Monday Morning Mixtape 034: Daily Commute

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

"Daily Commute"

Tell us how to navigate Philly with the new SEPTA service cuts, and share songs about transportation that don't involve trains or buses.

chosen by Gloria

Spotify

YouTube

"Run" by Ghostface Killah ft. Jadakiss
from The Pretty Toney Album, 2004

Damn, I can't find it now, but my favorite version of this song is a remix by... I think Team Teamwork? I think it was Team Teamwork, they did the Ocarina of Rhyme mixtape way back in the when. Song slaps, but there's a better version out there somewhere, closer to the chipmunk soul that was Ghost's pinnacle, and my personal favorite rap era.

CORRECTION TO THE LAST ITEM: The remix was by Ratatat, and it's right here! It doesn't sound like chipmunk soul at all, really. Reminds me more of Mexicans with Guns. Memory is a liar I suppose.  —Nate

"Run" by Parallel Dance Ensemble

from Possessions and Obsessions, 2011

This song is from the album Possessions and Obsessions. Although the EP was released in 2011, it has a retro feel that blends disco, rap, and an offbeat electronic production. The song "Run" has a darker vibe than some of the other tracks on this EP, but the whole thing is a really playful listen.  —Gloria

"Ridiculous Car" by Meat Wave
from Malign Hex, 2022

"Eat my fucking dust!" —Meat Wave; me in the Prius when I drive 76 miles per hour to get in front of someone going 72 miles per hour.  —Nate

"Bicycle, Bicycle, You Are My Bicycle" by Be Your Own Pet

from Be Your Own Pet, 2006

We've been in our house in Fox Chase for almost five years now, and I'd argue it's been an undeniable upgrade in every single aspect except one: I can no longer ride my bike to work. 25 minutes was a good ride. I loved that ride. It was helpful physically, and freeing emotionally. Can't do that any more. I mean, I could, but that ride from Fox Chase to my work would be like an hour and twenty minutes one way, a lot of it on roads that don't have bike lanes. That's just too long to risk it. Too many opportunities for cars to kill me. So instead, I ride SEPTA. Well, I do now. Hopefully I will tomorrow too.  —Joe


"Running Away" by Thee Sacred Souls

a single, 2023

I accidentally saw Thee Sacred Souls twice this summer. Which sounds wild, but I went to two music festivals—Capital Groove and Newport Jazz Fest—and they played at both of them. They are pretty cool, but I don't think they are a band I'd actively seek out to see again. But you never know; if they keep playing at places where I happen to be, maybe I'll be converted into a fan by next summer.  —Gloria

"Bride and Groom Hot Air Balloon" by Hop Along, Queen Ansleis

from Freshman Year, 2005

Now this one works for sure. I don't know that I've ever had a more all-consuming crush on anyone or anything than I did on Frances Quinlan when I was 20 years old and first exposed to this album. Listening back to it: shit holds the fuck up. Last good Hop Along song is "Sister Cities," or maybe "The Knock," but those songs are not about traveling via conveyance, so do not listen to them.  —Nate


"Bowie" by Flight of the Conchords

from Flight of the Conchords, 2008

This song references space travel, so I think it's eligible. I don't why I'm starting off by being defensive. Maybe it's because I really want to include a Flight of the Conchords song? Their show only lasted two seasons, but did you know that Taika Waititi directed several episodes? Oh, you don't care? Well, sorry, but don't worry, Taika did not direct the episode titled "Bowie" that features the song "Bowie." (The song came first, FYI). Oh, and no, this is not my favorite song of theirs. It's just arguably their most famous/popular.  —Batts


"Drive My Car" by the Beatles

from Rubber Soul, 1965

Rubber Soul is my second-favorite Beatles album. I made a four-square-foot painting of the album cover in high school, but I made it in psychedelic colors. My dad had it hanging in the operatory room of his dental office for years. I want you to imagine being in a wood-paneled dental office, listening to Jefferson Airplane, and getting a root canal while a massive portrait of George, John, Paul, and Ringo stares down at you.  —Gloria

"Drive My Car" by Elmo

from Sing-Along Travel Songs, 1996

Admittedly, I am a car commuter. I've decided to live in a town that has no direct access to a train line, so the car is usually the easiest option for me. While all that's my decision, it's the everyman who would never want SEPTA to be even more defunded and unreliable. It makes me want to scream knowing that there are billions of dollars of American taxes going to fund genocide and famine, but then we can get a fucking basic-ass train to the burbs. I know yelling here is into a void of agreement, but like idk man, sorry y'all have to drive. And bummer for me to have even more cars on the road! Also sorry this is the only song that came to mind because I have a two-year-old, but honestly, it's one of my favorites.  —Sara

"Walk to Work" by Virginia Coalition

from OK to Go, 2004

A song I will always listen to, anytime, anyplace. I will never not mention—with pride—that "Voyager 2" has become a blog favorite. This album launched me onto the blog in January 2024. But this song is fun too, and I'm sure even better live, with the call and response. I hope I'm not wasting my life, wasting valuable time with my brothers, pushing so hard, trying so hard to live over here. Sometimes I just want to listen to VaCo (as they are known by loyalists) at Jammin' Java in Vienna, VA and not care about anything. That's downright impossible here. People try to disconnect, but they can't, not fully.  —Zach

"Limousine" by Beach Baby

from No Mind No Money, 2016

Money is the deciding factor for, unfortunately. A lot of my coworkers drive. I could drive too. I could drive down to work, survive the traffic, drive into Center City, and spend $20 per day to park in a parking garage. That's like four grand a year that I'm saving by taking public transportation. It's less convenient to wait for a train, but I don't have enough money to pay for convenience. It gives me stomach ulcers to imagine a possibility that even the inconvenience of public transportation is taken away from me, and I'm forced to decide between paying another four grand in order to keep my job, or... lose my job? Is there a third option? Walk? I don't fucking know. It's wild that my livelihood is being decided by some fucking ghouls in bumblefuck Pennsylvania.  —Joe


"Taxi Driver" by the Longshot

from Love Is for Losers, 2018

What I don't understand is the desire to see humans suffer. We saw this with our mayor, who stole work-from-home from me, for no reason other than to make my life worse. But that was apparently cool because she was giving us free bus rides to the office that we shouldn't have had to go to in the first, right, yes, but free. Okay. Anyone hear from this fucking asshole recently? Or is she hiding because she knows that her stupid fucking decision to get rid of WFH is going to look even worse when no one is able to take those buses to work anymore?  —Joe


"I Walk for Miles" by Dinosaur Jr.

from Get a Glimpse of What Yer Not, 2016

God, I'm so fucking angry. This is your typical liberal guy bullshit. I'm so ANGRY, but I'm not DOING anything about it besides writing on my BLOG. My problem is that every time I think about doing something, the thing I think about is wrapping both my hands around Joe P*****i's neck and choking him to death, and that ain't gonna help anyone. What, you want me to attend a fucking rally? You think that Republican state legislators give a fuck about that? They do not. They want to see me suffer. There's nothing I can do. But I'm just sitting here, doing nothing but stewing in anger. Maybe I'll be able to keep stewing in anger while riding the bus, instead of stewing in anger while sitting in traffic. We'll see.  —Joe


"Learning to Fly" by Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers

from Into the Great Wide Open, 1991

As I write this, I'm about halfway through Hulu's King of the Hill revival and, to use the verbiage of Siskel and Ebert, I give it two thumbs up! Sadly, though, because both Tom Petty and Brittney Murphy are no longer with us, and the fact they were easy to write out as "living happily ever after," their characters are not present in this new season. Still, I have to give this show props for being arguably the best revival series I have seen during this wave of nostalgic renewals. Aging up the characters, more so than just setting it in the present, has opened up several new storyline possibilities that makes this renewal not just logical, but welcome. If you're a fan of the original series, I highly recommend it.  —Batts


"Aéro Dynamik" by Kraftwerk

from Tour de France Soundtracks, 2003

To be a professional cyclist, you need to wear very tight clothing and ride in a hunched over position in order to be as aerodynamic as possible. In individual time trials, all the more so. I follow baseball and hockey more regularly, but professional cycling is the best sport. The riders give interviews that speak to the soul. It's based in human emotion. There are no bros, just nerds, and even the bros are nerds in their own right. The riders have the best names. Wout Van Aert, Rigoberto Uran Uran, Sepp Kuss, Thymen Arensman, Toms Skujins. Just the best. I love it.  —Zach

"Walk like a Motherfucker" by Ghost Funk Orchestra

from A Song for Paul, 2019

I don't even know where to begin writing about this "SEPTA death spiral." The Regional Rail line I take daily will stop running at 9 PM—the exact time I get out of class. That means my only options are driving (something I'd rather not do every day) or taking three different buses, which would turn a simple 20-minute trip into a 90-minute one, and mean I would be getting home closer to 11:30 PM to midnight. I'm fortunate enough to have a car, although I would prefer not to use it for my daily commute. But so many people don't have this option. For them, these cuts mean being confined to their neighborhoods, losing access to work, school, doctors' appointments, or simply the ability to move freely around their own city. It's not an inconvenience—it's a crisis. As fewer people can reasonably use SEPTA due to service cuts or fare increases, they will need to make further service cuts and fare hikes.

This is so fucking urgent. People's lives will be upended if this spiral continues. Please, take a moment to tell your elected officials how much SEPTA matters. This tool makes it easy.  —Gloria

"Skiing Trip" by Whoremones
from Hydrangea EP, 2024

There's no way SEPTA is going to lose their funding, right? I'm a lot further from Philly news than I used to be, and I suppose I could just text one of the civil servants I know and get their take on it. I remember SEPTA sharing its doomsday plans as a semi-decadinal event, always painting a nightmare picture only for it to be resolved before the worst could come to pass. Then again, the worst do be seeming to come to pass these days, don't it?  —Nate


"An Idea of Canoeing" by the Innocence Mission
from Sun on the Square, 2018

Some people like to canoe to commute. I would never be able to do it. But I salute those who do. Ride your bike to the base of the George Washington Bridge. Get in your canoe, and paddle to one of the many piers. Get out and take a Citi Bike to work. Hell yeah!  —Zach

"Bike Dream" by Rostam

from Half-Light, 2017

Rostam produces HAIM's albums. Not to give anything away yet, but there is going to be a day, on Friday, where we all find out what we all think about I quit. I have opinions that I will now keep to myself. You can tell Rostam is a music nerd just from listening to this song. I've found very few songs about cycling that I actually like. I don't really get what this one is about, and I don't need to know. But people should commute by bike if they can. Driving sucks. Still, urban planners (like me) have wet dreams about everyone living in densely packed communities and riding their bikes everywhere. The US isn't Europe, though. We aren't set up for success in that way. And many urban planners are hypocrites and have cars of their own. Aren't so many of us hypocrites, anyway? We care about the environment but then end up using single-use plastic all the time. The deck is stacked against us, I think, and our ideals. We fly when we know it's bad. We drive when it's bad, too. I am not sure of the solution here. Better infrastructure, yes. But it doesn't happen overnight. I hope humanity survives all this.  —Zach

"Pedal Down" by Dave Hause

from Drive It like It's Stolen, 2023

None of it makes any fucking sense. SEPTA helps us get to work. Working helps Philadelphia run smoothly. Philadelphia taxes fund the rest of Pennsylvania. The rest of Pennsylvania wants us to suffer. If we suffer and no longer work, then the rest of Pennsylvania is going to suffer too, because they will have fewer tax dollars from us. I just don't get it. I don't get the mindset of wanting others to suffer even if you yourself suffer too. But I guess that's been conservatives' thing this whole time. Not sure why it wouldn't apply to me being able to ride the bus.  —Joe


"Tour de France" by Kraftwerk

from Tour de France Soundtracks, 2003

Out of respect and deference for this blog and its EiC, I won't submit the obvious Bicycle song, the Bicycle song from the band Queen, who is the (un)written enemy of this blog, not explicitly banned for any bad behavior, but just seen as corny.

You know what's not corny? Krautrock.  —Sunny

"Walking Is Still Honest" by Against Me!
from Against Me! Is Reinventing Axl Rose, 2002

When I was unemployed after college, I made a playlist of songs I would listen to while I walked around the city looking for "help wanted" signs. I cannot really remember what else was on the playlist besides this, except I am certain that "Float" by Flogging Molly was also on there.  —Nate


"Ride into the Sun" by the Velvet Underground

an outtake from 1969

I've always thought this would be a good song to be played at a burial or funeral procession, as it's peaceful and artistic. It would be a fitting funeral song in a Wes Anderson sort of way. I was thinking about this this week because of the following conversation I had with my mom. 

Me: Hey, Mom. How are you?

Mom: I'm doing well! I'm just calling to see what your and Mayam's plans are for after you die?

Me: Amazing question, please elaborate. 

Mom: So your grandparents bought burial plots for all of their children, but your aunt and uncle don't want theirs [she explains their burial plans in detail]. They are signing over the deed to us on Tuesday. The plan was that they were going to me, your dad, and your sister. But then we found out that if you're cremated, we can fit three to a spot. So I was just wondering if you are planning to be cremated and if you want to be with us. You have to let me know by Tuesday.

Me: Yeah, no real plans yet. But, uh, sure, put us down for two spots. 

Do other people's parents call with things like this? I never know what I'm in for when I answer the phone.  —Gloria

"Leopard Print Jet Ski" by Meat Wave
from The Incessant, 2017

Oh shit, I just remembered that Meat Wave has another song about a vehicle! I've only been on a jet ski once, but I long to get back onto one of those bad boys again someday. I've been really pining about the idea of boat ownership recently, so maybe a watercraft will be my mid-life crisis if I can keep from slipping off the corporate ladder.  —Nate

"Airline to Heaven" by Billy Bragg and Wilco
from Mermaid Avenue Vol. II, 2000

My grandmother died about fifteen years ago, and before she went, I visited her in hospice and played some songs for her on the guitar. This was one of them. After I was done playing, my grandma came to enough to mumble "...terrible, that music was terrible." Maybe the funniest thing that's ever happened in my life.  —Nate

"Superbike" by Jay Som

from Anak Ko, 2019

I'm writing all this on 8/23, so I have no idea whether last-minute funding was passed. I honestly have no clue whether it's going to happen or not. In the past, I would've said "well, it has to pass, it doesn't make sense why it wouldn't." But these days, I'm getting the sense that we are past the point where things make sense, that we can depend on Republican legislators to not be fucking monsters. It's trickle-down lack of human decency from trump. It's in line with their party to do something fucking evil and nonsensical just to own the libs. I don't know if funding has passed yet, but if it hasn't, then yeah, consider me owned. I am owned.  —Joe


"Private Helicopter" by Harvey Danger
from Where Have All the Merrymakers Gone?, 1997

I don't know if I would've had the mental capacity to write about the subject of SEPTA in a full, unbroken blog post, so I appreciate the opportunity to write a few blurbs about it, even though my blurbs are written out of anger and are poorly composed and focus more on my rage then facts and figures and logic and rationale. Maybe for my last blurb I should try to write about something fun, something that will make me happy. Because blogging about politics is unsustainable, it just gets me too upset, and achieves too little.  —Joe


"The Horse" by Cliff Nobles and Company

a single, 1968

Ha, imagining riding a horse to work! Wow, wouldn't that be something. Gently trotting down side streets, picking it up into a gallop once we hit Broad Street. Where would I park my horse? That would be quite a sight. I could tie him up out front and put a little sign in front of him like "please don't feed the horse, he is on a special diet." I could even sneak him into the building. He could graze in the cubicle where the ghosts still linger. My coworkers would love him. He could replace the "therapy dog" that occasionally pops up on the fifth floor. Horses are better than dogs. My director would be nice to me now that he knows I have a horse and he gets to pet that horse every morning. He appreciates it. Everyone does. Everyone is happy because of the horse. We're all smiling, at work. It's nice, in this little fantasy. A dream, to like work. To love traveling there every day, on my horse, or whatever. To find joy and passion in what I do. What a world that would be.  —Joe


"Metal Monster" by Bloodbound

from Nosferatu, 2006

To be honest, I don't know if this song is about a car or a motorcycle. I also think it could be about a monster truck. Speaking of which, I've never been to one of those events where a monster truck just crushes stuff. I feel like I would see those appear in '90s cartoons all the time, but I have almost no recollection of seeing real advertisements for them. Anyway, they're still probably better than cyber trucks.  —Batts

"Parachute" by Guster

from Parachute, 1994

I admit that I am hard-pressed to think of a situation in which a person would "commute to work" via parachute, or even really meaningfully say to be traveling by parachute. Their whole deal as I understand it is to stop you from falling, not to accurately convey someone from place to place. The good news is that PoYB doesn't care and can't stop itself from posting this. Shout out to Zach, I know he's bopping to this one.  —Nate

NEXT WEEK: "Getting Hit with a Rocket Ship in the Eye" — Songs to celebrate Georges Méliès' landmark 1902 film, A Trip to the Moon, which was released 123 years ago today. (chosen by Gloria)