IthacaMafia Mixtape Vol. 6
Songs That Sound Like Dawn: A Soundtrack

I know what you're thinking. You're thinking that no one can recreate the elegance and charm of Tony Orlando's super-talented backup duo, Dawn. Well I couldn't agree with you more, but that isn't the dawn I'm talking about. What I've collected here for the sixth installment of the IthacaMafia mixtape are a mix of songs that, for me, sound like a soundtrack to sunrise. Still don't understand? You will.

You know how in movies when there's that scene at (or towards) the end where our hero/heroes/or whoever has just gotten through the big night (or important night or life altering night)? These songs fit those moments. And in lieu of liner notes, I've tried to provide a scene which they might play over. (They aren't meant to be short films but short parts of large films.) You know, it's Songs That Sound Like Dawn: A Soundtrack.
-- Ire

1. - Whatever It Is" by Ben Lee

The group of teenagers, boys and girls, some off to college, are outside on the driveway post sleepover. Most sit together, some stand. Two are set apart, sitting and holding hands. The gray sky slowly turns pinkish. A few get in their cars and leave. The one guy kisses the girl on the back of her hand.

2. - "The First Day of My Life" by Bright Eyes

A suburban school kid with backpack, 12, exits his front door and heads down his driveway towards the bus stop at the end of the street. He gazes at the large moving truck parked a few doors down and across the street. Behind the truck arrives a family wagon. The family of four exits the wagon and regards their new house. The boy stands now and stares, transfixed at the girl, his age. He watches her.

3. - "You Don't Make it Easy Babe" by Josh Ritter

Montage. A man arrives at a run down house in an equally run down pick up truck. He goes to the door and waits. A woman in partial dress opens the front door but not the screen. She closes the door and then heads within. He waits. The lawn is unruly. A young boy comes to the door in an oversized ballcap, he carries a small fishing rod. The man and boy drive through the fading darkness as the coming sun makes the fog more visible. They fish off a pier. Some other guy leaving the house as the woman stands on the doorstep, a vacant look on her face and a coffee in her hand. The father and son continue to fish.

4. - "Thorn in My Pride" by The Black Crows

A whore stands in the back of church in an open trench coat after what was doubtlessly a long night at the office. She ponders something before kneeling in some back row pew to pray. A middle-aged preacher enters behind her and regards his well-worn parishioner. After a beat he comes to sit beside her and we see him talking to her earnestly and her listening truly. After another moment he rises and heads back to the confessional. Entering the leftmost door. She finishes her prayer before heading back towards the confessional herself. She stands before both doors of the confessional for a long while before heading into the same left door the man of the cloth entered. We see the confessional from the outside. The sun lights up the giant stained glass above.

-or-

Animated feature. The boy lion who would be king walks among his sleeping subjects just before dawn and mulls the chances he will be an effective leader.

5. - "'Till I Get to You" by Nikka Costa

(PAUSE) A very geeky fellow opens his eyes to a new day. He is out of sorts. Next to him is a woman who is categorically way out of his league. She rolls to him and is clearly without regret. He regards her for a short moment. She kisses him sweetly and he heads for the door. Cut to (PLAY) him kicking through the front door of her building and heading down a city street as if he owned the world. He high fives people,. He struts, grabs an apple from a vendor and gives some cash to a thankful homeless guy. The sun blares.

6. - "I Don't Like Mondays" by Tori Amos

Wintertime in the still dark parking lot of the local High School. The lot is empty save one car off to one corner. Inside it we see a girl - alone, chubby, 17. It snows a bit. One by one cars start to enter and fill out the parking lot. Boys and girls exit their cars and laugh and flirt and head inside. A very few notice the girl sitting there and those that do only giggle a bit and quietly point her out to their pals. Towards the end of the song she fumbles to gather her things and exits the car. Most everyone is inside by now and she slowly makes the trip across the lot and up the steps to school.

7. - "If You Could Read My Mind" by Gordon Lightfoot

A mousy oily haired man in a short sleeve button down, necktie and blue Dockers slowly enters his garage from the house. His hands and shirt are both a mess with blood, someone else's blood. He plods methodically around to the driver's side, gets in and starts the ignition. A minute passes. He cranks the window down and waits. The sun peeks through the garage windows.

8. - "Looks" by "Mancrush" Mike Doughty

An unshaven man walks up from the subway and heads towards his Brooklyn apartment as the sun breaks the gray horizon. He wears a wrinkled suit and a v-necked t-shirt, untucked. He carries a button down shirt and still tied tie. He may still be drunk. He walks for a long while. At the end he arrives at his walkup, stops and just stares at his third floor apartment from the sidewalk.

9. - "Silent in the Morning" by Phish

A montage. A man wakes and rises, leaving his wife behind him in bed. He showers and shaves. She rises behind him and goes towards the kitchen. He methodically applies his clowns make-up and wig. She prepares some coffee. He dons the rest of his clown outfit. At the doorway she gives him his coffee and he kisses her once, leaving a smudge of white by her cheek. He heads across the lawn to his little car in his Reeboks, clown shoes over one shoulder. He drives. Donut drive-thru. He drives onward, eating his donut and drinking her coffee.

10. - "The Crop" by The Stubborn All-Stars

The attractive older woman, who, to this point, we thought was being duped by any number of thieves and confidence men, strolls down the beach towards the rising sun. The sack of cash on her hip and the smile on her face reveal her as the true con artist. The camera raises high and wide give us a view of the whole beachfront. It's the Trading Places/Dirty Rotten Scoundrels/The Big Bounce/Fletch ending. In my version she wears a sarong.

11. - "Nebraska" by Bruce Springsteen

Daybreak on a dusty desert road. From ground level at a run down gas station we look east towards the far off mountains. An attendant sleeps, legs crossed, on an old bench while some sign swings on its lone remaining hook. A dog lays flat, too hot to move. Towards the end a beat up Chevy tears into the picture and speeds on towards the mountains, kicking dust all the way. A woman tosses her silken scarf out the passenger window.

12. - "February Stars" by Foo Fighters

A young boy of eight or nine sits on an antique bench facing away from two windows in the kitchen of his parents house. He is dressed in a dark suit, white socks and dark shoes. His feet don't quite touch the ground. His tie pulls at his neck as others arrive. They shake off the rain that has been falling behind him and touch his head. There is to be a funeral. The sky shifts from charcoal to a lighter gray.

13. - "Old Shoes (& Picture Postcards)" by Tom Waits

A late-middle aged waitress at some classic mid-western diner goes about her preparations for the coming day. She is in uniform, her hair is heavy under the weight of Aqua-Net. She wipes a table and pauses for a moment to stare out the window at the expansive American thoroughfare, indicating some unknown loss or longing. Some trucker guys enter and sit down.

14. - "Into the Mystic" by Van Morrison

A woman, maybe she's a girl, lays awake in bed with her man sleeping next to her. She lights a cigarette and smokes there for a little while. After a minute she rises and sits at the small table by the window, opening it a crack for ventilation. She sits, staring at the ground in front of her for a longer while. He, older and dumber, rises behind her and pulls her from her thoughts with a hand on her shoulder. She turns to him and he kisses her long on the mouth. She puts out her smoke in the ashtray that sits on the window frame. They clumsily get it on.

15. - "Pressure Drop" by The Clash

From the parking lot we see the massive front doors of some old run down factory. Beat. The sun cracks the horizon as the doors swing open revealing those of our heroes who made it through the night, walking along side one another - in slow motion. All are dirty, sweaty and tired. Two men (one of whom holds a pry bar) and a woman wear various tatters of coveralls. One man wears Dockers and a wife-beater. While another remains in his loose tie and short sleeves, he carries a shotgun. One woman, dressed in ripped skirt and carrying her less than sensible shoes, hangs off the guy in the wife-beater. They are now in love. They walk on. Credits roll.