Wherefore Art Thou, Elvis? - The Gaslight Anthem

Wherefore Art Thou, Elvis? - The Gaslight Anthem

3:02

Señor And the Queen, 2008

Written by Brian Fallon, Alex Rosamilia, Alex Levine, and Benny Horowitz

Fallon's Springsteen fixation is on full display on this song, which is no bad thing.  If you're going to follow in the footsteps of others, you might as well pick one of rock's great storytellers. Like Springsteen, Fallon writes in vivid, cinematic fragments of highways, prayers, summer nights, desperate hopes, all charged with the yearning of a young man trapped between romance and economic frustration: "I need a Cadillac ride, I need a soft summer night / Say a prayer for my soul, Señorita." Fallon has always worn his influences on his sleeve, and other master songwriters he admires pop up too: "Between the minor chord fall and the fourth and the fifth / It's a broken Hallelujah and a pain in my fist" gives the song a Cohen-like scriptural gravitas.  Fallon provides his own backing vocals here, double-tracking "ba ba ba" on his main song, giving his urgent, gritty bellow even more power.

We're Breaking Up - Against Me!

We're Breaking Up - Against Me!

3:57

White Crosses, 2010

Written by Laura Jane Grace

This is a raw, powerful song of the end of a relationship.  There's no finger-pointing, no dredging up the past, no wishful thinking or even regret.  Just a bleak assessment of a relationship dead in the water.  "It's the same way that it's always been /  The dynamic to the relationship never changes / You can't get what you want from me, and I can't get what I need from you."  The narrator laments the paucity of language: "This is the only way I know how to say we're not in love anymore." Despite the grim picture painted at the end of Grace's throat-shredding, impassioned delivery, the real emotional punch ends it: "I'm not giving up on us."

Wendy - The Beach Boys

Wendy - The Beach Boys

2:22
All Summer Long, 1964

Written by Brian Wilson and Mike Love

Despite being a casual fan of the Beach Boys all my life, more or less, I've never heard this one, which hit #44 on the Billboard Charts.  It's one of those songs in which the guy mopes because his girl left him.  "I never thought a guy could cry / 'Til you made it with another guy."  In the fine tradition of dumped dudes of any era, the narrator casts aspersions on Wendy's new beau: he's a liar, his future looks dim.  But as I've said before, there's never any accountability in these songs.  It's a decent early Boys track, though I find the high organ notes a little jarring.

When I Come Around - Water Tower

When I Come Around - Water Tower

2:40

single, 2026

Written by Billie Joe Armstrong, Mike Dirnt, and Tré Cool

I had high hopes for this bluegrass version of the Green Day classic. The original already runs on wiry momentum and melodic directness, and Water Tower have the right ingredients on paper to transform it into something ragged and exuberant. Instead, the performance feels oddly restrained.  The fiddle brings some welcome bounce, but the banjo and acoustic guitar settle into a lower-energy groove that never quite catches fire.  Above all, the vocalist seems fairly sedated.  Nothing is incompetent; the band is decent, the arrangement pleasant, but overall it conveys the impression that the band had to be cajoled into doing this cover rather than excited by the prospect.  

I've Got Gratitude! - Jake Minton

I've Got Gratitude! - Jake Minton

2:59

What Is Joy?, 2026

Written by Jake Minton?

This is a children's song, very informed by Weird Al Yankovic, especially in the elastic vocal delivery, but with a thunderous rock track behind it.  As the title says, this song encourages kids (and adults) to stop wallowing and poisoning everyone else's mood.  It's corny but sweet, especially when the silly voices and children's chorus come in, and anyway, it's well-intentioned and the songwriting is top-notch.  Check out these genuinely clever lines: "I got power to make it better / But I’m never gonna do it while I’m whining ’bout the weather / If I rain on your parade / It's only gonna make me wetter." That's the sort of solid, memorable wordplay that makes good children's music.

First, You've Got to Recognize God - The Burnadettes

First, You've Got to Recognize God - The Burnadettes

single, 1963

Written by George Fowler

The Burnadettes are an obscure female group on Divinity, Motown's gospel label.  This is a fiery, vocal-heavy gospel of the thundering denunciation variety.  There's not much melody beyond a few organ lines behind the voices, but I do enjoy the way the song points an accusing finger at book-learned nerdlingers: "Biologists, neurologists, psychologists, geologists / Out of all of the knowledge that you learned in college / First you've got to recognize God."  The whole point of the song is to say that you can't take credit for anything, even your innate intelligence, as it too came from God.

I've Got the World On a String - Frank Sinatra

I've Got the World On a String - Frank Sinatra

2:08

single, 1953

Written by Harold Arlen and Ted Koehler, 1932

Backed by Nelson Riddle's buoyant arrangement, Sinatra's vocal on this love song glides with conversational ease, stretching and clipping phrases so naturally that the performance feels almost improvised.  It's the song of a guy who's happy with everything because he's in love: "Life is a beautiful thing / As long as I hold the string / I'd be a silly so-and-so / If I should ever let it go."  The orchestra swings without heaviness: crisp brass punches, dancing strings, and a subtle rhythmic bounce that gives the song its forward momentum. Sinatra doesn't over-emote, but he builds up over the course of the song, showing of his remarkable lungs at the final chorus. 

She's Got Something - Jimmy Ballard

She's Got Something - Jimmy Ballard

2:49

single, 1952

Written by Jimmy Ballard and Charles Kanter

This is a laid-back honky-tonk, the dim shores of rockabilly just barely visible during the fiddle and guitar solos.  It's a winking double-entendre song lyrically, risqué-for-the-time in the same way as "I'm Going To Give It To Mary With Love."  As in that droll ditty, this one hints at some sexual mystery ("Oh, she's got something I've always wanted / And I have tried so hard to get / But every time I ask her for it / All she can say is 'Please not yet"'"), only to reveal the quotidian punchline at the end: it's her telephone number.

I've Got Dreams To Remember - Otis Redding

I've Got Dreams To Remember - Otis Redding

3:15

single, 1968

Written by Zelma Redding, Otis Redding, Joe Rock

A deeply soulful R&B about that most common of subjects: the jilted lover.  "I know you said he was just a friend / But I saw him kiss you again and again."  What elevates this song beyond heartbreak cliché is the sheer emotional authority of the performance. Released after Redding's death, the song showcases his incredible vocal power, his voice moving from wounded restraint to ragged pleading without ever losing control.  I believe that Steve Cropper is playing electric guitar with Booker T. on the keyboards.  The horns and backing vocals maintain the dignity of Memphis soul, but Redding increasingly sounds as if he's barely holding himself together, especially when he mutters "rough dreams" and "bad dreams" beneath the refrain.  It's the sound of a man trying to sing himself through betrayal.

Pistol Packin' Mama - Al Dexter & His Troopers

Pistol Packin' Mama - Al Dexter & His Troopers

2"48

single, 1943

Written by Al Dexter

This hillbilly honky-tonk was later covered by artists as diverse as Gene Vincent, the Flamin' Groovies, Bing Crosby, and John Prine.  It's a sort of novelty song, or at least a humorous one.  The narrator is out drinking beer and having fun with ladies when his old lady (the "mama" is an epithet for paramour, not the woman who birthed him) comes in with a gun.  Out go the lights and out go the ladies.  He promises that he'll woo her every day and put away his old ways, but, it seems, to no avail: "Now there was old Al Dexter, he always had his fun / But with some lead, she shot him dead; his honkin' days are done."  Sad!