What. The. Fuck.
Those three words in a text message from a friend on election night pretty much summed up the year.
2016 didn’t start out that way and it kind of whimpered out a without a bang, but that describes it perfectly. Another friend said this in a Facebook post while we were all freaking out on election night, “This is mind fucking.”
Yes, there’s that word again. I’ve dropped a few F-bombs in my time, but I try not to make a habit of it. Still, there was no better way to describe 2016 than fucked up.
Once again, I made a music playlist to remind me of the year that was. Some things new, some things old. If there’s a theme, I don’t know what the hell it is.
- We the People…. — A Tribe Called Quest | We got it from Here… Thank You 4 Your service
- Old Man Trump — Ryan Harvey featuring Ani DiFranco & Tom Morello | Single
- O.I.L. (Can’t Get Enough of That Sticky) — Jeff Beck | Loud Hailer
- Rain — Common featuring John Legend | Black America Again
- Come to Mama — Lady Gaga | Joanne
- Painting In The Dark — Erik The Viking | Painting in the Dark
- Weekly Rate Palace — John Calvin Abney | Far Cries and Close Calls
- The Plan — Kalyn Fay | Bible Belt
- Don’t Care None — Levi Parham | These American Blues
- Heaven Sent — Parker Millsap | The Very Last Day
- Fifty Shades Of Hey — Terri Hendrix | Love You Strong
- Everything’s Gonna Be O.K. — Rachel Bg Tucker | Tribute to the Songs of Joe Baxter
- For The Ones We Leave Behind — Wink Burcham | Cleveland Summer Nights
- The Truth — Prince | The Truth
- Who By Fire — Leonard Cohen | The Best of Leonard Cohen
- Young Americans — David Bowie | Young Americans
- Stranger In A Strange Land — Leon Russell | Retrospective
- What If We All Stopped Paying Taxes? — Sharon Jones & The Dap-Kings | Soul Time!
- Take Five — Dave Brubeck Quartet | Time Out
Still, it’s a good playlist.
It just seemed like more people died in 2016. Yeah, there were some great ones, but I doubt that there were any more than any other year. It was probably because we lost more than people in 2016; we lost our faith in humanity. Whether that ever returns remains to be seen.
“We can plan, plan, plan. Life will still deal us a hand that we’ll never quite understand.” — Kalyn Fay
Like the earthquakes that shattered peace and left piles of rubble in Pawnee and Cushing, we are still standing, if just barely.
