Monday Morning Mixtape 011: Beware the Ides of March

Welcome to Monday Morning Mixtape, a PoYB Contributor-curated playlist of songs, made just for you at the start of each week.

I'm writing this intro before any songs are submitted, so I don't know how many songs we have listed out on the mixtape below. But isn't it a weird coincidence that we've had exactly 23 songs for exactly half of the mixtapes made so far? 23 songs, no matter what the theme is or who is submitting. If there are 23 songs listed below, I think it will be time to admit that GOD EXISTS.

"Beware the Ides of March"

Songs that are about getting stabbed in the back (figuratively) or about getting stabbed (literally) or that just casually mention Julius Caesar in some way

chosen by Joe

Spotify

YouTube

"California Über Alles" by Dead Kennedys

from Fresh Fruit for Rotting Vegetables, 1980

How do you eliminate something before it becomes dangerous? In the Shakespeare play Julius Caesar, Brutus justifies his decision to join the conspiracy to kill Caesar by saying, "And therefore think him as a serpent's egg—which, hatched, would as his kind grow mischievous—and kill him in the shell." This quote means that Caesar will grow into a tyrant, causing harm in the future. Taking the risks involved in killing him now is worth it. In this song, Dead Kennedys use a play on these words, "serpent's egg's already hatched," to comment on the caustic nature of politicians in power.  —Gloria


"Caesar on a TV Screen" by the Last Dinner Party

from Prelude to Ecstasy, 2024

Prelude to Ecstasy was one of my top favorite albums that came out in 2024. It is a no-skip album filled with just the right amount of feminine rage. Abigail Morris said the following about writing this song: "I thought it would be fun to write a song from the perspective of feeling like a king, but you are only like that because you're so vulnerable and so desperate to be loved and quite weak and afraid and childlike." Thinking about the contradiction of seeking to exert power when we feel weakest. Thinking about the strength in weakness and the weakness in strength. Thinking about Lao Tzu's message in the Tao Te Ching, "The hard and strong will fall. The soft and weak will overcome."  —Gloria

"The Ides of March" by Miles Kennedy

from The Ides of March, 2021

One of the first things my husband and I connected over when we first met was talking about was music. And one of the first artists he introduced me to was Myles Kennedy and his band, Alter Bridge. This song was written by Kennedy in 2020 when most of us felt uneasy and uncertain about the state of, well, everything. The first portion of this song captures that feeling of anxiety, but the whole thing ends positively: "Cool heads prevail in times of change / Remember who we are / Remember what we are / Remember what we're meant to be." This is a good message for those of us who are getting progressively more anxious about the state of the nation.  —Gloria


"Buddha Rhubarb Butter" by Soul Coughing

from Lust in Phaze: The Best of Soul Coughing, 2002

"As for my single self I had as life not be as live

To be in awe of such a thing as I myself."

Julius Caesar, Act 1 Scene 2

These words from my personal favorite Shakespeare play are also the first lyrics to this pretty good Soul Coughing B-side included on their Greatest Hits compilation.** Why? I have no idea. Ask Mike Doughty. But based on everything I've heard and read about the amount of drugs that were in his system during the entire existence of Soul Coughing, he probably also does not know. 

**It is very funny to me when a band like Soul Coughing does a Greatest Hits compilation. They had two ARGUABLE hits ("Circles" and "Super Bon Bon") and included shit that would never, in any world, be considered a hit, and would indeed get you jeered if you attempted to play it at a social gathering (first-hand experience). This is like when Pinback recently announced that they will be playing two shows: one for an album in its entirety, and the next night they will play "all the hits." Now, I like some Pinback songs. But counting anything they have ever done as a hit would require the same mental gymnastics and wordplay that the administration is currently using to try to nullify the 14th Amendment's birthright citizenship clause.  —Gilson

"Creeper" by Islands
from Arm's Way, 2008

INDIE DARLINGS ONLY. Nick Thorburn, my Canadian King. Islands have become a band I've probably seen the most since living in Philly because they are VERY easy to see. I told Mr. Thorburn to watch The Young Pope a few years ago but I'm not sure if he ever got around to it. I also have a video of Ed Droste from Grizzly Bear saying "Young Pope? No don't think I've seen it yet sorry" So if you know anyone that was on Pitchfork and touring in the 2010s that you think would like to talk about The Young Pope, @ me in the comments. Tiocfaidh ár lá  —Brian

"A Better Tomorrow" by Wu-Tang Clan ft. Tekitha

from A Better Tomorrow, 2014

Today is St. Patrick's Day, but the Ides of March has always been a more important holiday for me. Mostly for personal reasons, and also a little bit because March 17th is forever the anniversary of the water pong write-up incident (happy seventeenth anniversary, Mehow). But I'd be remiss if I didn't mention the fact that the racist Northeast Philadelphia overdoes it with the Irish bullshit, and it irks me. Too many Fake Irish around these parts. You know how you can prove that you're really truly Irish this year? Get deported. I'll call ICE. If you're actually Irish, then let your orange overlord kick you out of his country. If you're sticking around, then it's time to admit you're a phony.  —Joe


"Outpatient" by Jawbreaker

from 24 Hour Revenge Therapy, 1994

After they released Bivouac, Blake Schwarzenbach had to have pretty major surgery on his vocal chords, and this is a pretty legitimate reason for why he stopped yelling as much, and I guess getting rid of that in his vocal range also made him want to play piano. I have no other good explanation. Also, surgery is just getting stabbed by a professional.

For a very, very large chunk of my life, my only surgery was when I had my tonsils removed as a child, I think as a four year old. So let's ball-park that in 1989. Since then, I have had the following surgeries:

2018: Elbow reconstruction

2018: Nerve repair

2018: Nerve repair

2021: Draining / infection removal

2022: Open-heart surgery to repair a severely ruptured mitral valve

I am set on any more surgeries for the foreseeable future, thank you.  —Gilson

"I Got Stabbed" by the Microphones

from Little Bird Flies into a Big Black Cloud, 2002

I don't even know what Phil Elverum calls himself anymore. Elephant 6, the Micophones, Philly Elvy, etc. I still think the word minimum is forced and unnecessary and makes the blurbs feel like SAT Prep Questions so I will continue to write like "In this Book Report I will be talking about The Book." A friend who lives on the west coast told me he has some friends coming to see Phil later in the year at Union Transfer, so if any of you have friends of Phil as well, let me know! No, not like that. Not the John Mayer type.  —Brian

"Mark on You" by the Mountain Goats

from Bleed Out, 2022

I've witnessed one stabbing. Let me explain how it happened. We were pretty drunk. We had been in the woods, young adults about to start families of our own, getting drunk at the same place we had drank at as teens, in celebration of our pal Mike, a bachelor party that had to happen five months after the wedding since the wedding was a surprise affair. After surviving that old classic cold of Burholme Park, we warmed up at Chase's Hop Shop, which is mostly a six-pack store but has some tables in the back. Our friend Bernie carries around knives. That's kind of his thing. Don't ask me why, some people just like knives. I feel safer around Bernie now that he's joined me on the sober side of the fence, but we were all still drinking heavily back then. Our friend Nick was wearing a hoodie. I guess it was an older hoodie. There was a loose string poking out. Bernie thought it would be a good idea to cut the thread off the hoodie without telling Nick he was about to cut it. Nick had the very natural reaction of raising his open palm as Bernie made a gesture toward him. The blade went right through his hand.  —Joe

"Back Stabbers" by the O'Jays

from Back Stabbers, 1972

this wasn't the worst screw-job of all time but the one i think about sometimes is the time i thought it would be a good idea to sign up for a gym that was near my workplace a new gym because maybe i'd go before or after work, this being before children were a concern, and of course it didn't really work out too well because getting the motivation to hit the gym is harder than you want to think it is and plus this particular gym was kinda shabby, ya know, not too many machines, and the deal was that you could get a refund w/i the first ten days or whatever, they charged an astronomical sign-up fee but i figured if i didn't like it i would just ask for a refund, and i didnt like it, n i asked for a refund, an all of a sudden the "owner" who was "in charge" of giving said refunds was never around, i went like every day and got an excuse every day for like two weeks in a row, until finally i went 1 day and the whole place was gone, cleaned out, no more gym, total fucking bamboozle job  —Joe


"I Was Stabbed by Satan" by K'naan

from The Dusty Foot Philosopher, 2005

Talking god with the kiddos is tricky and getting trickier by the day. Mostly because I'll get told about god and then I try to respond as ELI5-style intelligently as I can, but they get bored pretty quickly and tune it out. Like W tries telling me the other day that "Jesus died" and I wanted to have a discussion about how he didn't just die, he was killed, by the ruling elite, who were threatened by the fact that he was preaching about social justice and equity. Her response? "Are we having french fries for dinner tonight?" I'm thinking about switching tactics and taking after middle-child M, who responded to W's chattering about god and jesus by insisting that she—and this is a direct quote—"only believe[s] in the demigods of the wind and sea." Moana 2 sucked shit, but this is the most hilarious thing that M has ever said in her entire life.  —Joe


"Rolling Stone" by Ulver

from The Assassination of Julius Caesar, 2017

From Nemoralia, the feast honoring the Goddess Diana, patron of hunters, wildlife, and the moon, to the death of Princess Diana and plenty in between, Ulver refers to a plethora of things in their album The Assassination of Julius Caesar. However, this album contains shockingly few references to Julius Caesar himself. "Rolling Stone" includes one of those few references. I know it's a long song, but stick through it. The best part starts around the six-minute mark.  —Gloria

"The Place Where He Inserted the Blade" by Black Country, New Road

from Ants from Up There, 2022

Okay and but so the personal reasons for the Ides of March being important is that March 15, 2002, marks the date of my very first open-mouth kiss, performed during an ad hoc game of truth or dare in the alleyway behind the 200 block of Longshore Avenue. You might have heard about this if you've been friends with me at any point in the past 23 years. The Joe of 2003 stated the fact in all seriousness, that March was an "anniversary" for me, and that memory lasted just long enough for the seriousness to morph into a joke, so that, say, the Joe of 2014 and the Joe of 2019 were still proclaiming the importance of March 15th but that the irony was thick, very thick, even if some people (*cough* Pam *cough*) claimed the absence of irony.

And now cut to a pretty drunk Joe on the evening of March 14, 2023. I knew I had to make some changes about the drinking, and I had tried everything I could think of save for just straight-up fucking quitting. Didn't want to do it, knew I had to do it, didn't want to do it now, knew it was now or never. So I lie in the dark for a good long while and contemplate my future. Right in the middle of the dark night of the soul, I have this thought, ya know, this intrusive and actually pretty funny thought, funnier under the rather somber circumstances—if I quit drinking tomorrow, then March 15th is going to become an anniversary for me twice over. That 21 years is an important milestone for an alcoholic and that I could quit drinking exactly 21 years after I became addicted to open-mouth kissing cute women.

Every time I write about sobriety, I can feel myself getting a little too serious. It's not fun, to reflect on the decision I made on March 15, 2023. I guess it shouldn't be fun. Still, though. Still. It's kinda funny that March 15th ended up being the date, right? I think it's funny, at least.  —Joe

"Positively 4th Street" by Bob Dylan

a single, 1965

I feel like this song is on-theme. Maybe it's a stretch, but it is just so bitter and direct. It seems to metaphorically speak of the betrayal of being stabbed in the back. "I know the reason / That you talk behind my back / I used to be among the crowd / You're in with." Is that how Caesar would feel towards his friend and ally Brutus when Cassius convinces him to join the conspiracy to assassinate Caesar? Is that how Caesar would feel when Brutus persuades him to go to the Senate only to be stabbed to death? I don't know. Maybe Caesar should have just listened to his wife and stayed home when her dream foretold his death. I wouldn't have wanted him to go, either. Perhaps that is because I'm all about precognitive dreams these days, being approximately 40 days into an 80-day dream experiment. But talking about that experiment is for another day and another corner of the blog.  —Gloria

"Meanwhile, Rick James..." by Cake

from Comfort Eagle, 2001

How far can we push the limits of Joe's secret-police canceling of our cherished artists for violating his ever-shifting line of morality? Surely the mention of a dubious artist would not draw the ire of the PoYB EiC? Will his censorship campaign extend to the band Cake or even to eating cake? Am I banned for referencing this Super Freak? I don't know about you, but I'm interested in checking out the Bluesky version of amateur music blogging. 

P.S. not totally sure what this song is about, but something weird is happening in this relationship.  —Sam


"Weather with You" by Crowded House

from Woodface, 1991

"Julius Caesar and the Roman Empire couldn't conquer the blue sky." 

Def leaning away from backstabbing and into mentions of Julius Caesar. This song always makes me think of early childhood. We listened to it / Crowded House hits often enough in our house that "lying like a lounge room lizard" is still a family phrase. One of my earlier memories was around nap time / quiet time, when true lullabies weren't exactly called for. My dad was holding my brother, singing, and walking in long circles around the living room as "Weather with You" played. I trailed behind in a slow sort of conga, bouncing along until the memory itself trails off. Most likely, I fell asleep before said brother.  

This hangs in our treehouse / backyard shed. The love for "Weather with You" is real.  —Rachel C.

"Silverseal" by Elvenking

from Reader of the Runes - Divination, 2019

Wikipedia describes the band Elvenking as an Italian folk metal band. I was unfamiliar with this band, and folk metal in general, until this song popped up on a random Spotify playlist I was listening to back in 2022. I wouldn't say that I have any affinity for folk metal, but I do have a soft spot for some of the niche subgenres that have emerged from European bands trying to honor the work of Iron Maiden or Judas Priest.  But I guess "folk" and "metal" actually do pair together rather organically when you consider that plenty of 70's metal album cover imagery was inspired by vikings and knights with swords, knives, and axes battling demonic hordes and fire-breathing monsters. Yeah, I could imagine this song playing over some Lord of the Rings-inspired fantasy battle.  —Batts

"Before He Cheats" by Carrie Underwood
from Some Hearts, 2005

I will paraphrase my wife's joke on this song: "And I cut off his dick and put it in a blender and turn it on and then drink it up and spit it out and boil a hot dog and when it's done put the puréed dick on as a condiment and then I eat that meal and digest it well and poop it out and throw it in his face... Maybe next time, he'll think before he cheats."  —Sam

"Los Ageless" by St. Vincent

from Masseduction, 2017

So we're all supposed to comment on how much writing blurbs sucks now, right? Well, my relationship with writing—blurbs or otherwise—can best be described as "love/hate," which it usually is for most writers. Of the fifty other pieces I'm supposed to write—from essays to screenplays to pitches to (maybe) a novel—I find myself drawn back to the blog. But, as St. Vincent herself sings about in this song, the theoretical muse can really be a back-stabbing little shit sometimes. One minute, the writing is going well, you're on a roll. The next, you wonder what the fuck you were even thinking stringing these words together... It's frustrating, but intoxicating. Maybe this song puts that feeling into words with this repeated phrase at the end: "I try to write you a love song but it comes out a lament."  —Batts


"traitor" by Olivia Rodrigo

from SOUR, 2021

Not that I'd want to rewind time, but boy, would I like to listen to this break up album by Olivia Rodrigo in high school or college. It would have been absolutely perfect. Instead, it was released about one week before I got engaged. I listened to it so much. Maybe too much for a recently engaged woman. That is something enjoyable about this song and subsequent album. For three minutes in your head you can be a broken-up-with angsty sixteen-year-old, and sometimes you just need that!  —Sara

NEXT WEEK: "Play Ball!" — Songs for baseball's opening day (chosen by Gilson)