Zak and Sara - Ben Folds

Zak and Sara - Ben Folds

3:11

Rockin' the Suburbs, 2001

Written by Ben Folds

In what at first blush seems like a charming vignette, a couple of teenagers in the 1980s are sitting around.  The girl listens to the boy play guitar, and claps at the end.  But there's an inner story going on beyond that.  Sara (without an h) has visions of the future and hears voices in her head.  "The kind of voices she would soon learn to deny / Because at home they got her smacked."  She has a vision of techno and electronica, with a bunch of white kids on ecstasy dancing along to acid house.  It's like an alternate universe version of the drugged out couple in the Hold Steady's "Chips Ahoy!"

Zanzibar - Billy Joel

Zanzibar - Billy Joel

5:17

52nd Street, 1978

Written by Billy Joel

A jazzy Billy Joel number, with louche lyrics and enough harmonic feel and jazzy arrangements that if you didn't know better, you might swear it was by Steely Dan.  Freddie Hubbard provides two terrific trumpet breaks in the middle and the end.  The narrator is in a sports bar watching Muhummad Ali fight on a black and white TV, hoping to score with a waitress, couched in terms of a beleaguered baseball metaphor ("Me, I'm trying just to get to second base / And I'd steal it if she only gave the sign / She's gonna give the go ahead / The inning isn't over yet for me").  It’s a wonderfully odd combination of sophisticated musicianship and extremely uncomplicated male lust.

Zip Gun Boogie - T. Rex

Zip Gun Boogie - T. Rex

3:26

Bolan's Zip Gun, 1975

Written by Marc Bolan

This song was originally issued as a Marc Bolan solo credit, but subsequent releases have listed it as a T. Rex work.  It got some middling reviews at the time, and some fans seem to think it's a shambling parody of his earlier work, though today opinion is divided.  Me, I'm no longtime Bolan aficionado, so I can't see the forest, just this particular tree.  To my ears, the funky disco keyboards provide a nice complement to Bolan's indulgent vocals, and the whole is a catchy, peppy burst of glam rock.  

Zip City - Drive-By Truckers

Zip City - Drive-By Truckers
5:16
Southern Rock Opera, 2001

Written by Mike Cooley

A semi-autobiographical tale, this unflinchingly raw song details the frustrations of a seventeen-year-old boy who needs to drive 26 miles to Zip City where his girlfriend lives ("Don't know why I put up with his shit / When you don't put out and Zip City's so far away").  The narrator is not particularly likable: He runs his car into a ditch and his dad needs to come get them out, and he reflects on a variety of plaints.  The RJ Reynolds company has an economic grip on the town, his girlfriend's sister won't sleep with him, his girlfriend's brother is in the closet, and she'll probably stay in this dead-end town all her life, while he has bigger plans.  "So keep your drawers on, girl, it ain't worth the fight / By the time you drop them I'll be gone / And you'll be right where they fall the rest of your life."  She says he takes her for granted, but he just sneers that "for granted" is a pretty big word for a fifteen year old country girl.  It's as harrowing in its way as any Springsteen song of desperate souls and outlaws on the road.  

Zulu - Santana

Zulu - Santana

3:22

Moonflower, 1977

Written by Tom Coster and Carlos Santana

Unlike nearly all of the (admittedly limited) Santana material I've heard, this instrumental is a far-out fusion of funk, progressive rock, bebop jazz, disco, and funk.  It's a trippy, bass-heavy jam that seems like it should be found on a Yardbirds album, if they were raised on King Crimson records.  Very much of its era, it's a song that makes you want to turn on the lava lamp, dress up in a fringed vest, and toke the night away.

Yama Yama Pretty Mama - Richard Berry

Yama Yama Pretty Mama - Richard Berry

2:14

single, 1956

Written by Richard Berry and Joe Josea

Berry, no relation to Chuck, is the composer of "Louie Louie" and "Have Love Will Travel."  This is a similarly unhinged rocker, with Berry bellowing the lyrics like the best of the shouters, and unleashing a Little Richard-like "yooowww!" at the midpoint.  With its nonsense title, a sleazy sax break, and some boogie-woogie piano tinkling, this is about as good an example of early rock 'n' roll as you can get.

Yeah Yeah Yeah - The Minders

Yeah Yeah Yeah - The Minders

2:08

Hooray For Tuesday, 1998

Written by Marc Milhite

This song was produced by Robert Schneider, who also produced the masterpiece In the Aeroplane Over the Sea.  As part of the Elephant 6 collective, this band evokes the sound of Apples in Stereo, with power-pop chords and harmonies that echo the Beatles and other '60s acts.  It's far from innovative, but it's a bright, sunny piece of nostalgia in just over two minutes, so who can complain?

You Won't Make a Fool Out Of Me - Flogging Molly

You Won't Make a Fool Out Of Me - Flogging Molly

2:43

Float, 2008

Written by Dave King

Riding a breakneck drum beat as if frantic to get the message out, this imagery-laden screed against wealth inequality ("Work your arse off for the crumbs on the table / Where they fall hungry on your lap") features King's growling vocals, a shouted "No!" chorus, and the blend of pipes, accordion, and guitar that makes the Celtic rock fusion work.

Youngblood - Green Day

Youngblood - Green Day
2:33
Revolution Radio, 2016
Written by Billie Joe Armstrong, Mike Dirnt, and Tre Cool

Although this fist-pumping punk love song leans a little too heavily on repeating its one-word chorus, it's got some of Armstrong's funniest and dorkiest lyrics.  Like Johnny cash before him, the narrator here is a dark soul saved by love.  "I'm a rough boy around the edges / Getting drunk and falling into hedges."  But I'm a real sucker for the kind of stream of consciousness list-lyrics that Steve Wynn is also a master of: "Supernova, Cherry Cola / She's the cedar in the trees of Minnesota."  What that could mean only Armstrong knows but I love it.

You Lied - Green Day

You Lied - Green Day

2:25

single, 1997

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

An outtake from the Nimrod sessions, this minor Green Day work was released as the B-side of "Good Riddance" and later was issued on the 2002 compilation Shenanigans.  Basically a jeremiad against a mendacious addressee, the lyrics are perhaps more goofy than scathing ("Pinocchio has pierced your tongue / Your nose is growing into the third dimension").  Perhaps if they'd ripped through it at a fast tempo à la "Uptight," it would be more engaging.