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Song of the Day #909: ‘Jimmie Standing in the Rain’ – Elvis Costello

Elvis Costello released his best album in years in 2010 — National Ransom, an Americana epic bursting with anger, pathos and creative energy.

Produced by T Bone Burnett, who is on a hell of a roll the past decade or so, National Ransom is also one of the best sounding records Costello has ever released, with rootsy instrumentation bringing the country- and jazz-flavored tunes thrillingly to life.

Almost every one of the album’s 16 tracks is a highlight but the tune that first caused me to stand up and take notice was the second song on the album, ‘Jimmie Standing in the Rain.’

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Song of the Day #908: ‘Mean’ – Taylor Swift

Best Songs of 2010 – #9

Taylor Swift has been a pretty big deal in my household for a couple of years now, thanks to my 8- and 4-year old daughters who caught the bug from my 15-year old niece. The hits from her record-breaking album Fearless have run on repeat in their rooms and our car for some time.

So when Swift released Speak Now in 2010, I made a preemptive strike and bought the album myself. No surprise, it immediately went into constant rotation for my daughters, who can sing along word for word to every song.

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Song of the Day #907: ‘Running Man’s Bible’ – Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers

Best Songs of 2010 – #10

OK, with the honorable mentions out of the way I now move on to my official top ten songs of 2010. I’ll count down ten through six this week and five through one next week, with an Elvis Costello weekend in between.

This list usually proves controversial so I’ll lay down the ground rules up front in hopes of preventing complaints down the road.

This is not a list of the best singles of the year… many of these songs were never released apart from the albums that contain them. This is not a list of songs that made a huge impact on radio or captured the cultural zeitgeist in 2010… I featured many of those tracks during my summer song series and that will have to do.

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Song of the Day #906: ‘Next Time Round’ – Elvis Costello

It’s tough to decide which Blood & Chocolate song to highlight today.

I’m tempted to go with ‘Battered Old Bird,’ a bizarre epic that paints a surreal picture of the inhabitants of an apartment building (based on Costello’s real neighbors from his childhood home).

Or the creepy, obsessive ‘I Want You,’ the album’s 7-minute centerpiece, on which Costello repeats the title phrase ad nauseum while imagining his lover’s infidelity. But the truth is, I’ve been spoiled by Fiona Apple’s live version of that song (performed with Costello on guitar) and pretty much consider that masterpiece the definitive version.

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Song of the Day #905: ‘I Hope You’re Happy Now’ – Elvis Costello

Just six months after King of America hit shelves, Elvis Costello released another full-length album, 1986’s Blood & Chocolate.

I wish I’d been a fan at that point because I can’t imagine the glee with which this release must have been met right on the heels of its classic predecessor.

Costello has always been a prolific artist but putting out two of his best albums within half a year of each other is an embarrassment of riches.

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