Immediately after posting ten of my favorite songs, I started regretting the omissions. Given another chance I could post ten completely different tracks and feel just as good about the list.
But the omission that hit me the hardest — the one that would have been in the top five if I hadn’t completely blanked on it — is Lucinda Williams’ ‘Side of the Road.’
In its original form, which I posted as Song of the Day #82, this is one for the desert island, no question. It’s a perfect combination of theme, lyrics, melody, performance and production. It’s an elemental masterpiece.
As I’ve already posted Williams’ studio version, as well as a live performance, I needed a new take on the track.
How lucky to have this earnest Ben Folds offering to fall back on.
🎵 More Lucinda Williams 🎵
→ All of my Lucinda Williams coverage
Lemme go and stand awhile
I wanna know you’re there but I wanna be alone
If only for a minute or two
I wanna see what it feels like to be without you
I wanna know the touch of my own skin
Against the sun, against the wind
I walked out in a field
The grass was high, it brushed against my legs
I just stood and looked out at the open space
And a farmhouse out a ways
And I wondered about the people who lived in it
And I wondered if they were happy and content
Were there children and a man and a wife?
Did she love him and take her hair down at night?
If I stray away too far from you
Don’t go and try to find me
It doesn’t mean I don’t love you
It doesn’t mean I won’t come back and stay beside you
It only means I need a little time
To follow that unbroken line
To a place where the wild things grow
To a place where I used to always go
If only for a minute or two
I wanna see what it feels like to be without you
I wanna know the touch of my own skin
Against the sun, against the wind
Meet Me In Montauk 
Boy, you’re going to stretch this favorite song/desert island theme into the Fall at this rate!😄
If you had scanned your own posts when compiling your list, you clearly would have not omitted this song. It is a beauty and, since I find Folds’ voice generally more pleasing than Williams’, I appreciate this song even more after hearing his cover.
Beautiful lyrics