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Song of the Day #749: ‘Floater (Too Much to Ask)’ – Bob Dylan

Love and Theft was released on September 11, 2001, and I’ve always considered it a testament to my Dylan fandom that I made it out to Best Buy on that horrible day to buy this album. I suppose in difficult times you cling to what you’re certain of, don’t you?

Like other albums recorded prior to 9/11 but released just afterward (Wilco’s Yankee Hotel Foxtrot comes to mind), Love and Theft feels eerily appropriate for that time. You won’t find any inadvertently specific echoes of the tragedy (such as the twin buildings on the cover of Wilco’s album) but what you will find is a deeply and meaningfully American album.

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Song of the Day #748: ‘Mississippi’ – Bob Dylan

Twenty-six years and 16 albums after Blood on the Tracks, the fifth of the six albums I consider Bob Dylan’s absolute masterpieces, he released Love and Theft — the sixth. 1997’s Time Out Of Mind was his Grammy-winning comeback album but Love and Theft left it in the dust, proving he was not only back but better than ever.

While Time Out Of Mind is obsessed with mortality, Love and Theft is brimming with life and humor. I don’t know that I’ve ever heard Dylan have as much mischievous fun as he does on this album. Certainly it’s the first Dylan album to feature the phrase “booty call” and the first that I know of to include a knock-knock joke.

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Song of the Day #747: ‘Young Forever’ – Jay-Z & Beyoncé

The week ends, as all weeks should, with Beyoncé.

Well, more accurately, it ends with Jay-Z’s hit ‘Young Forever,’ which on his album The Blueprint 3 features accompanying vocals by Mr. Hudson. But why give more publicity to some limey flash in the pan when I have access to a video of Beyoncé singing in a hat and jean shorts?

If they would release a feature film consisting of nothing but footage of Beyoncé singing in a hat and jean shorts, Avatar‘s box office record would be short-lived and there would be absolutely no suspense come Oscar season.

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Song of the Day #746: ‘Dancing On My Own’ – Robyn

Swedish oddball Robyn writes and records the sort of music I instinctively reject — dance, techno, club stuff — but for some reason I like what I hear from her.

Her self-titled 2005 album (actually her fourth record, released 11 years after her debut) is a marvelous collection with echoes of Prince and Cyndi Lauper. On it she shows a penchant for techno-funk jams and gentle ballads alike and has the sense of humor to have her DJ introduce her as being “listed in section 202 of the United Nations Security Act of 1979 as being too hot to wear tight sweaters in international airspace.”

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Song of the Day #745: ‘Undo It’ – Carrie Underwood

I’ve come to appreciate Carrie Underwood more and more over the past several months. Much of that has to do with my new affection for country music, although I still haven’t really warmed up to her songs.

Mostly I’m impressed with her personality and her vocal chops. She’s a fine performer who has risen from the ultimate amateur status to become true country music royalty. I’ve watched her take home awards by the armload, breaking records left and right, and always with the same sweet “all this for little old me?” attitude.

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