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Song of the Day #180: ‘Red River Shore’ – Bob Dylan

bobbydyalnTen Best Songs of 2008 – #2

It might not be exactly fair to list a Bob Dylan song that was written at least a dozen years ago among my best 2008 songs, but last year was ‘Red River Shore’s first release on an album ( Tell Tale Signs: The Bootleg Series Vol. 8) so I think it qualifies.

Dylan’s latest bootleg collection has enough wonderful “new” material to fill a proper album, and the fact that his discards are this good is a pretty telling fact about America’s greatest songwriter. Love him or hate him (and I know plenty of people on both sides), you can’t deny that he’s a unique and prolific talent.

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Song of the Day #179: ‘It’s Over’ – Aimee Mann

aimeemann2Ten Best Songs of 2008 – #3

It occurs to me as I reach number three on this list that Alex’s comment about me being drawn to the melancholy is certainly borne out by this top ten list. Many of the songs I’ve already featured are downbeat and now we arrive at Aimee Mann, the queen of melancholy, with a song titled ‘It’s Over.’

Well, fine. I won’t hide from the facts. I like sad songs, for whatever reason, and here’s another one.

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The decade (in movies) so far

gene_hackmanI can’t believe we’re already half a month into 2009. I’m still trying to get used to describing this decade as the 00’s and here we are a year away from sewing it up and entering the 10’s.

We’re also a year away from the inevitable ‘Best of the ’00s’ lists, so I figured I’d go ahead and get a head start on mine. The past nine years have delivered some wonderful films and it’s going to be extremely tough narrowing them down to ten.

For starters, I’ve done the not-as-tough job of winnowing my favorite films since 2000 down to a list of 20. At the end of 2009 I’ll add any standouts from this year to the list and do the hard work of highlighting just ten.

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Song of the Day #178: ‘Family Tree’ – TV on the Radio

tvotrTen Best Songs of 2008 – #4

This was probably my hardest pick in the top ten… not because I wasn’t sure if a TV on the Radio song would make it but because I couldn’t decide which one.

‘Family Tree’ was my first choice but then I decided to switch it up for a couple of reasons. First, it isn’t really representative of the album (Dear Science) as a whole. It’s far mellower than, and lacks the wonderful grooviness of, every other track on the CD. And it’s also a grower… I didn’t really “get” it the first two times I heard it, and I hesitated to put a song out there that might not grab people instantly.

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Song of the Day #177: ‘If Wishes Were Horses’ – Lucinda Williams

lucinda2Ten Best Songs of 2008 – #5

Any new Lucinda Williams album is a special treat, and 2008’s Little Honey proved to be her strongest collection since Car Wheels on a Gravel Road. Much was made of the “happy” Lucinda that showed up on this album, as love songs filled the grooves usually occupied by hard luck tales. And to be sure, the album does contain some of her most lyrically upbeat material.

But the song that hit me the hardest on this album isn’t a love song or a happy song, and it’s not even a new song. It’s a somber ballad of regret written way back in 1985 but reaching the light of day for the first time last year.

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