks and Stones, 1990)
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57:20
Allen Toussaint, “When the Party’s Over” (Southern Nights, 1975)
