A Very Wild Playlist

Max, above all else, is a child. His experiences within the ten sentences of Maurice Sendak's WHERE THE WILD THINGS ARE exemplify the rawness and wildness of childhood alongside the need for play and love. In my music selections I've tried to find pieces with a similar raw quality with as many of them performed by children as possible.

Conor Oberst, the man who would grow up to form the quintessentially emo Bright Eyes, proves with "Things You Know" that he's been angsty for a long time. At age 14, his squeaking and whiny voice matches very closely with what I imagine Max's voice sounds like when he screams to his mother "I'LL EAT YOU UP!" As the song progresses Oberst's wild strumming matches his vocals climaxing in what closely resembles a young boy's roar ( in the video see 0:42 & 2:10). It's clear that both of them are, as Oberst says "acting like a child," but neither of them completely realize it. Young Max, like young Oberst, hyperbolizes his situation. Max runs away from home to escape his punishment while Oberst bemoans his life by quickly jumping from "lying here for a while now" to "dying here for a while now."

With "In The Garage," Weezer paints a picture of a nerdy, social outcast who finds solace in the garage. At Max's age there are not nerds and jocks but instead children who dress up in wolf costumes and children who don't. Max's mother doesn't understand him but in his room "no one cares about [his] ways." When Max's mother sends him to his room for punishment she actually opens up his world to him. Max is king of his room and is able to rock out or behave as wildly as he wants because in his room "no one hears [him]."
This live version of "In The Garage" has the same loud, electric rock feel as the album version but is less processed and sounds more raw and untamed much like Max and the forest that grows in his room.

Wildfire is a horse who rescues the song's narrator from a tame life. For Max, "Wildfire" is his own imagination which saves him from the drabness of his bedroom. The huge, childish choral sound of the Langley School is what I imagine a child's imagination would sound like. The children's unique voices are filled with a hopeful innocence which combine to create a full and complete picture. In creating his jungle Max adds on layer after layer until he's created something complete. He leaves his room behind, like the song's narrator, in favor of something wild.

Typically, men have to wait until their mid to late twenties to become jaded enough to isolate themselves from society. Paul Simon was was twenty-four when he originally released "I Am A Rock." However, there's a reason that this sort of retreatism and isolationism is referred to as "acting like a child." For a grown man, this type of behavior is a regression. For Max, it's the appropriate actions for an immature young wolf-boy. Max, like the song's speaker, sees himself as an impenetrable, isolated "rock." Max doesn't feel the need for the love of his mother or even the camaraderie of the Wild Things. He isolates himself at the top becoming the king of the Wild Things "with the magic trick of staring into all their yellow eyes without blinking once.” In a well worded parallel, Simon metaphorically claims to be "an island" and Max becomes king of an island. In both of these works, these self-isolating individuals find a connection between their visions of self and the vision of a lone island.

Simon sings the song's simple maxims ("I am a rock.") with a confidence that could easily be transferred to the image of Max sitting confidently in his boat for one. The tone of the song is not sad or lonely, as might be expected from it's jaded lyrics. Simon sings the song as a celebration of his solitude. The guitar is poppy and triumphant, matching Max's shrewd smirk, as if to say "Take that Mom." Max is a mighty and victorious loner.

"And now," cried Max, "let the wild rumpus start!"

The screaming children in the intro of MGMT's "Kids" is what I imagine Max and all the Wild Things sound like during their wild rumpus. Regardless of their silly and mosterous appearances, they've got the innocence of a child's playground. Their swinging, dancing, and marching is not viciously wild, but childishly so. The upbeat tempo and light, happy instrumentation makes it difficult not to grove just a little during "Kids." This light, joyousness is important to Max's childish character.

Lyrically, the song also taps into Max's childish psyche. As a kid, Max doesn't grasp the idea of restraint or self-control. He reacts hyperbolically to his mother's punishment by running away and then, when he reaches the land of the Wild Things, he demands to be crowned king. Max doesn't calculate; he follows his whims, as a callow child would be expected to do. MGMT depicts a child, similar to Max, who spends time "makin momma so proud" but also disappoints by yelling, and causing other childish mischief. MGMT urges their childish listeners to "control yourself," and to use temperance, much like Max's mother begs of him.

"Gobbledigook" by Sigur Ros

I didn't post lyrics for this song because they're in a made up language called "Hopelandic." Much like the song above, "Gobbledigook" taps into Max's reckless abandon. The music video, which I link inseparably to the song itself, shows a mob of stripped youths running and playing in the forest. These naked revelers like Max, have dropped their societal responsibilities and are being carried only by joyous and innocent Dionysian celebration. Max is able to abandon his ties for the freedom of whimsy and what he presumes will be a life of "gobbledigook."

Sonically, much like MGMT's "Kids," "Gobbledigook" has a driving drum beat and fast tempo, giving the song the feel of a celebratory dance. The shakers and multiple drums used in "Gobbledigook" give this song a much more tribal feel than "Kids," which is clearly a modern dance song. The tribalism is yet another detachment from the adult world that Max rejects. At times the voices sing in simple choruses of nonsense ululations, giving the song the same wild and primal feeling that Max's wolf costume brings about.

[The full version of this music video is much more aligned with Max's innocent and wild rumpus than the stills version on YouTube but it's not safe to watch at work. It can be downloaded for free at the band's website: http://www.sigurros.com/dvd3.asp]

It's not all joy and jubilance for Max though. After being king of the Wild Things for only four brief pages, Max learns a valuable lesson: it's lonely at the top. Cat Power's "The Greatest" uses a morose stringed orchestra and smooth piano to capture the sadness that often accompanies greatness. Lyrically, Cat Power looks back with nostalgia on an earlier time, when greatness still seemed powerful. She's reached the top but now only wishes to be "melted down." Paralleling the frown that eventually adorns itself on Max's crowned head, this song's mournful tone makes it clear that greatness isn't always all that it's cracked up to be.

Daniel Johnston, like Max is undependable and juvenile. Fighting a lifelong battle with mental illness, Johnston's music comes from a place of raw honesty or imagination often found only in children. Like Conner Oberst's song which opened this playlist, this recording of "To Go Home," has a grainy and crude quality. Vocally, Daniel Johnston sounds much more like a boy than a grown man. He is rough and immature like the young Max. And, despite this wildness Johnston, like Max can ultimately see the value of home. Johnston sees rough waters as he sails "on a sinking ship," much like Max's disenchantment with the monsters. This song sends out the message that the home will always be the ultimate destination, even for wild thing.