The General Lee - Johnny Cash

The General Lee - Johnny Cash

2:52

The Dukes Of Hazzard Soundtrack, 1982

Written by Thom Bresh and Johnny Cash

Recorded for the TV show, this song is written from the point of view of the car from "The Dukes of Hazzard!"  It joins a small but undoubtedly proud group of songs narrated by vehicles.  "I'm the General Lee / A piston pumpin' steel belted cavalry / I'll never let you down when you're riding with me / Buckle up and I'll show you what I mean."  Well, you tap your toe, because Cash could make the phone book sound compelling, but the Dixie-themed jingoism doesn't really play well these days.

Gypsy Woman - The Impressions

Gypsy Woman - The Impressions

2:20

The Impressions, 1963

Written by Curtis Mayfield

This song must have sounded strikingly exotic in the time of its release. On the surface, it draws from familiar territory: falsetto-led doo-wop phrasing and a smooth R&B group chorus.  The setting, however, is not typical.  A flamenco-tinged melody, accented by crisp, insistent castanets, gives the track a sense of movement and mystery.  At the center is Mayfield's voice: light, controlled, and quietly expressive, never overstating the allure of the song's enigmatic figure. A percussion-driven bridge tightness the mood as the rhythm takes on a faint urgency.

Good - Better Than Ezra

Good - Better Than Ezra

3:05

Deluxe, 1995

Written by Kevin Griffin

This song was a post-grunge hit (reaching number two on the Billboard Modern Rock Track) when I was the prime target, but I don't remember it at all.  It's a look back at a relationship that ended, but instead of being all regretful or hurt, it takes a tack unusual in pop music and reflects on the good parts. "Well, maybe I'll call / Or I'll write you a letter / Now, maybe we'll see on the Fourth of July," the narrator reflects, more or less cheerfully.  Bright guitars and a tight, driving rhythm give it a radio-friendly sheen.  Possibly it was the relative polish that made me ignore it at the time.

Give Me the Simple Life - June Christy

Give Me the Simple Life - June Christy

2:17

Gone For the Day, 1957

Written by Rube Bloom and Harry Ruby

Reminiscent of the declarations in "I Get a Kick Out of You," the narrator of this song insists that sublime, expensive pleasures hold no interest for her, and she prefers the quotidian delights.  "Some find it pleasant dining on pheasant / Those things roll off my knife / Just serve me tomatoes and mashed potatoes / Give me the simple life."  But it's not all modest working-class aspirations: the song also includes "a house that rings with joy and laughter," a rare and priceless gift if you can find it.  Christy is more or less unknown now, but she was once ubiquitous, and shows off a beautiful, silky voice in this upbeat number.

Find My Way - The Mighty Mocambos

Find My Way - The Mighty Mocambos

3:29

single, 2021

Written by Mighty Mocambos?

The Mighty Mocambos are a neo-funk band from Hamburg.  Singer Nichola Richards has a beautiful, slinky voice, over a chill groove cut by precise percussion and horn lines, punctuated by fuzzy guitar.   The lyrics are purely rote ("If you just believe, try and see, a way will find you / So many walls / And rivers to cross / When you don't know the way / It's easy to get lost"), but the vibe is genuine, smooth soul.  Puzzlingly, this song is not listed in the band's official site discography or Discogs.

Fighting My Way Back - Thin Lizzy

Fighting My Way Back - Thin Lizzy

3:11

Fighting, 1975

Written by Phil Lynott

This guy in this song's had some hard times.  He's sick, unsure, in a real state, there's nothing in his past that's a shining exemplar of good decisions.  Maybe he drank himself to sleep too many nights.  But he's not giving up!  "I'm tough, rough, ready and I'm able / To pick myself up from under this table."  This song is a thundering rocker, a cross between Springsteen and AC/DC (the latter especially in the beginning chant of "fight!").  Lyrically, it's got the mix of self-deprecation and bombast of both those acts, and musically, it's a double-guitar anthem with wah-wah strumming and drummer Brian Downey's assured groove. 

Farewell To Nova Scotia - The Irish Rovers

Farewell To Nova Scotia - The Irish Rovers

On the Shores Of Americay, 1971

2:56

traditional, c. 1919

This song was adapted from the Scottish lament "The Soldier's Adieu" written by Robert Tannahill.  It has been covered by many artists, particularly Canadian ones, like Gordon Lightfoot.  As the title indicates, it's a sailor's adieu to his beloved homeland as he's called to service.  "The drums do beat / And the horns do alarm / My captain calls, I must obey / Farewell, farewell to Nova Scotia's charms."  The Rovers play it straight, with that innate nautical feel the Irish seem to be able to conjure.

Finnegan's Wake - The Irish Rovers

Finnegan's Wake - The Irish Rovers

3:32

Hardstuff, 1989

traditional

I've heard this great song from the usual Celtic folk groups, of course.  The Rovers (with George Millar still leading the group like he did in 1963!) give this an uptempo, singalong arrangement, with less of the dour faux-funereal stuff of the Dubliners.  With bazouki, flute, banjo, and a rattling percussion, and some subtle party sound effects in the back, the Rovers make it a fine ould Irish wake indeed.

From Head To Toe - Smokey Robinson and the Miracles

From Head To Toe - Smokey Robinson and the Miracles

2:24

Going To a Go-Go, 1965

Written by Smokey Robison

Driven by bright piano and crisp, insistent drums, this song is a bouncy, sweet soul-pop number with a deceptively light arrangement.  It's built around a buoyant groove that snaps into a stop-time section used with real precision, giving the song a playful sense of control and release. A key change lifts the song into a higher emotional gear, near a gospel rave-up, with handclaps, brass, and a loose, celebratory feel.  No wonder Elvis Costello covered it.

Everybody Knows This Is Nowhere - Neil Young & Crazy Horse

Everybody Knows This Is Nowhere - Neil Young & Crazy Horse

2:29

Everybody Knows This Is Nowhere, 1969

Written by Neil Young

A statement of disillusionment, this country rocker was born of Young's growing contempt for the music establishment in Los Angeles, but the lyrics are vague enough that it touches a universal chord of wanting to get out of a rut.  "I gotta get away / From this day-to-day running around."  The narrator wants to get back home, for a special woman who's back there, or just to pass the time where it's slow and breezy.  

Everybody's Trying To Be My Baby - Carl Perkins

Everybody's Trying To Be My Baby - Carl Perkins

2:13

Dance Album Of Carl Perkins, 1957

Written by Rex Griffin, 1936

Obviously, I know this song from the 1965 Beatles cover from Beatles For Sale.  They credited it to Perkins, but pace Wikipedia, Perkins lifted it from one Rex Griffin, who recorded basically the same song in 1936.  Perkins gave it a rockabilly arrangement and added a verse, but it's still the same song.  How can you not love a song that starts, "Well they took some honey from a tree / Dressed it up and they called it me"?

Everybody Loves a Nut - Johnny Cash

Everybody Loves a Nut - Johnny Cash 

2:04

Everybody Loves a Nut, 1966

Written by Jack Clement

This is a silly novelty song without the staying power or wit of, say, "The One on the Right is On the Left," which is on the same album  These lyrics tell of a caveman with a dead horse and a man who tried to put his pet tiger in a tank.  What do these poor saps have in common?  They're nuts!  Brains are in a rut! Like Columbus, who was.... uh, thrown out of Spain? by Queen Isabella for... saying the world isn't flat? Wait, what?  That didn't happen.  Well, they can't all be gems.  Even Cash's voice can't elevate this one.

Everybody's Happy Nowadays - Buzzcocks

Everybody's Happy Nowadays - Buzzcocks

3:11

single, 1979

Written by Pete Shelley

This song takes you by surprise.  It comes at you like a punk anthem, with typically bleak, nihilistic lyrics: "Life's an illusion / Love is a dream."  But, ahead of its time, the song goes loud/quiet/loud, as a falsetto chorus stretches the song out before it bounces back into a punk beat, and then back again.  The bridge strips things down to rhythm and repetition, singer Pete Shelley tweaking each line just enough to destabilize meaning. By the end, he flips perspective entirely, from cynicism to something like clarity: "Now I know just what it is."

Everybody Crying Mercy - Mose Allison

Everybody Cryin' Mercy - Mose Allison

2:42

I've Been Doin' Some Thinkin', 1968

Written by Mose Allison

Like a lot of singer-songwriter fans of my generation, I was introduced to this song by Elvis Costello on his 1995 covers album, Kojak Variety.  (The only other thing I know about Mose Allison is that Greg Brown wrote a song about revering him.)  The original is a slow burn, with Allison's nightclub piano lines giving his quiet vocal delivery a sparse but apt accompaniment.  The song itself is a complaint about the hypocrisy of our times ("Everybody's crying peace on earth / Just as soon as we win this war").  The title is usually cited as "Everybody's Cryin' Mercy," but on the original album it is given without the verb; why did subsequent covers change it?  

Don't Stay Away - Phyllis Dillon

Don't Stay Away - Phyllis Dillon

2:33

single, 1967

Written by Richard Evans, Bobby Miller, and Marlena Shaw

This is a rocksteady vocal from, untypically, a pretty and melodic female voice.  It's a song pleading for a former lover to return.  All she has to offer is her broken heart.  "If you knew / You were my one desire / You set my soul on fire / You wouldn't stay away."  It's a simple song, but Dillon's criminally-overlooked vocal powers give it emotional weight.

Dancin' Party - Chubby Checker

Dancin' Party - Chubby Checker

2:08

single, 1962

Written by Kal Mann, and Dave Appell

A toe-tapping party vibe of a song. "Make a scene with the record machine / At the dancin' party tonight."  Like a lot of songs of this era about dancing, it lists some of the popular moves, artists, and songs of the time: Watusi, Bristol stomping, The Fly, the Orlons, and more.  It's catchy and fun, but it's too brief for such a stomper.  It would be improved with less party chatter and more of Chubby's irrepressible, jubilant voice and another sax solo.

Drinkin' Wine Spo-Dee-O-Dee - Stick McGhee & His Buddies

Drinkin' Wine Spo-Dee-O-Dee - Stick McGhee & His Buddies

3:15

single, 1949

Written by Stick McGhee and J. Mayo Williams

I was first exposed to this song, I am ashamed to admit, by the loathsome Kid Rock's execrable evisceration of it.  Jerry Lee Lewis' 1973 version is best known, but this is the original.  It's a cheery jump blues about the joys of drinking.  "Down in New Orleans, where everything is fine  / All them cats is drinkin' that wine / Drinking that mess to their delight."  There's a chorus of "wine, wine wine," reminding me of the 1959 song of the same name by the Nightcaps.  Oh, and this is another song that mentions Rampart Street, for anyone keeping track.  

Dairy Queen - Indigo Girls

Dairy Queen - Indigo Girls

3:47

All That We Let In, 2004

Written by Amy Ray

A song about a love that went awry somewhere; the addressee found being true "hard to do."  Ray muses on how love can flicker and fade: "Ain't it funny how we lose one day / And a lifetime slips away."  But what sets this apart fro other lost love song is Ray's empathetic, humanistic view.  The love is still there; parts of you are always in the one you once loved.  The memories are good enough for a lifetime. "At least you were mine / If not for all time / Enough to hold / Or at least enough for me to hold you."  I am always enthralled by Ray's poetic and rational worldview.

Drinking Muddy Water - The Yardbirds

Drinking Muddy Water - The Yardbirds

2:53

Little Games, 1967

Written by Chris Dreja, Jim McCarty, Jimmy Page, and Keith Relf

With Jimmy Page on guitar and Relf on main vocals, the Yardbirds are a swampy blues-rock quartet here, aided by piano and harmonica lines.  The song is credited to the band, although it's clear that this is an old blues riff from "Rollin' and Tumblin'" and earlier, a not-quite-original of the type that that Page and co. would later claim in the Led Zep days.  But it's high-energy, and it's a powerhouse lineup, so this ends up a pretty satisfying blue-eyed R&B rocker.

Chattahoochee - Alan Jackson

Chattahoochee - Alan Jackson

2:28

A Lot about Livin' (and a Little 'bout Love), 1992

Written by Alan Jackson, and Jim McBride

This song contains the album title, which I always like to find.  It's a song about being young, growing up, taking risks, and maybe learning something in a small town.  The Chattahoochee River flows in Georgia and forms part of the border between it and Alabama.  For a modern pop country song, it's fairly risqué: "Well way down yonder on the Chattahoochee / It gets hotter than a hoochie coochie."  Supposedly that's a dance, but come on.  In the song, the narrator is ready to get down with his lady, but she's not ready, so he "settled for a burger and a grape sno cone."  So wholesome!

Can't Stop - Red Hot Chili Peppers

Can't Stop - Red Hot Chili Peppers

4:29

By the Way, 2002

Written by Flea, John Frusciante, Anthony Kiedis, and Chad Smith

This funky nu-regaae, with fuzz petal effects on a clipped guitar riff and an archetypical Peppers beat, makes a case for being the Peppers' best song.  With its stuttering, staccato groove, it promotes a neo-stoner positive energy, with lyrics that are a little deep than they first appear.  "Can't stop the spirits when they need you / Mop tops are happy when they feed you / J. Butterfly is in the treetop / Birds that blow the meaning into bebop/"  I take this to refer to the positive vibes of the art and work of the Beatles, the environmentalist Julia Butterfly Hill, and Charlie Parker, respectively.  "This life is more than a read-through" is a good slogan, one that would fit on a bumper sticker, maybe not profound but effective.

California Soul - Marlena Shaw

California Soul - Marlena Shaw

2:57

The Spice Of Life, 1969

Written by Nickolas Ashford and Valerie Simpson, 1967

Originally recorded by the Messengers, this is a funk-soul song with big bold sound centered around Shaw's slinky but commanding vocals.  It's one of those meta songs about the power of the groove itself.  It'll get you dancing, and even more: "They had the melody and the beat, y'all / But the scene still didn't seem complete / Until they saw two lovers kissin' / They knew just what was missin'."  The song is a symphonic wave of strings, handclaps, bass, and horns, all swirling together into an ethereal yet funky sound.  Shaw sings it not like she's on the beach with the dancers and lovers, but as if she's above it all, on a mountaintop proclaiming it as gospel truth.

The Cobbler - Tommy Makem

The Cobbler - Tommy Makem

2:28

single, 1956

traditional

There are several versions of this tune by the Clancys with and without Makem, including a rousing live rendition, but I like this recording, which is brightened by female vocals.  This song is typically an a capella performance, so it helps when more than one voice joins in.  The date given here for recording is just a guess; this website says that Makem's version appeared on a compilation album of folk tunes called The Lark in the Morning, but he probably recorded it as a single earlier.  Interestingly, the titular cobbler is sometimes called Fagan, but in the version I know he's Dick Darby.  It's an interesting litany of Irish plaints, ending with the cobbler dumping his yapping wife ("Me wife, she's a divil, she's black / No matter what I do with her / Her tongue it goes clickety-clack") into a river.

Chip Away - Duff McKagan

Chip Away - Duff McKagan

3:21

Tenderness, 2019
Written by Duff McKagan

In an interview, Bob Dylan called this a song that has "profound meaning" for him, seeing it as a analogy for creative acts like Michelangelo revealing the statue inside the marble block.  The lyrics show anger at then-current (and ongoing, really) political trends, the "chip away" implying that progressives should fight steadily against this encroachment.  I could see Dylan singing this, actually.  "Talking heads are making dollars / It's like doing crack day after day / Dropping taxes on business ballers / It'll work this time, they say / Gotta rise up, gotta keep fighting."  I like when Duff calls MLK and FDR "badass motherfuckers" and says they would put a stop to all this.