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Song of the Day #4,154: ‘Someone You Loved’ – Lewis Capaldi

Wow, is time flying. It feels like summer hasn’t ended yet and we’re already two thirds into November. Very soon I need to start thinking about my “best of the year” albums and movies.

But 2019 is the least of it. I’ve been working on my “best of the 2010s” lists and will likely roll those out in December. So these next two weeks will be the calm before the “best of” storm. And what better way to breeze through two weeks than with an installment of ‘What the Kids are Listening To,’ in which I feature the ten songs topping this week’s Billboard Hot 100?

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Song of the Day #4,153: ‘Everybody Cares, Everybody Understands’ – Elliott Smith

This is the penultimate song on Elliott Smith’s great 1998 album, XO, and stylistically it’s a nice microcosm of the album.

XO was the album where Smith started broadening his musical palette from his lo-fi beginnings. Similarly, ‘Everybody Cares, Everybody Understands’ starts in a quiet, acoustic style before blowing up at its midpoint into a fully orchestrated coda.

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Song of the Day #4,152: ‘Delayed Devotion’ – Duffy

Here’s a Random Weekend selection from the “Whatever Happened To…” file.

The Welsh singer-songwriter Duffy released her celebrated debut album, Rockferry, in 2008, with her throwback style prompting comparisons to Amy Winehouse and Dusty Springfield. The album won a Grammy for Best Pop Album and sold more copies than any other record in the UK that year (it was fourth worldwide).

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Song of the Day #4,151: ‘Big Man on Mulberry Street (Live)’ – Billy Joel

My final pick for the upcoming Billy Joel anthology series is ‘Big Man on Mulberry Street,’ the epic, jazzy centerpiece of Joel’s 1986 album The Bridge. This is one of Joel’s best songs, so different than so much of what preceded it, yet still quintessentially him.

The song features one of Joel’s great characters, a small-time New Yorker with big-time dreams. This guy, with the right writing and acting, could be an incredibly rich character.

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Song of the Day #4,150: ‘Zanzibar (Live)’ – Billy Joel

Our next Billy Joel anthology song comes from 1978’s 52nd Street, and this one is not about a person but a place.

‘Zanzibar’ wasn’t a hit at the time but it became a staple of Joel’s concerts and is a fan favorite. It’s a perfect representation of the jazz style Joel introduced to his pop rock for this album. Just check out those horn solos.

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