You Don't Know Me - Eddy Arnold

You Don't Know Me - Eddy Arnold

2:45

single, 1955

Written by Eddy Arnold and Cindy Walker

This slow vocal song is an early example of the friendzone song, in which the narrator pines for the object of his affection, who doesn't think of him that way ("To you I'm just a friend").  The man drags his feet and can only watch sadly as the lady in question goes with someone who has the confidence to talk: "For I never knew the art of making love / Though my heart aches with love for you / Afraid and shy, I let my chance go by."  Here, Arnold transitions from his earlier, twangier "Tennessee Plowboy" persona to a mellow, restrained baritone. His delivery is ruminative, mirroring the hesitant perspective of the narrator who watches from afar.  Soft, sweeping string sections and background vocals create a warm, tender atmosphere.

Young Hearts Run Free - Candi Staton

Young Hearts Run Free - Candi Staton

4:08

Young Hearts Run Free, 1976

Written by David Crawford

This disco anthem was born of a conversation Staton had with the writer and producer.  She got candid about her current struggles in an abusive relationship, and Crawford took notes.  Staton ultimately escaped the brutal relationship and used her harrowing experience to shape the song. Staton's experience as a gospel singer helps her infuse the track with an emotional intensity that elevates it far beyond standard club fare.  She turns her fear into triumphant euphoria: "I'm gonna love me for the rest of my days / Encourage the babies every time they say / Self-preservation is what's really going on today."   The production is a textbook four-on-the-floor disco beat, with a driving, danceable tempo.  But it mixes the slick gloss of late-70s disco with organic Southern soul and gospel instrumentation.  Horns and a bubbly bass support Staton's full-throated, emotional vocals.

You Put Me on My Feet (When You Took Her off My Hands) - Tommy Duncan

You Put Me on My Feet (When You Took Her off My Hands)  - Tommy Duncan

2:28

single, 1949

Written by Noel Boggs and Red Rowe

A jaunty Western song, heavy on the rollicking piano and harmonica, the rollicking accompaniment matching the narrator's cheerful relief..  I love how so many of these early and classic country songs seem to be written around a clever title or a bit of wordplay, pun and premise all in one.  This lyric has the narrator both thanking and commiserating with the man who relieved him of his lady: "Let me tell you, mister / Here is something you should know / You pay and pay and pay for all the things that she demands / You put me on my feet the day you took her off my hands." 

Dooby Dooby Wah - Ritchie Valens

Dooby Dooby Wah - Ritchie Valens

1:55

Ritchie Valens, 1959

Written by Ritchie Valens and Robert Kuhn

This is an acoustic rock'n' roll number very much in the style of Buddy Holly.   It's a doo-wop song in a rockabilly outfit, a nice example of how early rockers imitated, expanded, and blended sounds.  Alternating between nonsense syllables and declarations of love, Valens implores his baby to come close and assure him that he's loved.  Helpfully, he informs us that "Well, dooby-dooby-wah / Means I love you so."  Who among us hasn't been reduced to a babbling fool by love?

Be True To Your School - The Queers

Be True To Your School - The Queers

2:18

Reverberation, 2021

Written by Brian Wilson and Mike Love, 1963

One of America's most venerable pop-punk bands races through a guitar-drenched version of the Beach Boys classic, treating it with a surprising amount of reverence.  The lines are neither sneered with contempt nor tossed off with detached irony.  The guitars are louder, the pace is brisker, and the production is stripped of the Beach Boys' carefully layered sweetness, but the melody survives the trip intact.  It's a reminder that good pop songwriting can withstand quite a bit of distortion.  It's a perfectly enjoyable cover.  Sometimes a song does exactly what it says on the tin.

The Old School Off the Bright - Mighty Mighty Bosstones

The Old School Off the Bright - Mighty Mighty Bosstones

2:26

A Jackknife To a Swan, 2002

Written by Dicky Barrett and Joe Gittleman

This is a quintessential Bosstones song, with aggressive horns, blasts of guitar, and Barrett's vocals coming in fast and furious.  I especially like it when his writes like he's being paid by the syllable, the words tumbling out at a feverish clip: "We want the punks, the drunks, the layabouts, the steady working joes / The white collars, the rednecks ,and our blue blooded bros / The jocks, the preps, the stoners, the homeless, and homeowners / Every loser, boozer, drug abuser, sharpie and Two-Toner."  It's not a particularly deep song but it's an affectionate look at a dedicated fanbase, what the Hold Steady calls "the unified scene."

Heavy Balloon - Fiona Apple

Heavy Balloon - Fiona Apple

3:26

Fetch the Bolt Cutters, 2020

Written by Fiona Apple

Over clattering, insistent percussion, Apple rails at the sinking feeling so familiar to those who suffer from depression.  "You get dragged down, down to the same spot enough times in a row / The bottom begins to feel like the only safe place that you know."  Apple, who has had her own struggles with mental health, is insightful enough to recognizes that quotidian things that seem fine or even cheery to well-balanced people can still be soul-crushing if you're depressed: "In the middle of the day, it’s like the sun / But the Saharan one, it’s staring me down / Forcing all forms of life inside of me to retreat underground."

Superblood Wolfmoon - Pearl Jam

Superblood Wolfmoon - Pearl Jam
3:49
Gigaton, 2020

Written by Eddie Vedder

This hard-driving rocker is about a love that left the narrator damaged, hand swollen, face broken.  She's gone, taken by the titular moon, and he's in bad shape.  It was one of those "hurts so good" things, or maybe he's only now realizing that the relationship was a prison.  "I was a prisoner, her keys and her cuffs / Yeah, I was feeling fortunate to be locked up."  The lyrics remind me of Green Day's "Pulling Teeth," a more poppy, tongue-in-cheek (and perhaps more literal) approach to such relationship, where the infliction of pain seems to flow one way.

The Way I Walk - Jack Scott

The Way I Walk - Jack Scott

2:40

single, 1959

Written by Jack Scott

This is the second song this week I've featured that contains the phrase "be my turtle dove."  This slow-burning rocker is credited to Scott "with the Chantones Vocal Group."  The tempo is too languid for this to be called a proper rockabilly; it's got a somewhat menacing, throbbing beat, and Scott croons the lyric in a half-whisper that adds to the almost eerie vibe (undercut by a cool sax break at the bridge).  Scott, a man's man, offers his baby no explanations or apologies, just asks for some loving: "The way I talk is just the way I talk / The way I smile is just the way I smile / Touch me baby and I'll go hog wild."

Do You Know the Way to San Jose - Dionne Warwick

Do You Know the Way to San Jose - Dionne Warwick
2:58
Dionne Warwick in Valley of the Dolls, 1968
Written by Burt Bacharach and Hal David

Warwick's light, sprightly vocals ride a muscular rhythm track of electric bass and prominent bass drum, with horns punching in at the middle eight.  Warwick never liked this track, calling it "a dumb song" in 1983, but she was glad it was a hit!  Lyrically, the song is another of many depicting those trying to make it big in Hollywood but never hitting the big time.  The narrator yearns for the simpler life in the titular city, disparaging Tiseltown's fickle nature: "L.A. is a great big freeway, put a hundred down and buy a car / In a week, maybe two, they'll make you a star / Weeks turn into years, how quick they pass / And all the stars that never were are parking cars and pumping gas."