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Song of the Day #5,234: ‘Since U Been Gone’ – Kelly Clarkson

Continuing my look at the albums of 2004…

Kelly Clarkson has had a successful career on multiple platforms. She started as a reality TV star, the first winner of American Idol. That achievement led her to a recording career spanning nine studio albums in 18 years. It also led to a starring role in the movie From Justin to Kelly, though the less said about that one the better.

She has had far more success as a TV host, with coaching stints on The Voice and her own talk show in the time slot abandoned by Ellen Degeneres.

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Song of the Day #5,233: ‘The Late Greats’ – Wilco

Continuing my look at the albums of 2004…

I must have been highly anticipating Wilco’s A Ghost is Born, and yet I don’t know if I ever got around to hearing it.

This album, the band’s fifth, followed the widely acclaimed 2001 Yankee Hotel Foxtrot. It was that album, along with its predecessor Summerteeth, that got me into Wilco, and by the time 2004 rolled around, I was a big fan of all four of their releases.

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Song of the Day #5,232: ‘Heroes and Villains’ – Brian Wilson

Continuing my look at the albums of 2004…

The list of 2004 albums with which I’m unfamiliar (or only passingly familiar) isn’t very long. Actually, I should say the list of albums from that group I’m actually interested in hearing isn’t very long. This year saw a lot of albums released that don’t pique my interest at all.

But I did manage to pull together a batch of ten.

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Song of the Day #5,231: ‘Kimberly’ – Patti Smith

‘Kimberly’ is a song from Patti Smith’s 1975 debut album, Horses. It is about a time Smith held her baby sister, Kimberly, in her arms during a lightning storm at her family’s New Jersey home.

The song has lots of great detail, unsurprising given Smith’s talents as both a poet and memoirist, and a melody that The Smiths later interpolated for their song ‘The Hand That Rocks the Cradle.’

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Song of the Day #5,230: ‘Him’ – Lily Allen

Here’s a track from Lily Allen’s sophomore album, 2009’s It’s Not Me, It’s You. ‘Him’ finds the Catholic-raised Allen wondering how much of an active role God plays in human life, if indeed a God exists.

In the late 00s, on this album and her debut, Alright, Still, Allen delivered cheeky modern pop with humor and style. She seemed to be kicking off a promising career.

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