"April in Paris”- Billy Holiday
     While this jazz staple has been performed by many artists through the years, such as Louis Armstrong, Ella Fitzgerald, Count Basie, and Alex Chilton, my favorite has always been the Billy Holiday version. Her signature textured yet thin voice transports us all from cold rainy Portland to a warm day of Paris in the spring. 

“Early Spring”- The Mountain Goats
     Unlike other songs on this mix Mountain Goats singer/guitarist/songwriter John Darnielle does not sing of the joys of spring, but instead the pain of a breakup in the midst of the change from winter to spring. He sings with a fierce hatred for this ex lover as well as of the beauty all around him. He understands that while others are infatuated by the coming of spring, he instead just sees it as a reminder of the pain in his life in the line “The throbbing flowers outside, I get it.”

“Month of May”- Arcade Fire
     Arcade Fire’s last album, “The Suburbs,” focuses on the theme of youth and remembrance as well as the suburbs. “Month of May” is definitely the album’s most rocking song, with heavy guitars, persistent percussion, and strong dynamics throughout the song. While other songs on this mix focused on love, this song goes a different route, seeing spring as a way to be renewed. This renewal involves rising up and letting out your anger. This comes from the voice of a suburban teenager rebelling against what he knows. He sees the love around him, but also all that is unstable and wrong in the world. He ends with a promise to change: “Gonna start again in the month of May”.

“Can’t Stop the Spring”- The Flaming Lips
     Always ones for weirdness The Flaming Lips in “Can’t Stop the Spring” sing about the power of the spring. Lead singer Wayne Coyne sings “You can crush the flowers. But you can’t crush the spring. No matter what you say”. Spring is usually thought of as a happy time of year, but Coyne wants you to know spring is an unstoppable force.  

“Thistled Spring”- Horse Feathers
      In “Thistled Spring” by the Portland band Horse Feathers, the coming of spring brings back memories: “Bit by the spring. Hurt by the thing. Plagued by the memories that it brings.” An old lover of the singers is being wed to a man who is not him. He remembers springs past spent with this lover, but now the “Bride to be, my only friend, is leaving me, in a spring with no end.”

“First Day of Spring”- Noah and the Whale
     “First Day of Spring” focuses as spring as time of renewal. The singer is growing, just like the plants around him. He pines for a lover who left him and hope that she will return after he betters himself. The song opens with the lines “It's the first day of spring. And my life is starting over again. The trees grow, the river flows. And its water will wash away my sins.” As the world around him is changing, the singer also hopes he can change and win his love back.

Cemetery Gates’- The Smiths
     Though The Smith’s are known for their macabre and “emo” lyrics, Morrissey embraces the season of new flowers and returning of sunshine in this misleadingly upbeat song. Even though he is singing about a happy subject, Morrissey takes his own twist on the theme- by having his lover meet him on a dreaded sunny day at the cemetery gates, with of course Keats and Yeats by her side.

“Springtime is the Season”- Of Montreal
     If you don’t crack a smile when listening to “Springtime is the Season,” you probably have no soul. At its core, this song is adorable. The song describes why spring is the best season with lyrics and a melody that could be found on a kid’s show. While childish, you can’t disagree with the lyric “The springtime is the season where everyone’s a friend.”