There are times when the collection of ones and zeroes that comprise whatever profile it is that Spotify uses to manipulate me will truly impress. “Great Job, Robot” is dedicated to those songs that the Spotify algorithm gods throw at me that I think are quite excellent or otherwise noteworthy picks. Please be advised that these posts will concern themselves with saying mostly positive things about tunes, unlike the unreasonable slag-fests that occupy most of the real estate on this blog.
Early Morning Rain – Ian & Sylvia
Possibly the finest song I’ve ever heard about being sad and wasted at an airport. Spotify tossed this gem at me one morning while I was driving to work and the car started driving itself while I just sat there and wept like an infant. Not really, but This song was written by Gordon Lightfoot. His version is great, but this Ian & Sylvia cover crushes it.
The arrangement is about as slight as it gets, just some acoustic guitars plucking and the two vocalists. I think that’s all that I really need to feel the full weight of a desperate airport bender. The melodrama is cranked up to 10 and the combined vocal vibrato of Ian & Sylvia is basically a weapon of mass destruction. They should be in jail for having vibrato like this.
I’m a huge sucker for sad sack folk music, and this tune has the added advantage of throwing in a few truly glum-as-fuck chord changes that don’t seem to be in the Lightfoot version. Drag me down, you dour Canadian folkies.
Drag. Me. Down.
I like “Early Morning Rain” by Ian & Sylvia. Great job, Robot.
The Fraudsters' Almanac 
This post reminded me of Birds in Train Stations by Hawksley Workman. Can’t hold a candle to that vibrato but still a sad traveling song.
I previously had Spotify and switched over to Google Play because I read somewhere that was better for artists (was it?) but now Play is winding down so I guess I’ll go back to Spotify – are there any other options? I hope wherever I end up the robot will be able to find me some good tunes.
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I switched to Spotify from Apple Music and I think that they are both okay ways for us all to unethically underpay for unlimited music!
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