The Jenkins Family Top 25 of 2021
I remember sitting down to write up the 2020 list and thinking about how much better 2021 was going to be. The election would finally be over. We’d all be vaccinated. Life would return to normal. Now I sit here in December 2021 thinking similar thoughts about 2022. I don’t even know what “normal” is anymore.
There were just enough moments in 2021 to give us hope, only for reality to come crashing back again. We were fully vaccinated by May and were lucky enough to squeeze a great road trip through the Beach to see my parents and then through some of the states we hadn’t checked off the list. That trip wrapped just in time for us to be surrounded by the ridiculously loud drone of cicadas for several weeks before Delta decided to make everything uncomfortable again. Suddenly we were glad we didn’t burn the masks and were retreating back to our pods and awesome pod friends.
We had a great summer trip up to New York to reunite with Amy’s sisters for the first time in nearly 18 months. Of course, Maybelle decided she needed some spa time at the vet hospital on that trip and the Knucklehead ate a mothball or two. So the whole year was a little good then a little bad, but we certainly weren’t the only ones that got to experience that this year.
Etta wrapped up her second stint at The Goddard School in the spring. She started 3rd Grade at The Barnesville School and she’s really happy with her teacher and her new group of friends. Her reading is improving, she seems to really enjoy math, and has started playing basketball with some of her Girl Scout friends. She loves spending as much time as possible with the Tomey girls in Cambridge, making up games, dance routines, and art projects on the fly. It’s exciting to watch her grow and become more mature and thoughtful, with some bumps along the way, of course.
Noah is fully on his own now and living with his girlfriend in one of those swanky apartment buildings that has rooftop common spaces, pool tables, a pool, grills, and a nice gym. He’s moved on from the delivery jobs and has started working as a project manager for a company that does kitchen and bath remodeling for a local retirement village. He gets to deal with senior citizens on a regular basis which, with absolutely no irony intended, is one of the best jobs Noah could probably have. He even booked and paid for a cross-country flight without telling his Mommy about it! He’s doing great and we’re glad he’s still close by.
Amy and I are still doing the work from home thing together and we’ve pretty much mapped out our work spaces to stay out of the background of each others’ Zoom calls. I think Maybelle is the biggest fan of this arrangement since she can just come and bother whoever is least busy at the moment. Amy continues to absolutely kill it at work, doing great things yet always finding a way to say it’s still not good enough. My work moves along, doing what I can wherever I can to help.
We found many of the usual ways to enjoy ourselves. Board games, firepits, beer, cocktails, Snoop-a-Loop, birding, good TV… we made it work. I even got Amy to watch every Marvel movie and TV show with me (it was even her idea!). We were also able to get back into our church and see the results of nearly ten years of planning and eventual renovations. It’s beautiful and I’ll always be proud of my small role in getting it done. It’ll be a good place to see a couple of someones get married one day.
Any year that ends in me not owning a boat has to be a good one. So here’s to hoping 2022 will be what we were hoping 2021 was going to be!
And with that, let’s talk about some music!
Here’s the link to the Jenk Fam Top 25 List of 2021 on Spotify
Here’s the link to the Jenk Fam Top 25 List of 2021 on YouTube
Intro: “TRUCKS IN PLACE” by Ludwig Goransson
The Tenet soundtrack, particularly this song, sounds like 2021 to me. Ominous. Grinding. Relentless.
25. “A Min We Vo Nou We” by LES SYMPATHICS DE PORTO NOVO
24. “How Not to Drown” by CHVRCHES ft. Robert Smith
23. “Highway Unicorn” by The Highwomen ft. Brittany Spencer and Madeline Edwards
22. “Paradise” by Sturgill Simpson
Our driving trip gave us plenty of time to listen to Sturgill and John Prine as we made our way to their home state. We couldn’t make it to Muhlenberg County, but we did get to see the Green River.
21. “Throwback” by Usher ft. Jadakiss
We rediscovered Usher’s “Confessions” this year and it’s really full of bangers. It may have gotten better with age.
20. “Comin’ Home Baby” by Mel Torme
A great (literal) needle drop from an episode of “The Falcon and the Winter Soldier.”
19. “Cold Heart (PNAU Remix)” by Elton John and Dua Lipa
This song had me convinced that I was confusing “Cold Heart” and “Rocket Man.” But then I realized several weeks later that they mashed them together simply to confuse me.
18. “Ben Franklin” by Snail Mail
17. “Pay Your Way in Pain” by St. Vincent
16. “No One’s Gonna Love You” by Band of Horses
Yeah, this song is old, but we heard a version where they sing the chorus in Spanish and then the original version of the song became a fire pit staple.
15. “True Seekers” by Sleigh Bells
14. “What You Say” by Cold War Kids
13. “Jackie” by Yves Tumor
12. “Hero” by Michael Kiwanuka
11. “Mine Forever” by Lord Huron
10. “I Don’t Live Here Anymore” by The War on Drugs ft. Lucius
Time surrounds me like an ocean
My memories like waves
Is life just dying in slow motion
Or getting stronger everyday?
“We’re all just walkin’ through this darkness on our own” hits a little bit different these days, don’t it?
9. “Sad But True” by St. Vincent
I wouldn’t have guessed that the best St Vincent song this year would be a Metallica cover, but here we are.
8. “Walking at a Downtown Pace” by Parquet Courts
Strong eventual post-pandemic vibes here:
I’m making plans for the day all of this is through
Seeing my path there, hearing the song I’ll sing
And food that I’ll taste and all the drinks that I’ll consume
Return the smile of an unmasked friend
As we take streets I don’t walk down ’cause I want to avoid
Fighting temptation, walk at a downtown pace
And treasure the crowds that once made me act so annoyed
Sometimes I wonder how long ’til I’m a face in one?
7. “Fly As Me” by Silk Sonic
The song I want to dance to when parties are a thing again.
6. “I Keep Forgettin’ (Every Time You’re Near)” by Michael McDonald
We’ve spent a lot of time with yacht rock since the 1619 Project podcast (if you’ve never heard it, listen and you won’t regret it), and with that has come a new appreciation for Michael McDonald.
5. “Levitating” by Dua Lipa
Dua Lipa songs are Etta’s spirit animal. We had lots of dance parties with Etta jumping off furniture and “Levitating” this year.
4. “Light of a Clear Blue Morning” by Waxahatchee
This song hit me hard when I was driving to get my first dose of vaccine. I could see a brand new day was dawning. But then things went sideways. Anyway, as she says, things will work out just fine. It’s also a Dollie Parton cover, you know, the country music superstar and co-funder with Amy on Moderna’s mRNA research. No big deal.
3. “Renegade” by Big Red Machine ft. Taylor Swift
The evolution of Taylor Swift to become my Indie Rock Queen continues. I’m ready for her to just go ahead and do a whole album with Bon Iver, The National, and Phoebe Bridgers. Etta learned the lyrics to this and can be heard singing every word except “shit” from the backseat.
Is it insensitive for me to say
“Get your beep together so I can love you?”
2. “Phoenix” by Big Red Machine ft. Fleet Foxes and Anais Mitchell
We’ve never had two songs from the same album make the top 5 before, and I thought for a long time that these might be numbers 1 and 2. For this song in particular, I don’t really know how you can go wrong with Fleet Foxes and Big Red Machine. I will note, however, that the police sirens or whatever they are in the background always make me look in the rear view mirror when I’m driving. I wanted to share that with others so it’s not just me anymore.
- “Tennessee” by Sturgill Simpson
Sturgill put in a lot of work for us this year with multiple albums and frankly deserves the top spot. Amy was in the top 0.5% of Sturgill listeners on Spotify this year, marking her as a certifiable super fan. Best of all, while we were in Kentucky at Mammoth Cave, we drove to see the Green River and we had a playlist on shuffle. As we started to make our way back to Cave City, this song came on. We got on South I-65 just as the last verse came on.
I been trying to find my way back, with no luck so far
And the hardest part is just knowing how close you arе
Two hundred and ten mile drive, three hours down south 65
But it feels like there’s an ocean between you and me
Cause you’re all the way down there in Tennessee
It was a moment.
Outro: “Sam” by Sturgill Simpson
What to do with a super sad song that’s about the singer’s dog dying? Change the lyrics to be a celebration of your living dog:
Well, a good dog on the ground’s worth three in the saddle
No matter where you’re from
Been many good dog was a friend to a man
But Maybs is the greatest one
She is the lab of labs
She is the wonder of all walkers
She loves howlin’ at the deer
She loves stoppin’ at raccoons [inside joke, it makes sense I swear]
Most of all, she is my best friend
And she’s still right here
Bonus Track: “Da Butt” by E.U. (Experience Unlimited)
One of the the things I love about Cambridge is the neighbor that plays music out his window facing the street to no one in particular whenever the weather is nice. Sometimes he’s out front BBQ’ing, but mostly he’s just playing old R&B, funk, or hip hop to the neighborhood all afternoon. One Friday evening, I walk out of the house and hear “Da Butt,” the 80’s classic.
I come running in to Amy yelling “He’s playing Da Butt! Da Butt! You remember this?? ‘Doin’ the butt, ow, sexy sexy!’ You remember that, right??” Her answer: I have no idea what this song is and it’s terrible.
I immediately considered divorce.
But I forgave her. It’s not Amy’s fault she was basically raised in Canada. So it was time to teach her “Da Butt” and make sure a new generation knows “Da Butt” as well.
Etta got a tiny ol’ butt (Oh yeah?)
