Every Valentine’s Day–or when I realize it’s coming–I put on Outkast’s “Happy Valentine’s Day,” and every year I find myself wishing for more date specific songs. There’s Earth, Wind, and Fire’s “September,” which narrows down to the particular day (21st) within its lyrics, and there’s “Oh What a Night,” which never actually specifies which night in late December but does get bonus points for naming the year (1963). I’m sure I could find others via Google, but I guess I’m content enough to let them come to me one by one.
“Date-Specific Songs” joins a number of half-populated playlists in my iTunes. I think I like coming up with categories more than I like actually curating the lists. I have totally empty playlists titled “Killer Key Change” and “Kick in the back of the knees” and “Spin around in desk chair songs,” along with “Questionable Life Decisions,” though I have to say that one actually has a fair number of songs in it.
I also enjoy the Venn diagram union of themes + specific dates in the clothing arena. Holidays are a great excuse to dress monochromatically, or in a combination that wouldn’t ordinarily present itself. It’s like having constraints put on your writing: it makes getting started much easier and is paradoxically freeing. Sometimes I give myself a color assignment on a random day just to narrow things down. Sometimes I title a playlist and never put anything in it.
