The Thanksgiving playlist is one of the more challenging holiday-centric playlists to construct. There are no gimmes like Halloween or Christmas. There’s not even really an easy to pin down theme like Valentine’s Day (Love), Fourth of July (Summer Cookout) or St. Patrick’s Day (Irish). No, Thanksgiving is something special and unique to every listener. It would be a challenge to make a list that everyone feels meets their own criteria, there are just too many variables.

It’s a complicated holiday that traditionally revolves around family, either blood or chosen, and all the complicated relationships that that invites. Some things are invariable though. Food, for example, is always an element. It’s a holiday built around community and sharing food. It’s about gratitude, and service and all the secular words that make me feel like I’m in church. Thanksgiving is basically a church holiday but with no church.

But with the complex emotions involved in something like this, I’ve tried to narrow down what makes music Thanksgiving. These aren’t guarantees, but rather general guidelines to look for when seeking out Thanksgiving music:

• It’s about food
• It’s about family
• It’s by a band made up of family members
• It’s about football / sounds like it could be from Friday Night Lights
• It evokes the complex, and sometimes paradoxical nature of family relationships, and the ethereal melancholy that brings to the thoughtful soul
• The album cover is brown

So with that in mind, here’s my hour-ish long playlist and a case made for each song to help you on your journey.

The Meat Puppets “Lost”

A jaunty road song to open, the road trip is a key element of any Thanksgiving story.

Janko Nilovik “Lettre De Mer”

Some songs are just vibes. This is one of those songs. Maybe for a headphone walk around your old neighborhood.

Aliotta Haynes Jeremiah “Lake Shore Drive”

I’m not a Chicago native, but I did live there for seven years and even if I hadn’t, this song would awaken a sense of John Hughes-equse homecoming.

The Band “King Harvest”

Obviously The Band had to be represented as they have one of the most brown album covers, and this is the most autumn song on that record.

Steely Dan “My Old School”

Another key element of Thanksgiving is going home at the exact same time everyone you knew from high school is going home and you know you’re going to see them at a bar. That’s not really what this song is about, but close enough.

Fred Wesley & The New J.B.’s “Breaking Bread”

This whole album could be on the list and if you need a long playlist, I suggest dragging and dropping the whole thing in there.

Parquet Courts “Total Football”

If a song ends in a shout of “fuck Tom Brady” that’s exactly the kind of common ground you and your Rush Limbaugh uncle can meet on, and that’s a start.

The Rolling Stones “Loving Cup”

Thanksgiving invites a really unique sort of being drunk that I can’t put my finger on, but it sounds like this song.

The Kinks “Picture Book”

The Kinks check a lot of boxes: brown album covers, family band, songs about family. Can’t go wrong with lots of their songs, but this is the headliner.

The Replacements “Bastards of Young”

This has always felt like the Friendsgiving anthem to me, probably because I always misheard the chorus as “we are the sons of no one” but I still think it works, so here it is.

The Go! Team “Everyone’s a VIP to Someone”

More vibes.

Otis Redding “I Want to Thank You”

Had to get in a song that’s just straight up about gratitude, and what better than this? A love song about just appreciating being loved.

Richard & Linda Thompson “I Want to See the Bright Lights Tonight”

My hometown is Kansas City, and every year on Thanksgiving night there’s a local tradition where they turn all the Christmas lights on at this shopping district called The Country Club Plaza. Everyone goes out and drinks and this song makes me think about that. After a long week, just take me to the messiest place in town doing the corniest thing.

Sugar Pie DeSanto & Etta James “In The Basement”

I visited my wife’s extended family for Thanksgiving one year and we all got drunk off of vodka and lemonade in their wood paneled basement and every time I hear this song, I’m there again picking songs off their 45 jukebox.

Green Day “Macy’s Day Parade”

For me, Green Day is at their best when they’re doing whatever this is.

Vince Guaraldi “Thanksgiving Theme”

Continue the vibe…

Billie Holiday “Autumn in New York”

We’re starting to get to the quiet part of Thanksgiving, the mood is quiet and cold, but wrapped up by a fire.

R.E.M. “Nightswimming”

Not an explicitly Thanksgiving song, but a song you know is great, but rarely listen to because it’s emotionally devastating, yet sometimes you have to. That’s Thanksgiving.

Bob Dylan “Wigwam”

I don’t know why this song is called “Wigwam,” but it’s always made me think about the end of a party and gently shoo-ing everyone out the door into the snow.

Son Volt “Windfall”

Back on the road, a little less jaunty than when you started.

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