Be thankful for William Bowers.

Provincializm #16: Thank-Rock

by William Bowers

This holiday’s abstract mandate can be sorta barren for us patriotically-challenged atheist vegetarians who maintain cosmic equidistance from our bloodkin. The term for it is even weird: “Thanksgiving” is a syntactical cousin, reckon, of Wall Street’s “profit-sharing,” decorators’ “wall-hanging,” or The Riches’ Eddie Izzard’s “ass-having.” It’s the holiday least commodified by the entertainment industry, possibly because it’s so pre-owned by food concerns? It was even the final calendar-refuge from slasher films until Eli Roth’s fake Grindhouse trailer.

So I…made a playlist. Please feel free to contribute to its comprehensiveness via the comments section. Yup, I am aware that I omitted relevant jams by Dido, George Winston, Kelis, Brad Paisley, and Sum 41. I’m also yet to hear that popular Williams S. Burroughs thing. And I know that Big Black released a Thanksgiving EP, but I’ve always avoided them out of a certainty that nothing music could be good enough to earn the cover art of Songs About Fucking. And let me warn you: even though it was on the 1984 Beverly Hills Cop soundtrack, the awkwardly of-its-moment Danny Elfman song is somehow much easier to swallow if you used to be engaged to a girl who looks like Eric Stoltz in 1989’s The Fly 2.

Robert Pollard-“Thank You”
Tom Waits- “November”
Something by the Mount Eerie-ish band (often covered by Mount Eerie) called Thanksgiving
Something by the psych underdogs Family
Something pissy from the punk boxset No Thanks
Something by the Grateful Dead
Sparks- “Thank God It’s Not Christmas”

Dominion- “Appreciate To Mutilate”
Sister Sledge- “We Are Family”
Gorillaz & MF Doom- “November Has Come”
The Jim Yoshii Pile-Up- “Thanksgiving Day”
Jim White & Johnny Dowd- “Thank You Lord”
Charles Minus- “Wham Bam Thank You Ma’am”
Little Wings- “Thanksgiving”
Cam’ron- “Family Ties”
Reggie & The Full Effect- “Thanks For The Misery”
Beastie Boys- “Gratitude”
Devo- “Thanks To You”
Oneida- “Thank Your Parents”
Ozzy Osbourne- “Thank God For The Bomb”
Pete Rock & C.L. Smooth- “Appreciate”
Spinto Band- “A Hyrule Thanksgiving”
Joe Tex- “Say Thank You”
Elvis Presley- “Thanks To The Rolling Sea”
Sam & Dave- “I Thank You”
The Frogs- “Thank God I Died In The Car Crash”
The Skatalites & King Tubby- “Give Thanks”
The Strawbs- “Thank You”
Graham Parker- “Almost Thanksgiving Day”
Cody Chesnutt- “Family On Blast”
Brenda Lee- “Thanks A Lot”
William DeVaughan- “Be Thankful For What You’ve Got”
Flaming Lips- “Thanks To You”
Waterboys- “Thank You For A Wonderful Life”
Alejandra & Aeron- “Thanksgiving Going On Anyway”
Chris Brown- “Thank You”
Bama The Village Poet- “Thanksgiving”
Paul Butterfield Blues Band- “Thank You Mr. Poobah”
Puffy AmiYumi- “Thank You”
His Name Is Alive- “November Cotton Flower”
Jane’s Addiction- “Thank You Boys”
The Capstan Shafts- “My Family Was Welsh I’m Just Tired”
Murs & 9th Wonder- “Love & Appreciate”
El Perro Del Mar- “God Knows (You Gotta Give To Get)”
The Beatles- “Thank You Girl”
Labradford- “Gratitude”
Bing Crosby- “Thanks”
The Commitments- “I Thank You”
Hellyeah- “Thank You”
Eef Barzelay- “Thanksgiving Waves”
Hank Williams- “Thank God”
James Gang- “Thanks”
Will Oldham- “Let’s Start A Family”
Earth Wind & Fire- “Gratitude”
Led Zeppelin- “Thank You”
Wayne Kramer & Johnny Thunders- “Hey Thanks”
Sick Fix- “Thanks For Telling Me I’m Fat”
Merle Haggard- “Thank You For Keeping My House”
Paul McCartney- “Gratitude”
Talking Heads- “Thank You For Sending Me An Angel”
Peanut- “Thank Goodness For The Rain”
Billy Preston- “Thanks But No Thanks”
Kanye West vs Fall Out Boy- “We Majorly Thankful” OR “Thanks For Telling Me Nothing”
Spokane- “Thankless Marriage”
Bee Gees- “Give Your Best”
Barry White- “Thank You”
John Denver- “Thank God I’m A Country Boy”
Bubba Sparxxx- “Hey (A Lil Gratitude)”
The Softies- “I Can’t Get No Satisfaction, Thank God”
The Wedding Present- “Thanks”
Danny Elfman/Oingo Boingo- “Gratitude”
The Lodger- “Many Thanks For Your Honest Opinion”
Wolfie- “It’s Thursday, Not Sunday (Thank Goodness)”
Johnny Cash- “Thanks A Lot”
Candi Staton- “The Thanks I Get For Loving You”
Ranking- “Thanks & Praise”
Kurt Weill- “Great Hymn Of Thanksgiving”
Jerry Cantrell- “Thanks Anyway”
Yellowman- “Give Jah Thanks”
John Lennon- “Cold Turkey”
Morrissey- “November Spawned A Monster”
Poi Dog Pondering- “Thanksgiving”
Man Of The Year- “Thank Your Stars”
Sole- “No Thanks”
Bjork & Will Oldham- “Gratitude”
Little Pictures- “Thanksgiving For A Habitat”
Christina Aguilera- “Thank You”
My Chemical Romance “Thank You For The Venom”
Abba- “Thank You For The Music”
Todd Edwards- “Thank You”
Marvin Gaye- “Got To Give It Up”
Guns N Roses- November Rain”
Bright Eyes- “I Will Be Grateful For This Day”
Loudon Wainwright- “Thanksgiving”
The Books- “Thankyoubranch”
Cloud Cult- “Thanksgiving”
Agoraphobic Nosebleed- “Thanksgiving Day”
Reigning Sound- “If You Can’t Give Me Everything”
The Soft Pink Truth- “I Want To Thank You”
Sly & The Family Stone- “Thank You (Falettin Be Mice Elf Again”)
The National- “Mr. November”
Xiu Xiu- “Thanks Japan”
The Smiths- “Meat Is Murder”
Jeff Tweedy- either Wilco’s “The Thanks I Get” or “Golden Smog’s “Please Tell My Brother”
Cynthia Fee/ Andrew Gold- “Thank You For Being A Friend (Golden Girls Theme)”