Freedom - Beyoncé featuring Kendrick Lamar

Freedom - Beyoncé featuring Kendrick Lamar

4:49

Lemonade, 2016

Written by Jonathan Coffer, Beyoncé, Carla Williams, Arrow Benjamin, Kendrick Lamar, Frank Tirado, Alan Lomax, John Lomax, Sr.

Let's celebrate Juneteenth

Hey, how did folklorist and ethno-musicologist Alan Lomax get in there?  Well, the song incorporates three samples, including elements of "Stewball," a traditional recording (performed by a prisoner) collected by the Lomaxes, though as usual I'm not sure this deserves writing credit,  Anyhoo, this song was used as Kamal Harris' official campaign song, and was an unofficial anthem of the George Floyd protests.  "I'ma riot through your borders / Call me bulletproof / Lord, forgive me, I've been runnin' / Runnin' blind in truth."  The song is one of the most powerful statements in Beyoncé's catalog, which I am admittedly not very familiar with. Built around pounding drums, distorted organ textures, and a relentless groove, it's a pounding anthem and a declaration, not a pop song.  The lyric is both a declaration of resilience and a refusal to accept limits imposed by others. Lamar's verse is an equally urgent protest. "Eight blocks left, death is around the corner / Seven misleadin' statements 'bout my persona" — a rejection of mainstream demonization of black victims of police violence.  Abolish ICE!

Never Too Much - Luther Vandross

Never Too Much - Luther Vandross

3:50

Never Too Much, 1981

Written by Luther Vandross

Let's celebrate Juneteenth

Can anyone pour on the over-the-top declarations of love like Luther Vandross?  This is a man who does not simply love his partner; he is completely consumed by her.  He skips work to be with her.  "You are my shining star, my guiding light, my love fantasy / There's not a minute, hour, day or night that I don't love you," he proclaims.  Subtelty is not the goal here, and that's part of the charm.  The song's bright, funky groove keeps all that devotion from becoming overwhelming. Vandross' voice is smooth but not passive, full of control, warmth, and effortless runs that make even the biggest romantic statements sound sincere.

Heartbreaker - Ray Charles

Heartbreaker - Ray Charles

2:54

single, 1953

Written by Ahmet Ertegün

Let's celebrate Juneteenth

This fast blues manages to include every single trope from early R&B songs about women.  The titular heartbreaker went and left him, but "mean, mistreated too."  Regrettably for modern sensibilities, she's "just a schoolgirl" and a "bobby-soxer," but "you sure know what to do."  She's wearing a red dress, she's running all around, she broke his heart, he's going to put her in the ground.  So lyrically it's not exactly top-tier poetry, but Charles' piano frills and his enthusiastic vocals give it a boost.

Way Over There - the Miracles

Way Over There - the Miracles

2:56

Hi... We're the Miracles, 1961

Written by Smokey Robinson and Berry Gordy

Let's celebrate Juneteenth

Although it never achieved the fame of the Miracles' later hits, this one of Smokey Robinson's finest early compositions.  Faster and more energetic than the group's singles, it finds Robinson singing with a yearning passion, backed by enthusiastic harmonies, handclaps, electric guitar, and a bright piano figure. The lyrics concern a determined narrator overcoming every obstacle to reunite with his distant love ("I've got a lover way over there / On the mountain side / And I know that's where I should be"), and the soaring chorus perfectly captures his optimism.

Highways - Jim Sullivan

Highways - Jim Sullivan

2:51

U.F.O., 1969

Written by Jim Sullivan

The album this song is on received very little attention at the time, but after Sullivan's 1975 disappearance, it was rediscovered and reappraised. Some felt that the lyrics pointed to a prediction of his fate (see: "Tickin time now / Said alive ain't my cup of tea"), but it's easy to read things into texts after the fact.  This song, a folk-rocker buoyed by muted drums and horns, is a reflection on staying put, not worrying about the frenetic world, subsuming into art and nature. "Tomorrow I'm going to hang my feet in a stream / Pretending my world is real, yours a dream."

Hey, Miss Fannie - The Clovers

Hey, Miss Fannie - The Clovers

2:26

single, 1952

Written by Ahmet Ertegün

This is an uptempo boogie, the titular Miss Fannie's charms chanted with enthusiasm and verve: "You'll become my heart's disease / Listen to me, baby, please / You got me just mad for you." At the center is Buddy Bailey's lead vocal, balancing pleading and swagger in equal measure as the rest of the group answers with tight harmonies.  They're backed by a rolling piano and bursts of honking saxophone, creating a sound that's fairly fast rock and roll for 1952.

Hope I Never Lose My Wallet - Mighty Mighty Bosstones

Hope I Never Lose My Wallet - Mighty Mighty Bosstones

2:06

Devils Night Out, 1989

Written by Dicky Barrett and Joe Gittleman

On their debut album, the Bosstones smash ska and punk together with a reckless enthusiasm they would later trade for greater precision. The playing is loose, fast, and infectiously joyful, driven by one of the band's most memorable horn riffs.  Barrett spits out the lyrics with a delighted frenzy, listing all the things he'd be sad to lose (his hair, his youth, his girl), but circling back to the titular wallet, jokingly given the same gravity.  I wonder if the song is a winking nod to the punk fashion of having wallets on chains?

Harrisburg - Josh Ritter

Harrisburg - Josh Ritter

3:55

Golden Age Of Radio, 2002

Written on Josh Ritter

This is a dark ballad, with all the elements of outlaw Americana: a figure leaving his family, a small town, a train, the devil, Heaven, train tracks.  "Some say that man is the root of all evil / Others say God's a drunkard for pain / Me, I believe that the Garden of Eden / Was burned to make way for a train."  Ritter delivers the fatalistic, almost Scriptural lyric with a nasal drone.  The melody is simple, except for a melancholy mandolin break in the middle.

The Hedgehog's Song - The Incredible String Band

The Hedgehog's Song - The Incredible String Band

3:27

The 5000 Spirits or the Layers of the Onion, 1967

Written by Mike Heron

Sharing the same broad pastoral sound of Donovan's early work (the ISB being Scottish folk as well), this song also features a charming Middle Eastern and North African flavor, with oud and gimbri featured.  Lyrically, it comes off as a twee hippie fable about on first listen, but it's actually using the hedgehog only as mouthpiece for a deeper point about making connections with people, specifically romantic connections.  The narrator has dallied with plenty of women but wonders why he hasn't had a serious relationship; the hedgehog tells him, "I can tell by the sadness in your eyes / That you never quite learned the song."  We may say the words and go through the motions, but unless our heart's in it, the song rings false.

Lily Maebelle - The Valentines

Lily Maebelle - The Valentines

2:18

single, 1955

Written by Richard Barrett, Tommy Vastola, and Raymond Briggs

This is a paean to the titular lady, who left the narrator.  It's a toe-tapping doo-wop with buzzy early rock sax break and primitive lyrics — the sole verse being "I told you that I love you until the day I die / I told that I need you, how could you say goodbye."  The song punches way above its weight in terms of catchiness and energy; it might grow tiresome over repeated plays, but it does serve as a display of how much verve those overlooked, largely black, '50s artists had.