Bouncin' Back: Songs for Survivors

John Seaborn Gray July 29, 2009 10:15AM

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Last Wednesday evening's positivity-ruining shootings at TSU's "Trae Day" block party were a fine example of how ignorance and violence can crash even the most uplifting party, but also of something else: Sometimes we get lucky (or blessed, depending on your theological viewpoint). In three separate incidents involving gunfire and at least eight victims wounded, no one was killed.

Rocks Off is not sure how it happened, but it did, and that's cause for celebration. We wish the victims a swift recovery, and on the one-week anniversary of the shootings, offer a playlist to pump up for any time you need to bounce back.

Cake, "I Will Survive": Let's get the obvious one out of the way first. Cake's version of Gloria Gaynor's disco classic may be one of the most well-respected covers out there; we've certainly never heard anyone complain about it. We also have to wonder if Gaynor stuck the F-word into her version in any subsequent live performances.

The Hold Steady, "How a Resurrection Really Feels": This story of a hood-rat girl crashing a church service to tell the congregation about her own personal Easter is pretty inspiring, in a back-alley gutter kind of way. And how about those guitar solos?

Elbow, "My Very Best": It's difficult to describe the feeling you get just after a relationship has ended when you decide you're not going to drink yourself to death. Luckily Elbow has done it for us.

The Mountain Goats, "Hast Thou Considered the Tetrapod?": Despite the ridiculous title (Could you be more specific? Plenty of things walk around on four legs), Goats singer John Darnielle's younger self's determination to one day transcend the abuse he's getting at home is undeniably inspiring.

Mystikal, "Bouncin' Back": A couple of our Army friends told us this song was very popular among the troops during the 2001 offensive into Afghanistan, when the entire nation was attempting to bounce back from 9/11. We believe them.

The Constantines, "Insectivora": This one's about a guy so determined to survive, he eats bugs. We had a similar nightmare once. We'd rather not talk about it.

Patty Griffin, "I Don't Ever Give Up": Patty Griffin deserves to be bigger than she is. That's really all we can say about this one without getting all mawkish.