Joy - Against Me!

Joy - Against Me!

2:12

Searching For a Former Clarity, 2005

Written by Laura Jane Grace, James Bowman, Andrew Seward, and Warren Oakes

An acoustic punk song delivered in a growling bellow.  Grace's introspective and sometimes abstruse lyrics describe an unyielding world.  "And somewhere off in the distance, rapidly advancing, is an onslaught of sorts / Young sirens wail in a skewed sense of glory / And the lions in the cages roar at the memory of fight."  Is it a conquering army?  Is the klaxon and chaos of a revolution?  Maybe it's all a jumble; the import thing is that joy can still be found somewhere, despite it all.

Je l'aime à mourir - Francis Cabrel

Je l'aime à mourir - Francis Cabrel

2:45

Les Chemins de traverse, 1979

Written by Francis Cabrel

I had never heard of this musician, although he's been huge in Europe for nearly fifty years.  I read that one-time Dylan guitarist Freddy "Fuzzy" Koella referred to Cabrel as a Dylan-like French musician, a claim that clicked when I heard this warm, soulful folk tune.  It was covered in both French and Spanish by Shakira and became a hit, also.  It's a love song, with surreal but sweet lyrics reminiscent of "Love Minus Zero," except with a Gallic flavor: "Elle a gommé les chiffres des horloges du quartier / Elle a fait de ma vie des cocottes en papier, des éclats de rire / Elle a bâti des ponts entre nous et le ciel."  It's a language of love that transcaneds the literal.

All You Had To Do Was Stay - Ryan Adams

All You Had To Do Was Stay - Ryan Adams

3:30

1989, 2015

Written by Taylor Swift and Max Martin, 2014

It's pretty audacious to cover an entire album, and extremely daring to do it only a year after the original was released.  Adams strips away some of the high-production gloss of Swift's song, but somehow fails to make it raw, warm, or intimate.  The music might be handmade, but Adams' voice sounds echoey and distant, with the grandiose emotion of an arena belter, not, for example, a broken-hearted singer in a nightclub.  The monotonous percussion doesn't help much.

About a Girl - Nirvana

About a Girl - Nirvana

2:46

Bleach, 1989

Written by Kurt Cobain

I read that Cobain considered this song a jangly, "R.E.M.-type" pop song, which I suppose it is compared to most of their output, but to me it's a fuzzy grunge song, with a small kernel of Beatles-inspired melody hidden under the sludge.  The lyric is about his then-girlfriend and their rocky relationship caused in part by Cobain's lack of a job and apparent refusal to help with housework: "I'll take advantage while / You hang me out to dry."

All Outta Angst - NOFX

All Outta Angst - NOFX

1:52

So Long And Thanks For All the Shoes, 1997

Written by Fat Mike

This album's title comes, of course, from the Douglas Adams book, but the band notes on their website that "We tend to get hit with a lot of shoes when we play so we thought it was a good title."  It's unclear if the shoe-throwing is a tribute or an attack, but either way is probably exaggerated.  Over El Hefe's punchy horn stabs, Fat Mike nasally vocals insist that "I'm not insane, I'm not bummed out," despite feeling bored and burned out enough to move to Pakistan or Mongolia.  It is the voice, and sexual frustration, of the teenager.

Archbishop Harold Holmes - Jack White

Archbishop Harold Holmes - Jack White

2:51

No Name, 2024

Written by Jack White

Jack White delivers this track like a street-corner sermon from a preacher who's half prophet, half carnival barker. Over a stomping, distorted groove, White unleashes a torrent of satirical, manic, and faintly apocalyptic words from the titular preacher: "God spoke to me / Said, "Listen to me I anoint you with the power / That'll get 'em all moving!" / You're agitated? You prayed and meditated? / You're concentrated on getting elevated?"  He promises a gospel of prosperity, "but first you must tell seven friends."  White’s clever lyric takes the main stage here, set against raw guitar-heavy garage-blue.  It's all righteous fury and absurd theater.

Alleluia - PLK

Alleluia - PLK

3:19

Enna, 2020

Written by PLK

PLK is a French rapper of Polish ("PoLacK") and Corsican descent.  This track's production is fairly moody and minimal, letting his voice carry a mix of detachment and quiet intensity, interspersed with some brief but rapid-fire verses.  The hook has a melodic, almost chant-like flow.  He leans into his heritage ("Maintenant, fils de polonais, mes ancêtres n'étaient / Pas des enculés de colons") and images of Euro-cool channeled through The Matrix ("Les balles passent même dans l'imperméable / C'est dans les classiques que je fais mes bails").

Gypsy Songman - Steve Earle & the Dukes

Gypsy Songman - Steve Earle & the Dukes

2:37

Jerry Jeff, 2022

Written by Jerry Jeff Walker, 1987

Earle sings this statement of purpose with gusto, keeping it uptempo and brisk.  It's the proclamation of an itinerate musician, always moving on and getting by on tips.  "I got a stage on every corner, hall on every street / My hat is my coin box, this song is what you need."  It's a classic musician on the road song, up there with Willie's "On the Road Again" and "Devil in a Sleepin' Bag."  Earle and the Dukes meld fiddle and pedal steel to create a rollicking Cajun sound, with Earle's growl here smoothed out considerably.

Gimme Shelter - Merry Clayton

Gimme Shelter - Merry Clayton

3:31

Gimme Shelter, 1970

Written by Mick Jagger and Kieth Richards, 1969

Clayton did the powerhouse background vocals on the Stones' recording to great acclaim (fun fact: she was four months pregnant at the time), so the next year she went out and did her own version.  With some thick, fuzzy guitar lines, blaring soul horns, and her own female choir behind her, Clayton shouts new life into this song.  In fact, I think I like her blazing, funky rendition better than the Stones'.  It flips the emotional center of the song completely.  She doesn't lean on her experience singing on the original, but expands it.  Where the original simmers with dread and distance, hers is immediate, embodied, and ferocious.

Grape Fruit - Juicy Fruit - Jimmy Buffett

Grape Fruit - Juicy Fruit - Jimmy Buffett

2:58

A White Sport Coat and a Pink Crustacean, 1973

Written by Jimmy Buffett

This is a gentle, low-tempo number buoyed along by pedal steel, harmonica, and Key West vibes.  It describes a laid-back musician coming on to, presumably, a groupie, and then needing, as musicians do, to move on.  After washing away his hangover with the titular juice and gum, he gets down to the romance: "Drive-in / guzzle gin / Commit a little mortal sin / It's good for the soul."  Buffett later wrote that the song is based on a specific drive-in in Florida, and the movie was Payday, starring Rip Torn.