California (All the Way) - Luna

California (All the Way) - Luna

4:15

Bewitched, 1994

Written by Dean Wareham

I don't usually care for shoegaze or this type of dreamy pop, but the laid-back Velvet Underground by way of Yo La Tengo sensibilities in this song hit me where it feels right.  It's a wistful, beautiful song of love not so much going wrong as simple fading away.  "Why can't we smile just like we used to? / Why don't you figure anymore? / Why has my sympathy now turned to malice? / It doesn't matter anymore."  It's restrained and atmospheric, riding on a gentle groove; even the guitar solo is relaxed, at least until the final moments, when jagged freeform riffs fade us out.

Pulling Mussels (From the Shell) - Squeeze

Pulling Mussels (From the Shell) - Squeeze

3:58

Argybargy, 1980

Written by Chris Difford and Glenn Tilbrook

With a one-note guitar solo followed by an intricate piano solo, this catchy, bright number isn't the typical pop song.  But then, Squeeze isn't the typical pop band.  The lyrics limn a vivid picture of typical British beach scenes: topless ladies, surfers, people reading books on the sand; meanwhile the narrator apparently is giving his girlfriend a standing manual orgasm: "But behind the chalet, my holiday's complete / And I feel like William Tell / Maid Marian on her tiptoed feet / Pulling mussels from a shell."  His aim is accurate, he's pulling her up towards him, the mussel a Georgia O'Keefe representation.  It's an extraordinarily graphic idea to hide inside such a cheerful, radio-friendly pop song, made even funnier by the song's breezy, almost innocent delivery. More evidence that most people doesn't listen to lyrics.

Hurtin' (On the Bottle) - Margo Price

Hurtin' (On the Bottle) - Margo Price

4:12

Midwest Farmer's Daughter, 2016

Written by Margo Price, Mark Fredson, Jeremy Ivey, Caitlin Rose

Despite being something of a young'un (well, when she started), this is a classic country tonk song with steel guitar and lyrical sensibility that could come straight out of the pen of Hank Williams: "I put a hurtin' on the bottle / Baby now I'm blind enough to see / I've been drinking whiskey like it's water / But that don't touch the pain you put on me."  The delivery, though, is pure vintage Dolly, with a bright twang and an easy-going pace, as if she wasn't running from demons so much as chilling with them.

That's Right (You're Not From Texas) - Lyle Lovett

That's Right (You're Not From Texas) - Lyle Lovett

4:55

The Road To Ensenada, 1996

Written by Lyle Lovett, Willis Alan Ramsey, and Alison Rogers

The Texas Tourism Board used this light-hearted song in ads for Texas.  With rollicking boogie-woogie piano and steel guitar, this is a catchy, tongue-in-cheek celebration of Texas pride and a gentle jab at outsiders playing cowboy. Lovett also tips his hat in the lyrics to Uncle Walt's Band, a South Carolina group that Lovett was a fan of and became part of Austin's musical scene: "Those boys from Carolina / They sure enough could sing / But when they came on down to Texas / We all showed them how to swing." It's funny, affectionate, and quintessentially Lovett, and despite the Texas Tourism Board, more amused than boastful about Texas exceptionalism.

Simple Song - The Shins

Simple Song - The Shins

4:15

Port Of Morrow, 2012

Written by James Mercer

This melodic slice of power-pop was inspired by Mercer's wife, and is thus a love song of sorts ("Remember walking a mile to your house, a glow in the dark / I made a fumbling play for your heart and the act struck a spark"), but I read that it was also inspired by the departure of some Shins band members, which the chorus hints at: "I know that things can really get rough when you go it alone / Don't go thinking you gotta be tough, to play like a stone / Could be there’s nothing else in our lives so critical / As this little home!"  Since the Shins is basically a one-man show at this point, maybe their place in that particular home wasn't all that critical after all.  

Foolish Fool - Dee Dee Warwick

Foolish Fool - Dee Dee Warwick

3:26

Foolish Fool, 1969

Written by Edward Townsend

This song begins with some slinky soul instrumentation, with blues-rock guitar licks.  Then Warwick's powerful vocal breaks in, accompanied by shimmering strings.  She sounds impassioned, defiant, frustrated, and even furious, as she sings about some fool who thinks she can take her man: "I told my Mother and Father too / I'd give them both up, before I lose you."  By the end of the song, Warwick is screaming the words, saying this fool has got to be crazy to even think of such a thing.  It's a powerhouse vocal performance that transforms what could have been a standard jealousy song into a thrilling display of raw emotion.  Anyone listening would be compelled to agree: you'd have to be an asinine psychopath to risk the wrath of someone who could get so worked up.

Winter Winds - Mumford & Sons

Winter Winds - Mumford & Sons

3:39

Sigh No More, 2009

Written by Marcus Mumford, Ben Lovett, Winston Marshall, and Ted Dwane

Despite being essentially a breakup song ("And my head told my heart / Let love grow / But my heart told my head / This time no"), this song has become, for some reason, a Christmastime favorite.  Musically, the song begins with gentle acoustic fingerpicking before building into the band's signature rush of banjo, stomping rhythm, and soaring harmonies.  Lyrically, there's a clear emotional imbalance at the center of the song, in which the narrator wants more for both himself and his partner, but it's clear it can't be. They're both fighting against the wind.

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.