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.  

Early Roman Kings - Bob Dylan

Early Roman Kings - Bob Dylan

5:14

Tempest, 2012

Written by Bob Dylan

Melodically, this is one of the most stripped-down songs Dylan ever recorded. The band locks into a simple, repetitive blues groove and barely budges. Dylan's vocal is even more extreme: rather than singing a conventional melody, he mostly declaims the lyrics like a street preacher. As is nearly always the case in his later material, Dylan's lyrics meander, contain non sequiturs, quote snippets of this and that, toss out lines both surreal and profane, evoke a dark world of gangsters, power brokers, and conflict: "I was up on black mountain the day Detroit fell / They killed them all off and they sent them to hell / Ding Dong Daddy, you’re coming up short / Gonna put you on trial in a Sicilian court." Whether Dylan is talking about ancient Rome, modern street gangs, or power itself hardly matters. The song is about people who believe their authority is permanent, who assume the world will always work in their favor. The relentless groove reinforces the idea that this is how things are, this is how they've always been, and this is how they'll always be. However, the lyric tells us that empires do crumble and fall.

The Tempest - The Real McKenzies

The Tempest - The Real McKenzies

4:09

Westwinds, 2012

Written by the Real McKenzies

This song starts off with just bagpipes and a steady single drum beat. The pipes fade out a few seconds in, and the Paul McKenzie's vocals start with the metronome beat behind him, until the band kicks in.  The lyrics begin with a lift from Jean-Jacques Rousseau's Social Contract: "We are all born free but forever live in chains."  It's sung from the point of view of galley slaves, who sing to keep their spirits up while plotting escape: "We carry on the burden and we hide our grimace well / For the day will come for us to mutiny / But as long as we survive our hope and pride they can't deprive."  It's a perfect blend of Cletic punk, sea shanty, and modern swagger.

X-Kid - Green Day

X-Kid - Green Day

3:41

¡Tré!, 2012

Written by Billie Joe Armstrong, Mike Dirnt, and Tré Cool

The title of this initially serviceable power pop number is the first hint at the darkness underneath Armstrong's ebullient chords and sing-along chorus.  The "meaning" of a song is rarely very simple, of course, but most sources agree that this song commemorates a friend of Armstrong who committed suicide: "And you were searching your soul / And you got lost and outta control / You went over the edge of joking / And died of a broken heart."  That tension between bright, almost carefree music and deeply wounded lyrics is what lifts "X-Kid" a lot of its brethren on the oft-maligned trilogy.  The song works whether you hear it as a lament for a lost friend, a reflection on aging and the disappearance of youthful recklessness, or a broader meditation on transitional moments when identity fractures under pressure.  What might otherwise land as mid-tier Green Day gains weight and resonance through its emotional honesty, ultimately one of the band's more affecting late-career moments.

No Tomorrow - Loudon Wainwright III

No Tomorrow - Loudon Wainwright III 
3:01
Older Than My Old Man Now, 2012

Written by Loudon Wainwright

The ultimate carpe diem, live for today song.  It's pretty explicit about the message; no subtext here.  After LW3 imagines a drunkard, a spendthrift, and a man wondering where the time went, he just comes out and says it.  "Tomorrow might get it but there's no way to know / So live for today, there's no tomorrow."  Loud-O has always written about mortality, but at the time of this album he was 65 and living in the moment (like his dog!) probably seemed like a great idea.  It's clear he had a lot of life left from this song, however; his vocal is as spry, playful and strong as ever as he sings, bellows, tosses out asides, and holds the notes with youthful energy.

Ride the Storm - Toughcats

Ride the Storm - Toughcats
2:55

Woodenball, 2012

Written by Joe Nelson

With two male lead vocalists that provide soothing harmonies, and instrumentation with guitar and banjo, this Maine trio craft an eclectic mix of influences into a blend of bluegrass, thoughtful indie rock, and classic pop lines. This song is a reflective, low-tempo number reminding us to stay grounded in times of trouble ("Haul the anchor / From the floor / Hold your own / And ride the storm").  Nelson's simple guitar part provides a memorable, repetitive hook for the melody to latch onto, while drummer and vocalist Jake Greenlaw's powerful rhythmic backing provides a firm structure.

King Of the World - First Aid Kit

King Of the World - First Aid Kit

3:38

The Lion's Roar, 2012

Written by Klara Söderberg, Johanna Söderberg, and Conor Oberst

It's pure Americana folk and I could swear there's a Texas twang, but First Aid Kit is a duo of Swedish sisters.  On this song, they're accompanied by co-writer Conor Oberst, who provides a verse; his cutting, tremulous voice is a terrific complement to their confident, pure harmonies.  With hand percussion, a Latin-infused horn section, and lilting keyboards, it's a catchy, rollicking ride.  The rather abstruse lyrics hint at a narrator wanting to find meaning of an often overwhelming world filled with people, all of whom are finding their own way: "Tell me something real / Tell me something true / I just want to feel there's something left that I can do."

The Brightest Lights - King Charles

The Brightest Lights - King Charles

3:36

LoveBlood, 2012

Written by King Charles

I've never heard of this eccentric British singer and multi-instrumentalist, but this info from Wikipedia is delightful: in 2009, he became the first British person to win the International Songwriting Competition in Nashville, Tennessee.  The judges included Tom Waits and Jerry Lee Lewis!  Now that's an accomplishment to put on your resumé.  He also released an impassioned version of "We Didn't Start the Fire" with all-new updated lyrics in 2022.  In this rousing acoustic sing-along, he's backed by Mumford & Sons, playing a folk gallop that feels like an old sea shanty or an old Irish ballad.  The lyrics are all imagery of light and shadow, twilight blotting the sun, dawn sweeping darkness away, all relating in Charles' oddball mind to hedonism and carpe diem: "Oh the moonlight shadows are fleeting and scattered / Where memories and prophecies are slain / Only the moment you're in can delight in sin / So forget your regrets and pains." It's folk-rock with a slightly deranged grin, like a Victorian poet let loose in a pub full of stompers.

Kodachrome [live] - Paul Simon

Kodachrome [live] - Paul Simon

3:21

The Concert In Hyde Park, 2017 (recorded 2012)

Written by Paul Simon

At 76 years old, Simon still has a voice like gold. He doesn't jazz up this classic too much, just playing it more or less straight.  He has a talented band backing him up, and at the sped up "Mama don't take my Kodachrome away" part, he sings with as much gusto as on the studio version, before the band goes into an extended jazzy riff, with piano and horn intertwining lines.

Boozophilia - Low Cut Connie

Boozophilia - Low Cut Connie

4:02

Call Me Sylvia, 2012

Written by Low Cut Connie ?

Apparently, "Boozophilia" was featured on Barack Obama's 2015 summer playlist.  I had no idea!  Maybe because of: "Down in Boozophilia / Down with a broken tooth / We're on the south-side of Chicago / Down here in the groove."  It look me another eight years to catch up to the coolest man to live at the White House.  Anyway, this is throwback rock, bar-band rock, with a wild piano taking center stage to add a little barrelhouse swing.  These guys don't take themselves too seriously, but their songwriting is killer.

Babel - Mumford & Sons

Babel - Mumford & Sons

3:28

Babel, 2012

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

Title trax!

The Tower of Babel as a metaphor.  The narrator vows to tear down the walls someone built, perhaps around their heart.  The song, it is said, it meant to be about the tendency of humans to be discontented with their lot and always wanting more, but I don't see that in the lyrics.  I love the ferocity of the acoustic instruments and the growling, intense vocals.  Amplifying power without amplifiers is always a great hook.

As I Love My Own - Aaron Freeman

As I Love My Own - Aaron Freeman

3:11

Marvelous Clouds, 2012

Written by Rod McKuen

These songs have Vs!

Is this the album that helped hasten the breakup of Ween?  No, probably not.  Why a collection of Rod McKuen songs?  Why not, I guess.  To my amazement, the poet and songwriter released several dozen albums.  And Frank Sinatra commissioned a whole album from him!  But I digress.  This song has very little of the Ween "brown," those distorted tones, homages-cum-parodies, and put-on voices that turn off some listeners and endear the band to their fans.  The arrangement is more or less straight '60s adult pop, and Freeman's voice twinkles along, playing the schmaltz ("Your body, moving down to mine / Is like the coupling of the pale November clouds") straight.  In a way, playing this stuff straight, for Freeman, is itself a transgression of form.  Maybe that's why I like it.