Several years ago, while playing one of the computer games from the renowned Fallout series (to those unfamiliar with it: the games are set in an alternate retrofuturistic world, centuries after the apocalypse of the Great War of 2077 that ended civilization — in-game radio stations, however, play music mostly from the Golden Age of American radio, from the 1930s to the 1950s, including the iconic I don’t want to set the world on fire by The Ink Spots) I put together a “doomsday” playlist of songs I want to listen to while I await the fateful flash. (Here in Ottawa Lowertown, chances are that we will see the flash but won’t live long enough to hear the kaboom.)
Unfortunately I have no public links: the MP3 files reside on my computer along with the playlist itself. But I thought I’d share the list nonetheless, as most of the songs are easy to find. In any case, I think the titles alone tell a story.
- I don’t want to set the world on fire – The Ink Spots
- Bad Moon Rising – Creedence Clearwater Revival
- Is That All There Is – Peggy Lee
- Yesterday – The Beatles
- C’est la vie – Emerson, Lake and Palmer
- Non, je ne regrette rien – Edith Piaf
- I did it my way – Frank Sinatra
- 99 Luftballons – Nena
- Here is the news – 21st century man – Electric Light Orchestra
- Mother – In the flesh – Pink Floyd
- Rejoice in the Sun – Joan Baez
- Adios Nonino – Astor Piazzolla
- Blondie – Philip Glass remix – Daft Beatles
- November – Tom Waits
- Brazil – Geoff Muldaur
- Strange fruit – Billie Holiday
- Sway (from Dark City) – Anita Kelsey
- Kurt Weill’s Ballad of the soldier’s wife – P. J. Harvey
- Sweet Dreams – Eurythmics
- Round midnight – Thelonious Monk
- We’ll meet again – Vera Lynn
There you have it.