Best Songs of 2013 – #5
In the Year of Country Women, the biggest splash was made by Kacey Musgraves, whose refreshing millennial outlook landed her on Ellen and landed her debut album, Same Trailer Different Park, on both the country and mainstream charts.
Musgraves strikes me as a grown-up version of Taylor Swift (and I don’t mean that as a slight to Swift, whose best work evokes the adolescent experience beautifully). Her songs are simple, memorable and deceptively deep.
The Musgraves track that has garnered the most attention is ‘Follow Your Arrow,’ an upbeat YOLO anthem that contains one of the few gay rights messages you’ll find in a country song. It’s also pro pot (or not), something I’ve noticed in more and more country music lately.
You’re a bore
If you don’t save yourself for marriage
You’re a horrible person
If you won’t have a drink
Then you’re a prude
But they’ll call you a drunk
As soon as you down the first one
If you can’t lose the weight
Then you’re just fat
But if you lose too much
Then you’re on crack
You’re damned if you do
And you’re damned if you don’t
So you might as well just do
Whatever you want
So
Make lots of noise
And kiss lots of boys
Or kiss lots of girls
If that’s something you’re into
When the straight and narrow
Gets a little too straight
Roll up a joint, or don’t
Just follow your arrow
Wherever it points, yeah
Follow your arrow
Wherever it points
Yeah
If you don’t go to church
You’ll go to hell
If you’re the first one
On the front row
You’re self-righteous
Son of a –
Can’t win for losing
You just disappoint ’em
Just ’cause you can’t beat ’em
Don’t mean you should join ’em
So make lots of noise
And kiss lots of boys
Or kiss lots of girls
If that’s something you’re into
When the straight and narrow
Gets a little too straight
Roll up a joint, or don’t
Just follow your arrow
Wherever it points, yeah
Follow your arrow
Wherever it points
Say what you feel
Love who you love
‘Cause you just get
So many trips ’round the sun
Yeah, you only
Only live once
So make lots of noise
And kiss lots of boys
Or kiss lots of girls
If that’s what you’re into
When the straight and narrow
Gets a little too straight
Roll up a joint (I would)
And follow your arrow
Wherever it points, yeah
Follow your arrow
Wherever it points
Meet Me In Montauk 
Okay, I get that you are all about the country women thing nowadays, but, with only four songs left on your countdown, I had better start seeing some vampire weekend, lorde and Eminem toot sweet! Meanwhile, I know you draw your list from albums rather than radio, but how can you not recognize the strength of songs like “blurred lines” or “wrecking ball?”
Well, there is the fact that I don’t like either of those songs. As I’ve said, I’m not making a list of songs that had a big impact on pop culture, just ones that meant something to me.
Nice message; cute song
Clay, I think it’s silly for anyone to suggest that your list should include songs you don’t particularly like just because those songs were popular in a given year. That said, I sure hope “Roar” makes an appearance 😉
^Preach
I just think the problem with your list is that it is too narrow as your favorite songs derive exclusively from albums you bought, and the albums you buy are mostly, if not all, based on critic endorsement or follow-up albums by artists from which you own previous albums.
Missing entirely are songs derived from the radio (except on the occassion where some song from your purchased albums happens to also haver received radio play). And, in the age of de-emphasis on the album and re emphasis on the single due to the increased popularity of iTunes and forums like YouTube, the songs missing from your list is filling an increasingly more conspicuous chasm. Frankly, rather than calling this a list of best songs of the year,” you should call it “best songs from albums I bought in 2013.”
I’ll take you at your word that you don’t like songs like “Blurred Lines” and “Wrecking Ball,” though I think both are catchy as hell and damn good. But also missing from your list are some great songs from Bruno Mars (“locked out of heaven”), Pink (“True Love”), Macklemore and Lewis (“same love”) to name a few.
Hello, don’t usually comment on this blog, (or at least haven’t lately) but I must have an issue with Dana… Even though he is listing these songs as the ones you “should have looked at” none of them would actually be on his list. In actual reality I bet a lot of his favorite songs would come from albums and if they all came from radio I would believe that he wasn’t looking at all the great songs he could choose from. Besides it is all up to opinion and I happened to like many of the songs Clay chose (Of course he did too or else he wouldn’t have put them on the list!)
Dana, your premise is wrong. My list is derived not just from albums I own but from all the songs I’ve heard throughout 2013. Certainly I’ve heard a whole lot of ‘Blurred Lines’ and ‘Wrecking Ball’ throughout the year — who hasn’t? So those songs were in contention… they just didn’t merit a place on this list when weighed against the rest.
It would be disingenuous of me to give a placement to one of those songs ahead of something I like better, just to give a nod toward its place in the pop culture conversation. I said right up front (as I do every year) that this list isn’t meant to reflect the year in music, but my year in music.
That said, I have found room for such chart-toppers in the past as ‘Rolling in the Deep,’ ‘Party Rock Anthem,’ ‘Super Bass,’ ‘I Knew You Were Trouble’ and ‘Payphone,’ among others.
I’m curious if you use the Grammy method of choosing songs, where they will consider a song that was released this year even if it appears on an album from the previous year. Maybe you addressed that question in your first blog post, so I’ll check.
To defend Dana just a tad (as you see he’s out on a limb here 😉 I don’t think his premise is that you should include songs that are popular, but that you are not considering many songs that would be in contention if you only knew them. I guess the question is – do you review Billboard charts (in addition to critics’ top lists, which, of course, will reflect critics’ taste) in order to “mind the gap” that might exist between what you have heard and that with which you might not be so familiar. If so, then I’d say your list is representative of your favorite songs of the year. If not, then Dana’s point is valid – you may not have even heard a song that you might like better than the 25 you will ultimately list here.
I double I’ll ever get around to posting my own 25, and as Dana joked this morning, it would likely sound something like this. “My number 11 song is the one that goes doo doo da daaa dooo daaa” since I can never place song titles on their respective songs. Still, I would surmise that one of my top songs of the year would be the collaboration between Lily Allen and Pink on “True Love,” a song I find endlessly witty and catchy. Just love that song. So… if you haven’t given it a listen, please do, as I’d love for it to at least be in consideration for #26 on your list 🙂
Okay, fair enough, but, as you have admitted, you don’t listen to radio and that has led you to lack of knowledge as to some of the most popular songs of any particular year, “I’ve Got a Feeling” being the most legendary example.
Am I not correct that the songs you listed in yor last paragraph above all come from albums you own and just also happen to have been hits?
Once your countdown is done, I will give you my top ten songs of the year (not sure I can come up with 25). I suspect there may be at least one or more songs on there you may not know or not know very well because you don’t listen to radio.
I would guess maybe 2-3 of them came from albums he owned (Taylor Swift and Adele for sure, possible Maroon 5)
Also I still have no problem with this list. As a person who listens to the radio a lot (more than I would probaby like to :P) I still would not include many of the chart toppers on my list. Yes, some of these “popular” songs are more worthy than others, but they will be featured on a bunch of lists where your top 25 probably won’t be. It is nice to give some love and credit to the amazing songs that will never be mentioned on the radio’s year in review or on the Grammy show.
Maddie is correct… I own the Adele and Swift albums but not the rest.
Amy, I consider only songs from albums that were released during the calendar year. I’ve made an exception once or twice in the past to include a song that was entirely off my radar in the year its album came out (‘Somebody That I Used to Know’ is the most prominent example — it became huge in 2012 even though the Gotye album was released in late 2011).
I do know and like that Pink song (I own that album, and it’s a great one). I included another song from it on my top ten last year.
I do a fair amount of homework in compiling this list, seeking out songs I haven’t heard that show up on critics’ lists. You might be surprised at just how radio-friendly many critics are. ‘Call Me Maybe’ was by far the most mentioned song last year. This year it was ‘Get Lucky’ and a whole lot of Miley Cyrus. So I don’t think I’m completely ignorant of many radio staples. But I’ll find out once Dana posts his hit parade! 🙂
Just came back to this post after seeing Kacey perform this song on the Grammy show. After seeing Taylor’s earlier performance, I take issue with your observation that Kacey is somehow a “grown up” version of Taylor, who is quite the grown up herself. Still, I’m loving them both.
Maybe “grown up” isn’t the right phrase, and as I said, I don’t mean that as a slight to Taylor Swift. She gave a powerful performance tonight, but it was of another song about a breakup. I feel like her music is aimed squarely at a 15-25 demographic (and more power to her… that demographic could use the quality she delivers).
I really disagree that Swift is writing for teenage girls or a young audience. Certainly, a break up song has broader appeal, just ask Adele. And Amy and I (and I suspect many other grownups) enjoy Swift’s music. During her performance at the Grammy’s, I specifically commented how adult she looked, particularly as compared to how she look (and sang) during her debut Grammy performance of “15” with Miley Cyrus (another person who has most assuredly grown up along with her fan base).
I, too, enjoy Swift’s music very much, but that doesn’t mean it isn’t primarily aimed at a young audience. Hell, one of her biggest recent hits is ’22,’ which might have a nostalgic appeal to old folks like us but is clearly being sung to her fellow millennials.
I think “22” is being sung by someone who is 22 and is directed to anyone who is 22 or wants to feel or act like they are 22. Besides, even if that one song is targeted to “kids” in their early 20’s, I would not conclude that this is the target audience for her entire album. The lyrics of the song she sang at the Grammy’s were rather sophisticated, mature and adult–quite different from break up songs she has done in the past.
From another of the album’s hits:
“And I’m like, “I just, I mean this is exhausting, you know, like, we are never getting back together, like ever”
That language is being used for effect, of course, but it is definitely delivered to a younger demographic.
Again, this is certainly sung by someone who IS young and singing autobiographically (in a sense, though also very tongue in cheek). Still, I reject the premise that Swift is targeting young kids in all of her songs. Would she have to write about being an old married woman for you to find her work directed at an older audience?
I think it would help if she’d write a song or two that isn’t about a break-up.
Swift faces the hurdle of having started her career when she was a teenager… it’s always tough to break out of that mold. And her calling card is writing confessional songs about every guy she’s dated — which by definition places her songs squarely in the worldview of somebody in adolescence/early 20s.
And once again, I’m not saying that’s a bad thing. The music is good, the lyrics are good, the performances are good. It’s not a knock on her talent.
Okay first of all, she has written a number of songs that are not about breaking up. “22” is one example. Others that come readily to mind include “Tim McGraw” and “Our Song” off her first album, “Love Story” and “Hey Stephen” off “Fearless” and “Mine” and “Sparks Fly” off “Speak Now.”
Second, while Swift undoubtedly has written her share of break-up songs, this doesn’t mean that they are directed to or intended for a young audience. Show me a single line of “All Too Well” that targets a younger audience? Indeed, most of the lines seem to be about a very adult relationship from an adult perspective. And certainly the musical tone is mature. But don’t just take my word for it. Here’s what Spin Magazine had to say about the last album:
“Whatever it is, this music is full of adult pleasures, even if the most explicit image Swift offers is of an ex-boyfriend sniffing her scarf because it smells like her. On Red — the color of blood and lipstick and fire and Southern dirt and hearts and conservatism and tractors and communism and sin, this last a word whose charged valence here might discomfit know-it-alls who would never use it without scare quotes — Swift’s too smart and tuneful to condescend to her contradictions. Or to yours.”
OK, so the songs that aren’t about break-ups are about sneaking out past curfew and falling in love. I don’t think that supports your argument!
And that same Spin review had this to say about the songs on Red: “You can hear the Bubblicious smacking in Hot Topics across the land as Taylor Nation sings along.”
Are you really arguing that Taylor Swift — to this point in her career — hasn’t written primarily for and about young people??
A single line in ‘Mine,’ about her having “a drawer of things at your place,” was called out in countless reviews because it was the first hint of sexuality in any of her songs to date.
I think you’re misreading my comment as a suggestion that Swift isn’t a mature songwriter or talent — that’s not what I mean at all. She’s got better songwriting chops than legions of men and women twice her age.
It’s a weird analogy, but would you argue that John Hughes didn’t make movies primarily for young people? I love those films to this day, and I’m sure plenty of adults loved them in the 80s, but he was capturing the adolescent experience (wonderfully).
Well, look, certainly when you have someone writing songs as a teenager, those songs are going to reflect her world and her sensibility. And to the extent that the listener enjoys the music because an identification exists with the perspective of the young writer, then, yes, Swift is writing both from a young perspective and to a younger audience.
BUT Swift at 22 is no longer a teenager or a girl. She is a woman and I see no reason why the song we have been discussing is necessarily from a young girl’s perspective or directed to a young audience, at least no more so than songs from Maroon 5, Train, or any other artists now in their 30’s or 40’s or even older.
Yes, Hughes was targeting a young audience, but consciously and conspicuously so, particularly since he was not a teenager or even in his 20’s (or maybe not even in his 30’s) when those films were made. Similarly, John Green, an adult, writes books targeted to a YA audience. And, frankly, most movie writers and directors making everything from Batman to Star Wars to Transformers, etc…is targeting a young audience. In the same way, most musical acts, regardless of age, are trying to target a young audience because, by and large, it is teenagers and young adults who run to the movies and buy records and go to concerts in greater numbers.
You, however, seem to be conflating the artist’s age and the art created from that age-perspective with who the target audience is. The Beatles were huge with teenagers, but I don’t know if you would level the same allegation against them as you do toward Swift that she is writing for a young target audience. The Beatles largely wrote from their vantage point as the young lads from Liverpool, but I suspect they didn’t view their music as being directed solely at teenagers. By contrast, the Wiggles and Laurie Berkner, no matter how old they get, target a younger audience.
The bottom line is that Swift is maturing, musically and lyrically and, as she does so, she will more easily reach an older audience. If you don’t see the difference between the person who performed on that stage the other night as compared to a few years ago, and the audience she was “targeting” with the performance, then you are not paying attention to the evolution of Swift from a girl to a woman.
I’d say that Dana just made every point I would have added to this thread, so I will just say an emphatic “DITTO!” There are myriad young artists (of all stripes – musicians, actors, painters, fashion designers??) whose work transcends (or maybe belies) their age. It’s difficult to imagine someone so young having such a mature perspective and ability to create. I remember thinking that of Leonardo DiCaprio’s performance in What’s Eating Gilbert Grape and of River Phoenix’s performance in Running on Empty. And I absolutely thought it the first time I listened carefully to Fearless (and then again when I listened to Speak Now and finally Red). Swift has always been a mature songwriter, even as her lyrics and music have appealed to legions of young fans who enjoy the beat and feel empowered by the lyrics. To me, it’s not a matter of either/or; it’s the fact that she does both so incredibly well that makes her such a unique talent.
So, yeah, ditto 😉
I don’t disagree with anything you’ve said. She is certainly maturing, in both her outward appearance and the focus of her songs. I look forward to seeing that evolution unfold on record over the years to come.
But her current body of work — four albums released between ages 17-23 — marks the caterpillar phase of that metamorphosis. These will always be her “young” albums, both because of her age and because of their subject matter.
And I bet she would agree!
I don’t think any of us are disagreeing here.
Yes I think we are, in that you seem to believe Swift’s audience is limited to teens and girls in their 20s or that she is targeting that demographic with her work. As Amy said, her work displayed a maturity from the start that reflected a desire to reach an adult audience as well. It’s not as though she was singing “Baby” a la Justin Bieber for god’s sake!
Meanwhile, the more “grown up” Musgrave is is only a few years older than Swift and she released her first album when she was 15. I suspect she only seems more grown up to you because, unlike Swift, Musgrave first got on your radar screen more recently.
No, I don’t think Swift’s audience is “limited” to young people — the fact that three adults know enough about her music to have this discussion disproves that suggestion. But I do think her music, to this point, has been written mostly for and about that demographic.
I’m talking about subject matter, not melodies, chord progressions or lyrical turns of phrase. She is a mature songwriter in those ways but she has primarily written about adolescent concerns. That’s just a fact.
I’d guess that Musgraves’ 15-year-old album was pretty similar. I don’t know, I haven’t heard it. And I bet Taylor Swift’s 25-year-old album will go broader.
My initial comment that started this discussion was that Musgraves reminds me of a “grown-up Taylor Swift.” What I meant is that her songwriting reminds me of Swift’s but that her subject matter is working class men and women, not the teens and early 20s characters who populate most of Swift’s songs. That’s it.
I’ll say this. I doubt this adult would know enough about Swift’s music to have this discussion has I not been the parent of a teenage girl who bought the initial album and played it incessantly. Did I enjoy what I heard? Absolutely. Would I have likely gone out of my way to buy Taylor’s special Target gift set had my daughter not fallen in love with her songs? Very unlikely.