A Lockdown Playlist
A batch of self-distancing songs compiled at the height of COVID
At the height of lockdown, in April 2020, a longtime musician I know asked his friends for COVID-19 song suggestions. Everyone seemed glued to their phones and social media at the time, so it didn’t take long for a playlist to be built.
Of course, Neil Diamond’s “Sweet Caroline” popped up, as did Billy Joel’s “We Didn’t Start the Fire,” because they had gone viral (no pun intended) since the start of the pandemic.
Within a day, I had compiled those two selections and 20 more.
Original List
1. Don’t Stand So Close to Me
2. Keep Your Hands to Yourself
3. Alone Again (Naturally)
4. In My Room
5. Don’t Touch Me There
6. Back Off Boogaloo
7. Fever
8. What’s Going On?
9. From a Distance
10. Bad Case of Loving You (Doctor, Doctor)
11. U Can’t Touch This
12. Walk on By
13. I’m Gonna Wash That Man Right Outta My Hair
14. Don’t Come Around Here No More
15. All by Myself
16. You’ve Got to Hide Your Love Away
17. Homeward Bound
18. Too Close for Comfort
19. 30 Days in the Hole
20. It’s the End of the World as We Know It (And I Feel Fine)
The best, then and now in my opinion, was Buddy and Julie Miller’s cover of Richard Thompson’s magnificent “Keep Your Distance.” It captured the unsettled mood of the time and provided the name of my photo book on the subject.
The Expanded List
Once the first list was compiled, I sought additional suggestions. Within hours, it had mushroomed to 63 songs.
Go Now
One is the Loneliest Number
Gimme Three Steps
I Get Around
Let’s Go Crazy
Alone
Nowhere to Go But Up
Stayin’ Alive
Toxic
So Far Away From Me
Beat It
Yesterday
Nowhere to Go
Road to Nowhere
Honesty
Make The World Go Away
Somebody Get Me A Doctor
Sick As a Dog
We’re Not Gonna Take It
Keep Yourself Alive
Kind of a Drag
Since U Been Gone
With or Without You
Sometimes When We Touch
With A Little Help from My Friends
Livin’ on the Edge
Next to You, Next to Me
Under Pressure
Get Back
When Will I See You Again?
Message in a Bottle
How Long Has This Been Goin’ On
Waving Through a Window
Living Inside Myself
School’s Out
Alive
Behind Closed Doors
Party of One
Dancing With Myself
Don’t Fear the Reaper
One of my pandemic favorites is a song that was never formally released — “Everything Goes Wrong” by Paul Westerberg. The song was tacked on to the end of a low-budget documentary on about The Replacements leader. Not unironically, given Westerberg, it’s also one of his best cuts.
Need to Catch Up?
We will return to the “Social Distancing Diary” entries — a year-long look back at the events of 2020 and early 2021 — on Thursday, April 17. Here are some of the previous installments:
Book Party!
If you are close to the Greater Washington, D.C. area on Thursday, May 29, I hope you’ll consider joining me at a party for the formal launch of my photo book, Keep Your Distance: Walking Through the First Year of COVID.
(NOTE: The date originally was scheduled for May 15, but had to be postponed due to a conflict.)
The free event, which will feature a social hour, interview/Q&A session, and book signing, will be held from 6 to 9 p.m. at Elaine’s in Old Town Alexandria. Tickets are limited to 50 guests who sign up here.
Books will be available for purchase at the event. If you’d like to get one before then, go to this link. You also can catch up on the “Social Distancing Diary” entries I’m posting to Substack here.