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The Century Playlist

2017-10-08

The Idea

A long time ago, in college, I learned about a binge drinking "game" known as "Century Club" (aka "Centurion"). The conceit is simple - drink a shot of beer every minute for 100 minutes. Obviously, I wouldn't recommend that anybody do this.

To serve as a timer for this game, it was common practice to compile a playlist consisting of 1-minute snippets of various songs. Every time the music changes, one is free to enjoy another 1-2 ounces of the finest beer that as little money as possible can buy.

These playlists usually consisted of contemporary hits, but in about 2007 I had the idea to compile something more ambitious. What if each song in the playlist was about a different number from 1 to 100? My interest in drinking beer has faded, but fortunately, such a playlist has healthier applications: you can listen while running or time exercises with it.

The general rules were established as I compiled a first version:

• 101 Songs should be selected, and played for approximately one minute each.
• Each number from 1-100 must be said, in English, on the appropriately-numbered minute. That is, at 4:00, the word "four" must appear in the lyrics of the music, at 1:37:00, the number 97 must be said, and so on.
• The songs should be as "good" as possible, be generally upbeat, and be as clear as possible in representing their numbers.
• To make the timer on the player line up with the track (not off by one), an extra track is selected to play for the first minute.

Longer rules are here.

The Process

I was quite happy with the first mix at the time, but many of the entries just happened to mention their numbers. I knew that I could do better. I thus spent the next 10 years periodically updating a text file and playlist whenever I would hear a good candidate. At some point in 2016, sick and confined to my apartment, I decided to make a push to finish. I spent close to three straight days trying to fill in the most egregious holes, and let the last few trickle in over the next few months. I was led to some tracks and artists that I never would have otherwise encountered.

For instance, I had never really considered calypso music as much more than a preset on a casio keyboard, yet here emerged a gem of a song by Lord Kitchener. Somehow I had missed "23" by Blonde Redhead, which has become a favorite track. I could go on forever, but I refer you to the list.

I also discovered just how many songs are covers. I usually opted for the oldest/original version of tracks, so the mix includes the Toyes (not Sublime) with "Smoke Two Joints", Harry Nilsson (not Three Dog Night) with "One", Merle Travis (Not Ernie Ford) with "16 Tons", Vernon Dalhart (not Johnny Cash or a host of others) with "The Wreck of the Old '97", and so on. I did choose the Depeche Mode version of "Route 66," simply because I prefer it in the mix.

I continued to tweak and search, occasionally resorting to dredging of the cesspools of Spotify and lyrics.com. I was very lucky to get some great suggestions from friends to fill in some ornery gaps.

Eventually, I decided I was finished.

The Result

The full track list

An interesting bonus is that this Century mix contains at least one song from each decade of the last century!

1920s: 1
1930s: 1
1940s: 2
1950s: 7
1960s: 11
1970s: 11
1980s: 15
1990s: 25
2000s: 20
2010s: 7

This seems to offer pretty accurate statistical evidence of the decade in which I started to listen to music.

I have made a mix of all the songs, but am not posting it here since I don't know if this constitutes fair use. If you know me, please contact me if you'd like to hear it.