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As daylight saving time nears, here are 50 songs to remember time is a construct

Photo illustration by Miguel Perez
/
WXPN

If there's one thing I am loath to do, it's wake up early. So it's with great reticence that I accept the turning back of the clocks this Sunday for daylight saving time.

Luckily, there's a great deal of music that does an excellent job of stretching time like putty — turning our minutes into hours. Do you know what I mean? One moment, we're getting down to Donna Summer's "I Feel Love," and the next, the server at Waffle House is asking for your order and you're wondering why the clock on the wall says it's 3:30 a.m.

These songs are great if you're looking to knit an entire scarf in one session; or you're on that one part of the road trip where everyone's tired of listening to you; or you just need to dissociate for a couple of hours.

There's the music you'd expect to hear as you're falling into a wormhole: Portishead, Tame Impala and Pink Floyd, for instance. A touch of Primal Scream. A dash of The Flaming Lips. There's a 26-minute version of "Tubular Bells," if that's something you're into. I added a touch of Yaeji and Oklou, to keep things fresh.

Most of these song selections were made by World Cafe contributing host Stephen Kallao and programming coordinator Chelsea Johnson. Enjoy!

Copyright 2025 XPN

Miguel Perez
Miguel Perez is a radio producer for NPR's World Cafe, based out of WXPN in Philadelphia. Before that, he covered arts, music and culture for KERA in Dallas. He reported on everything from the rise of NFTs in the music industry to the enduring significance of gay and lesbian bars to the LGBTQ community in North Texas.