Jonathan Coulton is probably best known for his Thing a Week albums and songs like “Tom Cruise Crazy,” “First of May,” and “Skullcrusher Mountain.” All of those are fantastic, of course, but my all-time-favorite song by Coulton is from his Solid State album, “Pictures of Cats.” (Not a shock, I realize.)
It’s about something all-too-often relevant, but especially so last week: the need to seek out something soothing when the world is overtaken by bad news.
All at once, it fills up my feed
More bad news that I didn’t need
I can’t stop reading, but I wish that I didn’t know
Still too soon; there’s not much to say
They don’t know, but talk anyway
All of the pieces and none of the places they go
So I am looking at pictures of cats
I am looking at pictures of cats
As I said, especially relevant last week. If you’re reading this months or years from now, you might have trouble placing the bad news from last week from the bad news that’s happening all the time. It doesn’t matter, really.
The other thing that helps me, aside from looking at (or posting) pictures of cats, is to make playlists. So I’ve been working on a Pictures of Cats playlist; it’s incomplete, and I’m still tinkering with the track order. Currently features Coulton, Aimee Mann, The Staves, Tracy Chapman, Eliza Rickman, Gil Scott-Heron, Beth Orton, Johnny Cash, R.E.M., Leonard Cohen, Gurf Morlix, Gillian Welch, The Jayhawks, Jukebox the Ghost, and Mavis Staples.
It’s on YouTube Music because it’s the least-bad option for hosting such a thing, at least that I know of, that most people will be able to use. I sure miss sharing such things on cassette… Anyway, check it out, and make suggestions if you are so inclined.