Song of the Day 10/27: Lucinda Williams, “2 Kool 2 Be 4-Gotten”
This is my favorite song on Lucinda Williams' masterpiece, 1998's "Car Wheels on a Gravel Road." When I learned that most of the lyrics were inspired by photos in a…
Song of the Day 10/26: Paul Simon, “René and Georgette Magritte with Their Dog After the War”
Plenty of songs were inspired by photographs -- I might steal an idea from El Somnambulo and do a theme week of them -- but this one is special. It…
Song of the Day 10/24: Glen Campbell, “Wichita Lineman”
This song contains a not-quite-rhyming couplet that many people consider, in the words of British author Dylan Jones, "one of the most exquisite romantic couplets in the history of song."…
Song of the Day 10/22: The Guess Who, “Undun”
Randy Bachman wrote a lot of classic rock hits for the Guess Who and Bachman-Turner Overdrive, most of them on a guitar he bought when he was 19 years old…
Song of the Day 10/21: Crash Test Dummies, “Superman’s Song”
I don't know if anything was lost in translation, but I hear the Faux News Freakout of the Week is over DC Comics changing Superman's slogan from "Truth, Justice and…
Song of the Day 10/19: Jonathan Richman, “Velvet Underground”
I haven't seen the new Todd Haynes documentary about the Velvet Underground yet, but many of the reviews make a point of praising his affecting interview with Jonathan Richman. Though…
Song of the Day 10/17: Future Islands, “Seasons (Waiting on You)”
I was walking through a metro station the other day when I saw an advertising poster for Future Islands, and my mind instantly flashed back to this performance from 2014,…
Song of the Day 10/15: Lemonheads, “Into Your Arms”
The Lemonheads might have been the most commercially viable jangle-pop band of the early '90s, and this was their biggest hit. Like many of Evan Dando's best songs, it's melodic,…
Song of the Day 10/14: Gary Bartz, Adrian Younge and Ali Shaheed Muhammad, “Day By Day”
Guest post by Nathan Arizona The title says “Jazz Is Dead,” but they don’t mean it. I guess you could say it’s ironic. Adrian Younge and Ali Shaheed Muhammad’s recording…
Song of the Day 10/13: Bob Dylan, “Things Have Changed”
This song won the Academy Award for Best Original Song in 2001 for its inclusion on the soundtrack of "The Wonder Boys," and its chorus about sums it up for…
Song of the Day 10/12: Lulu and the Lampshades, “Cups (When I’m Gone)”
In 1928 A.P. Carter, patriarch of the singing Carter family, asked the musical question "Will You Miss Me When I'm Gone?" Three years later he answered it in the affirmative…
Song of the Day 10/11: Dave Clark Five, “Any Way You Want It”
Unless you were alive at the time, it's almost impossible to believe that the Dave Clark Five weren't just the first British band to follow the Beatles in the British…
Song of the Day 10/10: Marvin Gaye, “Too Busy Thinking About My Baby”
This was Marvin Gaye's follow-up single to his No. 1 smash "Heard It Through the Grapevine," and like that song it was written by Norman Whitfield and Barrett Strong --…