Memento Mori

• ared56 +1
• Brad Stalcup +1 — Surprisingly thoughtful and powerful song, especially as a new(ish) father. Is the pain of the end of life worth the beginnings of it? Or is it just wishful thinking? Beautiful.
• Sam Ary +1
• Joseph Harvey +1 — Holy cow what was this. Incredible
• Claire +1 — At first I thought this song was gonna be kinda corny but by the end I did quite enjoy the picture it painted lyrically
• shea nowicki +1
• fionmul 0 — This didn’t seem Memento Mori to me exactly but something adjacent
• judd.baker 0 — Big Thief knows how to write a downer

• Edward James +2 — Perfect choice. I feel like there needs to be a certain melancholy and reflectiveness for this category, not just to be about death itself. Well done, well worth the need for me to go to Spotify since this is a Spotify session song and not on Apple Music.
• ared56 +1 — While not as good as the Jason Isbell version, still very good.
• Brad Stalcup +1 — I liked this song quite a bit. But is it a memento mori? There's a difference between a song about death and memento mori. But I liked it enough to give it a vote.
• Joseph Harvey +1 — This probably made me feel the saddest of anything here. So cute and sad
• Claire +1 — Is it possible that I voted for this in part because I love Noah Kahan’s music and also because he just has fall vibes? Sure. But it’s also on point thematically
• shea nowicki +1
• fionmul 0 — I just think this is such a cool and beautiful song. Not the original but the version I discovered first.
• judd.baker -1

• judd.baker +2 — A psalm of 2pac
• ared56 +1
• Sam Ary +1
• Claire +1 — Enjoyed this pull. This is also how I learned that Spotify censors the n word in its lyrics (assuming this is Alex but perhaps Sam??)
• Regina Scime +1
• Edward James 0 — Amazing song, and a great idea going with some 90s rap, but I didn’t see this as much of a Memento Mori
• Brad Stalcup 0 — A song about death, but memento mori?
• fionmul -1 — Just dont vibe with this although it’s on theme. I think I wanted something a bit more serious and deep and the genre is hard to take that way for me

• Edward James +1 — Already submitted in past leagues, which biased me. Maybe this was Brad, and because of this possibility, I give it one vote.
• Sam Ary +1
• Joseph Harvey +1 — Can’t not vote for Sufjan. This just sounds so vulnerable and raw like everything on this album.
• Regina Scime +1
• judd.baker +1 — Excellent
• fionmul 0 — Sufjan/this song is just sorta too predictable to me at this point for this theme
• Brad Stalcup 0 — Perhaps this is anathema in this group, but i've never quite got the hype for Sufjan Stevens. This is no exception.
• Claire 0 — Fiona has the receipts but I told her before this round that if somebody submitted Sufjan it would be the first time in music league history that I didn’t vote for him. I just feel like it’s too easy. Also despite the line “we’re all gonna die,” I feel like this song is more properly about the experience of his mother’s death rather than reflecting on his own mortality

• Joseph Harvey +1 — Perhaps the clearest and best interpretation of the theme here
• SamRobertsND +1
• Regina Scime +1
• judd.baker +1
• Edward James 0 — Don’t see this as memento Mori as much as the justice of God
• Claire 0 — At first I was like “this is so spot on” but as I was reflecting on all the songs again I felt like the vibe of this one is more about God’s judgment catching up with the sinner than about the inevitability of death for all. I’d apologize for being nitpicky but I feel like that’s what music league is for

• ared56 +1
• Edward James +1 — Another perfect choice, because it perfectly places you in the frame of mind of thinking about your eminent death. Incredible song and very unique.
• fionmul +1 — This album is just so iconically good
• SamRobertsND +1
• Joseph Harvey 0 — Compelling and haunting

• fionmul +1
• Brad Stalcup +1 — on the nose.
• Regina Scime +1 — No brainer
• shea nowicki +1
• Edward James 0 — I listened to this while driving through winding hills in West Virginia. Beautiful, and I am grateful for it, but didn’t connect theme wise.
• Joseph Harvey 0 — This was very pretty

• fionmul +1 — I get the analogy to the earth/this life as a whole
• Claire +1 — This song is really haunting and cool musically as well as lyrically. The way that, in this song, a very specific manner/place of death is inescapable no matter how you may try to run away feels like an image or perhaps a microcosm of the more universal reality that it is inescapable for all of us
• Edward James 0 — Amazing song. True Sammy round with all the banger country tunes. Didn’t see this as Memento Mori tho
• Joseph Harvey 0 — Dang, that was very compelling. Country is a perfect genre for this theme as many people clearly agree

• SamRobertsND +2
• Sam Ary +1
• Edward James 0 — Don’t see how this is Memento Mori, but amazing song
• fionmul 0 — Not really seeing this being on theme ?
• Joseph Harvey 0 — This was a great song, but theme connection is not the strongest. The implications are there though
• Brad Stalcup -1 — This was a fun and catchy song, but I'm not sure what it has to do with memento mori.
• Claire -1 — Respectfully, being haunted by the ghost of Hank Williams just isn’t the same as confronting your mortality imo
• shea nowicki -1

Joseph Harvey: This is the closing song on this album, released shortly before the lead guitarist (and principal lyricist/songwriter) died of cancer in his late 20s

• Brad Stalcup +1
• shea nowicki +1
• Edward James 0 — Sorry Joseph, good lyrics, but if I have to read them to have any sense of what the song is about, it’s just not gonna do it for me. This was on the theme so I won’t downvote.
• fionmul 0 — This was my 5th vote
• Claire 0 — Joseph I did think this was cool, but it did not make my top 4 alas
• ared56 -1
• SamRobertsND -1
• Regina Scime -1 — I can appreciate the text, but I just can’t vibe with the music, sorry Joseph

• fionmul +1
• Edward James -1 — Just don’t like it, simple as
• Sam Ary -1
• Joseph Harvey -1 — Musical fingernails on chalkboard. The melodies don’t work and everything is irritating, this song feels like a itchy dress shirt or a bathing suit with sand in it