Happy Father's Day from the Dylan family
Another week brings another episode of Rick Pecoraro Talks to Himself, for which I am the musical director.
This is a special week: an episode called “Cool Dads,” timed of course to Father’s Day. The playlist consists of songs about kids, written and performed by cool dads*, and is based on a series of playlists I’ve made over the years for friends who’ve become fathers.
It’s a great group of songs, from a great group of artists: John Lennon after spending five years at home raising his son; Paul Simon writing about finding a dead bird with his daughter (and taking the name from a menu item at a local diner); Wilco before Jeff Tweedy became synonymous with dad rock. It also includes at least one song that has made me tear up: “Daughter” by Loudon Wainwright III, with its opening image of his daughter in the water, which happens to resonate with this father, whose wife was a swimmer, and whose daughter has already aced her early swimming lessons. Ahem.
Anyway, you can listen to episode 2 of Rick Pecoraro Talks to Himself here:
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If fatherhood circa 2016 has a theme song, it’s Animal Collective’s “My Girls,” a super-catchy jam with that defiant chorus about just wanting “four walls and adobe slabs for my girls.” There’s nothing dad rock-y about it at all. It’s a genuinely cool song about being a father.
It’s just the thing to listen to while reading my latest piece for RL Mag, “Not Your Father’s Fatherhood: How Being a Dad Got Cool.” It’s about living in a time when there are beautiful lifestyle magazines for fathers, and when dad jeans are dark and selvage, not stone-washed and baggy. A time when dads are less Don Draper (or Mr. Mom), and more like, well, Rick.
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Rick Pecoraro Talks to Himself airs Thursdays at 2pm Eastern (1pm Nashville time). You can listen live over the airwaves on 101.5 FM, or stream it at wxnafm.org.
*Starters for Uncool Dads playlist: “No Son of Mine” by Genesis; “Independence Day” by Bruce Springsteen; and “Cat’s Cradle” by Harry Chapin (duh)