There’s a payoff to enduring a soaking April. After all the rainy days and overcast skies, the month of May blossoms, and nature shows off its brightest colors. For the music-minded, these vivid shades provide the ideal scenery to escape. Music is full of songs about daydreaming. But these “May” jams offer a dash of lazy distraction for the coming month.
Videos by American Songwriter
“May This Be Love” by Jimi Hendrix
“Some people say daydreaming is
For all the lazy-minded fools with nothing else to do
So let them laugh, laugh at me
So just as long as I have you to see me through
I have nothing to lose, long as I have you.”
If you plan to burn some hours daydreaming on a spring day, this tender track from Are You Experienced might be your jam. Hendrix dials in his psychedelic blues with hazy studio effects and woozy guitar breaks, with a sweet lyric about spotting a rainbow through a waterfall. This one’s about letting go; an ideal attitude while the world blooms around you.
“First Of May” by Bee Gees
“The apple tree that grew for you and me
I watched the apples falling one by one
And I recall the moment of them all
The day I kissed your cheek and you were gone.”
Barry Gibb looks back on faded youth in this lovely Bee Gees single from 1969. The track builds with lush orchestration as Gibb sings about life’s changing seasons. The striking ending features Gibb alone, his voice echoing through reverb, and mourning being replaced by someone new.
“Third Of May / Ōdaigahara” by Fleet Foxes
“Light ended the night, but the song remained
And I was hiding by the stair, half here
Half there, past the lashing rain
And as the sky would petal white, old innocent lies came to mind
As we stood, congregated, at the firing line.”
On May 3, 2011, Fleet Foxes released their second studio album, Helplessness Blues. It’s also the only Fleet Foxes album to feature Josh Tillman, better known as Father John Misty. Guitarist and co-founder Skyler Skjelset was born on May 3, which gives this gorgeous tune even more importance to the Seattle band.
Photo by David Redfern/Redferns
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