Monthly Archives: August 2008

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Song of the Day #15: ‘Close Your Eyes’ – Jump, Little Children

Jump, Little Children is one of those odd little bands that has a following of about a hundred people but just about every one of those hundred thinks it’s the best band ever.

I like them a lot, but I don’t feel the religious zeal of their most ardent fans. In fact, some of their songs I find downright annoying. In the way The Beatles used to let Ringo write and sing something every once in awhile, Jump, Little Children lets accordion player Matthew Bivins take center stage twice per album to do some sort of rap/modern jazz hybrid that really grates on me.

Yes, they have an accordion player.

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Song of the Day #14: ‘In God’s Country’ – U2

In 1987, U2 released The Joshua Tree and pretty much changed the face of popular music. The album not only propelled them to superstardom but made the marketplace safe for hyper-literate rock anthems, influencing the work of both contemporaries like R.E.M. and descendants like Coldplay.

This was my first U2 album and I went nuts over it, playing it nonstop in my bedroom that whole summer. It was also right around the time Paul Simon’s Graceland and Peter Gabriel’s So came out, and those three albums formed my holy trinity of new music.

But I write about The Joshua Tree (and my selected track, ‘In God’s Country’) not just to sing its praises 21 years later, but to reflect on the geeky association it forever carries in my mind.

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Song of the Day #13: ‘I Know’ – Fiona Apple

Just about every one of my songs of the day so far have been about something other than the song. Sure, I like all of those songs, but I picked them as a way to talk about other issues.

This one, though, is all about the song.

If I were forced at gunpoint to rescue only ten songs from my collection and have the rest go up in flames, I would pull my hair out trying to decide on nine of them. But without a doubt one of the ten would be Fiona Apple’s ‘I Know.’

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