Profit - Sam Burchfield

Profit - Sam Burchfield

3:13

Scoundrel, 2022

Written by Sam Burchfield

This is a Steve Earle-style roots-folk-country protest song built on a steady, driving beat of bluesy acoustic guitar, percussion, and echoed vocals.   Burchfield’s weathered but earnest vocals carry the weight of disillusionment without bitterness, but without much hope either.  It's sort of a modern spiritual with teeth, calling out the greedy, fear-mongering, and divisive.  "We built a wall to keep heathens out / So we don't hear their wretched weeping."  It's quietly righteous, with just a hint of retribution.  "I'm digging a grave for the empty souls / Who chase greed and fear and destruction."  It's a "Masters of War" for the Trump era.

Pouring Water On a Drowning Man - James Carr

Pouring Water On a Drowning Man - James Carr
2:40
You Got My Mind Messed Up, 1967 (single released 1966)
Written by Dani McCormick and Drew Baker

I know this song, slightly, from the Elvis Costello cover.  This deep-friend southern soul slice is miles away from Costello's adenoidal vocal. Carr's powerful, raw, passionate, gritty vocals make this bittersweet love song into a classic. The juxtaposition between the driving brass and uptempo beat, and the palpable hurting in the vocal, helps gives this song its power.  The self-deprecation of the lyrics ("You bragged that I like everything you do / You put salt in my wound, it's sad but it's true") only heightens the pain of their message.

Pigs That Ran Straightaway Into the Water, Triumph Of - The Mountain Goats

Pigs That Ran Straightaway Into the Water, Triumph Of - The Mountain Goats

2:52

We Shall All Be Healed, 2004

Written by John Darnielle

I think the Goats are the first artist to appear four times on this blog.  I must be a superfan!  The song title, of course, references Mark 5:13.  "Now there was there nigh unto the mountains a great herd of swine feeding.  And all the devils besought him, saying, Send us into the swine, that we may enter into them.  And forthwith Jesus gave them leave. And the unclean spirits went out, and entered into the swine: and the herd ran violently down a steep place into the sea, (they were about two thousand;) and were choked in the sea."  It's a metaphor for the narrator and his meth addict "evil spirits."  Will he be sent back to the correctional facility where he came from, fitted for an orange jumpsuit?  "I come from Chino where the asphalt sprouts."  But his better angels want to go where dragonflies glide and magnolias bloom.

Pearl Pearl Pearl - Flatt & Scruggs

Pearl Pearl Pearl - Flatt & Scruggs

2:09

single, 1963

Written by Paul Henning

This laid-back bluegrass come-on is self-referential and genuinely funny.  The two singers compete for the titular girl's affections, casting good-natured hillbilly aspersions on each other.  "Pearl, Pearl, Pearl, come be my loving girl / Don't you marry Lester Flatt / He slicks his hair with possum fat / Change your name to Mrs. Earl Scruggs."  But then Flatt counters with, "This here man is such a sap / He won't hold you on his lap / Unless you are an old 5-string banjo."

Price Of Love - Bob Dylan

Price Of Love - Bob Dylan

4:15

The Bootleg Series Vol. 16: Springtime in New York 1980–1985, 2021 (written 1980)

Written by Bob Dylan

An outtake from Shot Of Love, this song is a Bo Diddley shuffle overlaid with rocking guitar and wailing sax.  The price of love is going up, the bard reflects.  And if you don't pay, there's always another sucker  who will.  As is often the case, the lyrics are rather recondite.  "Come down, baby, I'm bark to wood / Found a snake in the neighborhood."  And if that weren't enough: "Leave the valley, and across the ridge / Write up a note that I need your head."  Perhaps these were just nonce lyrics, like "Scrambled Eggs" for "Yesterday."

Treat Me Right - Norma Tanega

Treat Me Right - Norma Tanega

2:18

Walkin' My Cat Named Dog, 1966

Written by Norma Tanega?

Another artist I'd never heard of, Tangea was an experimental artist and apparently Dusty Springfield's collaborator and lover.  This psychedelic-folk song is immediately arresting due to Tanega's unusual, earthy, alto voice and her conversational phrasing.  It's like a warmer, less brash Nico.  At the chorus, the music jumps up and takes a revivalist hand-clapping gospel turn.  The lyrics describe a lover whose love is kind and gentle but still too much for the narrator.  Sometimes love gets dangerous.  "Smooth the wrinkles from my brain / Burn me up and slap me down / I know I shouldn't but I don't care."

That Day - Villagers

That Day - Villagers

3:11

Becoming a Jackal, 2010

Written by Conor O'Brien?

This "band" is, I read, the moniker of Irish musician Conor O’Brien, and the song is a delicate, melancholy slice of atmospheric pop. Echoing the emotional landscapes of Radiohead and early Coldplay, it blends lush acoustic textures of layered piano and gently jangling guitar with O’Brien’s clear, plaintive tenor. The arrangement builds subtly, with reverb-washed harmonies and restrained dynamics that underscore the emotional distance at the heart of the lyrics.  The song sketches a portrait of two people emotionally adrift, unable to bridge the silence between them: "He lies awake in his bed every night devising ways to conceal the strain / She never tells of her midnight fears or admits that she does the same." The elegantly muted instrumentation and intimate vocal phrasing mirror that quiet ache, making the tune feel both gorgeous and quietly devastating.

Take It Off - the Donnas

Take It Off - the Donnas

2:41

Spend the Night, 2002

Written by Brett Anderson, Torry Castellano, Maya Ford and Allison Robertson

I like the Donnas.  Their brash, dumb, in-your-face pop-punk hits the same spot that Green Day did back in the 1990s.  This breakneck-paced song is from the point of view of a woman initiating an encounter.  "Stop staring at my D-cup / Don't waste time, just give it to me."  Riot grrrls don't act demure!  With a hard guitar riff, driving drum, and powerful vocals, this is a quick guilty pleasure of a song.

Take Me (From This Garden Of Evil) - Jimmy Wages

Take Me (From This Garden Of Evil) - Jimmy Wages

2:25

single, 1957

Written by Jimmy Wages

Very early, primitive rockabilly, influenced by country gospel, with ominous one-note guitar work.  Incredibly, there is very little information about this song, or the singer, himself; he doesn't even have an English Wikipedia page!  Discogs has no information on his single.  Some say the single was unreleased in his lifetime.  The song is not quite as spiritual as it may appear; there's one that implies that the narrator's troubles are secular, not infernal.  "Well if you don't hurry, get away from here / This little girl is gonna set my pace."  He's being tempted by the flesh!

Toki's Theme - Dave Brubeck Quartet

Toki's Theme - Dave Brubeck Quartet

2:08

Jazz Impressions of Japan, 1964

Written by Dave Brubeck

A sprightly, toe-tapping melody, with, as the album says, vague hints of Eastern music here and there.  It also sounds like it could be the theme to a spy thriller on TV.  The alto sax is the main line here, highlighting Brubeck's elegant piano riffs.  It's lively, it's staccato, it's over too quickly, really.