Girls - David Bowie

Girls - David Bowie

4:17

single, 1987

Written by David Bowie and Erdal Kızılçay

This song was written for Tina Turner, who released it a year earlier.  It's a lightweight, nonspecific ode to the mysteries of girls, how they "come and go" and cause pain.  Bowie paraphrases the famous Blade Runner quotation to describe his narrator's view of the ephemeral nature of these girls: "My heart suspended in time / Like you vanish like tears in the rain."  It's not one of his finer moments, and the keyboard and saxophone combine in a overblown yet watered-down neo-soul, but of course Bowie's magnificent voice carries this thing to the finish line.

Girl - Rhett Miller

Girl - Rhett Miller

2:59

This Bird Has Flown: A 40th Anniversary Tribute to the Beatles' Rubber Soul, 2005

Written by John Lennon and Paul McCartney

An entirely unnecessary but pleasant and genial cover of the Beatles classic, with a fuller instrumentation and Miller's earnest, conversational voice replacing the lads' Liverpudlian ache.  Also, he eschews, thankfully, the hissed intake of breath after the "girl" in the chorus, a production choice which I never understood in the original. As an affectionate, unpretentious interpretation, this song reminds you how sturdy the underlying composition really is.

Get Famous - Mountain Goats

Get Famous - Mountain Goats

3:19

Getting Into Knives, 2020

Written by John Darnielle

This song is a satirical jab at someone who puts ego and ambition above all else.  "Light up the sky like a comet / Make yourself want to vomit / Shine like a cursed star . Show everybody exactly who you are."   Darnielle delivers the words this one with more emotion than typical, and the song is punched up with sharp, bluesy brass lines, giving it a full sound.  The song references Wesley Willis, whom Darnielle explained he uses as inspiration to write second-person, accusatory songs.

Take Me Out - Franz Ferdinand

Take Me Out – Franz Ferdinand
3:57
Franz Ferdinand, 2004
Written by Alex Kapranos, Nick McCarthy, Bob Hardy, Paul Thomson

This song starts out with about a minute of post-punk energy very much in the vein of the Strokes.  Then it stutters to a slow, until bursting out into an uptempo, sharp, stalking, danceable guitar riff.  The contrast of the two tempos and riffs is what grabs everyone's attention in print, although to me it's just a pretty interesting intro and segue; I didn't think much of it.  The lyrics are inspired by a sniper battle as metaphor for a kind of adversarial romantic situation: "And if you leave here / You leave me broken, shattered I lie / I'm just a crosshair / I'm just a shot, then we can die."  It's a strong song for a debut, all art-rock cool and pure pop instinct.  It's architectural in its precision, but still immediate and visceral.

That's a Pretty Good Love - Big Maybelle

That's a Pretty Good Love - Big Maybelle

2:35

Blues, Candy & Big Maybelle, 1956

Written by Fred Mendelsohn and Buddy Lucas

The uptempo rocking rhythm & blues song has stinging guitar, riffing saxophones and a rollicking drum.  A member of the band shouts out vocal prompts and questions like "Baby, my love will last (How long?) / Long as life in my body (You swear?)" between Maybelle's vocal, turning the performance into a live conversation, giving it an immediacy that draws the listener in.  But her raw, powerful, intense vocal is really what makes the song.  In a just world where "race music" wasn't pushed aside for watered-down white versions, Maybelle would have been bigger than Elvis.  The charisma, power, and emotional immediacy were all there. Records like this prove she didn’t need translation.

Le Temps de l'amour - Françoise Hardy

Le Temps de l'amour - Françoise Hardy

2:24

Tous les garçons et les filles, 1962

Written by Lucien Morisse, André Salvet and Jacques Dutronc

Sur une instrumentation minimaliste — un battement de tambour discret, quelques cordes feutrées, une guitare qui avance sans jamais presser — la voix de Hardy occupe tout l’espace émotionnel. Elle ne cherche pas à dominer l'arrangement, mais à flotter au-dessus de lui, avec une retenue qui donne à chaque mot un poids particulier. Son timbre est à la fois innocent et légèrement mélancolique, comme si elle observait déjà la fragilité du moment.  C'est une ode à la jeunesse, à cet âge où le temps semble à la fois infini et terriblement fragile, à l'envie d'aventure, au sentiment d'être le roi du monde, et où tout n'est que ciel bleu et amour.  Mais il y a aussi une conscience implicite, que cet état ne durera pas. Les vers « Quand le temps va et vient / On ne pense à rien / Malgré ses blessures / Car le temps de l'amour / C'est long et c'est court » résument toute l’expérience adolescente en une contradiction parfaite.

Try Me - Bob Luman

Try Me - Bob Luman

2:12

single, 1958

Written by Charles Singleton

With a teasing, brash style horn line, a male chorus echoing the title and providing a wordless "ooh" backing behind him, Luman fires out this short but sweet rockabilly number.  It's a braggadocio firmly in the '50s era: "Try me, you'll see / That I know something other lovers don't know / If you had some other kisses, but you ain't satisfied / Baby, I got kisses you ain't never tried."  It's delivered with a wink and swinging hip, not a sneer; Luman doesn't sound dangerous, just sly and sincere.

Tuesday Morning - The Pogues

Tuesday Morning - The Pogues

3:30

Waiting For Herb, 1993

Written by Spider Stacy

Andrew Ranken, drummer for the Pogues, died yesterday.  The Pogues' music flows in my DNA, at least until this album and their self-titled last, both of which are Shane-free and thus I didn't bother diving into.  What remains of the Pogues is simpler, cleaner, more restrained.  This song features a repetitive, simple chord progression, but the lyrics are pure Pogue-try.  "I fell through the window / And I found that I was still breathing / I thought of tomorrow / And the fear that you might leave me," the narrator tells the loved one he dreams of.  Ranken's drumming is patient and unshowy, propelling the yearning heartbeat of the song forward.  It's not the Pogues at their wildest, but it’s unmistakably them: bruised, romantic, and defiantly breathing.

Jealous Kind of Fella - Garland Green

Jealous Kind of Fella - Garland Green

2:53

Jealous Kind Of Fella, 1969

Written by Garland Green, Jo Armstead, Maurice Dollison, and Rudolph Browner

Soul singer Garland Green died yesterday.  This song, which reached number 5 on the Billboard chart, consists of the narrator apologizing and pleading with his baby.  It begins with the sound of a phone ringing, and the first verse is a hilariously straightforward recreation of that phone call begging for forgiveness would sound like: "Hello baby, please don't be too mad at me / Because I punched that guy last night / But let me explain, before you say anything / I know I was wrong, just like you said."  Despite the fella's candor, and Green impassioned delivery, it's unclear at the end if his inamorata is willing to give him a chance or hangs up on him.  This has got to be the greatest song to contain the line "because I punched that guy last night."

This was a fun one, but overall, it's been a morbid week.  Let's not do this again, and Lord, protect our musical idols little while longer.

Is This Love? - Cake

Is This Love? - Cake

5:19

Motorcade Of Generosity, 1994

Written by John McCrea and Greg Brown

Greg Brown, the founding guitarist of Cake (not the Iowan folk giant), died last Saturday. While Cake would generally sharpen and streamline their sound after his departure, Brown co-wrote "The Distance," their biggest hit, and deserves a nod during in memoriam week.  This is a "woman done me wrong" style of song, dressed up in Cake's style. Blaring horns jab and retreat while bass and guitar lock into an unusually funky groove. Over it all, John McCrea growls, croons, and half-talks his way through the lyric like a bluesman with irony.   The rhythm section keeps it moving with a loose, swaggering pulse, and McCrea’s vocal performance shows more range than his later, more minimalist persona would suggest. It’s a deep-pocket groove that clearly foreshadows the "The Distance" and "I Will Survive," while still sounding rawer and a little less self-aware.