My Man - He's a Lovin' Man - Bettye LaVette

My Man - He's a Lovin' Man - Bettye LaVette

2:41

single, 1962

Written by Johnnie Mae Matthews and James Bennett

This single was credited to Betty LaVett, no extraneous final Es.  A slice of 1960s soul with some blues belting.  LaVette's vocal delivery on this record is like a tinny, muted Aretha, but if she sounds rather girlish compared to the Queen of Soul here, it's because she's a mere sixteen at the time of the recording.  LaVette's story is full of missed chances and denied opportunities, but at least she got some recognition and a second act after all that.

Month Of May - Arcade Fire

Month Of May - Arcade Fire

3:51

The Suburbs, 2010

Written by Sarah Neufeld, Richard Reed Parry, Jeremy Gara, Win Butler, Will Butler, Régine Chassagne and Tim Kingsbury

This strikes me as a song of despair and hopelessness.  A wild wind blows and tears down the wires.  Can't inspire anyone.  "Well, I know it's heavy, I know it ain't light / But how you gonna lift it with your arms folded tight?"  Too hip to help, maybe?  Too cool to get involved?  Driving endlessly around.  Seems more in tune with the vast prairies of middle America, the badlands, than the suburbs.  

My Mustang Ford - Chuck Berry

My Mustang Ford - Chuck Berry

2:16

Fresh Berry's, 1965

Written by Chuck Berry

One of rock's innumerable car songs, this one made fresh by Berry's dry wit: "I tried to stop in Indianapolis once, and had to back up from Terre Haute / But now I can slow and stop her with my windbreaker parachute."  Eat your heart out, little deuce coupe!  Is it one of Berry's finest songs?  No, it's pretty rote and features a standard, primitive Berry riff.  But it's fun!

Memphis Beat - Jerry Lee Lewis

Memphis Beat - Jerry Lee Lewis

2:52

Memphis Beat, 1966

Written by Allen Reynolds, Dickey Lee, and Milton Addington

A boogie-woogie ode to Memphis music, like a distant great-uncle of "Nashville Cats."  The opening lyrics would fit perfectly in a Chuck Berry rocker: "Down the Mississippi where the water gets muddy / Forty-four school where the kids don't study."  But after that it's all about that beat that's in your blood.  The beat is tough!  The song references Manfred Mann's 1966 hit: "We got New Orleans and a doo wa diddy."

Mean Old World, Sam Cooke

Mean Old World, Sam Cooke

3:46

Night Beat, 1963

Written by Sam Cooke

This song is so depressing it ought to come with a warning label.  If you're single and don't want to be, under no circumstances should you listen.  Be warned!  Cooke's soulful vocal really makes the message palpable.  "This is a mean old word / To try to live in / All by yourself."  It's a mean old world, and sometimes you end up beaten and shot to death a year after you release this song.

The Dutchman - Steve Goodman

The Dutchman - Steve Goodman

4:19

Somebody Else's Troubles, 1972

Written by Michael Peter Smith

I've never heard of Smith, but he's a much-respected songwriter whose material has been covered by dozens of folk and folk-rock acts.  This particular one has been covered by everyone from Liam Clancy to Jerry Jeff Walker.  This poignant story-song is about an elderly man in Amsterdam who has grown senile, and is taken care of by his wife Margaret.   "Long ago, I used to be a young man / And dear Margaret remembers that for me."  It's a simply-told but emotionally powerful song, despite its overuse of Holland clichés (wooden shoes, really?).

Dead Skunk - Loudon Wainwright III

Dead Skunk - Loudon Wainwright III

3:05

Album III, 1972

Written by Loudon Wainwright III

I came to LWIII's music through other albums and other songs, not through his one hit, this novelty number.  He's a lyricist with introspective, brutally honest songs, when he's not penning insightful, witty lyrics, and that's what I love him for.  This one, which I finally got around to hearing, is like Shania Twain's would-be paramour: it don't impress me much.  The title says it all; it's about a dead skunk in the road.  It's not a metaphor.  It's not meant to be a life lesson.  It's just a song about roadkill.  That's nice, I guess?

Down in Mexico - the Coasters

Down in Mexico - the Coasters

3:16

single, 1956

Written by Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller

Hard to believe this is the Coasters' debut single; they sing harmonies like they've been around forever.  Starting with a sultry sax, and boosted by some frenetic Latin-infused congas, it tells the story of a cat named Joe who plays blues piana in a honky-tonk down in Mexico.  And there's a dancer.  "Around her waist she wore three fishnets / She started dancin' with the castanets / I didn't know just what to expect / She threw her arms around my neck."  The ancestor song of "El Paso," "Romance in Durango," and even "Mexican Blackbird."

Don't Stop - The Rolling Stones

Don't Stop - The Rolling Stones

3:59

Forty Licks, 2002

Written by Mick Jagger and Keith Richards

This song is addressed to a love whose passion was one hot and fiery, maybe even dangerous, but whose love has grown cold.  "Don't you dump me on some dusty street / And hang me out to dry," he pleads.  As usual, Jagger's vocal delivery elevates the material: on paper it's a pretty by-the-numbers love song with an over-reliance on the title repeated as chorus, but he gives the words a cool mystery as the familiar Stones riffs chug along.

Dressing Room Walls - Western Star

Dressing Room Walls - Western Star
2:40
Desperate Times: Songs Of the Old 97's, 2016
Written by Rhett Miller, Ken Bethea, Murry Hammond and Philip Peeples, 1995

Western Star, apparently a Baltimore-based band (I know nothing about them and information is scarce online), covers the 1995 track and rocks the heck out of it, inserting Clinton for a more timely reference in the "Reagan was king" line and adding an expletive just to let you know they really fuckin' mean it.  It is a more intense version, musically.  The drums on this are like a machine gun and the guitars sear.  Not bad!