Monthly Archives: November 2009

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Song of the Day #469: ‘The Beauty of the Rain’ – Dar Williams

beautyrainNow here’s the weird thing. Williams had released three straight albums that I really loved and had written at least a couple of songs I consider among my very favorites, and yet in 2003 when she released her next album, Beauty of the Rain, I didn’t get it. And two years later she released an album called My Better Self and I didn’t get that either.

That’s quite unlike me. I’m always looking for the next album by artists I enjoy. Maybe it was because I was suddenly sharing my house with a 1-year-old, though I don’t think I stopped buying music altogether.

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Song of the Day #468: ‘It Happens Every Day’ – Dar Williams

greenworldIn 2000, Dar Williams released her fourth full-length album, The Green Room, and again she didn’t disappoint. I don’t rank this album quite as high as the previous two but it’s a solid collection that steps up her game in terms of production.

The highlight of the album is a song I’ve already featured on the blog, a track called ‘After All.’ It’s a real beauty about surviving depression and, like ‘When I Was a Boy,’ it has generated a lot of attention here through the YouTube clip I I posted. I guess Williams is just obscure enough and just sought out enough that a blog like this can hit the radar of her more fervent fans without getting lost in a sea of other coverage.

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Song of the Day #467: ‘Party Generation’ – Dar Williams

endofsummerMortal City was Williams’ second full-length album. For some reason I don’t own her debut, The Honesty Room, even though it contains one of my favorite songs ever, ‘When I Was a Boy.’

I featured that song on the blog just over a year ago and it is far and away the post here that has received the most continued attention. That’s because I posted the song on YouTube with a link back to Meet Me In Montauk, and the YouTube clip has received more than 15,500 views to date. Now that’s not much compared to that wedding dance clip or the keyboard cat, but it’s a pretty big number to me.

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Song of the Day #466: ‘As Cool As I Am’ – Dar Williams

mortalcityI was first introduced to the music of Dar Williams by a high school friend with whom I’ve stayed in touch via email. She and I exchange book, movie and music finds and I can thank her for exposing me to not just Williams but Aimee Mann and Barenaked Ladies as well (and probably several others I’m forgetting).

The song she gave me was ‘The Christians and the Pagans,’ an amusing short story of a song about an eventful holiday family gathering between people of different faiths. It’s a charming and funny song with a sweet message and a memorable melody and it was enough to convince me to pick up her latest album, Mortal City.

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Song of the Day #465: ‘All My Loving’ – The Beatles

beatleswithI consider With The Beatles more of a John Lennon album than a Paul McCartney one — in addition to yesterday’s SOTD, Lennon contributed highlights ‘It Won’t Be Long’ and ‘Not a Second Time’ and sang lead vocals on the excellent covers ‘You’ve Really Got a Hold On Me’ and ‘Please Mister Postman.’

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