Happy New Year, Everyone!
Many of you will be both impressed and frustrated with the accessories that accompany your iTunes player. I wish I could be more positive about "Genius," the facility that should recommend music to your taste and suggest ways to plug holes in your collection. Genius takes forever to load on my system, even though it is analyzing only nine thousand songs, and it is almost always wrong. Less ambitious, but more interesting, is how iTunes tracks your most played songs, and if you remember to reset it every January 1, it will tell you during the next Christmas week what most held your attention during the year.
#10 Bela Fleck and the Flecktones, "Jingle Bells"
Bela Fleck's take on Christmas music sounds like the Chieftains and an Ozarks folk band got stranded in the Australian outback. Almost any track from this most original of Christmas records stands out from the holiday din, but "Jingle Bells" showcases virtually all the features that make this new release an instant classic. Even people who hate Christmas music will find Bela Fleck irresistible.
#9 Bruce Springsteen, "Atlantic City"
I always thought this song was about the shame and guilt of a small-time hood. After hearing a great paper on the subject from my colleague Irwin Streight, I came to appreciate the protagonist's desperation and fear, and that realization brings me back again and again for a further listen.
#8 Bowerbirds, "Hooves"
This is a haunting hundred-and-sixty seconds from these North Carolina gypsies. An unusual ode to mother, this song has a Beth Tacular accordion bit that will stay with you. Luckily, the rest of the record is equally stunning.
#7 Wilco, "Hate It Here"
Jeff Tweedy and his mates have here come up with an original breakup song that will, in turn, break your heart. The Beatlesque bridge will run through your head throughout the day when you least expect it.
#6 The Shins, "Phantom Limb"
Although they left Sub Pop Records this year, The Shins remind us how vital that label has been. The first single from their third record is a real earworm, a sweet vocal punctuated with crisp percussion. I am a sucker for the tambourine, raised in the evangelical tradition and all.
#5 Ron Hynes, "1962"
The greatest song ever written by the man who also wrote "Sonny's Dream" and "The St. John's Waltz": this is shameless nostalgia for the innocent seduction of a simpler time. As with all Hynes' songs, it is the detail that stays with you. The speaker here remembers how his girlfriend wrapped his guitar in a sweater to protect it from the rain. You have to hear the hard-to-find acoustic version released in 2001.
#4 Helena Bonham Carter/Johnny Depp, "A Little Priest"
This song captures the precise moment when Mrs. Lovett and Sweeney Todd stew up the scheme for "those above to serve those down below," if you follow my meaning. The English professor howls at the line: "The trouble with poet is/ How do you know it's deceased?" Indeed.
#3 Rufus Wainwright, "Zing! Went The Strings of My Heart"
Deliciously vampy and campy homage to Judy Garland, Rufus Wainwright's lush Carnegie Hall show is a triumph. He is in full voice on this cut, and there is the added bonus of hearing him speed up the band "just a touch, just a touch, darling." It's guilty, sing-a-long goodness!
#2 Billy Bragg, "The Milkman of Human Kindness"
I could be rightly accused of being a Billy Bragg jukebox, and I have a real affection for the early, pared-down stuff. It would not have surprised me if "The Saturday Boy" or "A New England" or "Levi Stubbs' Tears" was played more frequently, but the computer does not lie. I am a sucker for the inherent pun of the premise here: the singer brings "an extra pint" of the milk of human kindness to the lovelorn. This song also boasts a simple but brilliant guitar bit.
#1 Amy Winehouse, "Back to Black"
While everyone gets all giddy over "Rehab," I prefer the subtlety of this offering from Camden Town's songstress. Marry an old school R&B groove with a sorrowful vocal, and you get this story of betrayal betrayed. You could be forgiven for feeling like an enabler if you read this song as the story of competing with addiction for the heart of a beloved, but that just fires up the deeper tragedy. "I love you much, it's not enough," she sings. "You love blow and I love puff/ And life is like a pipe/ And I'm a tiny penny rolling up the walls inside."
