The Playlist: Almost Over

There are only a few days left in the current special session, so we lead off our playlist inspired by the week's news in Texas politics and policy with "Almost Over" by Elliott Smith.

The easiest way to enjoy the playlist is to download Spotify, which is a free program. But even without it, you can still follow along. Here are this week's other selections:

The House State Affairs Committee caused controversy by cutting off public testimony on bills to restrict abortion just before dawn on Friday morning before everyone had their chance to weigh in. For those who wanted to keep going, we have Queen's "Don't Stop Me Now."

And for anyone hoping for a decision in the state's ongoing school finance trial, we recommend heeding the advice in Blues Traveler's "Just Wait." A new trial on the matter has been scheduled for early 2014. The Trib's Jay Root wrote about the building anticipation of an announcement from Gov. Rick Perry about his political future. For that story, we included "Any Day Now" by Ronnie Milsap.

Meanwhile, a feud between state Sen. Tommy Williams, R-The Woodlands, and state Sen. Dan Patrick, R-Houston, has been escalating, so we added Dave Mason's "We Just Disagree." And for an effort by state Rep. Jim Pitts, R-Waxahachie, to impeach University of Texas System Regent Wallace Hall, we have JoJo's "Leave (Get Out)."

Legislators moved closer this week to passing a bill that would solve constitutional problems that have left prosecutors without sentencing options for 17-year old murderers, so we added the song "17" by Youth Lagoon. On behalf of World War II hero Audie Murphy, who still has yet to receive a Texas Legislative Medal of Honor, we added Simple Minds' "Don't You (Forget About Me)."

Seventeen Democrats in the Texas Legislature participated in a new video as part of the "It Gets Better" campaign offering support to gay teens. So we included a song by Fun. with the same name. And we close by acknowledging the week's release of the latest University of Texas/Texas Tribune poll with The Mynabirds' "Numbers Don't Lie."

Enjoy!