Single Saturdays: March 2, 2024

Single Saturdays is Five Cent Sound’s weekly roundup, where our staff members share a song that they’ve fallen in love with and make their case for why others should give it a listen.

“Give Me Love (Give Me Peace on Earth)” by George Harrison

By Kathia Dawson

The first day I heard this song I listened to it probably a hundred times. In 3 minutes and 35 seconds, George Harrison manages to bring a tranquility that is often lost in the busyness of life.

This song, in my opinion, is Harrison’s best — its feel-good rhythm and simple expression of humanness makes me excited for the upcoming warmer seasons. A combination of heart and soul intertwined in the guitar riffs and drum beat is what makes this song feel like a breath of fresh air. In its lyrics Harrison pleads to his god for love and peace, which reminds me that everyone lives in the unknown. This song is perfect as spring approaches, and serves as my own personal plea for next season’s grace.

“My Sister in Jesus Christ” by Slaughter Beach, Dog

By Maya Eberlin

Slaughter Beach, Dog’s latest album Crying, Laughing, Waving, Smiling is a delightful album; it is indie-folk bordering on country, packed full of wholesome, saccharine storytelling and references to frontman Jacob Ewald’s everyday life in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. True to the band’s woozy folk lyricism, this record paints a vivid picture of amicable relationships between friends and lovers alike. As a Philadelphian myself, this album has acted as a perfect aid in romanticizing my current leave-of-absence-induced life at home. As I learn to fall back in love with my city, Ewald’s romanticized mundanity has become increasingly addictive.

“My Sister in Jesus Christ” is an upbeat, twangy, country-adjacent tune whose bubbling piano notes only serve to elevate Ewald’s over-enunciated lyricism, allowing listeners to easily picture the scenes and characters from his life described within. This song encapsulates what I love most about Slaughter Beach, Dog’s music: Ewald’s lyrics describe an attainable, almost mundane life. It is nothing other than his deep love for the world surrounding him that gives his songs such a cozy, romantic feel as he sings about friends, lovers and future plans. His attention to detail when describing people and situations gives each verse a genuine, human quality and makes each character uniquely loveable.

I’ve got a girlfriend

She’s got a snakeskin purse

And a walk-in closet 

Chock-full of My Chemical Romance shirts

Told me about BDSM

Now I think I might burn in hell

This song in particular is full of Christian imagery, focusing on the community aspect of organized religion. Ewald paints a comforting picture of finding solace in time spent with loved ones, emphasizing the importance of interpersonal connection. When you’re feeling lonely as the winter tapers off, give this song a listen to warm you up from the inside out.

When I’m short on sound advice

I’m counting on my sister in Jesus Christ

“Umbilical” by Mazzy Star

by Maya Genuardi

Growing up, my father used to tell me that every other generation in his family has at least one set of twins. When my mother was pregnant, he was convinced that the generational blessing would come to fruition with my birth. Months later, I came into this world screaming and alone. The blessing skipped my generation and my second cousins turned out to be twins instead.

“Umbilical” by Mazzy Star is more than a song. It is a story told in hushed, overlapping voices about a girl who absorbs her twin in the womb and comes into the world carrying the emotional weight of two people. Listening to this song, I can’t help but think of the twin I was supposed to have. Is it possible for Vanishing Twin Syndrome to go undiagnosed? If I absorbed my sibling before the first ultrasound, would that explain these extra emotions I feel — these feelings that are so layered and complex they cannot possibly be explained by anything other than having two people inside of one? “Umbilical” explains the overwhelming experience of emotion with the haunting, eerie tone that Mazzy Star does so well, allowing those like me to question the mythology behind our ways. It is most likely that my twin never existed. The generational gift my family has known for centuries was passed over me before I ever even opened my eyes. It’s funny the way life works. Right when you think you have it all figured out, all the patterns and alignments and trends, fate throws you for a loop once more. Nevertheless, “Umbilical” is a song that will haunt your nightmares and fuel your daydreams for years to come.

“Wake Up Alone” by Amy Winehouse

by Neko Collins

I recently watched the Amy Winehouse documentary “Amy”, which was both really good and very sad. In it, I heard her song “Wake up Alone”, which I’d never heard before. It has quickly become one of my favorite songs by her and the more I listen to her music, the more I appreciate and love it. I feel like more than a lot of other artists, she was very honest. Honest about her struggles, her addictions, her relationships, her triumphs, her mistakes, her loneliness. She put up no fronts and her music is who she was as she lived. She wasn’t trying to be anyone she wasn’t, which is more than most famous artists can really say. Her honesty was raw and true, showing the good, the bad, and the ugly about her life. I think that this sentiment is especially heard through the song “Wake up Alone”, which is hauntingly beautiful in that Amy Winehouse kind of way, emphasis on the haunting. In the song, her voice sounds so alone, echoing around her and bearing its innermost thoughts to the listener. My favorite lyric is “Run around just so I don’t have to think about thinking,” as I think it really embodies that impossible desire to just escape your own thoughts sometimes. Yes, it's definitely a sad song, but it’s also very refreshing to hear her just be brutally honest about her experience.

“I Gotta find Peace of Mind (MTV Unplugged)” by Lauryn Hill

By Michelle Garcia

MTV Unplugged No. 2.0 served as a reintroduction for Lauryn Hill, and a breakaway from the media presented image we thought we knew. Casually dressed and emotionally honest, Hill strips down the filters of her music — and of herself. 

“I Gotta Find Peace Of Mind” is a 9 minute and 18 second track that concludes Disc One. It contains not only Hill’s lyrical slips, but an exposed vulnerability that bleeds through her vocals and guitar. While the meaning of the song has been argued to either be a religious struggle between God and Satan, or a battle with one’s own ego, Hill mesmerizes listeners with the raw and real sound of a woman looking for peace. 

We can hear Hill tearing up at the end of the track from her passion, and her lyrics are enough to pull in the hearts and ears of listeners. Whether you see it as a prayer, a self affirmation, or just a damn good song, take some time this week to allow this track  to move you. Allow it to free you from yourself. 

“Tangerine” by Grouptherapy

By Elise Guzman

Picture this: it’s Summer 2023, June specifically, in New York City. You’re going on your daily walk through your neighborhood in Brooklyn, shuffling through Spotify’s curated playlist, when suddenly you’re hit with this color-explosion of a song. 

“Tangerine” by grouptherapy is a song from their 2022 EP “Truth Be Told” that surges through your body just from the first listen. The song is sung mostly by Jadagrace, a child actor who helped to form the band that is grouptherapy. It also has a rap verse done by TJOnline, a Disney child star. There is so much color to this song, not only in the title but in the lyrics as well. Orange just fits so well so well with the dream-like nature of their music. 

“I walk around the sunshine

Tunnels on the one side

I been having fun, why?

I don't wanna be here

Tell me what it feels like

Running through the sunshine

Tell me what it feels like”

Using fruit as a metaphor for getting out of an unhealthy relationship is brilliant. The word tangerine just slides off the tongue with the beat of the song. It signifies the bad relationship and Jadagrace needing to literally peel herself away from it, even if she doesn’t want to. As a writer, I know fruit is usually a metaphor for attraction and desirability. Now here, it being used in a negative light is once again, brilliant. Every song on the “Truth Be Told” EP is brilliant. “Tangerine” does something to me where the need to groove is inevitable. It will continue to be one of my top songs, no matter the season.