A Symposium of Popular Songs 38
I’ve Been There, I Know the Way: Songs About Distance
We’re listening to songs about distance this week, and I managed to make it not just long-distance love songs. Send your song recommendations to symposiumofsongs@gmail.com!
In the Distance, Something Bright: Songs About Perseverance
I’m back from my vacation and ready to play songs about perseverance. Hot funk, cool punk--we've got it all. Send your song suggestions to symposiumofsongs@gmail.com!
Encore Presentation: Break-Up Songs
I'm taking the month of July off from doing new episodes and using the opportunity to re-air some episodes you might have missed. This one is from 27 October 2025…
Encore Presentation: Songs About Solidarity
In this episode of A Symposium of Popular Songs, which originally aired 22 September 2025, we listened to songs about solidarity, one-half of the foundation of Catholic social teaching. Send…
All You’ve Got Is Hurt: Songs About Arguments
Be gentle—we’re listening to songs about arguments this week, and trying to figure out the strange pleasure of them. Send your song suggestions to symposiumofsongs@gmail.com! Programming note: Francophile that I…
Stake My Place at the Singles Bar: Pick-Up Songs
This week on A Symposium of Popular Songs, we’re listening mostly to songs about men picking up, or trying to pick up, women—though there are two songs that reverse that…
Edgy and Dull: Songs About Obsession
For a while, the episode risked becoming an episode on unreliable narrators—but really we’re talking about obsession, a subject I suspect we all know something about. Send your song suggestions…
I Only Want to Drown: Songs About the Ocean
We’re approaching the ocean from fourteen different directions on this week’s A Symposium of Popular Songs, featuring, for whatever reason, some very long songs (as well as a few short…
Breaks in the Line: Songs About the Telephone
No readings this week—just fifteen songs about landlines, and some musing on why there aren’t any great songs about cell phones. Send your song suggestions to symposiumofsongs@gmail.com!
You Play a Caryatid Easy: Songs About Constancy
We start with some songs about faithful women this week before moving on to some more abstract examinations of constancy. Send your song suggestions to symposiumofsongs@gmail.com!
Talking to You Is Like Long Division: Songs About Falling in Love
Just in time for summer, it’s a bunch of songs about falling in love. Send your song suggestions to symposiumofsongs@gmail.com!
Keeps Me Up at Night with the Memory: Songs About Nostalgia
We’re looking back with a golden haze this week on A Symposium of Popular Songs, listening to songs about nostalgia (and its high-class cousin, antiquarian feeling). Send your song suggestions…
When You Win, Everyone Wants In: Songs About Success
This week on A Symposium of Popular Songs, we’re listening to songs about success—its joys, its sorrows, and its dangers. Send your song recommendations to symposiumofsongs@gmail.com!
Calling All in Transit: Alternative Rock Songs
A friend of mine recently asked me for a Spotify playlist of alternative rock—but I don’t use Spotify, so I decided to make the playlist here. This week on A…
Young Girls Are Coming to the Canyon: Songs of Laurel Canyon
In honor of my wife’s birthday, we’re listening to songs from her favorite musical scene: Laurel Canyon. Send your song suggestions to symposiumofsongs@gmail.com!
A Short Time Is Better Than No Time: Songs About Ephemerality
Continuing our examination of time from last week, this week we’re listening to songs about ephemerality and trying to figure out if transient things can have eternal value. Send your…
Slow Trigger, Starting Line: Songs About Waiting
This week, we’re listening to songs about waiting, and I’ll tell you a story you might not know about Tom Petty and plagiarism. Send your song recommendations to symposiumofsongs@gmail.com!
I Didn’t Sleep at All Last Night: Songs About Insomnia
I promised it in our very first episode, and now I’m finally delivering: here are some songs all about not being able to get to sleep. Send your song recommendations…
This Trash Can Dream Come True: Songs About New York City
We’re listening to songs about America’s “city of record,” New York. I like it a lot more than Los Angeles! Send your song recommendations to symposiumofsongs@gmail.com.
This Moment to Arise: Songs About Birds
We’re listening to songs about my favorite animal today, so maybe you’ll forgive me for getting a little self-indulgent. Send your song recommendations to symposiumofsongs@gmail.com!
What I Need Is a Good Defense: Songs About Crime
We’re listening to songs about crime this week, although I am saving songs about murder for a future episode. Along the way we’ll try to figure out why people commit…
Winter Companions: Songs About Friendship
We’re starting the new year by talking about friendship, that most human of institutions. Send your song recommendations to symposiumofsongs@gmail.com!
Do You Hear What I Hear?: Songs That Feel Like Christmas
In conjunction with my recent FPR article “What Does Christmas Feel Like?” A Symposium of Popular Songs is listening to songs that recall my halcyon Christmases—let’s say 1987-1994, though few…
Put a Candle in the Window: Songs About the Light
Just as the light becomes a little more precious and scarce this year, we’re going to listen to songs about it. Send me your song recommendations at symposiumofsongs@gmail.com!