Yesterday’s featured artist was a first-timer on the blog, but today’s is a grizzled veteran. This is the 24th Fountains of Wayne track given Song of the Day treatment, and the 10th to show up on Random Weekends.
‘The Senator’s Daughter’ is the closing track on 1999’s Utopia Parkway, an album I rank alongside Welcome Interstate Managers as the band’s best work. And as much as I love Interstate, with a gun to my head I’d probably go with this one.
When you’re on your 4,579th Song of the Day, it’s always a surprise to see an artist pop up who has not once earned a mention on the blog.
Such is the case for today’s featured artist, the British singer-songwriter David Gray. Gray earned international fame with the release of his 1998 album White Ladder, which featured the hit single ‘Babylon.’ Gray’s “folktronica” sound blended modern beats with acoustic folk songs and really hit a nerve in the late 90s.
Concluding the chronological presentation of my 25 favorite songs…
‘Easy From Now On‘ – Miranda Lambert (2007)
The last time I posted Miranda Lambert’s ‘Easy From Now On,’ during a series on my favorite female vocalists, frequent commenter Dana suggested that Lambert was “this year’s model” and that “with time and perspective” I might not list her in my top ten.
That was a little more than a decade ago.
Continuing the chronological presentation of my 25 favorite songs…
‘After All‘ – Dar Williams (2000)
Eleven years ago, when I first wrote about this song on the blog, I couldn’t find it on YouTube so I had to upload my own version. That clip has received more than 125k views since. Not exactly ‘Gangnam Style,’ but pretty impressive for a rather obscure artist like Dar Williams.
On that clip, and on the other videos that eventually made it to YouTube, you’ll find many comments by listeners that this song quite literally saved their lives. I can only imagine how heartening that must be for Williams.
Continuing the chronological presentation of my 25 favorite songs…
‘Fox in the Snow‘ – Belle and Sebastian (1996)
Belle and Sebastian’s ‘Fox in the Snow’ has shown up every time I’ve done some sort of “desert island discs” feature on this blog, and I wasn’t about to exclude it now that I’m coming up with my definitive list of favorite songs.
As with several songs on this list, ‘Fox in the Snow’ is my favorite song on my favorite album by one of my favorite bands. That status doesn’t apply to about two thirds of this list, but when it does the song in question is usually a key reason that artist became a favorite.
Meet Me In Montauk 