Throwing back to the week of September 5, 1956, we find Elvis Presley atop the Billboard Top 100 with ‘Don’t Be Cruel.’ This was the first of seven straight weeks at #1 for the song.
This was Presley’s top-performing song of 1956, a year that saw the release of ‘Hound Dog,’ ‘Heartbreak Hotel,’ ‘I Want You, I Need You, I Love You,’ ‘Blue Suede Shoes,’ ‘Love Me Tender,’ and many more.
Concluding my ranking of the songs on Phoebe Bridgers’ Lost Weekend…
#3. ‘The Governor’s Waltz’
This beautiful track sounds like it could have appeared on either of Bridgers’ first two albums, which is part of why it became an early favorite. As much as I admire the ambition and growth on display in Lost Weekend, I don’t see it as the equal of Stranger in the Alps or Punisher. Not yet, anyway… I’ve certainly spent a lot more time with those albums than this one. ‘The Governor’s Waltz’ is the record’s Paul Mescal track, and while it throws some shade at his new girlfriend Gracie Abrams, it mostly finds Bridgers exploring her own failure to connect.
Continuing my ranking of the songs on Phoebe Bridgers’ Lost Weekend…
#6. ‘Bobby’
One of the funny things about Bridgers’ catalog is that she almost never writes upbeat songs, but when she does they are absolute bangers. Such is the case with ‘Bobby,’ a full-on love song written for (and, amusingly, co-written by) Bo Burnham. This song captures the infatuation of early love just beautifully. It’s also the only love song I can think of with a reference to a vibrator (though the lyric is made less explicit in streaming versions of the song).
Continuing my ranking of the songs on Phoebe Bridgers’ Lost Weekend…
#9. ‘As Above’
The final song (before a brief reprise of the title track) finds Bridgers drifting through her past, present, and future while watching Hot Tub Time Machine over a seat mate’s shoulder on a plane. Its delicate piano-backed verses give way to an explosive bridge before settling back into a moment of resignation: “As it was, so it goes.”
Continuing my ranking of the songs on Phoebe Bridgers’ Lost Weekend…
#13. ‘Other Plans’
The last song written for the album, and an exercise by Bridgers in writing a melody containing only one note. It’s a successful enough experiment that my tin-eared self didn’t catch that limitation until I read about it.
Meet Me In Montauk 