I'm Not the One - The Gnomes

I'm Not the One - The Gnomes

2:54

single, 2025

Written by the Gnomes

A sharp blast of Australian throwback power-pop, this song races along like a Merseybeat rocker, all crisp drumming and a wall of twin guitars.  It's a breakup song, and the title, slightly misleading, actually comes from the one doing the leaving, not the narrator describing himself.  "What you're trying to say / Is I'm not the one / So what you're trying to say / Is that we're done."  Despite the sad situation it describes, the song buzzes with early Beatles energy, with an ebullient and possibly misplaced "oh yeah!" after the last chorus.  Maybe the Gnomes are too sad to sulk.

I Wanna Destroy You - The Soft Boys

I Wanna Destroy You - The Soft Boys

2:53

Underwater Moonlight, 1980

Written by Robyn Hitchcock

A surreal rocker possibly out of its time; you can hear the offbeat jangle and harmonies that would later define R.E.M., fused with the sci-fi weirdness and aural assault that prefigure the Pixies.   The lyrics aren't entire clear; while most rock songs that talk of destroying are aimed at an ex-love or an institution, some of the lines evoke an alien passing judgment on the entire human species and its cruelty.  "The way you treat each other really makes me feel ill / 'Cause if you wanna fight then you're just dying to get killed."  A late line about not having a single atom left may support this interpretation.  Whatever it is that the ire is focused on, it's a unique collision of punk rage and Byrds-like shimmer, equal parts venom and melody.

Indianapolis - The Bottle Rockets

Indianapolis - The Bottle Rockets

3:32

24 Hours a Day, 1997

Written by the Bottle Rockets

A solid alt-country lament about being stuck in the titular city due to a busted van.  The lyrics are amusingly quotidian ("If I get that van back, man, the road I′m gonna burn / Right now my future's in the hands of the boys down at Firestone"), but there's a real sense of loss behind the banal.  His girlfriend doesn't want to hear from him, he's forced to depend on the kindness of an ex-con, the jukebox won't even play anything good.  It's the kind of down to earth wit found in an Old 97's song, but making it less of a self-deprecating joke than Rhett Miller might, more grit behind a blue collar and a touch more acerbity. 

I Am the Man Thomas - Ralph Stanley and the Clinch Mountain Boys

I Am the Man Thomas - Ralph Stanley and the Clinch Mountain Boys

1:56

Cry From the Cross, 1971

Written by Ralph Stanley and Larry Sparks

A fierce bluegrass rendering of John 20:24-29, in which the disciple Thomas Didymus refused to believe that Jesus is reborn unless he can actually touch the crucifixion scars.  "They pierced me in the side, Thomas, I am the Man / I died on the cross, Thomas, I am the Man."  This song has been covered by a variety of artists, including some great live versions by Bob Dylan around 2000.  It's easy to see why; Stanley's urgent, nasal vocal and rapid-fire banjo picking make it a short but powerful mountain gospel.

Imperial Hotel - Stevie Nicks

Imperial Hotel - Stevie Nicks

2:52

Rock a Little, 1985

Written by Stevie Nicks and Mike Campbell

This isn't the Elvis Costello cover we all crave and deserve, but rather a booming '80s-rock anthem about a couple who don't fully connect.  "He says to her why do you do it / She says to him why do you stay."  Nicks uses her powerful voice to great effect in the song, buoyed along by Benmont Tench's great organ lines.  The song itself, with its abstruse but intriguing lyrics about two people living on different wavelengths, is good, but the performance is all high energy and elevates it to great.

Slip-In Mules - Sugar Pie DeSanto

Slip-In Mules - Sugar Pie DeSanto

2:48

single, 1964

Written by Tommy Tucker and Billy Davis

This blues swing number was written as an answer song to Tucker's own blues classic "Hi-Heel Sneakers."  It's celebrating the comfortable low-heel shoe, which the narrator wears to match her beau's spats and calfskins.   "Ain't wearing no high-heel sneaker / Cause they hurt my toes so bad."  DeSanto's bluesy growl, the blues guitar lines, and tinkling piano all bring a lot of fire to this otherwise kind of silly song.  Her Fun fact: DeSanto's birth name was Peylia Marsema Balinton.  Imagine that on a marquee!

She - Starz

She - Starz

3:20

Attention Shoppers!, 1978

Written by Michael Lee Smith, Peter Sweval, and Richie Ranno

This isn't the type of music I'm usually drawn to, but it's a catchy, high-energy burst of power-pop.  Sonically, the band is usually thrown in with the likes of Kiss and Motley Crue, two bands I could not care less about.  But while there are some gunfire drum fills and anthemic guitar, this particular song is all polished pop and no real edge, so maybe that's why I don't mind it.  Lyrically, it's about this girl who brought joy into the narrator's weepy, drunken life.  "I never get that lonely / Ever since she first showed me how / My life is so much better / Nothing can take it from me now."

Skin Deep - The Stranglers

Skin Deep - The Stranglers

3:53

Aural Sculpture, 1984

Written by Hugh Cornwell, Dave Greenfield, Jean-Jacques Burnel, and Jet Black

This post-punk song is a smooth, synth-laced groove wrapped around a a hypnotic bass pulse.  It serves as a deceptively gentle warning to those who rely on the superficiality of others and how uncertainty can gnaw at you.  "Some days there′s things on your mind you should keep / Sometimes, it's tougher to look than to leap."  The detached vocal delivery and droning, cyclical melody serve the message perfectly, and the swooning background vocals give the song polished, urbane, almost sinister feel.

Southern Nights - Glen Campbell

Southern Nights - Glen Campbell

3:00

Southern Nights, 1977

Written by Allen Toussaint, 1975

The album this song is on went to number one on the country charts.  Yet again, what I hear is soft rock, or singer-songwriter like Randy Newman or Jim Croce.  This song, at least, is country by name only.  The song is inspired by Toussaint's visits to his childhood home in Lousiana, and Campbell adapted it to his hometown of Arkansas.  "Have you ever felt a Southern night? / Free as a breeze / Not to mention the trees / Whistlin' tunes that you know and love so."

Sure Feels Good - Elvin Bishop

Sure Feels Good - Elvin Bishop
2:48

Juke Joint Jump, 1975

Written by Elvin Bishop?

I thought I'd give Elvin Bishop another try after the first time.  This song is less soul and more laid-back country rock, evoking some of the soft rock of the 1970s, again relying on strong female backing choruses.  And, as with "Rock My Soul," there's a bright-eyed optimism here.  "I never seen such a beautiful day / Looks like everything is coming my way / Feel like a bird just leaving a cage." What I've heard so far from Bishop is pleasant, catchy enough, but ultimately lightweight. Certainly, neither of the songs I've posted here have any narrative punch.  Stoners would groove to it.

Return To Oz - Laura Jane Grace

Return To Oz - Laura Jane Grace

1:50

Stay Alive, 2020

Written by Laura Jane Grace

Grace's lyrics have always been a bit recondite, and this song is no exception.  Here, she returns to Against Me's acoustic-punk origins with a short but fierce number full of recrimination and frustration.  She's chasing someone, but is it someone else or her ideal self?  "Petrified polymorphs / I'm tired of the games we're playing / Of many excellent qualities / Thinking has never been one of them."  Note the lack of pronoun before "thinking" — it's not clear if this is lashing out or a self-criticism.  As for the title, the chorus begins "Smudge and blazes!" which is what the Nome King in Ozma Of Oz cries out in anger when his enchantments are broken and things revoke to their proper, original shape.  For Grace, it's a potent image of trans reclamation, the violent joy of returning to who you truly are after years of distortion.

Raum Der Zeit - Wizo

Raum Der Zeit - Wizo

1:38

Uuaarrgh!, 1994

Written by Wizo?

Another blistering-fast punk song from everyone's favorite progressive German anti-fascist band.  The song starts off in whipcrack speed and never lets up: "Ich bin schwul, ich bin jüdisch / Und ein Kommunist dazu / Ich bin schwarz und behindert / Doch genauso Mensch, wie du."  Black, gay, disabled, communist, we are all humans and worthy of love.  Or are we?  In Wizo's vision, we're all equal, but we're all equally assholes, full of faults, amid the billions of other chattering nobodies.  It's the same message of 1960s hippie sensibility, just crammed through the warped view of the punk's nihilism.

The Rocky Road To Dublin - The Tossers

The Rocky Road To Dublin - The Tossers
2:40
On a Fine Spring Evening, 2008 

Traditional

Honestly, the Pogues have a lot to answer for.  Ever since MacGowan and company's whiskey-sodden snarl broke through to indie lads and college hipsters alike, every heavy-drinking gravel-voiced Irishman (or Irish-adjacent American) has fancied himself the next great Celtic punk prophet. Cue the tin whistle, strike up the bodhrán, and off we go.  But to their credit, The Tossers are among the better inheritors of that legacy.  They roar through a raucous take on this great uptempo ballad about a hapless Irishman who looks for work and meats with disaster and mistreatment in England.  Still, no one does it better than the Clancy Brothers, in my book.

Radio - Ten Ton Bridge

Radio - Ten Ton Bridge

3:24

Landfall, 2010

Written by Chuck Miller?

There's a strong Midwest pop-rock vibe on this song (the band is apparently from Minnesota), with indie guitar lines, muted, shy vocals and a steady, solid percussion backbone.  This vibe here is understated but earnest and melodic.  These guys don't flaunt much in the way of attitude, but nonetheless their formula punches way out of their weight class.  It's hard to say why this delicate pop sensibility and wistful intelligence never caught on to wide audiences while REM did.

Rock My Soul - The Elvin Bishop Band

Rock My Soul - The Elvin Bishop Band

2:48

Rock My Soul, 1972

Written by Elvin Bishop?

A nice slice of blue-eyed soul liberally laced with Southern rock and New Orleans boogie-style horns.  Bishop was a founding member of the Paul Butterfield Blues Band.  This song is a feel-good celebration of the power of music to energize you.  The lyric is simple but enthusiastic.  "When you listen to the music / Let it sink into you / You'd be surprised to find out / How much good that little bit can do you."  The horns and a powerhouse female backing vocal are doing a lot of the heavy lifting for this song; Bishop's easy, good-time guitar work makes him less the showboating frontman here than the ringleader of a small, jubilant revival.

Pulled Up - Talking Heads

Pulled Up - Talking Heads

4:29

Talking Heads: 77, 1977

Written by David Byrne

This song is a jolt of uncharacteristic optimism from a band that often came from a dark or detached place. It's a song about transformation; the narrator has been "pulled up" from despair into joy, helped by some unseen hand. Maybe it's divine intervention, maybe friends or seven just self-actualization, but either way, David Byrne sounds genuinely elated here, not anxious.  Musically, it’s all taut motion: twitchy guitars, propulsive drumming, frantic yodel-like scatting, and ascending scales that mirror the lyric's upward momentum. The band build tension and release it in one cathartic rush, a technique that would echo years later in the loud-quiet dynamics of Pixies and Nirvana. Byrne's vocal is gloriously unhinged, half-yelped, half-exultant, with that strange laugh on "There’s really no hurry, I'll eat in a while," a small human crack in an already eccentric performance. Beneath the quirk, though, is real warmth.  Indeed, I read that its placement at the end of the album was intentional, designed to provide a sense of light and catharsis after the darker themes elsewhere on the album.

Pulling On a Line - Great Lakes Swimmers

Pulling On a Line - Great Lakes Swimmers

3:19

Lost Channels, 2009

Written by Tony Dekker

This song, from the Canadian folk-rock band that I've heard nothing by before, seems to actually about a fishing line.  The verses are comprised of imagery about the line soaring across the sky.  "The line, it inks across the freshly fallen snow / Where only those embracing coldness would go / In whistles and in whispers and sometimes in howls."  Does it represent something else?  Or is it straightforward; as Hemingway might say, "the line is a line and the man casting it is a man."  The song's beautiful, majestic, and soaring quality features a warm, strum-heavy rhythm, creating a melancholic and anthemic yet ghostly sound.

Part Of You Wants To Believe Me - They Might Be Giants

Part Of You Wants To Believe Me - They Might Be Giants

2:58

Book, 2021

Written by John Flansburgh and John Linnell

"Part of you wants to believe me, but part of you / Isn't yet totally off of your meds / Part of you senses that all of this story is / Totally making no sense."  So begins yet another Giants track about a lack of communication, interpretation, obscure irrelevant details, and madness.  With the Johns' trademark witty wordplay,  energetic, catchy poppy melody, this is a top-notch addition to their catalog.

Poker - Electric Light Orchestra

Poker - Electric Light Orchestra

3:32

Face the Music, 1975

Written by Jeff Lynne

I know very little about ELO; I've barely even paid attention to the big hits.  However, this seems to be one of their harder-rocking moments, a track that rips through the band's glossy orchestral sheen with raw power.  Bass player Kelly Groucutt (a man, it turns out) takes lead vocals, lending an edge to the song lacking in Lynne's typically soft vocals. There's pounding drums and fast guitar rocketing out of the gate, supported by moog‐synth arpeggiations and layered keyboards that give urgency. The contrast between the frenetic verses and the more spacious, melodic bridge is one of its strengths. Lyrically, the song leans into metaphor: gambling, risk, deception, high stakes: "The dream in every player's heart / To win it all not part."  

People Of Substance - Craig Finn

People Of Substance - Craig Finn

2:59

Always Been, 2025

Written by Craig Finn

The narrative here is well-trod ground by Finn, on solo records as well as with the Hold Steady: man with a shaky past and a few demons vows that this time things will be different.  But while he confesses his weaknesses and peccadillos, there's clearly something he isn't saying.  "You never really told me what it was / You cut me off for, and I'm still not sure / So I've decided that I'd call and just check in."  You get the feeling that if the narrator really engaged in some introspection it would be pretty clear what Dana cut him off for.  Backed by the War on Drugs, Finn sounds great.  The fast tempo belies the bleakness of the lyrics, and as with all of his best material, keeps you listening as the song reveals more every time with what it doesn't say. 

One Of These Days - Emmylou Harris

One Of These Days - Emmylou Harris

3:03

Elite Hotel, 1975

Written by Earl Montgomery, 1972

This song was first recorded by George Jones, but Emmylou Harris made it a hit, taking it to number three on the country charts.  Her version embodies quiet resilience rendered in luminous sound. The song is an unhurried meditation on endurance and the passage of time, and Harris approaches it with characteristic restraint, her voice soft but unflinching.  The arrangement, anchored by pedal steel and brushed percussion, moves with the patient inevitability of sunrise. Glen Hardin's piano and James Burton's guitar weave around her vocal, never crowding it, just coloring in the emotional contours.  Harris has always had a gift for transforming simple songs into small revelations. Here she finds the spiritual ache beneath the plainspoken lines ("One of these days, and it won’t be long / You'll look for me, and I'll be gone") and delivers them with the bittersweet clarity of someone who's known loss but refuses cynicism.   There's no Nashville gloss or formula here, just a catchy blend of traditional country instrumentation and California folk-rock warmth.

One of These Mornings - Ricky Nelson

One of These Mornings - Ricky Nelson

1:54

Ricky Sings Again, 1959

Written by Dorsey Burnette

More 1950s rock 'n' roll than rockabilly — a sort of pop-abilly maybe — this song starts off with the narrator averring that one day he'll go find a gal who'll love him.  They'll have a great time under the moon and all that.  But then, suddenly he's talking about leaving again!  "I done told my gal what I'm gonna do / I'm gonna leave on a one way track / Yes one of these mornings and I can't be comin' back."  Well, I call that pretty fickle, Ricky Nelson!

One Hand Loose - Charlie Feathers

One Hand Loose - Charlie Feathers

2:24

single, 1956

Written by Charlie Feathers, Jerry Huffman, and Jody Chastain

A rollicking, hiccuping early rockabilly track, raw and unpolished, with elements of honky-tonk still discernible in both the music and vocals.  It's unclear to me what it may be all about.  Possibly nothing?  Or dancing?  "If there's rhythm in your bones then you know how I feel / But don't you crowd me close baby, this time is for real / Get ready for some rockin', pick 'em up and put 'em down / Give me one hand loose and I'll be satisfied."  One hand loose to do what, Mr. Feathers?!

One Of These Things First - Nick Drake

One Of These Things First - Nick Drake 

3:46
Bryter Layter, 1971
Written by Nick Drake

In this intricate, melodic pop song, Drake starts by playfully exploring some imaginative hypotheticals: he could have been a sailor, a cook, even a whistle or a boot or a flute.  But in the center of the song, the surreal "could haves" start to reveal some deceptively weighty regrets.  "I could have been your pillar, could have been your door / Could have stayed beside you / Could have stayed for more."  Suddenly we're snapped back to reality, lost love, and self-recrimination as baroque pop melody continues to bubble along.  It's a perfect Nick Drake song, quiet and understated, a blend of whimsy and melancholy.

One Hundred Years From Now - The Byrds

One Hundred Years From Now - The Byrds 
2:34
Sweetheart Of the Rodeo, 1968
Written by Gram Parsons

This song captures Parsons' vision of country rock (if by rock you mean softer 1970s rock) at its purest crossroads, where twang meets jangle, and Bakersfield meets Laurel Canyon. Lloyd Green's pedal steel provides the track's keening hook, while Clarence White adds clean, understated guitar lines that dance around the melody without ever intruding. The result feels like the missing link between The Everly Brothers and Hank Williams, music that belongs equally to country and rock, proof those genres twine their roots in the same soil.  Equally, its sound could just as easily be heard drifting from a crackling, century-old shellac 78 as from modern headphones..  The song's message is enough to give one pause: nearly sixty years later, we're nowhere near to any answers to the questions it poses.  "Nobody knows what kind of trouble we're in / Nobody seems to think it all might happen again."  It keeps on happening.

Full Moon And Empty Arms - Bob Dylan

Full Moon And Empty Arms - Bob Dylan

3:22

Shadows In the Night, 2015

Written by Buddy Kaye, Ted Mossman, Sergei Rachmaninoff, 1945

So first off, why does Rachmaninoff, who dies in 1943, gets a composer credit here?  Because Kaye and based on Sergei Rachmaninoff's Piano Concerto No. 2, according to a contemporary article in Time magazine.  Apparently, he based the song "Ever and Forever" from the Rachmaninoff's movement, and "Full Moon and Empty Arms" from the third. In the song, the narrator years for his absent love, and declares he'll wish on the moon.  "And next full moon / If my one wish comes true / My empty arms will be filled with you."  Dylan sings it with a restrained yet highly emotionally charged raspy croon, against a sparse backing of pedal steel. 

Beechwood 4-5789 - The Marvelettes

Beechwood 4-5789 - The Marvelettes

2:14

Playboy, 1962

Written by Marvin Gaye, William "Mickey" Stevenson, and George Gordy

There could be a whole album of songs whose titles are telephone numbers, but this one would be one of the top three, easily.  The narrator tells this guy not to be shy; she's waiting patiently to get to know him!  "And my number is Beechwood 4-5789 / You can call me up and have a date any old time."  Rather forward for 1962, eh what?  Fun fact: Marvin Gaye played drums on this track!  Terrific girl-group vocals and a powerhouse Funk Brothers band make this song a keeper.

Beauty Of the Pool Hall - Rancid

Beauty Of the Pool Hall - Rancid

2:16

Trouble Maker, 2017

Written by Tim Armstrong

A paean to a lady named Angel, a rough beauty whom the narrator pined for, or was involved with.  He would always see her around the workin-class gin joint, before she left abruptly one day.  "Kindness, a language that she always spoke / Lord, the way she could communicate."  It's got all of Rancid's trademark bits: breakneck solos, singalong choruses, Armstrong's mumbled raspy rap-singing, fragmented lyrics.  Not their greatest  song but a fair representative.

007 (Shanty Town) - Desmond Dekker & the Aces

007 (Shanty Town) - Desmond Dekker & the Aces

2:34

007 (Shanty Town), 1967

Written by Desmond Dekker

A now-typical rocksteady tale of rudeboys and their violent ways. "And rudeboy get a probation / A shanty town / And rudeboy bomb up the town / A shanty town."  Desmond wrote the song after watching news reports on a student demonstration that turned into a riot.  This song cemented Dekker's popularity among rude boys in Jamaica, apparently since his earlier music had preached parental respect and the importance of education.

The Fool On the Hill - Bobbie Gentry

The Fool On the Hill - Bobbie Gentry

3:49

Local Gentry, 1968

Written by John Lennon and Paul McCartney

My first impression is this is not on the whole a successful cover.  At times, Gentry's voice seems over-taxed and rough, and the production overall is a thin tinny sound, with off-beat and distracting instrumentation (is that a mouth harp making that quacking sound?).  Luckily, it's such a great song that even this occasionally desultory performance still has something to offer.