Photograph by Jem Stone, via Wikimedia Commons. Licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0.
When we asked Terrance Hayes to make a playlist for you, our readers, he wrote us a poem. Of course he did. As Hayes told Hilton Als in his Art of Poetry interview in our new Fall issue, formal constraints offer him “a way to get free.” Many of Hayes’s poems derive their titles from song names and lyrics; others are influenced by the mood of a particular album or track. Music, he tells Als, “changes the air in the room.” This particular playlist-poem has a track for almost any kind of air—or room—you might find yourself in this week. Read and listen to “Occasional Soundtracks” below.
Soundtrack for almost any morning: “I’ve Got My Mind Set on You” by James Ray
Soundtrack for twelve minutes in the bathroom: “Mind Power” by James Brown
Soundtrack for grooming: “Look” by Leikeli47
Soundtrack for any occasion: “Your Sweet Love” by Lee Hazlewood
Soundtrack for a Friday night: “If It Wasn’t True” By Shamir
Soundtrack for a carefree, slightly bittersweet day: “Free” by Deniece Williams
Soundtrack for internet surfing: “Expensive Shit” by Fela Kuti
Soundtrack for freestyle song and dance in the hall: “A Million Days” by Paul Kalkbrenner
Soundtrack for a loose modern dance in the living room: “Blue Pepper (Far East of the Blues)” by Duke Ellington
Soundtrack for a range of low-key excursions: “Excursions” by A Tribe Called Quest
Soundtrack for dancing while cooking: “Don’t Look Any Further” by Dennis Edwards and Siedah Garrett
Soundtrack for most any occasion: “Islands in the Stream” by Dolly Parton and Kenny Rogers
Soundtrack for Detroit-tough joy: “Joy” by Bettye LaVette
Song for walking for coffee: “I’ll Take Care Of You,” live at Western Recorders Studio, by Bobby “Blue” Bland and B.B. King
Soundtrack for a future Paris sunrise: “Paris Sunrise #7” by Ben Harper and the Innocent Criminals
Soundtrack for a moderately spiritual occasion: “How Far Am I From Canaan?” by Sam Cooke and the Soul Sisters
Soundtrack for an eighteen-minute siesta: “Dís” by Jóhann Jóhannsson
Soundtrack for idle walks: “The Homeless Wanderer” by Emahoy Tsegué-Maryam Guèbrou
Soundtrack for moderate walks: “Good Days” by SZA
Soundtrack for Saturday at the flea market or home depot: “Satisfied ‘N’ Tickled Too” by Taj Mahal
Soundtrack for standing in line for groceries: “A Man Is Like A Tree” by Albert Ayler
Soundtrack for awe at Joan: “The Ride” by Joan As Police Woman
Soundtrack for awe at Joan: “Valid Jagger” by Joan As Police Woman
Soundtrack for Coltrane’s “A Love Supreme” inside a song: “The Creator Has a Master Plan” by Leon Thomas
Soundtrack for a disco-in-church kind of feeling, a.k.a. a song that encourages ass-shaking, singing, and clapping: “Over and Over” by Sylvester
Soundtrack for middle-aged people who still go to clubs that have bouncers at the door: “Wristband” by Paul Simon
Soundtrack for walking through the park: “State of Shock” by the Jacksons and Mick Jagger
Soundtrack for a Joan-and-Tony groove: “Enter the Dragon” and “The Geometry of You” by Joan As Police Woman, Tony Allen, and Dave Okumu
Soundtrack for public transit: “You Don’t Know What Love Is” by Rachelle Ferrell
Soundtrack for driving a Cadillac: “Swing Low, Sweet Cadillac” by Dizzy Gillespie
Soundtrack for big orchestral self-reflective occasion: “four ethers” by serpentwithfeet
Soundtrack for dinnertime background: “Cosmic Slop” by Funkadelic
Soundtrack for twenty-four-minute activities such as writing, bath soaks, and occasions you feel like the protagonist in an independent movie: “In Another Life” by Sandro Perri
Soundtrack for Saturday at the flea market or home depot: “Satisfied ‘N’ Tickled Too” by Taj Mahal
Soundtrack for quiet storms: “Seconds of Pleasure (Acoustic / Live)” by Van Hunt
Soundtrack for musing on your mortality: “It’ll All Be Over” by the Supreme Jubilees
Soundtrack for most any occasion: “Les Fleur” by Minnie Riperton
Soundtrack for most any occasion: “Fly Me to the Moon (In Other Words)” by Bobby Womack.
Terrance Hayes’s recent books are American Sonnets for My Past and Future Assassin and To Float in the Space Between.