Category: playlist

What makes for a great cover version is a mysterious thing. The original song in theory has to be great, but that isn’t always the case; sometimes the cover version is what makes a previously forgettable song abruptly great. Furthermore, the new version in theory has to be a notable re-conception; but then again, sometimes the new one is pretty straightforward and similar-seeming. I think maybe the single through-line most great covers have in common is summed up in the word “character”—a pretty much ineffable way of describing the presence and vigor the singer brings to the moment-to-moment moments of the song. I have no particular further explanation for why Eliza Gilkyson’s version of World Party’s “Is It Like Today” feels so momentous. It’s her voice, her phrasing, her arrangement, all adding up to character. Lots and lots of character. You may or may not hear the same thing but I’m at least giving you the chance, and that’s something.

Meanwhile: has Elvis Costello written a better song that no one knows than “Crimes of Paris”? I’m open to other ideas but I’m thinking no, he maybe hasn’t. I’m also wondering how Stevie Wonder managed to make something that sounds like a harpsichord not make me run away screaming. Usually harpsichords send me running away, screaming. This playlist is full of such minor mysteries. I’m not sure why Haley Bonar isn’t a bigger deal. I’m not sure why Norah Jones is so consistently alluring. And think about this: “The Wheel and the Maypole,” closing things out here, with its improbably catchy two-part chorus, was the last song on the last album that the band XTC ever released. Always leave ’em wanting more—a great philosophy so few properly represent.

Oh and p.s.: this is a different Robert Johnson. Not sure how a mid-’70s white guy figured he could make things fly career-wise with that name. Even if it is his actual name. On Wikipedia he gets the middle initial “A.,” but still. And “Leslie” cops a guitar line from “Apache.” But still.

“Numbers With Wings” – The Bongos (Numbers With Wings, 1983)
“La Cage Appat” – Peppertree (Peppertree, 2006)
“Frozen Garden” – Emily Jane White (They Moved In Shadow All Together, 2016)
“Solitary Man” – Neil Diamond (The Feel of Neil Diamond, 1966)
“Leslie” – Robert Johnson (Close Personal Friend, 1978)
“Find Him” – Cassandra Wilson (New Moon Daughter, 1995)
“Hometown” – Haley Bonar (Impossible Dream, 2016)
“5-7-0-5” – City Boy (Book Early, 1978)
“Last Innocent Year” – Jonatha Brooke (10 Cent Wings, 1997)
“(Come ‘Round Here) I’m the One You Need – Smokey Robinson & the Miracles (Away We a Go-Go, 1966)
“Crimes of Paris” – Elvis Costello & the Attractions (Blood and Chocolate, 1986)
“Is It Like Today” – Eliza Gilkyson (Paradise Hotel, 2005)
“Free” – Stevie Wonder (Characters, 1987)
“I Wanna Be Your Lady” – Shannon Wardrop (Cloud Nine EP, 2015)
“Season’s Trees” – Danger Mouse & Daniele Luppi, featuring Norah Jones (Rome, 2011)
“‘Cello Song” – Nick Drake (Five Leaves Left, 1969)
“Mirror Star” – Fabulous Poodles (Mirror Stars, 1978)
“The Real World” – The Bangles (The Bangles EP, 1982)
“Trust in Me” – Holly Cole Trio (Blame It On My Youth, 1992)
“The Wheel and the Maypole” – XTC (Wasp Star (Apple Venus, Part 2), 2000)

As mother nature decided not to limit its downpouring to April this year here in the U.S. Northeast, I sneaked one more “rain” song into the mix this month, and it is nothing less than my favorite Beatles song of all. To counterbalance I’ve got a “summer” song in here too, perhaps jumping the gun a bit. The Tammi Terrell I just recently learned about, and in so doing discovered that this terrific Stevie Wonder tune, which appeared on 1980’s Hotter Than July (titled simply “All I Do” at that point), was actually written and recorded in the mid-’60s; the arrangement is both shockingly different and equally effective. Other mainstream performers float in and out of this mix in unusual guises, from Carly Simon’s poignant rumination on adolescence to Joni Mitchell’s Mingus experiment to the Police’s brief, offbeat return to light-hearted, rhythmically engaging pop even as they were otherwise veering towards the maudlin, not to mention their own demise. And most importantly of all there’s Prince, and because all of the tributes we’ve all watched have mostly involved the big hits, I felt good about offering up something lesser-known, from one of his somewhat-overlooked later albums, Planet Earth. This song (how was this not even a single?) has an effortless, timeless vibrancy to it, as did all of his best work, in retrospect.

“The Queen of Eyes” – The Soft Boys (Underwater Moonlight, 1980)
“The One U Wanna C” – Prince (Planet Earth, 2008)
“Summertime” – The Sundays (Static & Silence, 1997)
“All I Do Is Think About You” – Tammi Terrell (single, 1966)
“I Don’t Want To Be Here” – Andy Partridge (Fuzzy Warbles, Vol. 2, 2002)
“Not Harmless” – Laura Gibson (Empire Builder, 2016)
“The Man in the Moon” – Adrian Belew (Lone Rhino, 1982)
“The Dry Cleaner From Des Moines” – Joni Mitchell (Mingus, 1979)
“Sunflower” – Paul Weller (Wild Wood, 1993)
“That’s When the Tears Start” – The Blossoms (single, 1965)
“Boys in the Trees” – Carly Simon (Boys in the Trees, 1978)
“Sandie” – Devin Davis (Lonely People of the World, Unite!, 2005)
“Martian Saints” – Mary Lou Lord (Martian Saints! EP, 1997)
“Miss Gradenko” – The Police (Synchronicity, 1983)
“Prelude #3” – David Sancious & Tone (True Stories, 1978)
“Ophelia” – Marika Hackman (We Slept At Last, 2015)
“Rain” – The Beatles (B-side, 1966)
“Belleville Rendez-Vous” – Ben Charest, w/ Beatrice Bonafassi (Triplets of Belleville soundtrack, 2003)
“Too Much Time” – Captain Beefheart (Clear Spot, 1972)
“All or Nothing” – Eddi Reader (Mirmama, 1991)

I don’t usually end up being that seasonally sensitive with these playlists but for whatever reason the idea of “April showers” stuck with me at least a little bit and you’ll see the end result in the song selection.

Beyond that I have no particular explanation for anything here. This month emerged as an intuitive flow; I claim no particular credit. I do know that Jane Siberry’s “One More Colour” is one of the best songs ever. And that I love the timeless feel of the gentle piano instrumental “Lorenz and Watson,” which nearly sounds as if it came from the year 1900 rather than 2000. And that Emma Pollock, has delivered yet another solid and overlooked album with “In Search of Harperfield,” which came out at the end of February. And segue fans? Check out Elliott Smith into Samaris; still don’t know how that exactly works. And Genesis again? Sure thing!; Phil Collins is cool again, didn’t you hear? And why not close out with another instrumental, gentle but jazzy this time? It’s where the flow took me. Oh and thanks to George from Between Two Islands for the Samaris track, the title of which I dare you to pronounce. I have no idea what they’re singing about and yet at the same time I feel I know exactly. In other words, music.

“Oh Mandy” – The Spinto Band (Nice and Nicely Done, 2005)
“One More Colour” – Jane Siberry (The Speckless Sky, 1985)
“Criminal” – Eliza Hardy Jones (Because Become, 2016)
“Painted Dayglow Smile” – Chad and Jeremy (The Ark, 1968)
“Emotional Traffic” – The Rumour (Frogs, Sprouts, Klogs & Krauts, 1979)
“Bled White” – Elliott Smith (XO, 1998)
“Hljóma Þú” – Samaris (Samaris, 2013)
“Walking in the Rain” – the Ronettes (single, 1964)
“Eyes of the World” – Fleetwood Mac (Mirage, 1982)
“Lorenz and Watson” – Ryuichi Sakamoto (BTTB, 2000)
“Expecting Your Love” – The Roches (A Dove, 1992)
“Kaya” – Bob Marley (Kaya, 1978)
“Wire Wire” – Jen Olive (Warm Robot, 2010)
“Behind the Lines” – Genesis (Duke, 1980)
“Just Walkin’ in the Rain” – The Prisonaires (b-side, 1953)
“Cannot Keep a Secret” – Emma Pollock (In Search of Harperfield, 2016)
“Paint Her Face” – The Records (B-side, 1979)
“Joey” – Concrete Blonde (Bloodletting, 1992)
“Nashville Shores” – Jemina Pearl (Break It Up, 2009)
“Favela” – Antonio Carlos Jobim (The Composer of Desafinado, Plays, 1963)

This didn’t start out being about what it seems to have ended up being about. As if the choice were mine. If we hold on, maybe we don’t lose to the dark, maybe we come back from the edge of madness, maybe we don’t keep making all the same mistakes. In any case it’s worth a prayer or two at the end to the patron saint of television. She’s the one who brought us to this crazy party in the first place. Are you with me now?

“The Shape of Things to Come” – The Headboys (The Headboys, 1979)
“C’est La Mode” – Annie Philippe (C’est La Mode, 1967)
“Electioneering” – Radiohead (OK Computer, 1998)
“All the Same Mistakes” – Mieka Pauley (Elijah Drop Your Gun, 2007)
“Hold On” – Steve Winwood (Steve Winwood, 1977)
“Losing to the Dark” – La Sera (Hour of the Dawn, 2014)
“Temptation Was Too Strong” – Don Covay & the Goodtimers (B-side, 1966)
“The New Stone Age” – Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark (Architecture & Morality, 1980)
“Sick Muse” – Metric (Fantasies, 2009)
“Madness” – Lucius (Good Grief, 2016)
“Silver Machine” – Hawkwind (In Search of Space, 1972)
“The Wood Song” – Indigo Girls (Swamp Ophelia, 1994)
“Come Back” – The Might Wah! (A Word to the Wise Guy, 1984)
“What Doesn’t Belong to Me” – Sinead O’Connor (Faith and Courage, 2000)
“As If The Choice Were Mine” – Plates of Cake (single, 2011)
“Can You Win” – Charlene & the Soul Serenaders (single, 1970)
“The Bright Light” – Tanya Donelly (Lovesongs for Underdogs, 1997)
“The Party” – Henry Mancini & His Orchestra (The Party soundtrack, 1968)
“Are You With Me Now?” Cate Le Bon (Mug Museum, 2013)
“St. Clare” – Suzanne Vega (Songs in Red and Gray, 2001)

If there is another playlist somewhere with Pere Ubu, Madonna, Shostakovich, Bettye Lavette, and Foreigner on it I’d like to see it.

So, okay: the Shostakovich. I have yet to venture into the Classical Music realm here, but of all the short Classical pieces I know, there are few that rock as hard as this crazy little piece from 1925. Do your best to give it at least 60 seconds, so you can see what happens when the strings really start driving it. If you don’t like the thing soon after that, well, that’s what the “skip” button is for. But hey, it’s the Eclectic Playlist Series, is it not?: ideally no music should be preemptively disqualified here merely for the matter of genre.

And, yes, Madonna. I always liked “Borderline,” a song that got quickly overshadowed by her impending Madonna-ness. I wish she hadn’t quite so quickly ditched the subtle musicality and low-key hookiness on display here. Yes it’s got an ’80s pop sheen but also some really nice melodic and harmonic moments. And this was so early in her career that I remember they played it on alternative rock stations. Those were the days.

“Frederick” – Patti Smith Group (Wave, 1979)
“Pony” – Charlie Hilton (Palana, 2016)
“The Trains” – The Nashville Ramblers (single, 1986)
“Run” – Kathleen Edwards (Asking for Flowers, 2008)
“Riding on the Back” – Francis Dunnery (Let’s Go Do What Happens, 1998)
“The Dark End of the Street” – James Carr (You Got My Mind Messed Up, 1967)
“Blue Morning, Blue Day” – Foreigner (Double Vision, 1978)
“Venus” – Anaïs Mitchell (Young Man in America, 2012)
“Oh L’Amour” – Erasure (Wonderland, 1986)
“Let Me Down Easy” – Bettye LaVette (single, 1965)
“Fix Me Now” – Garbage (Garbage, 1995)
“Sacred Heart” – Cass McCombs (PREfection, 2005)
“Bus Called Happiness” – Pere Ubu (Cloudland, 1989)
“Last Night” – The Mar-Keys (single, 1961)
“Keeps My Body Warm” – Abra Moore (Strangest Places, 1997)
Scherzo in G Minor – Dmitri Shostakovich (Two Pieces for String Octet – Opus 11, 1925)
“Unconscious Melody” – Viet Cong (Cassette, 2014)
“Borderline” – Madonna (Madonna, 1983)
“Darlin'” – Beach Boys (Wild Honey, 1967)
“John Saw That Number” – Neko Case (Fox Confessor Brings the Flood, 2006)

The Eclectic Playlist Series resets again with the new year: all previously played artists are now fair game for the playlists here again. And good thing too, because even though I played David Bowie just last month, I really needed to hear him this month, in the aftermath of our losing this profoundly inspirational artist, and all-around Good Guy. And I wanted in particular to make musical, curational sense of the complex, moving, and generally astounding title track to his final recording, which you will find along the path of this month’s offering, aptly titled “The heart that sings before it breaks.” And this month I will let the music speak for itself, which is about the best thing music does.

“Church of the Poison Mind” – Culture Club (Colour By Numbers, 1983)
“Do I Love You (Indeed I Do)” – Frank Wilson (single, 1965)
“You Know It’s You” – Kirsty MacColl (Titanic Days, 1993)
“Tightrope” – Fanfarlo (Rooms Filled With Light, 2012)
“You Can’t Have Sunshine Everyday” – The Rattles (single, 1971)
“Breathe” – Maria McKee (Maria McKee, 1989)
“Blackstar” – David Bowie (Blackstar, 2016)
“Total Control” – The Motels (The Motels, 1979)
“#807” – Pieta Brown (In the Cool, 2005)
“Tender” – Blur (13, 1999)
“Soldier of Love (Lay Down Your Arms)” – Arthur Alexander (single, 1962)
“Toutes les Belles Inconnues” – Dawn Landes (Mal Habillée, 2012)
“The Goodbye Look” – Donald Fagen (The Nightfly, 1982)
“See Fernando” – Jenny Lewis (Acid Tongue, 2008)
“We Belong to the Night” – Ellen Foley (Nightout, 1979)
“Your Saving Grace” – Steve Miller Band (Your Saving Grace, 1969)
“It Could Be Sweet” – Portishead (Dummy, 1994)
“New York Morning” – Elbow (The Take Off and Landing of Everything, 2014)
“I Surrender, Dear” – Thelonious Monk (Brilliant Corners, 1957)
“Highway Song” – Aztec Two-Step (Aztec Two-Step, 1972)

I picked up the song “How or Why” from Jennifer Castle after hearing it for the first time via the Said the Gramophone year-end best-of list in 2014. It’s already a year later, that venerable and eclectic blog has just posted its latest year-end best-of list, and in and around the bracing mix of obscurities and pop smashes I will no doubt find a few more gems that float the Fingertips boat, as it were. Not everyone’s idea of eclectic listening is the same, to be sure; I don’t usually love all 100 songs on the list but I do love being given the opportunity to hear them. And most of all I love the care and attention given both to music and ideas there; if I were more whimsical and/or poetic, more of my posts would read like more of Said the Gramophone’s.

But I digress. We have come to the last EPS mix of 2015, which means that the artist list will re-set again next month and you will in 2016 begin to hear some of the same artists you may have heard either in 2014 or 2015 (or, in the case of particular favorites, both). And still there are plenty of as-yet unheard bands and musicians, both current and of past eras, who will show up on playlists here in the new year. Because that’s what I do. As for this particular mix, first of all, how on earth was that Marvin Gaye song unreleased? And if I must listen to 16-year-olds, give me 16-year-old Rachel Sweet in 1978, please. And yes, Genesis made some excellent music back in the day, extending at least all the way to 1981’s Abacab, which in retrospect straddled an admirable line between the complex, proggy stuff of their youth and the top-40 fodder they were getting ready to make. “No Reply At All”—featuring the Earth, Wind & Fire horns, no less—flummoxed older fans and yet with the benefit of years seems an almost unprecedented blend of the catchy (it reached the top 30 in the U.S.) and the intricate; the bass line alone is worth the price of admission.

“How or Why” – Jennifer Castle (Pink City, 2014)
“Gone With the Wind is My Love” – Rita & the Tiaras (single, 1967)
“New Killer Star” – David Bowie (Reality, 2003)
“Everything’s Coming Our Way” – Santana (Santana III, 1971)
“White Knuckles” – Boh Doran (Boh Doran EP, 2015)
“No Reply At All” – Genesis (Abacab, 1981)
“Barracuda” – Miho Hatori (Ecdysis, 2005)
“In My Command” – Crowded House (Together Alone, 1993)
“Keep Your Head to the Sky” – Earth, Wind & Fire (Head to the Sky, 1973)
“Casablanca Nights” – Johan Agebjörn (Casablanca Nights, 2011)
“Via Con Me” – Paolo Conte (Paris Milonga, 1981)
“Who Does Lisa Like?” – Rachel Sweet (Fool Around, 1978)
“Milk of Human Kindness” – Procol Harum (A Salty Dog, 1969)
“Raising the Skate” – Speedy Ortiz (Foil Deer, 2015)
“Tell Me To My Face” – Dan Fogelberg & Tim Weisberg (Twin Sons of Different Mothers, 1978)
“Carried” – Ebba Forsberg (Been There, 1998)
“This Love Starved Heart of Mine (It’s Killing Me)” – Marvin Gaye (unreleased single, 1965; available via Love Starved Heart compilation, 1994)
“When Things Go Wrong” – Robin Lane & the Chartbusters (Robin Lane & The Chartbuster, 1980)
“Black Heart Today” – Amy Ray (Stag, 2001)
“Sweet Soul Dream” – World Party (Goodbye Jumbo, 1990)

Even within as curious and compelling a genre as Northern Soul (an odd, ex-post-facto, non-genre genre, truth be told; but a great one), “You Don’t Mean It” is a curiosity. Its origins are couched in contradictions if not outright mysteries, beginning with the simple fact that the singer, initially identified as Towanda Barnes, would later call herself Gloria, and pretty much disappear in any case. The recording itself, meanwhile, exudes such jittery energy as to sound warped and partially mistaken. The fact that it can lead us seamlessly into the acoustic stompiness of Carlene Carter’s Rockpile-fueled heyday tells us something about the profundity of what those Motown folks were up to for a blessed number of years (Northern Soul was founded upon nothing as much as an unmitigated worship of Motown castoffs). As for the seamless segue from Traffic’s self-titled semi-psychedelic 1968 album into a bravura reemergence in 2015 by the stately but beat-driven post-punk pioneers New Order, what that illustrates, clearly, is the aesthetic and emotional necessity of eclectic listening. (By the way, do yourself a monster favor and listen to the New Order song even if you don’t listen to the whole playlist. So good.) And yes: “October in the sky” I missed by a few days, but the closing song this month epitomizes the bittersweet joys of autumn with exquisite lyricism and melodicism, and on my Northern, soulful calendar it’s still autumn for a while yet, so drink it in and thanks for stopping by.

“Tayter County” – The Cavedogs (Joy Rides for Shut-Ins, 1990)
“Please Take Me Home” – The Bird and the Bee (Recreational Love, 2015)
“The Crook of My Good Arm” – Pale Young Gentlemen (Black Forest (Tra La La), 2008)
“The Story of a Rock and Roll Band” – Randy Newman (Born Again, 1979)
“When the Night Comes” – Jeff Lynne’s ELO (Alone in the Universe, 2015)
“You Don’t Mean It” – Towanda Barnes (single, 1967)
“Love is a 4-Letter Verb” – Carlene Carter (Blue Nun, 1980)
“Bothered” – Over the Rhine (Ohio, 2003)
“Don’t Change Your Plans” – Ben Folds Five (The Unauthorized Biography of Reinhold Messner, 1999)
“Forty Thousand Headmen” – Traffic (Traffic, 1968)
“Nothing But a Fool” – New Order (Music Complete, 2015)
“Watch Your Step” – Anita Baker (Rapture, 1986)
“Survivor” – Cindy Bullens (Desire Wire, 1978)
“Somewhere in Between” – Kate Bush (Aerial, 2005)
“Bankrobber” – The Clash (single, 1980)
“Bud” – Herb Alpert & the Tijuana Brass (Herb Alpert’s Ninth, 1967)
“Trouble” – Shawn Colvin (A Few Small Repairs, 1996)
“You Get What You Deserve” – Big Star (Radio City, 1974)
“Sprawl II (Mountains Beyond Mountains)” – Arcade Fire (The Suburbs, 2010)
“The Birds Are Leaving” – Boo Hewerdine (Thanksgiving, 1999)

This month’s playlist prompts a series of questions, some of which have actual answers, others of which are somewhat more imponderable.

Jules Shear has written a lot of seriously great songs, but is any of them seriously greater than “If We Never Meet Again”?

How did the relatively short-lived and under-appreciated UK band Samsa manage also to write at least one seriously great song (“Throw My Weight”)? Extra bonus question: why wasn’t this song a big deal when it came out?

Why do I not seem to connect to jazz instrumentals except sometimes when I do?

Did you know that Sonny Bono wrote “Bang, Bang (My Baby Shot Me Down)”?

And did you know Ronnie Wood was in a band called The Birds three years before joining the Jeff Beck Group and that this band’s manager tried to sue the Byrds to keep them from using the name when they came to England in 1965?

Why do I like the Scottish band CHVRCHES so much? Normally punctuational creativity is not my thing. Nor is overly-shiny 2010s pop. But these guys I love; this song gets better each time I hear it.

Speaking of punctuational creativity, why is the word “There’s” in parentheses in the Bacharach/David song Dionne Warwick covers here? It seems willfully perverse.

Lastly: why did everyone hate on the last Rilo Kiley album back when it came out? Always sounded good to me, and it seems to be growing finer with age.

“The Summer is Over” – Dusty Springfield (b-side, 1964)
“It’s Different For Girls” – Joe Jackson (I’m the Man, 1979)
“The Mother We Share” – CHVRCHES (The Bones of What You Believe, 2013)
“Bury My Lovely” – October Project (October Project, 1993)
“A Pillow of Winds” – Pink Floyd (Meddle, 1971)
“Throw My Weight” – Samsa (First, the Lights, 2005)
“(There’s) Always Something There to Remind Me” – Dionne Warwick (The Windows of the World, 1967)
“Subway Station #5” – Patricia Barber (A Distortion of Love, 1992)
“If We Never Meet Again” – Reckless Sleepers (Big Boss Sounds, 1988)
“Mr. X” – Pauline Murray and the Invisible Girls (Pauline Murray and the Invisible Girls, 1980)
“Bang, Bang (My Baby Shot Me Down)” – Terry Reid (Bang, Bang You’re Terry Reid, 1968)
“Girls Chase Boys” – Ingrid Michaelson (Lights Out, 2014)
“You’ll Always Find Me in the Kitchen at Parties” – Jona Lewie (single, 1980)
“Half Acre” – Hem (Rabbit Songs, 2001)
“Don’t It Feel Good to Be Free” – Edwin Starr (Hell Up in Harlem, 1974)
“Everybody Loves Me But You” – Juliana Hatfield (Hey Babe, 1992)
“Dream Lover” – Destroyer (Poison Season, 2015)
“Sharkey’s Day” – Laurie Anderson (Mister Heartbreak, 1983)
“No Good Without You Baby” – The Birds (single, 1965)
“Silver Lining” – Rileo Kiley (Under the Blacklight, 2007)

If there is a distinct thread of nostalgia running through this month’s playlist (and trust me, there is), I did not consciously plan it; the music just came out that way. But perhaps it’s not surprising as I constructed this list while in the middle of moving out of a house my wife and I have lived in for 17 years. Nostalgia is in the air. So, here on 2.06 it turns out there are the obvious throwbacks such as Jesse Winchester’s unspeakably gorgeous “Sham-a-Ling-Dong-Ding” (and if you’ve never seen the late singer/songwriter do a live version of this on Elvis Costello’s old “Spectacle” series, drop everything and watch it now) and Patti Scialfa’s girl-group-ish “As Long As I (Can Be With You)”; there are also songs by Amy Rigby and Waxahatchee that offer contemporary spins on early-rock’n’roll-ish melody lines. But the nostalgia here, I see after the fact, runs subtler and deeper than that, via both the older songs that show up and the lyrical recollections featured in a few of the more contemporary tracks. And then you have the Pat Benatar track (Pat Benatar?), which manages to be doubly nostalgic, burying its Phil Spector-ish beat beneath an ’80s patina that was of course very contemporary at the time. Musicians today please take note.

Speaking of Amy Rigby, is “All I Want” one of the most adult love songs ever written, ever? “I just want a little pat on the back from you/Not another little subtle attack from you”—now that is a grown-up lyric (and a brilliant one to boot). Or: “I feel kind of furious/And you’re not even curious.” Note I called it a love song even though it sounds more like a break-up song. But it’s an adult love song because rather than veering towards an adolescent “You suck, I’m leaving,” it’s an effort at mature communication, of the “What you do X, I feel Y” variety. It’s just the kind of thing that couples who want to figure out how they can stay together even if they are driving each other crazy are instructed to do. This entire Amy Rigby album, Middlescence, is something of a lost classic, as clever lyrically as it is skillful musically. As a bonus, Rigby remains one of the rare musicians who blogs interestingly; check out what she’s up to here: https://diaryofamyrigby.wordpress.com/.

And speaking of grown-ups, and best things ever, is Cassandra Wilson’s cover of the Monkees’ “Last Train To Clarksville” one of the best cover versions ever done of anything? I’d suggest so. She managed to turn a very pleasant but rather fluffy song into something deep and memorable. And it’s not just because she inserts that wordless vocal refrain in 9/8 time, but honestly that doesn’t hurt.

“Boy With a Coin” – Iron & Wine (The Shepherd’s Dog, 2007)
“Last Train to Clarksville” – Cassandra Wilson (New Moon Daughter, 1995)
“More…” – Wilco (Star Wars, 2015)
“This Town” – The Go-Go’s (Beauty and the Beat, 1981)
‘I Don’t Want to Take a Chance” – Mary Wells (single, 1961)
“All I Want” – Amy Rigby (Middlescence, 1998)
“Sham-a-Ling-Ding-Dong” – Jesse Winchester (Love Filling Station, 2009)
“Thick as Thieves” – The Jam (Setting Sons, 1979)
“She Came” – Fé (single, 2013)
“Perfidia” – Janet Dillon (single, 1967)
“Neighborhood Girls” – Suzanne Vega (Suzanne Vega, 1985)
“Bodhisattva” – Steely Dan (Countdown to Ecstasy, 1973)
“Betray My Heart” – D’Angelo and The Vanguard (Black Messiah, 2014)
“We Belong” – Pat Benatar (Tropico , 1984)
“No Excuses” – Alice in Chains (Jar of Flies, 1994)
“Goodbye” – The Argument (Everything Depends, 2009)
“All the Diamonds in the World” – Bruce Cockburn (Salt, Sun and Time, 1974)
“As Long As I (Can Be With You)” – Patti Scialfa (Rumble Doll, 1993)
“Calling For Your Love” – The Enticers (single, 1971)
“Swan Dive” – Waxahatchee (Cerulean Salt, 2014)