I strongly suspect almost nobody on the planet managed to get through my ramblings on The Book of Job. That’s fine. I’m fine. It doesn’t hurt my feelings. I’m not even disappointed. It was really long, and full of heresy and digressions, and was primarily intended for an audience of one, and I enjoyed it.
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With that said I still cannot get over it. I haven’t made a mixtape in a few years and decided I’d make something like a soundtrack to accompany those thoughts. What follows doesn’t map directly to the text, it greatly truncates the various arguments put forth and seeks to highlight what I think are the high points of the drama. It is, as the youths say, “mostly vibes”.
If you’ve made it this far I figure I’ll insert the links to the playlist for your convenience here.
Trampled by Turtles – Alone
I love just about everything in this song. The way the mandolin and the cello interact in the first verse is my favorite. This was an obvious choice to open the scene with Job sitting on a he ash heap in mourning. Alone, even surrounded by friends there, ostensibly, to comfort him.
The Farewell Drifters – Words
I’m unaware of another song that so perfectly captures the conflict of perspective, emotion, and logic that dominates relationships and how we communicate. “Everyone I know is telling me the truth, but I can’t bite my tongue.. the wicked words just fall out of my mouth, I don’t mean to shout”.
Paint My Face – The Devil Makes Three
Job comes to grips with several realities in his debates and laments. The fragility and finitude of life, injustice and the apparent capriciousness of suffering, the deep psychological impacts of prejudice and physical illness, but one of the biggest ideological hurdles he overcomes is the danger of the certainty of belief. So much of his own suffering and the crux of the debates he has with his friends is certainty of beliefs which are actually incorrect. Ignorance isn’t the problem, it’s the things that we’re certain we know that just aren’t so.
This song doesn’t exactly fit any of those conflicts or realizations, but something in the tone speaks to the idea of someone who has assessed the situation and has now decided that conflict is unavoidable and is preparing accordingly does fit with Job’s tone of defiance as he faces not only the approbation of society and his friends, but points his anger and frustration toward his god. “Fortune may hold you, she’s not you friend… Someday you too will go to war, and by that time may you not fear death any more”.
I Won’t Back Down – Johnny Cash
Any time a singer doing a cover manages to get the song’s author and original recording artist to do backing vocals on the track it might be that the cover has superseded the original in some way. I love Tom Petty, but something about Johnny Cash’s voice and the acoustic production fit the song better than the original recording. Clearly I‘m looking to highlight Job’s defiance here as well.
Dream – Doug Martsch
This is me attempting to condense the complex swirl of arguments. “Can we control this dream?… Quieting the roar of doom… Wanted to escape my limbs and the certitude of death… Being surprised that this time it’s for real”. Arguments are often based on ideals, hypotheses, prejudices, and genuine desires. This appears to be a basic fact of being a human. The problem is that when life comes to town we all too often get smacked around and are surprised that this time it’s for real.
Missed the Boat – Modest Mouse
Same story, new song. This time a bit less abstract.
“Well nothing ever went quite exactly as we planned, Our ideas held no water, but we used them like a dam”
Head Full of Doubt/ Road Full Of Promise – The Avett Brothers
Unlearning, change, repentance whatever you want to call it is difficult. Beliefs about the nature of reality, and the principles and forces that are or are not operational in that reality are foundational our identities and relationships. Challenging these types of beliefs is disruptive regardless of the outcome. I think identifying this aspect of the narrative of The Book of Job was the most compelling moment in my reading of the text. It’s probably why I can’t shake it.
“There was a kid with a head full of doubt, So I’ll scream til I die and the last of those bad thoughts are finally out”. Is both pretty dark, but the delivery here it feels liberating. I suspect this is the intent of the song writers. Especially when it’s coupled with “ If you’re loved by someone, you’re never rejected, Decide what to be and go be it”.
The Stone – Josh Ritter
You didn’t honestly think you’d get a mixtape out of me without Josh showing up once or twice did you? This was a tough call. There are so many of his songs that I think fit with my thoughts on Job. I chose this one because I think the overall message is one of ongoing process of change. Humans like to take on projects, complete them, and move on. Everyone wants to build, but nobody wants to do maintenance. You can rip the roots that you lay down, and free your heart from the stone, and move to a different house, in a different town, but the stone comes rolling down that same old road. It reminds me of of Portia Nelson’s “Autobiography in Five Short Chapters”. This is a bit off the track of the actual narrative, but fits the vibe.
Please – U2
I know this is an unpopular opinion, but this is one of their best songs off of one of their best albums. I’ve always understood it to be a song encouraging people to look past the images and ideas we hold about ourselves to see something beyond our own perceived self interest. You know the things we spend our lives working for and worshiping. The shift in tone at about 3:10 is great. If you have access to the Live version records in Rotterdam on the Please EP it should not be overlooked.
The Yeah Yeah Yeah Song – The Flaming Lips
What?!? A Flaming Lips song on a Mark mixtape?!? Shocking, I know. Hey, at least I didn’t throw another track from The Soft Bulletin at you. That one really is desert island caliber stuff. Anyway. This one looks forward to Job’s convo with the god of the whirlwind and the unanswerables Job is confronted with. I placed it here because of vibes, and because I think it’s a good to remember that Job is traditionally read primarily as theodicy and as a way to frame Job’s rediscovery of the Fear of The Lord. With all your power, what would you do?
Do It Anyway – Ben Folds
In the vein of what you do with all your power we have Ben Folds encouraging us to just do it. I included this song because I dig how Ben can make such grand noises with the piano, and because within this entreaty to self-satisfaction are enfolded a few pearls that let you know, in classic post-modern rockstar style, that maybe there’s more to life than just sex, drugs, and rock and roll. “Despite your grand attempts the chips are set to fall and all the stories you might weave cannot negotiate them all, Do it anyway, Be honest, anyway…. Call it surrender, but you know that’s a joke, And the punchline is you were never actually in control, But still, surrender anyway”.
Color In Your Cheeks – The Mountain Goats
If you’re thinking “This sounds like it was recorded on a Panasonic RX-FT500 boom box” you, my friend, have a great ear and are 100% correct. In the final chapters before his theophany Job revisits his past and comprehends with fresh eyes not only the behaviors that constitute the Fear of The Lord, but the motivating principles that move them beyond commandment, rituals, and social virtue signals to guiding lights. “He drove in from Mexicali, no worse for wear, Money to burn, time to kill, But five minutes looking in his eyes and we all knew, He was broken pretty bad so we gave him what we had, We cleared a space for him to sleep in, And we let the silence that’s our trademark make its presence felt…. They came in by the dozens, and when they finally made it here it was the least we could do to make our welcome clear”.
Don’t Carry It All – The Decemberists
One of the great lessons The Book of Job teaches is that misfortune comes for us all, and the acts of charity and kindness we perform are not a currency of righteousness and blessings, but THE means of restoring justice in a chaotic world. “So raise a glass to turnings or the season, and you must bear your neighbor’s burden within reason, and your labors will be borne when all is done. Let the yoke fall from our shoulders, don’t carry it all, don’t carry it all, we are all our hands in holders, beneath this bold and brilliant sun”.
I Hear Them All – Old Crow Medicine Show
Years ago I heard this song through a lens of hearing all the different paths to a peaceful world as taught by “the gentle lamb of Judah sleeping at the feet of Buddha”. There’s clearly a lot more in there. I think I can now “hear the crying of the hungry in the deserts where they’re wandering”. And whatever your political alignment I’m sure we can all hear “the fools falsely hailing to the crooked wits of tyrants when they call”, and I hope to someday “hear the leaders quit their lying, hear the babies quit their crying, and hear the soldiers quit their dying, one and all”.
Shout Into The Noise – Ash Grunwald
Job’s entire experience, including his encounter with the god of the whirlwind, have mind altering ramifications. “A memory can harden into something sharp, Like a scab you pick until you bleed, you tear yourself apart…. I feel better now and I found the truth, I’m not small, I’m minuscule, a magnificent slice of stardust walking on the third rock from the sun”.
Change – Blind Melon
The most difficult part of making this mixtape was deciding where to place this song. The opening stanza works well in act one, but in the end I decided it is the best single song recapitulation of the entire drama and a great tone to close out the collection. When life is hard you have to change.
MaximumKungFu 
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