Ten Best Songs of 2008 – #10
Over the next ten days, my Songs of the Day will count down what I consider the best songs of 2008, with a maximum of one song per album.
It’s interesting that a few of my top ten albums failed to produce a song on this list… I suppose every song on those albums is a B or an A but nothing is an A+.
The flip side is a song like today’s track (#10), Duffy’s ‘Distant Dreamer,’ which comes from an album that didn’t crack my top ten.
I enjoy Duffy’s Rockferry quite a bit. Every song is solid, and she is equally adept at the ballads and the poppier material. But there isn’t much depth to her music… it doesn’t stick with me long after it’s over.
With two exceptions: The opening title track and the final song, my #10 song of the year, ‘Distant Dreamer.’ While much of Rockferry is Dusty Springfield-lite, ‘Distant Dreamer’ is the real deal. It feels like something Dusty, or Ronnie Spector, would have sung back in the day. I loved it the first time I heard it and I love it still.
My head is filled with hope
Of some place other than here
Although you think I smile
Inside all the while
I’m wondering about my destiny
I’m thinking about all the things
I’d like to do in my life
I’m a dreamer
A distant dreamer
Dreaming far away from today
Even when you see me frown
My heart won’t let me down
Because I know there’s better things
To come
And when life gets tough
I feel I’ve had enough
I hold on to a distant star
I’m thinking about all the things
I’d like to do in my life
I’m a dreamer
A distant dreamer
Dreaming far away from today
Meet Me In Montauk 
In an odd way, this reminds me of the flip side of Tracy Chapman’s “Fast Car.” That song’s far grittier (to use the word of last week) plotline makes it much more powerful (and grim), but the two protagonists share a “hope of some place other than here.” The fact that Duffy’s lyrics are set to this soaring music suggests a romantic naivete on the part of her speaker that, in some ways, makes this song equally heartbreaking. Fascinating stuff.
This song is enjoyable enough, but nothing special to me. I’m not a huge fan of the Phil Spector sound, which is being mimicked here to some extent sans the Spector drum beat and huge sax breaks. In general, I can live without soaring strings in pop songs.
Duffy is clearly a Winehouse light, but that just makes me want to go put on the Winehouse record without further delay for the more gritty sound that I love.
I love the Spector sound… it’s like the hard candy of pop music.
I think the word “gritty” has been used more on this blog in the past week than in the entirety of human conversation before that. 🙂 I’m still not sure I grasp what you mean by it, though.
I do agree that Amy Winehouse is gritter than Duffy (hell, she’s grittier than Mickey Rourke) but I don’t quite see how the term applies to most music you like. Also, two genres I’d consider gritty — rap and hard rock — aren’t among your favorites.
Well, as you should know by now, Mr. Hanson, I am not a big fan of “pop” so the hard candy of pop does little for me.
As for gritty, I don’t mean the type of music, I mean the type of voice. I am drawn to the non-traditional singers–the ones who probably wouldn’t have excelled in a school chorus, because they couldn’t or didn’t hold their notes long enough or with sufficient vibrato. I like soulful, down to earth singers, and, generally, I like stripped down music. Now, there are notable exceptions to this general preference, but the tunes to which I consistently gravitate tend to have that in common.
Not liking (at least some) pop music is like not liking funny movies!
I’m also drawn to non-traditional singers… not many of my favorites would have done very well in chorus. But I’m not averse to other kinds of singers, even if they’re not my first preference.
Not sure if that analogy quite works.
I think we have established that you like a broader range of genres, both in movies and music. Kudos to you, Mr. Renaissance Man:)
It’s not as if I haven’t been exposed to all types of styles and voices over the years, and I appreciate that, through this blog, I am able to continue to sample new music, but, most of the time, my reaction to certain songs and voices, whether they be country, pop, electronica, rap, grunge, whatever…remains the same…I might like some more than others or appreciate certain aspects of a particular song, but it just won’t be the type of music I seek out or pop into the CD player (or IPod).
Oh, and I like, at least on some level and to some extent, pop music, depending on the decade, artist, etc. However, to me, there is a difference between having some attraction to a song when you hear it on the radio, and having enough of a compelling interest to actually buy the CD or seek out more work by the artist. Most pop music is, indeed, like candy in that it lacks nutrients (depth) and too much consumption of it leaves you craving something more substantive.
I’m not sure if that analogy quite works.
To go back to my analogy that didn’t work, I fell like I can listen to a simple pop song over and over again the way I can watch a simple comedy over and over again. I need to be in the mood to watch a deep film or listen to a deep album.
Now I happen to be in that mood a lot of the time, but I wouldn’t want to diminish the appeal of those simple pleasures.
Also, I think a well-written pop song is quite an accomplishment. Sort of how they say comedic acting is harder than dramatic acting, even though it rarely gets the respect it deserves.
I think a well-written pop song (one that will stay in radio rotation for weeks on end and sits at the top of the Billboard charts) is like a blockbuster film made with the intention of being a blockbuster film. It was written to appeal to as many people for as long as possible. That very accessibility is both what makes it wonderful and makes it, ultimately, lacking. If this song/film/tv show (Two and a Half Men?!) can make thousands of very different people equally content, that’s quite an accomplishment. However, there must be something relatively shallow about its approach if it speaks to so many. We tend to respond more deeply to those songs/films/shows that move us most deeply – and those are likely to reach a smaller audience.
So… it’s not that pop is good or bad. It’s just that pop, by its very design, is shallow.
I’d hesitate to call half The Beatles output “lacking,” but it certainly appealed to a large number of people for a long time (and continues to do so). And Raiders of the Lost Ark is an example of a film designed to be a pulpy blockbuster but also a work of art.
I think “shallow” is a fair word, though it does have a negative connotation, but I definitely wouldn’t say the best pop songs (or popcorn movies) are lacking.
Look at you, Clay, trying to draw me in with the comedy movie analagy! I’ll take that bait:)
First, I would say that, as in our myriad comedy discussion, there is probaby pop “plus” just as there is comedy “plus” And NO, I am NOT saying the plus is just songs I like! The Beatles pop songs, in many cases, were inventive either lyrically, musically or both. Take “Drive My Car” for example. Ever try playing that one on the piano? It is full of weird dissonent chords–not simple at all. Yet, it is a perfifect pop song. That is a song I am drawn to again and again. On the other hand, Love Me Do is about as simple as it gets both lyrically and musically, and, to me, it is one of the lesser Beatles songs. Now, having said that, I’m sure most people, if forced to listen repeatedly to a Beatles song, might choose Love Me Do over, say, Glass Onion, but I’would go for the Onion.
I’m sure I couldn’t play ‘Love Me Do’ on the piano, either. 🙂
I don’t know enough about music to tell which songs are more complex in their structure than others. And ‘Love Me Do’ is an example of a song that is also extremely simple in its lyrics. A simple melody with great lyrics can be timeless… look at ‘If I Fell’ or ‘In My Life.’
I wouldn’t consider “In My Life” a pop song. I also don’t begin to judge the songs (or films or books or shows) on how easy it is to create or “play” them, as that might increase my admiration for them but not my love.
Shallow is only a negative word when applied to things we expect to have depth (such as people). The only part of the ocean I ever want to spend time in the shallow part 🙂 As for films, I may recognize the incredible depth of a film such as Synecdoche, New York, but that depth is also what makes it somewhat tiresome. On the other hand, a film such as Bride Wars (which I haven’t seen, so perhaps I’m jumping to conclusions) seems shallow in a negative way, while Bolt is shallow (and, therefore, predictable) in a positive way.
On my top ten list this year, so far Iron Man is above a film (The Dark Knight) that has far more depth and below another (Rachel Getting Married) that also has depth. The fact that Iron Man, like “Drive My Car” is pop ++++, places it near the top of my favorite films of the year. Still, when it came to making a final determination as to which film should occupy the top spot on my list, I opted for the deeper film that resonated more profoundly over the popcorn pleaser.
I don’t have a problem with “shallow,” just with “lacking.” I don’t find Iron Man lacking in any way that’s relevant. Sure, it lacks certain things (like gritty realism) that it never intended to have, but I don’t think that allows one to describe it as lacking.
It’s also interesting that Dana counts that “pop song” of a movie as his favorite of the year so far. I’m not suggesting for a minute that this is inconsistent, because I think one can have very different tastes in music and movies. And as you’ve suggested before, it could be because he considers himself more a movie fan and a music practitioner that he is more drawn to complexity in the latter.
lacking depth = shallow, no?
Probably just splitting hairs. When I hear something described as “lacking” I hear that as “flawed.” It’s different to say Iron Man lacks depth but is a wonderful movie than to say Iron Man is, ultimately, lacking. But if the former is what you meant up above, I have no argument with that.
Wow–I go to one mediation and you 2 go on and on:)
Well, first, I don’t really mean to suggest that simple or shallow in film, music, or anything necessarily equals bad or lesser. I do personally, however, tend to gravitate to the more complex songwriting that you don’t typically find in a pop song. This, again, doesn’t mean I don”t appreciate the pop song at all. If it comes on the radio (as is often the case with my kids in the car), I can enjoy it, sing to it, dance to it,…but, left to my own devices, I will not be interested in buying the pop album or downloading the pop song in most cases. So, when we talk about a song like this Duffy tune, it’s not that I dislike it or couldn’t listen to it on the radio. It’s just not the type of music that viscerally or intellectually or musically grabs me
By the way, both “If I Fell” and “In My Life” are not really all that simple musically (though I would not call them all that complex either). Let’s not confuse soft or acoustic or ballad with simple.
As for the wonderful Iron Man, as I recall, most critics who raved about it called it more of a character movie with an outstanding performance by Downey than a traditional superhero movie. And it is that aspect of the movie, which purposely eschewed mega CGI and extended action sequences for character and plot development that earned my love and appreciation for this film.
To tie in all of the respective analogies we have bandied about–pop music and popcorn films are, like candy, less complex, more accessible and more digestible-but they probably have less staying power than the deeper works. Also, much like putting medicine in candy (or squash in mac and cheese), the artist who can combine a level of musical and lyrical depth (or screenwriting and directing depth in movies) within the structure of a commercially accessible (pop or popcorn) work truly demonstrates tremendous talent. I think that is what you find in many of those Beatles tunes and in the works of a handful of other artists who are lauded by critics AND sell songs like candy.