Seems like the good people here might enjoy this playlist of possibly, kinda sorta dharma-themed songs (designed to be listened to in sequence):


https://open.spotify.com/user/dbattan/playlist/7Azs09tNqmGeLLkqMErSwc?si=UNC-Bg8sRp-wpVuw_0QJkw

Track List:
Waking the Witch            Kate Bush
Wakin on a Pretty Day    Kurt Vile
Passing out Pieces         Mac DeMarco
Spiraling Shape              They Might be Giants
Perpetual Change          Yes
Bodhisattva                     Steely Dan
Living in the Real World   Blondie
Great Hosannah              Kula Shaker
Let it Happen                   Tame Impala
Yekermo Sew                   Mulatu Astatke
Waves                              Naxatras
I Surrender                       David Sylvian
Topaz                               B-52s
Everything Merges with the Night      Brian Eno
The Morning Fog             Kate Bush
Tara                                 Roxy Music

Nice idea! Are you taking requests? I'd like to dedicate this one to Daniel Ingram:

Mr Crowley     Ozzy Osbourne

Sure, I'll consider additions...

David Sylvian! 
One of his best songs. IMO

Row, row, row the boat , gently Up the stream, merrily merrily merrily merrily, life is but a dream  

Que toda la vida es sueño etc...

Helen:  Thanks.  Every song could have been David Sylvian...  His whole catalogue is amazing.



WRT the playlist, the lyrics to Spiraling Shape by TMBG are great and I often wonder if they are apropos of the project we are all engaged in.  

http://tmbw.net/wiki/Lyrics:Spiraling_Shape

And the song itself is just a burner, including a vibraphone solo.... 

lol, Francis, you might be onto something here: everyone wants to see that groovy thing.

Spiraling Shape
They Might Be Giants
Down, down, down you go
No way to stop
As you fall, hear me call
No, no, no
Listen to this warning and
Consider theseSimple words of advice
Stop, stop, stop

Fogging the view, cupping face to the window
In darkness you make out a spiraling shape
Putting all reason aside you exchange
What you got for a thing that's hypnotic and strange

The spiraling shape will make you go insane
(Everyone wants to see that groovy thing)
But everyone wants to see that groovy thing
(Everyone wants to see that thing)
And nobody knows what it's really like
But everyone says it's great
And they heard it from the spiral in their eyes

This could lead to excellence
Or serious injury
Only one way to know
Go, go, go
Go ahead, wreck your life
That might be good
Who can say what's wrong or right?
Nobody can

Put out your hands and you fall through the window
And clawing at nothing you drop through the void
Your terrified screams are inaudible drowned
In the spiral ahead and consumed in the shape
The spiraling shape will make you go insane

(Everyone wants to see that groovy thing)
But everyone wants to see that groovy thing
(Everyone wants to see that thing)

And now that you've tried it, you're back to report
That the spiraling shape was a fraud and a fake
You didn't enjoy it, you never believed it
There won't be a refund, you'll never go back
The spiraling shape will make you go insane

(Everyone wants to see that groovy thing)
But everyone wants to see that groovy thing
(Everyone wants to see that thing)
And nobody knows what it's really like
But everyone says it's great
And they heard it from the spiral in their eyes
(Spiral in their eyes)

Fogging the view, cupping face to the window
In darkness you make out a spiraling shape
Putting all reason aside you exchange
What you got for a thing that's hypnotic and strange
The spiraling shape will make you go insane

(Everyone wants to see that groovy thing)
But everyone wants to see that groovy thing
(Everyone wants to see that thing)

Don't spend the rest of your life wondering
(Everyone wants to see that thing)
Don't spend the rest of your life wondering
(Everyone wants to see that groovy thing)
Don't spend the rest of your life wondering
(Everyone wants to see that thing)

I am familiar with TMBG but hadn't heard that particular song =)

And yeah, Sylvian to the end of my days, always.
I've a friend with which I have the yearly habit/ritual of sending her the link for 'September' every Sept 1st. To signify the start of autumn for both of us. That album, Secrets of the Beehive, was the gateway drug for me.

How about https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qhPGbr51jfc


Tim: Thanks for posting the lyrics, too. 

Cool stuff! Always love when art meets Dharma...

Can I put in a request for some Leonard Cohen? 

You Want It Darker? 

leonard cohen is always in good taste, and has a good Zen resume! This is a good black burning-out-on-samsara song. "So blow out the flame" is pretty close to the literal meaning of "nirvana," for what that's worth. 

Francis's list is much more upbeat most of the time, I have to say, lol. But as agnostic said, if "you want it darker . . . "

(4) Leonard Cohen - Leaving the Table (Official Audio) - YouTube

I'm leaving the table
I'm out of the game
I don't know the people
In your picture frame
If I ever loved you or no, no
It's a crying shame if I ever loved you
If I knew your name

You don't need a lawyer
I'm not making a claim
You don't need to surrender
I'm not taking aim
I don't need a lover, no, no
The wretched beast is tame
I don't need a lover
So blow out the flame

There's nobody missing
There is no reward
Little by little
We're cutting the cord
We're spending the treasure, oh, no, no
That love cannot afford
I know you can feel it
The sweetness restored

I don't need a reason
For what I became
I've got these excuses
They're tired and lame
I don't need a pardon, no, no, no, no, no
There's no one left to blame
I'm leaving the table
I'm out of the game

I'm leaving the table
I'm out of the game

There it is!  Yeah, much of his later stuff is more of an acquired taste (and I haven't listened to too much) but it is very Dharma influenced. I think he lived at a Zen monastery for 5 years in the late 90s.  Also interesting how he married Judaism (and Christianity) with Zen.

Van Morrison - Dark night of the soul

If you want it darker! :-) It's quite an upbeat tune though, despite the title.

I've noticed that I'm less keen on listening to music as I progress with the dharma.  There's a lot of "I'm so cool because I know this artist and can appreciate the music much better than anyone else" going on that you begin to see through as you progress.  I have less interest in other kinds of entertainment too.  So much of it is escapism that begins to seem unnecessary as you progress.

Sylvie Simmons biography of Leonard Cohen is a good read, by the way.  Roshi (Cohen's zen teacher) had his faults, as is now well documented but he seems to have had a good influence on Leonard Cohen..  I saw him live shortly before he died and he was brilliant.

Here is a dharma ish Spotify list I made last month.  Hope you enjoy
https://open.spotify.com/playlist/2NPvGxoK5fQG4otkhPRAbe?si=2VQ-CmqDSKSSpHBOgkhxpw&utm_source=copy-link&dl_branch=1

How about "Love Itself"?

There's a lovely little talk on Youtube by Shinzen Young about this song (Part 1 Part 2).

Love Itself

The light came through the window
Straight from the sun above
And so inside my little room
There plunged the rays of loveIn streams of light I clearly saw
The dust you seldom see
Out of which the nameless makes
A name for one like meI'll try to say a little more
Love went on and on
Until it reached an open door –
Then love itself
Love itself was goneAll busy in the sunlight
The flecks did float and dance
And I was tumbled up with them
In formless circumstanceI'll try to say a little more
Love went on and on
Until it reached an open door –
Then love itself
Love itself was goneThen I came back from where I'd been
My room, it looked the same –
But there was nothing left between
The nameless and the name
(Nameless and the name)All busy in the sunlight
The flecks did float and dance
And I was tumbled up with them
In formless circumstanceI'll try to say a little more
Love went on and on
Until it reached an open door –
Then love itself
Love itself was gone
Love itself
Love itself was gone

Someone has made electronic music with recordings from Ajahn Chah, Jack Kornfield and Sylvia Boorstein (talking about Dipa Ma):

https://m.soundcloud.com/user-465790246

That's pretty cool. I saw they had the ñanas chart on there. That would be halarious if they made one with Daniel's rants.