No Mail Today - Gene Terry and His Down Beats

No Mail Today - Gene Terry and His Down Beats

2:36

single, 1958

Written by Eddie Shuler and Terry DeRouen

I read that this song took Terry (real name Terry De Rouen) five minutes to write.  Terry was known as the king of Swamp Pop.  And what is Swamp Pop?  According to Terry himself, it's "white boys playing black music damned good." This one is a rockabilly number with saxophone and an obvious New Orleans boogie influence to it.  In it, Terry uses the common disappointment of having no mail to build a "come back to me, baby" song.

It's a Beautiful Day Today - Moby Grape

It's a Beautiful Day Today - Moby Grape

3:06

Moby Grape '69, 1969

Written by Bob Mosley

Despite my lifetime of listening to classic rock, I know next to nothing about this band.  I expected ornate, psychedelic rock, but this song is quiet, optimistic, and understated.  Sung by bassist Bob Mosley, it's a low-key, almost droning, folk-rock number, drenched in hippie serenity.  "From dawn to dawn a lifetime / The birds sing and day's begun / The heavens shine from dawn to dusk / With golden rays of sun."  Like, we're all one, man.

Louisiana 1927 - Randy Newman

Louisiana 1927 - Randy Newman

2:56

The Randy Newman Songbook Vol. 1, 2003

Written by Randy Newman, 1974

This is the stripped-down, piano only version of Newman's 1974 song, originally on his album Good Old Boys.  The original is nice, but it features a string section that I feel isn't necessary to carry the emotional eight of the song.  The lyric tells the story of the Great Mississippi Flood of 1927 and the government response to it.  "President say, "Little fat man, isn't it a shame / What the river has done to this poor cracker's land?'"  But of course it's just as resonant in the Katrina era.  Except, you know, replace the epithet "cracker."

Let the Four Winds Blow - Fats Domino

Let the Four Winds Blow - Fats Domino

2:05
Let the Four Winds Blow, 1961

Written by Dave Bartholomew and Fats Domino

I'm not clear why this song has the writing credit it does, because Dave Bartholomew wrote and released it as "Four Winds" in 1955.  But maybe Fats added enough, besides his genial charisma, to get his own credit.  It was a time when songwriting credit didn't necessarily mean that anyone wrote anything.  Anyway, this is a a nice, light New Orleans shuffle that doesn't break any ground not heavily trod by the Fat Man.  It's a little lyrically clichéd ("From the east to the west / I love you the best"), but it has plenty of that Fats charm.

Lazy - They Might Be Giants

Lazy - They Might Be Giants

3:12

single, 2024

Written by Irving Berlin, 1924

The Giants treat this hundred-year-old song with respect, letting the fantastic rhyme scheme ("I want to peep / Through the deep / Tangled wildwood / Counting sheep / 'Til I sleep / Like a child would") speak for itself.  I love the interior rhyme and multi-word rhymes that the old masters of the era, like Berlin and Cole Porter, used.  I'm not sure, because I'm not very familiar with the Crosby or Monroe versions, but I believe that the Johns have cheekily added some lyrics about Mr. Dickens and Omar Khayyam.  Their lyrics ("I hate to hurry through life and worry...") fit in wonderfully to the existing lyrics, so either they're using a full lyric that didn't get recorded, or they're masters of the craft themselves.

Let Me Sleep Beside You - David Bowie

Let Me Sleep Beside You - David Bowie

3:25

The World Of David Bowie, 1970 (recorded 1967)

Written by David Bowie

A slow-burning rock song with a cello arrangement, this song was shelved due to its "risqué" title and Bowie's refusal to change it.  The lyric is a smoldering come-on to a young woman: "Lock away your childhood and throw away the key / Now the streets and city sights will burn your eyes as coals / We shall drink the oldest wine and velvet skies will linger / Child, you're a woman now, your heart and soul are free."  It's a little creepy, frankly, with its reference to putting away dolls and toys and the calling her child and so on.  But if anyone can sell this mystical pale rock-god seduction act, I guess it's Bowie.

Let It Ride - Ryan Adams & the Cardinals

Let It Ride - Ryan Adams & the Cardinals

3:23

Cold Roses, 2005

Written by Ryan Adams, JP Bowersock, Cindy Cashdollar, Brad Pemberton and Catherine Popper

Adams is here in full country mode, light on the alt-, with the twang and the pedal steel and the lyrics all about the Tennessee and the Cumberland, and drinking and fucking up ("Loaded like a sailor / Tumbling off a ferry boat / I was at the bar till three").  The band is crackerjack, and the melody is sweet, with nice old-time Western guitar flourishes.  It's a fine song, and I like it, but Adams' simple lyrics and nice but bland voice simple don't get me here the way, say, the Old 97's and Son Volt do. 

One Mint Julep - The Clovers

One Mint Julep - The Clovers

2:30
single, 1952
Written by Rudy Toombs

This is doo-wop, but a more toned-down, cool jazzy doo-wop.  It's a story song about a man who gets drunk off mint juleps (or, as the narrator claims, just one julep) and ends up in a shotgun wedding with a lady he just met, and later wonders that he has six children.  According to Wikipedia, some of the humor in this song comes in part from the idea of a young black man getting drunk on mint juleps, traditionally thought of as an aristocratic southern white woman's drink.  Maybe, but it's also playing on the "men be hating marriage" comedy trope.  

On the Radio - Regina Spektor

On the Radio - Regina Spektor

3:20

Begin To Hope, 2006

Written by Regina Spektor

A brilliant song of love and loss and resilience.  The chorus refers to "November Rain," itself a song about broken hearts and letting go.  After a long, surreal verse about driving a hearse through a crowd, worms in a catacomb, and malevolent ancient bees, the song reverts to a more straightforward rumination on putting all your love and hopes in someone and hoping not to get hurt.  "And walking arm in arm / You hope it don't get harmed / But even if it does / You'll just do it all again."  It's in songs like these that I think, in lyrics and voice, Spektor is an heir to Joni Mitchell's crown.

Oliver's Army - Hayseed Dixie

Oliver's Army - Hayseed Dixie

2:51

Free Your Mind... And Your Grass Will Follow, 2017

Written by Elvis Costello, 1979

My favorite bluegrass-rock cover band does one of my very favorite Elvis Costello songs!  Adding in a fiddle line that evokes "Here Comes the Sun," they don't exactly transform this anti-imperialist tirade, but they definitely put their stamp on it.  They clearly love the source material and treat it with equal parts reverence and glee.  

Belfast Telegraph - Shock Treatment

Belfast Telegraph - Shock Treatment

2:24

single, 1979

Written by Shock Treatment, probably?

Ulster political punk, a sharp burst apparently directed at the lurid and salacious nature of the titular newspaper's reporting.  Reminiscent of Stiff Little Fingers, with powerful main vocals, forceful chanting background vocals, and a musicality that far exceeds other proto-punk bands of the era, for example the primitive Ramones.  A little-known and short-lived band, ahead of its time.

Bold O'Donahue - The Clancy Brothers And Tommy Makem

Bold O'Donahue - The Clancy Brothers And Tommy Makem

1:42

The Boys Won't Leave the Girls Alone, 1962

Traditional

A swaggering boast from a charming Irish rogue, this song finds the narrator crowing about breaking hearts for miles around ("Here I am from Paddy's Land, the land of high renown / I broke the hearts of all the girls for miles round Keady Town").  The song ends with the narrator thinking he's a great match for one of Queen Victoria's daughters, which indicates that this version of the song, at least, was written around 1850-1870.  I've been a fan of the Clancys from way, way back, longer than you've been alive, and this is a hit for me.  They deliver it as a rollicking singalong, loose, lively, and full of that bar-band camaraderie they made their signature. Even if it's a throwaway lark in their catalog, the performance brims with tongue-in-cheek energy, making it hard not to grin along.

Friday On My Mind - The Easybeats

Friday On My Mind - The Easybeats

2:55

Good Friday, 1967

Written by Harry Vanda and George Young

A pop anthem with universal appeal—who doesn’t long for the weekend?  "Thursday goes too slow / I've got Friday on my mind." The narrator dreams of escaping work, hitting the city, and spending a little cash on his girl. The song opens with its signature stuttering guitar riff, instantly recognizable, along with the vocal, and then the band breaks in.  Stevie Wright's vocal bristles with pent-up frustration.  The whole track feels tightly wound, urgent, desperate for release. It’s aspirational, explosive, pop sophistication colliding with raw R&B energy. And in the lines, "No one, nothing else that bugs me / More than workin’ for the rich man," the song taps into a universal desire for freedom and self-determination. And with its mix of grit, melody, and attitude, this song presaged all the Australian rock swagger that would come later.

The First Sound - The Association

The First Sound - The Association

4:04

Stop Your Motor, 1971

Written by Terry Kirkman and Richard Thompson

This song is an invocation to the new day, embracing the change, casting out darkness, carpe diem, take it all in.  "Excite me! Daylight, invite me to spin the wheel / Excite me! Daylight, invite me to have a feel of ups and downs."  This song is the grandfather of the Polyphonic Spree, as as such, it's a little slower, more stately, not quite as ethereal and robust.  Fun fact: this song was slated for a proposed documentary on car racing hosted by Paul Newman, even though it has nothing to do with cars, but this film was shelved.  (NB: keyboardist Thompson is not the British folk-rock legend.)

Forget Me Nots - Hot Club Of Cowtown

Forget Me Nots - Hot Club Of Cowtown

3:18

Ghost Train, 2002

Written by Hot Club Of Cowtown

The narrator of the song has had it with false promises.  The addressee pays a lot of lip service to love, but nothing is behind them.  It's clear that presents and empty words don't cut it, so this person is being written off.  "Oh I’ve gone to the mountains, for violets and birds of paradise / But Forget-Me-Nots I’m skipping, hon, I’m leaving them behind."  This bluegrass-swing trio has been around for over 25 years, but I'd never heard of them.  Singer and fiddler Elana James has a beautiful voice, giving this kiss-off a sweet soudn that belies its ultimately sad tale.

Free Time - The Aggrolites

Free Time - The Aggrolites

3:01

Reggae Hit L.A., 2007

Written by the Aggrolites

A decent ska-reggae track by a bunch of white Californians.  In this song, the narrator is really excited to see his lady ("I've done left things behind, oh / Oh, that always come and go / But not that little brown-eyed girl"), but finds, to his shock, that she has moved on without him and prefers it when he's gone.  Should have put a ring on it, buddy.  Anyway, it's a standard ska, nice background music for a levelheaded frat party or a barbecue.  

Frankie's Gun! - The Felice Brothers

Frankie's Gun! - The Felice Brothers

4:06

The Felice Brothers, 2008

Written by Ian Felice, James Felice, Jeremy Backofen, Josh Rawson, and Simone Felice

This song evokes the Band in its ramshackle, careening, sloopy Americana.  This story-song concerns an small-time outlaw, picking up an unspecified cargo, along with his partner Frankie.  Somehow, the narrator gets shot.  "I could have swore the box said Hollywood blanks but / If you see my mama please tell her / I left a little rock in a box in the cellar / That's for her to wear till kingdom come."  With accordion, drunken "sha na na" choruses, and handclaps, the whole track sways around with lurching abandon, perfectly mirroring this tale of the unlucky palooka who only tried to make a little dough for his girl and his mom.

West Coast Town - Chris Shiflett

West Coast Town - Chris Shiflett

2:59

West Coast Town, 2017

Written by Chris Shiflett

I had no idea who Shiflett was when I heard this song.  He's the guitarist for Foo Fighters, trying on an alt-country hat and channeling Merle Haggard's attitude. "Yeah, mom held it down on a county wage / Clothes on our backs and food on our plates." t's interesting that he applies the music's hardscrabble working-class image specifically to Santa Barbara; I know there are plenty of depressed and middle class areas in California, of course, but when blended with the roots country sound there's a danger of it sounding artificial to many listeners.  But the South doesn't own growing up hard and working for a living, so good for Shiflett, I say.

What Lack Of Love Has Done - Nick Lowe

What Lack Of Love Has Done - Nick Lowe

2:50

Dig My Mood, 1998

Written by Nick Lowe

The narrator of this song has an occupation, a vocation, maybe an obsession.  He goes around the world, goes up on stage, and tells people about his bad love affair.  "And though I do it nightly / It never is the same / For it's a never ending story / Of jealousy and blame."  This is a man whose past haunts him, weighs heavy on him.  The title is a deliberate misnomer.  It isn't lack of love that's done this to him, it's perfidy.  But doesn't all betrayal stem from lack of love?  The song has a cool, relaxed vibe with understated vocals that belie the hurt in the words.

Workin' Man Blues - Merle Haggard

Workin' Man Blues - Merle Haggard

2:35

A Portrait Of Merle Haggard, 1969

Written by Merle Haggard

This was a number one hit, but I'd never heard it.  This song is where Dylan got his line "sing a little bit of these workingman's blues!" Dylan's song is about a million times more eloquent than Merle's, but you have to admit Merle's got the beer-drinkin', rough-hands-having, welfare-eschewing, blue collar stiff routine down cold.  The constant sharp metallic tink sound in the background, made by a guitar accent, probably meant to be a pickaxe or some such implement, is a little affectatious, but what the hell, right?

Wishing the Days Away - Billy Bragg

Wishing the Days Away - Billy Bragg

2:30

Talking With the Taxman About Poetry, 1986

Written by Billy Bragg

In this song, the socialist songbird paints a scenario in which the narrator pines for an unnamed "you," presumably a lost love.  Each day, he wishes it was the day after ("On Monday I wished it was Tuesday night / So I could wish for the weekend to come"), apparently so he can see her.  But it's not clear; she's also sending letters, which he finds wanting in some way.  And this being Bragg, the narrator also has politics on his mind: Lenin Shipyards is busy, but it seems as though he isn't.  He should put on his stinking working clothes, but for some reason, he's hanging fire in the Hammersmith Hotel.  I don't think that's a literal hotel; see Elvis Costello's "Fish 'n' Chip Paper" reference: "If you've got something to hide, if you've got something to sell / If you've got somebody's bride she might kiss and tell / Or wind up with a fight fan in the Hammersmith Hotel."  Google is of no help here.

Wake Up Dolores - Los Lobos

Wake Up Dolores - Los Lobos

2:55

Kiko, 1992

Written by David Hidalgo and Louie Pérez 

A folk-rock song with razor sharp guitars and a lyric that evokes ancient Aztec rituals ("Oh sacred night / On quetzal plumes / Of dying suns / And purple moons").  The voices are subdued, the words mysterious.  Where are they going at night on a hard rocky road?  Why is Dolores failing to wake, though they seem to be in flight?  The arrangement is halting, jittery; guitars and voices echo the lead vocal like a chorus of chanting ghosts as the final lines lapses into Nahuatl, saying something about moving on.  It's an ethereal, compelling track.

You Can't Do That - Harry Nilsson

You Can't Do That - Harry Nilsson

2:18

Pandemonium Shadow Show, 1967

Written by John Lennon and Paul McCartney

This song is elevated from the common ruck of Beatles covers by slowing the tempo and setting it against a steady, almost playful hand-percussion beat. What really makes it shine, though, is Nilsson’s sly collage of other Beatles titles and lyrics woven throughout: "Paperback Writer," "Day Tripper,” "Beep beep yeah," and snatches of a dozen more Fab Four works. It's equal parts homage and wink. Two swelling string passages rise up like echoes of the Beatles' later orchestral flourishes, only to recede and drop the track back into its mellow, grooving pulse. The result is both affectionate parody and inventive reinterpretation, showing off Nilsson’s wit as much as his voice.

(You Will) Set the World On Fire - David Bowie

(You Will) Set the World On Fire - David Bowie

3:32

The Next Day, 2013

Written by David Bowie

While this is a straightforward (for Bowie) rocker full of big guitars and anthemic sound, the song is set in the 1960s Greenwich Village scene.  The song appears to be about, and addressed to, Odetta ("Ochs takes notes / When the black girl and guitar / Burn together hot in rage").  Noting that esteemed folkies Van Ronk, Ochs, and Dylan are taking notes, the narrator of song appears to proposition Odetta (or whoever the black girl with the guitar may be) and promises her headlines and stories in magazines.  "I can hear the nation cry," he roars.  It's a fascinating juxtaposition of music and words, leaving the listener to wonder if the real result of all the promises was that rock, primary the purview of the white male musician, won out in the world's eyes.  Maybe it's even a nod to Bob, who plays this kind of loud rock these days but initially built his vast reputation by imitating the sounds and words of others in the Village scene.

You Did Good Kid - The Hold Steady

You Did Good Kid - The Hold Steady

4:09

Thrashing Thru the Passion, 2019

Written by Craig Finn, Tad Kubler, Franz Nicolay, Bobby Drake, Steve Selvidge, and Galen Polivka

A somewhat murky, mood-setting track that doesn't quite reach the anthemic highs of their best work.  Of course, Finn's sotrytelling is as always on point.   which centers on drug-addled drifters and the seedy, tense atmosphere of their lives. Critics noted the song is a dark, atmospheric example of Craig Finn's narrative storytelling and the band's signature sound, The song is characterized by its up-tempo energy, gang vocals, and Thin Lizzy-esque riffs, providing a sound that is both familiar to fans and accessible to new listeners. 

You're Pretty Good Looking (For a Girl) - White Stripes

You're Pretty Good Looking (For a Girl) - White Stripes

1:49

De Stijl, 2000

Written by Jack White and Meg White

There's raw, DIY sound on this song; it was recorded at White's home on 8-track tape.  The Stripes' more typical blues-rock squawk is not heard here.  This is ninety seconds of melodic indie wrapped around a backhanded compliment.  "Yeah you're pretty good looking for a girl / Your eyes are wide open / And your thoughts have been stolen by the boys."  No wonder Meg divorced him!

You Was Born To Die - Blind Willie McTell

You Was Born To Die - Blind Willie McTell

single, 1933

2:51

Written by Blind Willie McTell

First off, anyone who is anyone knows, ain't no one plays the blues like Blind Willie McTell.  I've been a fan for decades, but he recorded a lot, and I'm not intimately familiar with it all.  From the title, I assumed this was an example of his Christian material — you know, the curse of the tree of forbidden knowledge, dust thou art, all that — but this isn't the case.  Instead, it's an example of the well-worn blues "woman done me wrong, she better watch out" trope.  The narrator is unhappy with a woman who "Stays out in the street / And acts like a bad-foot clown."  (Note to self: add "bad-foot clown" to insult repertoire.)  Over masterful twelve-string work, McTell let's us know she's been doing him wrong!  "I'm home at morning / Face full of frown / I know about that, baby / You′ve been running around."  Face full of frown!  McTell was a master wordsmith.