NPR Music - A Thanksgiving playlist: songs of joy and gratitude

Episode Date: November 25, 2025

Hosts Robin Hilton and Stephen Thompson share stories and songs of gratitude from NPR listeners.Note: This is an encore presentation that originally ran in 2024Featured songs and artists:1. Yo-Yo Ma and Alison Krauss: "Simple Gifts," from Classic Yo-Yo2. Bill Withers: "Lean On Me," from Still Bill3. The Mountain Goats: "This Year," from The Sunset Tree4. Crosby, Stills & Nash: "Suite: Judy Blue Eyes," from Crosby, Stills & Nash5. Louis Armstrong: "What A Wonderful World"6. John Williams: "End Credits," from E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial (Music from the Original Motion Picture Soundtrack)7. Blackalicious: "Make You Feel That Way," from Blazing Arrow8. Tyler Childers: "Space and Time," from Rustin' in the Rain9. Nina Simone: "Isn't It A Pity," from Emergency Ward! (Live)10. Bob Marley & The Wailers: "Three Little Birds," from ExodusEnjoy the show? Send it to a friend and leave us a review on Apple, Spotify, or wherever you listen to podcasts. Questions, comments, suggestions or feedback of any kind always welcome: [e-mail] pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for sponsorship and to manage your podcast sponsorship preferences.NPR Privacy Policy

Well, you know, when you think of music written for specific holidays, nothing really, you know, comes even remotely close to Christmas, right? No. I mean, that's where all the money is. That's where so much money is. I mean, that, around the Christmas season, the billboard charts for an entire month are like almost nothing, but Andy Williams. Right, right.

Right. Yeah. Not a ton of music really written for Thanksgiving. You know, you don't think of Thanksgiving and think, um, Time to go Thanksgiving caroling or... Let's all just gather around the cornucopia and sing Thanksgiving carols. Exactly. Right.

But it is a time for reflection, obviously, and a time to get together with the people that you love. And since it is a time for thanks, I mean, it's right there in the name. It's literally in the name there. If you parse the root words. Since it is a time for thanks, we decided that we would ask listeners to tell us. about a song that they're thankful for, a song. You know, maybe one that lifts them up or just reminds them of what's important in life or just, you know, makes them feel grateful for what they have.

And so on this episode, we're going to share some of those stories and song picks that we got from listeners. We have a couple of our own. Let's just start with one of the voice memos we got and we'll get right to it. All right. Well, our first pick from a listener is from Tracy in West Hartford, Connecticut. She picks simple gifts, which is a shaker hymn. It's a folk song written by Joseph Brackett in the 1800s. There are a lot of versions out there.

I actually know this as the music that plays in the background of the Kalikovision game, the Smurfs. First thing anyone thinks about, of course. I would imagine most people are having the same reaction. You just think of the song in like harsh eight-bit tones repeated in like a three-second loop as you play this video game. Aaron Copeland used a variation of it for Appalachian Spring. The version that Tracy picked is one by Yo-Yo Ma and Alison Krause. All right, here's Tracy. This song speaks to me as it's spiritual, it's artistic.

It's easy for people to sing, but it speaks in both an instrumental and a vocal way. And the basic thing is, everybody turns, turns, and lands in the place that they need to be. It is the gift to be simple. Tis the gift is the gift. When we find ourselves in the place just right, twill be in. I actually thought about playing the version from the Smurf video game, but I thought, I can't punk. our listener Tracy like that. With what is just such a beautiful song,

I couldn't strike a more perfect tone for now, whatever now is. I mean, this feels like the right song for, particularly this version. A lot of people picked songs about gratitude and perspective and giving thanks. And I think it actually adjusted my own thinking about this assignment because my original thought was like,

what's a song I'm grateful for? I'm just going to pick a song I love. Right. But it's like, oh, I want to pick a song I love about finding that perspective. Yeah. On what matters to us. Yeah. A friend once told me that he thought I was very simple but happy, and I took great offense

at this. I am a very... I contain multitudes. I am very complex. Over the years, I've come to realize, well, he was totally right. But, you know, to keep life simple is to be unburdened by the baloney of it all in some ways. So I thought this was a great pick, simple gifts, the version by Yo-Yo Ma and Alison Krauss. I want to go to a listener named Heather in Seattle in the song that she wrote to us about.

I'm quoting from Heather's note here. She says, we host a Friendsgiving every year. And after taking a break for me to fight breast cancer, we brought it back last year. Our giving thanks activity was to pick a song for someone at the table. My friend Julie picked Lean on Me, the Bill Withers song, Lean on Me for me because of how I helped others, but all I could see was a room full of friends that got me through the toughest year of my life. There wasn't a dry eye in the room as we all sang the song together. So many people picked this song. Another Bill Withers track that came up a lot was Lovely Day.

Sure. But I wanted to play Lean on Me, particularly because I really loved the whole scene that Heather said, you know, what she shared in her note, the image of friends coming together and just being wonderful to each other. Yeah, it's such a tribute to found family. It's such a tribute to community and surrounding yourself with people who nourish you. There's nothing better you can do when, no matter what you're going through, there's nothing better you can do than lean on your friends. And be there for them if they need to lean on.

And be there for them, exactly. Exactly. Yeah. I mean, that was the universal theme that people spoke about all the people who picked this song in the hundreds of submissions that we got. It was just how critical companionship is now. And it's something that has gotten so hard in recent years to maintain those friendships and everything. Let's get to another written one that we got from one of our listeners. Yeah, boy, this one's a big one for me.

This is one of my favorite songs. No, I know. And this song has gotten me through some hard times. And I, too, I will co-sign everything that Grace in Colorado Springs says about this song. She wrote to us about the song this year by The Mountain Goats. This is a song I've returned to time and time again over the years, because even though it's about surviving being a teenager and I'm about to be 40, the chorus's refrain is such a centering mantra in times of stress.

I am going to make it through this year if it kills me. Every year I hope I won't need such self-empowerment, and every year so far I have, instead, been deeply grateful that it exists to bolster me through. For maximum catharsis, she writes, I recommend screaming the lyrics at your steering wheel. And I will tell you, Grace in Colorado Springs, I have done this. I can't imagine a song striking a more perfect balance between sort of a kiss-off to everything that you want to leave behind and, you know, marching towards the future. and putting it all behind you, but it's not like too angry, right? Or unforgiving.

Yeah, well, in the sense that wherever you flee, something is chasing you. Right. There's this incredible line in this song where he's talking about this relationship, you know, him and Kathy, and he yells out twin high maintenance machines. Like he's talking about vehicles,

but like they are twin high maintenance machines. And so it's like, it has this note of self-awareness to it and kind of this sense of like, oh man, I'm such a literary cliche at the same time as like I am deep in pain. Yeah. And I really think, honest to God, I mean, I think I know that this song has really helped people. Yeah.

This song has really given people a mantra a way of pushing through some hardship in their life and just this sense of like, I'm going to get through this. Well, this is one that I have actually seen. seen come up a number of times, not just in this callout, but other call, basically, anytime we ask listeners for something that makes them feel good or reassures them or pulls them out of whatever funk they're in, this song inevitably comes up as one of the choices. So I was not surprised to see it in this mix and very happy to as well. All right, let's get to another one of the voice memos we got, one of the audio clips that people

And this is one from a listener named Shannon in Arizona. And the song that they picked is called Sweet Judy Blue Eyes. Whenever my dad and I would hear it on the radio in the car, he would wait for this one part where the beat changes. It's kind of like right before they start the... Do do do do do do do do do do do do do. Right before that part, there's two beats. and he would wait for it, wait, wait, and then tap his hands on the steering wheel.

And I always wait for that part, and I'll always have that part, even when he's gone. It's getting to the point where I'm no fun. I am sorry. Sometimes it hurts so badly I must cry. out loud I am lonely I am yours you are mine you are what you are give it all remember what we've said and done and felt about each other if we've have mercy don't let the past remind remind I am not now.

I am not dreaming. I am yours. You are mine. You are what you are. You make it hard. I love this song so much. And it is one that I am thankful for to. My mom's name was Judy.

And she had blue eyes. And every time this song came on when I was a little kid, it was sort of like the, oh, it's mom's song. an unofficial anthem for her, but do you ever see the movie Interstellar? Oh, yeah. I love that movie. It's all about sort of the vastness

of time and life and love and you know, all the mysteries of life and the universe. There's this moment. Told in a neat four and a half hour package. Very tidy, very easy to follow. It's probably one of the reasons why I've watched it so many times as you get something,

you begin to understand something new each time, but there's this moment that is not difficult to understand, when one of the characters observes that after their kids were born, they realized that from that moment on, they were basically there to be memories for their children. And I think of that all the time because, you know, I want my kids to have good memories of me. And it's why, you know, whenever I'm woken up in the middle of the night or something like that, I get for something. Don't throw the lamp. It's like, it's like, Hey, buddy, okay, you know, because I want to have, I want them to have good memories of me.

But I guess I'm thinking of that, thinking of that because I love the memory that Shannon shares about her dad. And this song, it's clear that it is a massively important memory to her. And, you know, I wonder if he was ever even aware that it imprinted on her. Yeah, even knew that he did it. I mean, a little parenting advice for people who want to, uh, to, imprint positive memories on their kids, sit them down, kind of gather around with some recording equipment, and record a podcast together. Oh, interesting. That's a great idea. Like, don't, you know, you're not, you don't need to publish it. You don't need to share it with the world.

What market are we looking at here? Let's talk metrics. Get some ears on it. Get, um, just like make a document of a conversation. We called it, we called ours Thompson family, happy half hour. Half hour. Um, and the, the first episode we ever recorded together was seven. It was seven, 70 minutes long. And the only topic was ways we irritate each other. Oh, wow. And well, is there anything more appropriate for the holidays than reflecting on all the ways your family? On grievances. Oh, yeah, all your little grievances. So I, you know, so I think that is a lovely way of kind of engineering some of those memories.

But as Shannon illustrated, sometimes it's going to be something you didn't even know you were doing. Really, really lovely and so glad to play that song as well. What do you got? Well, I've got Adrienne in Holtzville, New York. Adrian writes in about the song What a Wonderful World by Louis Armstrong. This is a song, a lot of people pick. This song has been giving comfort to people for generations and generations. It is resurfaced and resurged onto the pop charts as it's appeared in movies like Good Morning Vietnam.

This song never goes away. and rightfully, rightfully so. Adrian writes, I love the lyrics and reminding us how wonderful the world is. I love the imagery of the beautiful colors in a rainbow and the beautiful scenery all around us. I especially love the lyric of seeing people shaking hands saying, How do you do? I am thankful for this wonderful world and pray for peace and love.

I see trees of green, red roses too. I see them blue. for me and you and I think to myself what a wonderful world I see skies are blue white bright blessed day the dark sacred night

and I think to myself what a wonderful word Yeah I mean this is one of those songs like you said It's been resurfaced so much many times over the many, many decades that you forget how remarkable it is, right? Just how perfect and beautiful it is, but I love how Adrian, the listener who wrote in about it, I love that they pointed out that part in the song about people shaking hands and saying, How do you do?

How do you do? The simple little acts of kindness that hold us all together. We spend all day, every day thinking about the many, many things that are wrong with the world. and there are a great many things wrong with the world. But there is also beauty everywhere you look, and there's kindness everywhere you look, and there are good people everywhere you look. And it doesn't mean that all the bad stuff ceases to exist

or that you're ignoring it or that you're deluded in some ways. It just means remember to seek joy and beauty, because it's out there. Yeah, well said. It's a sentiment in this song that reminds me a little bit of what's going on in that song by Ben Folds that I love so much. Christine from the seventh grade when he says, you know, there's a break in the rain, a perfect time for a walk, the smell of wet leaves, warm smiles and hellos. These things exist in the real world, you know. Just those acts of kindness like that, just a simple little gesture like that.

So it was not surprised to see this one as well. And again, like you said, so many people picked it. What a wonderful world by Louis Armstrong. You know, we each brought our own picks. And when I was coming to this whole theme of what's a song you're thankful for. One of the ways that I looked at it was what is a song that I can't imagine my life without, not just thankful for, but you know, I am thankful for it, but a song that is so a part of my DNA that I just would not be whole or who I am without it, right? I would still be me. I would just be less than me. And I realized that I could not limit it to just one song or one one album. Robin, you told us we haven't limit this to one song. No, I have to, the following 14 songs. I have to go with the entire body of work by this one artist.

And that artist is John Williams. Okay. The composer John Williams cannot even come close to overstating how important John Williams and his music has been to me. My understanding, my entire life. Yeah? The very first album I bought when I was in, I think, first or second grade was the soundtrack to Jaws. I mean? I bought it on eight track.

I was obsessed with it. And I hadn't even seen the movie. All I had seen was because I was too young. Right. I had only seen the movie poster. And I was like, I want to listen. But his, you know, that's the thing about his scores is they take you into the movie. Whether you've seen it or not.

Whether you've seen it or not. Or let's say you've seen it or not. Let's say you've seen it and you want to relive it. Just listen to the music. He scored essentially my entire childhood. Oh, yeah. You know, it was the soundtrack of my life. But the one that I still listen to just for pleasure, even now, I'm telling you I listen to this on a walk maybe within the last couple of weeks.

Okay. It's the soundtrack to E.T. Oh. It is what I listen to when I need to feel good. and it is just an extraordinary score. This is the final cut that appears on the album. It's called simply the end credits. This is a song, the moment those first piano notes play,

my heart just explodes out of my chest. I don't know if you can tell, but this is an incredibly difficult piece to play. Oh, yes. Yeah, incredibly difficult. That melody, that's John Williams. His melodies are everything. And his music is just full of so much magic and wonder,

and when I listen, even now, all these years later, I am filled with that sense of magic and wonder. And it takes me away in a way that makes me believe in the world that I want to live in. This piece from E.T. is such a great reminder of his brilliance because there's a playfulness to it, but it's a little unsettled. Yeah, definitely. The pattern is a little bit of a jumble of notes,

and it's constantly pulling you out of this sense of, It's not just a sense of wonder. It's a sense of mystery. Yeah. And my God, I mean, you know, you could talk about some of his more serious scores too. I mean, he did Jurassic Park. Think about Jurassic Park. And then Schindler's List.

Yeah, same year. The Schindler's List score. It's devastating and it's kind of impossible to divorce it from the movie. But if you somehow can, it's also just a beautiful piece of music. Gorgeous. News Flash. John Williams. really good at writing movie score.

I hear the guy writes pretty good music. I hear he's pretty good. I mean, I could talk for hours, obviously, about John Williams, but it did not take long for me when I started thinking about it. Like, well, what is music that I am not who I am without? Or, you know, I could not live without. And he was the first thing that popped into mind. I kind of went a little bit more toward the theme.

Do you know the song, Cherry Pie? Just bear with me. There's a story to it. Let me tell you the story. I decided to go in the direction of gratitude a little bit. Yeah. And to talk a little bit more about like a song that really conveys the spirit of a lot of the songs that we've been talking about and that convey the spirit of Thanksgiving. It's a song from 2002 by a duo called Blackalicious. and Blackalicious wonderful, wonderful, wonderful hip-hop group led by the very, very sadly,

now no longer with us, Gift of Gab, who was extremely appropriately named because Gift of Gab was one of the best rappers in the business, just could do these extremely tongue-twisty, long, you know, extremely detailed raps,

but also infused them with such humanity. Yeah. And this song, it's called Make You Feel That Way, sums up so much of just the joy of living. Christmas Day when your mama got your first bite. Type of a woman when you were in one your first fight. How your team felt winning championship came.

Celebrate in a huddle dancing in this rain. Have a thought to see a shooting store across your screen. Put in hard work, finally you live in your dream. Deaf man get his hearing out income vibes. Blind man gaining psych, see his first sunrise. Dumb man speaking out. Now he's loud and clear. Your child's so proud you wear

Going in your third eye, I put the stows your head Making music that'll thump for a thousand years Eating right, feeling conscious like help is first Set a prayer that's sincere when you felt it worked Times I feel I want to shout man, it's real that way When I'm thinking things that make you feel that way Feel that way All up in her vibes, something coming over me

Summer days more likely that you notice breezes Winter days more likely that you notice heat When I'm warm, more likely that you notice me In the darkest, more likely that you notice light And the light more likely that you notice night Hungry, more appreciation for that meal. Dead broke, more appreciation for that squirrel. A bad day I'll make you really notice once it's good.

And I don't make things a little better up to stood. Times I feel the one to shout, man, it's real that way. When I take a thing that's that make you feel that way. It's all those little memories and details of life that are so easy to miss. Yeah, and it's just taking stock of all the things that make life worth living. And I think that's certainly what you hope Thanksgiving is about. Thanksgiving in many ways is my favorite holiday, in part because I love taking stock of things that make me happy. That's a fun thing to do, and I love my family.

And so, like, there's a way that he bends the lyrics slightly where he's kind of listing his own joys, right? Like the hip-hop music that he fell in love with and dates that he's been on and the joy of getting, like, a perfect haircut and stuff. But then there's just that one line, find a $100 bill. Wow, man, that's great. Wow. Hey, that's great. And I think that's such a, there's something really sweet about that line because all of a sudden it's like you found a hundred dollar bill. That's great. And I think that's part of where the warmth of this song comes from is like, I will be nourished by your list of things that make you happy. Yeah, great pick. When you told me you, we, I didn't know what you were going to pick, but you just said it was from 2002. I was to start racking my brain. What was happening in 2002? I would not have guessed that you were going to pick this one. But, I would have guessed that you were going to pick this one. But I, um, I would just said, It's a great pick.

Great thing. Yeah, it's a great song. All right, we've got another audio voice memo clip that we got from someone. This is from our listener named Jay Shakespeare English, J. Shakespeare English in North Richland Hills, Texas. And the song that they picked is called Space and Time by Tyler Childers. As a displaced young adult, I struggled through mental illness and the wandering brought about by feeling as if I didn't belong anywhere. Growing up, a religious in the South without a family or a church. It was tough.

I now have my own children and I'm a teacher. And the song really taps into that essence that Tennyson spoke about in Ulysses. I'm a part of all I've met. Every lonely night, every mistake or misstep led me to this place and the people I'm fortunate to know. I just want my babies and my students and all the others that I come across to know how proud I am of them and how infinitely thankful I am to be a small part of their space and time. You know, we had Jason Manzukas on the show earlier this year, the comedian and the actor. And we were talking about how much we love records and vinyl.

And I said, you know, they're kind of like family. And Jason was like family. He said, some of my best friends are 45s. But listening to Jay, the listener who sent us in the voicemail, Listening to Jay, talk about why this song is so important to them. It's just such a great reminder of how music can be your best companion sometimes. Your closest companion, especially when you feel like there's no one else there for you and you're looking for some sort of recognition and acknowledgement and validation and comfort

and it can come to you in music like this. Yeah, I think music has this incredible power to fortify things you didn't realize that you knew. and music is just such an empathetic art. Yeah. And I love knowing that there are teachers like Jay in the world because you can tell Jay is a hell of a teacher. Yeah. This song in particular, you know,

it's about making sure, I think anyway, at least in part, about making sure that you don't live with any regret, particularly when it comes to letting the people in your life know that you love them and how important they are to you, I guess gratitude is sort of implicit in all of that. So the song Space and Time by Tyler Childers. That's from the album Rustin in the Rain. Let's go to another one of the written comments that we got from the listener.

Yeah, this is from Sarah in South Philly. Sarah picks the song Isn't It a Pity, which was written by George Harrison and covered by Nina Simone. Sarah writes, It's brilliance gobsmacked me when I first heard it randomly on a college radio station. I think it captures the current zeitgeist well. No explanation I can give. We'll do it justice. Go listen for yourself.

Isn't it a pity? Isn't it a shame how we break each other's hearts and cause each other pain? How we take each other's love without thinking anymore. Forgetting to give back, forgetting to remember, just forgetting a note of thank you, It a pity. Some things take so long. But how do I explain when not too many people can see

that we are all just the same? You know, we talk about the regret. Kind of wrapped up in that Tyler Childers song. That's what this one is about. Really, you know, it's about regret and disappointment over the ways that we mistreat each other. I've always struggled with. with whenever things are bad and they don't have to be, you know, when it's like self-inflicted

stuff. Oh, that just, the self-inflicted pain, it just drives me crazy. Yeah, there's enough unhappiness in the world. I don't need to be making my own. Right, you know, and I'm sure I, you know, I'm guilty of it too, but whenever I see it in the world, I'm just like, oh, my God, people. And, you know, you can feel in Nina Simone's version, like all that painful regret and disappointment, just, over our, kind of our worst impulses and behavior, you know? Yeah. How we take each other's love.

Most precious thing without thinking anymore. Forgetting to give back. Forgetting to keep open our door. Isn't it a pity? We got, oh my gosh, so many songs. Obviously, way more than we could ever fit on a single show. So we'll do a playlist, a Thanksgiving, playlist for all songs considered. If you search for NPR Music and Spotify and Apple, you'll find

it there. And we'll do an expanded playlist. We'll put all these songs, full versions of all these songs, and then, you know, a bunch of the others that we got from listeners. But I want to do one more before we go. Another song that a whole bunch of people picked, and maybe it will seem obvious when I tell you what it is. It's three little birds by Bob Marley. And I'll just pick a listener named Willie in Philadelphia who writes, this song brings instant joy. You can't, help it move to it when it's played. We've been grooving to this positive vibration since the 1970s, thankful to Bob Marley, and that I too now have my three little birds. All right, that'll do it for this special Thanksgiving edition of the show for NPR music. I'm Robin Hilton. I'm Stephen Thompson.

It's all songs considered.