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Song of the Day #4,598: ‘If I Had Eyes’ – Jack Johnson

Recently my daughter shared a tweet (or TikTok, or whatever social platform she was on) by somebody who wrote something along the lines of “what’s the greatest song ever recorded and why is it ‘Upside Down‘ by Jack Johnson?”

I get where that person is coming from. That song, from the soundtrack of 2006’s animated Curious George, is a blast of pure happiness. I could listen to it every day.

But I’ve never listened to anything else by Johnson, with the exception of a brief dalliance with his debut album, 2001’s Brushfire Fairytales.

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Song of the Day #4,597: ‘Angel From Montgomery’ – Bonnie Raitt

Both Amy and Dana included Bonnie Raitt’s recording of the John Prine classic ‘Angel From Montgomery’ on their list of favorite songs. This is a stone-cold classic, no doubt.

This track appeared on Raitt’s 1974 album Streetlights, her fourth release. She was pressured by her label to work with an established producer who could give her work more of a mainstream pop sheen, as opposed to the raw blues sound of her first few albums. She agreed, but wasn’t happy about it, and the album was a critical and commercial failure.

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Song of the Day #4,596: ‘Red Eye’ – Vance Joy

Last week I wrote about predicting Gotye would be a one-hit wonder much to Madison’s dismay, and then seeing a Gotye song on her list of all-time favorites.

Today, history repeats itself. I left Vance Joy out of that first group of posts about future one-hit wonders, but mentioned him a few weeks later as a name I forgot to include. Madison didn’t chime in then, but she named a song by the Australian singer-songwriter on her Top 25.

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Song of the Day #4,595: ‘Closer to Fine’ – Indigo Girls

I initially skipped Indigo Girls’ ‘Closer to Fine’ when picking which songs to blog about during this exploration of my readers’ favorite songs, despite it showing up on both Amy and Dana’s lists.

I simply assumed I had chosen it as a Song of the Day at some point during the past 12 1/2 years. But alas, this fan favorite and college radio hit has yet to receive its moment in the spotlight. Until today.

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Song of the Day #4,594: ‘Skin’ – Sabrina Carpenter

A few week’s after Olivia Rodrigo’s ‘drivers license’ was released, becoming an international hit and shining a spotlight on the love affair between Joshua Bassett and Sabrina Carpenter, Carpenter released her own song, ‘Skin.’

Several lyrics in this track suggest it’s a direct response to ‘drivers license.’ “Maybe you didn’t mean it, maybe ‘blonde’ was the only rhyme,” Carpenter sings, recalling this line from Rodrigo’s song: “And you’re probably with that blonde girl who always made me doubt.”

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