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Song of the Day #542: ‘I’ve Just Seen a Face’ – The Beatles

My older daughter, on those morning rides to school, invariably requests ‘I’ve Just Seen a Face,’ the band’s first real foray into country music in their own writing. This is one of my favorite Beatles songs as well.

I remember the first time I heard it… not so much the time or place, which are fuzzy, but the actual experience of hearing it. I remember thinking that the melody was so perfect that I must have heard it before (and I probably had without realizing it). Not to compare Plain White T’s to The Beatles, but I had the same reaction to their ‘Hey There Delilah‘ when I first heard that.

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Song of the Day #541: ‘I Need You’ – The Beatles

I’ve really come to appreciate the Help! album over the past several months as I’ve played it on a daily basis for my daughters on our way to school each morning.

I’ve always considered it a good second-tier Beatles album, and I suppose I still do considering how amazing that first tier is… but I now believe it’s closer in quality to Rubber Soul and Revolver than I’d ever given it credit for before.

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Song of the Day #540: ‘Welcome to the Future’ – Brad Paisley

Best Songs of 2009 – #1

Brad Paisley was my most welcome surprise of 2009. I lucked into purchasing his album after reading a discussion among music critics on Slate.com in which the first critic named his album American Saturday Night as her favorite of the year and effusively sang his praises.

This was the rare album that struck me as great the very first time I heard it… the album wasn’t even over before I knew it was rocketing up my own list. Many listens later, it settled into its perch at #1. I picked up another of Paisley’s celebrated discs, Time Well Wasted, a week later and I find it equally good.

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Song of the Day #539: ‘Fire Bomb’ – Rihanna

Best Songs of 2009 – #2

I wonder what Rihanna’s follow-up to Good Girl Gone Bad would have been like had she not been beaten up by boyfriend Chris Brown last February. Clearly she was capable of the sort of darkness and edginess she displays on Rated R but apparently it took that ugly incident to inspire her to capture it on record. I hate to say her pain is our gain, but it’s true.

I suppose 2008’s ‘Disturbia,’ written by Brown, was a start down this path but the songs on Rated R that tackle the violent incident directly and indirectly are a whole new ball game.

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Song of the Day #538: ‘Spy’ – Shakira

Best Songs of 2009 – #3

Shakira is like the villain in a horror movie. Whenever you think she’s down for the count — thanks to some absurdity like, say, the video for ‘She Wolf’ — she emerges stronger than ever. That was the case with She Wolf the album, which I’d come to sort of dread after the acrobatic unitard silliness of that first video. Why was this woman squandering her talent?

But she wasn’t, not at all. She just has very bizarre ideas about how she should express it. She Wolf (the album) turned out to be fantastic, full of thick beats, infectious melodies and the sort of continent-hopping musical experimentation for which Shakira is known. I’ll never doubt her again.

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