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Song of the Day #942: ‘The Only Living Boy in New York’ – Dan Hardin

I first discovered Dan Hardin during a theme week on amateur musicians who post their performances on YouTube. He played a version of Lucinda Williams’ ‘Lake Charles’ that simply bowled me over.

His unassuming manner, gentle vocals and intricate guitar work make him kind of addictive to watch, and it doesn’t hurt that he has excellent taste in music, performing covers by some of my favorite artists and never the most obvious songs. I said in my original post that I’m kind of gay for this guy, and I stand by that statement.

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Song of the Day #941: ‘Speechless’ – Lady Gaga

I’m about two years late, but I’ve finally hopped on the Lady GaGa bandwagon.

I recently bought her two albums (in one bargain-priced package) with a gift card I received for my birthday. My logic was as follows: I like five of her songs — ‘Poker Face,’ ‘Just Dance,’ ‘Paparazzi,’ ‘Bad Romance’ and ‘Telephone’ — enough to buy them on iTunes. That’s a $6 investment right there. If even four of the 17 remaining songs on her albums are worth owning, it’s more cost-efficient to buy the 2-disc set than to pick and choose.

And I had a gift card, so it wasn’t like real money.

Yes, I realize it’s a bit deranged that I have this much of an inner struggle over whether to buy a CD. But I take these things seriously, in case you haven’t picked up on that by now.

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Song of the Day #940: ‘The Very Thought of You’ – Elvis Costello

I don’t have much to add about Kojak Variety other than to say it’s odd to be in the dark about an Elvis Costello album.

My Bob Dylan Weekends gave me a chance to familiarize myself with some of the albums I’d missed over the years, but Dylan had amassed a huge discography before I was ever a fan, so that was to be expected.

Costello, on the other hand, has put out the lion’s share of his albums since I discovered him so there aren’t many blind spots.

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Song of the Day #939: ‘I Threw It All Away’ – Elvis Costello

In 1995, Elvis Costello followed the previous year’s Brutal Youth with his second album of covers. The first, 1981’s Almost Blue, was dedicated to country songs. Kojak Variety, on the other hand, was all over the map.

Costello recorded the album in Barbados, and introduced it like this in the original liner notes: “This is a record of some of my favourite songs performed with some of my favourite musicians.” And that pretty much sums up the laid-back vibe of the album. Its title comes from the name of a grocery store down the street from the recording studio in Barbados. It’s also the most memorable thing about the record.

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Song of the Day #938: ‘Sprawl II (Mountains Beyond Mountains) – Arcade Fire

My final example from this year’s Pazz & Jop singles list comes from Arcade Fire. ‘Sprawl II (Mountains Beyond Mountains)’ clocks in at #10 (in a three-way tie).

In case you’re wondering, the Pazz & Jop poll got its name because its creators wanted to avoid arguments over whether a song really belonged in the “pop” or “jazz” genre. By making up nonsense words to describe the listed music, it allowed room for anything. I notice that in the past 10 years the list has been dominated by hip-hop, so it’s a good thing they didn’t go with the more restrictive label.

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