Baby Blue - Badfinger

Baby Blue - Badfinger

3:37

Straight Up, 1972

Written by Pete Ham

The only exposure to Badfinger's music I've ever had is though occasionally hearing it on classic rock radio.  This one was featured in the finale of "Breaking Bad," a show I love a lot, but I don't recall its use in the episode, either.  So, while I technically know this song, I didn't recognize it from the title, so I'm putting it in the playlist.  Ham wrote the song about a woman named Dixie Armstrong, whom he had dated during the band's last tour.  It's a lost love song, melancholic in lyric but couched in such a catchy melody and beautiful harmonies (even a very Beatles-esque "What can I do" plaint in the bridge) that it exudes contentment more than loss.

Negative Neighborhood - Salt Orchard

Negative Neighborhood - Salt Orchard

2:50

Salt Orchard, 2018

Written by Kieran Harris, Max Souders, and Ben Zamarron

This is some far-out, Zappa-tinged jazz rock.  The vocals are powerful, insistent if not operatic, a sort of half-talking, half-droning that commands the listener.  The lyrics begin in a very American-tinged French: "Qu'est-ce qu tu fais / Qu'est-ce que tu dis / Mon longue [langue?] était bon et tu es une rie."  The English part, when it comes, may not be any more intelligible to Anglophone ears: "Any day but you seem not to know my / And then there she stood / The helm of her negative neighborhood."  Whether these are genuinely surreal lyrics, deliberately garbled ones, or simply impossible to decipher, the effect is the same. Meaning takes a back seat to sound.  It's impressionistic, free-form, a fusion of bop and rock, and it grabs your attention, nonsense notwithstanding.

Big Trucks - Pedro the Lion

Big Trucks - Pedro the Lion

2:34

It's Hard To Find a Friend, 1998

Written by David Bazan

This is a conversation song between a son and a father.  The boy, perhaps an impulsive teenager, asks his father why he took some unspecified insult calmly rather than getting physical, suggesting the father should have "beat him down to the ground."  Rather than lecture, the father, like Jesus, uses a simple metaphor to try to explain to the callous youth that other people have feelings and are trying their best as they can in this crazy old world: "There's real people in the big, big trucks / That you flip off when they get in your way."  They may not be able to go as fast as a Tran Am, but they're doing their best.  As in the parable of the sower, the father's words fall on the stony ground of his impetuous boy's ears.  Musically, it's lo-fi folk-rock, reminiscent of Yo La Tengo or Crooked Fingers.

Baltimore - Prince

Baltimore - Prince

4:34

Hit n Run Phase Two, 2015

Written by Prince

This song was inspired by the police murder of Michael Brown in St. Louis, Missouri, and the depraved-heart manslaughter of Freddy Gray in Baltimore while in a police van.  The song, with handclaps, group-chanted choruses, gospel-inspired vocals, funky guitar lines, and bright horns and strings, sounds much more positive and upbeat than the lyrical content would indicate.  "Are we gonna see another bloody day? / We're tired of the cryin' and people dyin' / Let's take all the guns away."  It's a song of hope, an exhausted plea for justice and love, not a fiery song of rage and despair.

Big City Cat - Steve Forbert

Big City Cat - Steve Forbert

2:51

Alive On Arrival, 1978

Written by Steve Forbert

I only know Forbert from the fantastic "Romeo's Tune."  When he arrived on the scene in 1978, his record company tried to market him as the new Dylan.  This was a common habit of PR guys at the time whenever a songwriter had literary lyrics and a slightly offbeat voice. The comparison never made much sense. Forbert has his own folk-rock style, and his observational songwriting has more in common with Randy Newman or Loudon Wainwright III than Dylan.  This jazzy number, featuring David Sanborn on some sweet sax breaks, describes the life of a hungry artist in the unpolished Big Apple.  Tongue firmly in cheek, Forbert describes being an anonymous cog amidst the grime and filth, the oddballs and criminals with a mix of journalist's eye and poet's dark humor: "There's some kinda lunatic followin' me / He's down by the john so I can't take a pee / I'm supposed to be happy, I'm here where it's at / I'm a face in the crowd; I'm a big city cat."

Boat Drinks - Jimmy Buffett

Boat Drinks - Jimmy Buffett

2:37

Volcano, 1979

Written by Jimmy Buffett

One of Buffett's funnier songs, this one depicts a man going stir crazy, yearning for warmer climates, as his band orders tropical cocktails and watches hockey.  "Lately, newspaper mentioned cheap air fare / I gotta to fly to Saint Somewhere / I'm close to bodily harm."  It was inspired by real events — Buffett was stuck in Boston in the winter, and stole a taxi he found idling in the street rather than stay cooped up one minute longer.  Beneath the breezy melody is an all-too-real portrait of a man whose surroundings and yearning for something better drive him to desperation, making the song both one of Buffett's catchiest singalongs and one of his sharpest comic character sketches.

Baby We're Really In Love - Hank Williams

Baby We're Really In Love - Hank Williams

single, 1951

Written by Hank Williams

With lyrics evoking the goofy talk of the doe-eyed fallen hard into puppy love ("I run around in circles / And turn in fire alarms / I'm nutty as a fruitcake / When you're not in my arms"), I doubt that Hank wrote a song as cheerful as this one.  Its brisk honky-tonk energy could even be said to hint at rock 'n' roll tempo, and in the message there's even a winking hint at sex — in country music, circle 1951, gasp!

Bourama - Kora Jazz Trio

Bourama - Kora Jazz Trio

4:40

Part IV, 2018

Written by Kora Jazz Trio

The Trio is made up of members from Senegal and Guinea who blend the rhythmic language of West Africa with the harmonic sophistication of American jazz.  This song is heavy on the balafon, an instrument akin to a xylophone.  The shimmering kora, a stringed instrument, converses with Western piano lines.  The name Bourama is linked to the Mandinka language family (found in Senegal, Guinea-Bissau, and the Gambia), where it can be interpreted as "the noble one" or "the respected one."

Sh-Boom - The Chords

Sh-Boom - The Chords

2:25

single, 1954

Written by James Keyes, Claude & Carl Feaster, Floyd F. McRae, and William Edwards

A rocking doo-wop declaration of love: "If only all my precious plans would come true / If you would let me spend my whole life lovin' you."  Sure, that's all well and good, but luckily they had the presence of mind to include the immortal words "Bom ba / Hey nonny ling long, alang alang alanga / Oh oh a dip, a bibba do a dip."  The Chords begin with a cappella harmonies before the band eases in, giving the song the feeling of a neighborhood street-corner performance that suddenly blossoms into a full production. The lead vocal has an easy, conversational warmth, while the full vocals brim with an irresistible excitement.  A sultry bass bridge takes center stage, the calm before the whole band takes over again .  Later in 1954, a palatably white version was recorded by the Crew-Cuts, but history has favored the original.

Speedoo - The Cadillacs

Speedoo - The Cadillacs

2:18

The Fabulous Cadillacs, 1955

Written by Esther Navarro

If you've ever heard the Paul Simon line "She called him Speedoo / But his Christian name / Was Mr. Earl" in the terrific song "Was a Sunny Day," and wondered what that was all about, this uptempo doo-wop is the inspiration.  Very commonly but always incorrectly listed as "Speedo," it's sung by Earl Carroll and tells of a lothario who moves fast, taking other people's girls: "Well now, they often call me Speedoo / 'Cause I don't believe in wastin' time."  Its got one of the catchiest choruses in doo-wop.