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Song of the Day #1,004: ‘Stolen Car’ – Beth Orton

Back in the early days of the Internet, before Amazon.com was the dominant e-commerce engine, it was super easy to get deals online.

I used to buy CDs and DVDs at ridiculous prices, taking advantage of coupons, special promotions and introductory offers. I would boast about my successes, saying things like “I got the Rushmore Criterion Edition for twelve dollars, shipped.” It was always more impressive when the cut rate price included shipping.

Beth Orton’s second album, Central Reservation, represents one of the sweetest deals I ever got. I don’t even remember the site, but some company (probably long since out of business) offered a free CD of your choice just for registering.

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Song of the Day #1,003: ‘A Voice in the Dark’ – Elvis Costello

Today’s selection marks the end of the line for Elvis Costello’s studio album releases, but despite everybody’s assumptions yesterday, I’m not ready to shut down the Costello Weekends just yet.

Over the next couple of weeks I will feature some of the many B-sides and alternate tracks that Costello has released over the years. Each of the CD reissues of his albums contains a treasure trove of material — songs that wound up as other songs in vastly different forms, covers, discarded tracks that are better than the album’s they were cut from, all sort of marvelous odds and ends.

I’ll spend two weeks on those before retiring old Elvis and giving somebody else a shot.

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Song of the Day #1,002: ‘That’s Not the Part of Him You’re Leaving’ – Elvis Costello

A mere six months and 24 albums after I started the Elvis Costello weekends, I arrive at the man’s most recent album. 2010’s National Ransom picked up where Secret, Profane and Sugarcane left off, using the same musicians, similar styles and even nearly identical cover art.

But while the former album felt half-assed (by Elvis’ standards), National Ransom is a rich and resonant work — for my money, the most consistently great record he’s released since King of America.

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Song of the Day #1,001: ‘Evaporated’ – Ben Folds

And so I begin my next 1,000 songs.

‘Evaporated’ is the final track on Ben Folds Five’s sophomore album, Whatever and Ever Amen. It’s slow and angsty and one of the best examples in Ben Folds’ whole catalog of him being introspective.

Folds is so fast and funny so often than he really earns his more somber and thoughtful moments. For a guy so steeped in irony, an earned tear is a rare and lovely thing. He shares that quality with one of his idols, Randy Newman, who has written his own share of songs like this one.

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Song of the Day #1,000: ‘I Want You’ – Fiona Apple & Elvis Costello

Back in early July, 2008, the same month I started this Song of the Day series, I posted this video clip. It was the first song I ever posted on Meet Me In Montauk, just weeks before Meet Me In Montauk became dedicated to posting songs.

As such, I figured I’d give it an official spot in the lineup, and the honor of becoming my 1,000th Song of the Day.

My title for the original post was “Best. Performance. Ever.” and I stand by that lofty assessment of Fiona Apple’s interpretation of Elvis Costello’s classic ‘I Want You’ (with Elvis himself on guitar).

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