Note: These songs aren't necessarily from 2013. Instead, these are the songs that I have appreciated the most this year.
10. Walk On The Wild Side - Lou Reed
When I was a boy I would hum along to this peculiar song. Of course, I had no idea what was actually being said. I just enjoyed the tune and would tap along to the beat. Years later, I came back to the song and broke out into laughter when I heard what was being said! The story is first-class weird. It left a grin.
You'll be missed, Lou.
"Plucked her eye brows on the way
Shaved her legs and now he was a she
She says, 'Hey babe, take a walk on the wild side'"
9. 1984 - David Bowie
Bowie, Bowie, Bowie. What does one make of David Bowie? Well, it depends on who (and what) Bowie was at the time. My favourite thought of Bowie is him as Ziggy Stardust. Yet 1984, and in particular the influence of Orwell's novel, is never far from mind. Give the song a listen and the book a read. Big Brother is daring you to.
"Beware, the savage jaw of 1984"
8. A Man Needs A Maid - Neil Young
I always wondered what this song meant/was connected to. A year or so ago I was told that it relates to Casablanca. This only made me enjoy the song more, seeing as Casablanca is a timeless classic. I always enjoyed playing this while I (passive aggressively) cleaned other people's dishes in a share house. The house has since dissolved, the song, on the other hand, has not.
"A man needs a maid"
7. Let's See Action - The Who
It's a little too straight forward, but we can all be blunt sometimes. Apart from that, though, this jive-turkey sound really gets me excited. What is it about '70s protest music that injects life into the soul?
"Let's see action, let's see people,
Let's be free, let's see who cares"
6. No Church In The Wild - Jay Z & Kanye West
I don't know anything about a "bass line" in a rap song/piece. What I do know, however, is that I love the bass in this song. It's like nothing I've heard before. And when I hear Frank Ocean's distinct voice, and Jay and Kanye's interesting exploration of religion and wealth, too, I can't help but want to own this song. And the music video is so visually moving and frightening that I had to Google search the creator (Romain Gavras).
"Human beings in a mob
What's a mob to a king?
What's a king to a God?
What's a God to a nonbeliever?
Who don't believe in anything"
5. Grace of God Go I - Flogging Molly
This song was, in a way, my response to Mémé (grandma) passing away earlier this year.
"Looking down through a tide of no return
Is a field where the crops no longer grow
Parched is the land, strangled and be damned
There for the Grace of God go I"
4. Shipping Up To Boston - Dropkick Murphys
It was originally written by the late, great Woody Guthrie (one of Bob Dylan's idols). Yet, it was performed to perfection by the Celtic group Dropkick Murphys. It's the rough-and-tough song I play before (and after) every Red Sox game. And since the Sox won the World Series this year, the song got a lot of airtime.
"I'm shipping up to Boston"
3. Video Games - Lana Del Rey
I've been called a sexist when it comes to music. The truth is, I just don't appreciate the industry's (apparent) desire to have every female act sound the same. So, when a voice like Del Rey's comes around - and we can say something similar about Adele and Laura Marling - I stop and listen. Her voice is gorgeous and unique, I'll take it any day of the week. And her brutally honest depiction of an ignored lover in this song draws me in.
It's no surprise that Young and Beautiful became the signature song of Baz Lurhmann's Great Gatsby soundtrack this year.
"Go play a video game"
2. Lost In The Flood - Bruce Springsteen
This is a powerful song. On the '75 Live Hammersmith album it is breathtakingly powerful. It shows The Boss doing work. And to think that this song was on Bruce's debut album! There's a depth and maturity to this song that you'd never expect to come from a debut album. Can anyone tell a (three part) story quite like Bruce? (Maybe Dylan...)
"And everyone's drunk on Main Street from drinking unholy blood
Sticker smiles sweet as gunner breathes deep, his ankles caked in mud
And I said, 'Hey, gunner man, that's quicksand, that's quicksand that ain't mud
Have you thrown your senses to the war or did you lose them in the flood?'"
1. The Ghost of Tom Joad - Bruce Springsteen
My dream of seeing Bruce Springsteen & The E-Street Band live came to fruition this year. It was well worth the wait.
The band was sixteen deep, went for over two hours and gave us everything they had. One of the blokes on stage was Tom Morello, who was replacing Steve Van Zandt. And when Morello and Bruce transitioned into The Ghost of Tom Joad, I knew I was witnessing musical perfection. The song was already hauntingly beautiful before I had heard it live, but after hearing Morello's take on the song, I felt the explosive power of Tom Joad. The next day I started re-reading Steinbeck's The Grapes of Wrath.
"He pulls prayer book out of his sleeping bag
Preacher lights up a bud and takes a drag
Waitin' for when the last shall be first and the first shall be last
In a cardboard box 'neath the underpass
Got a one-way ticket to the promised land
You got a hole in your belly and a gun in your hand
Sleeping on a pillow of solid rock
Bathin' in the city's aqueduct
The highway is alive tonight
But where it's headed everybody knows
I'm sittin' down here in the campfire light
Waiting on the ghost of Tom Joad"
10. Walk On The Wild Side - Lou Reed
When I was a boy I would hum along to this peculiar song. Of course, I had no idea what was actually being said. I just enjoyed the tune and would tap along to the beat. Years later, I came back to the song and broke out into laughter when I heard what was being said! The story is first-class weird. It left a grin.
You'll be missed, Lou.
"Plucked her eye brows on the way
Shaved her legs and now he was a she
She says, 'Hey babe, take a walk on the wild side'"
9. 1984 - David Bowie
Bowie, Bowie, Bowie. What does one make of David Bowie? Well, it depends on who (and what) Bowie was at the time. My favourite thought of Bowie is him as Ziggy Stardust. Yet 1984, and in particular the influence of Orwell's novel, is never far from mind. Give the song a listen and the book a read. Big Brother is daring you to.
"Beware, the savage jaw of 1984"
8. A Man Needs A Maid - Neil Young
I always wondered what this song meant/was connected to. A year or so ago I was told that it relates to Casablanca. This only made me enjoy the song more, seeing as Casablanca is a timeless classic. I always enjoyed playing this while I (passive aggressively) cleaned other people's dishes in a share house. The house has since dissolved, the song, on the other hand, has not.
"A man needs a maid"
7. Let's See Action - The Who
It's a little too straight forward, but we can all be blunt sometimes. Apart from that, though, this jive-turkey sound really gets me excited. What is it about '70s protest music that injects life into the soul?
"Let's see action, let's see people,
Let's be free, let's see who cares"
6. No Church In The Wild - Jay Z & Kanye West
I don't know anything about a "bass line" in a rap song/piece. What I do know, however, is that I love the bass in this song. It's like nothing I've heard before. And when I hear Frank Ocean's distinct voice, and Jay and Kanye's interesting exploration of religion and wealth, too, I can't help but want to own this song. And the music video is so visually moving and frightening that I had to Google search the creator (Romain Gavras).
"Human beings in a mob
What's a mob to a king?
What's a king to a God?
What's a God to a nonbeliever?
Who don't believe in anything"
5. Grace of God Go I - Flogging Molly
This song was, in a way, my response to Mémé (grandma) passing away earlier this year.
"Looking down through a tide of no return
Is a field where the crops no longer grow
Parched is the land, strangled and be damned
There for the Grace of God go I"
4. Shipping Up To Boston - Dropkick Murphys
It was originally written by the late, great Woody Guthrie (one of Bob Dylan's idols). Yet, it was performed to perfection by the Celtic group Dropkick Murphys. It's the rough-and-tough song I play before (and after) every Red Sox game. And since the Sox won the World Series this year, the song got a lot of airtime.
"I'm shipping up to Boston"
3. Video Games - Lana Del Rey
I've been called a sexist when it comes to music. The truth is, I just don't appreciate the industry's (apparent) desire to have every female act sound the same. So, when a voice like Del Rey's comes around - and we can say something similar about Adele and Laura Marling - I stop and listen. Her voice is gorgeous and unique, I'll take it any day of the week. And her brutally honest depiction of an ignored lover in this song draws me in.
It's no surprise that Young and Beautiful became the signature song of Baz Lurhmann's Great Gatsby soundtrack this year.
"Go play a video game"
2. Lost In The Flood - Bruce Springsteen
This is a powerful song. On the '75 Live Hammersmith album it is breathtakingly powerful. It shows The Boss doing work. And to think that this song was on Bruce's debut album! There's a depth and maturity to this song that you'd never expect to come from a debut album. Can anyone tell a (three part) story quite like Bruce? (Maybe Dylan...)
"And everyone's drunk on Main Street from drinking unholy blood
Sticker smiles sweet as gunner breathes deep, his ankles caked in mud
And I said, 'Hey, gunner man, that's quicksand, that's quicksand that ain't mud
Have you thrown your senses to the war or did you lose them in the flood?'"
1. The Ghost of Tom Joad - Bruce Springsteen
My dream of seeing Bruce Springsteen & The E-Street Band live came to fruition this year. It was well worth the wait.
The band was sixteen deep, went for over two hours and gave us everything they had. One of the blokes on stage was Tom Morello, who was replacing Steve Van Zandt. And when Morello and Bruce transitioned into The Ghost of Tom Joad, I knew I was witnessing musical perfection. The song was already hauntingly beautiful before I had heard it live, but after hearing Morello's take on the song, I felt the explosive power of Tom Joad. The next day I started re-reading Steinbeck's The Grapes of Wrath.
"He pulls prayer book out of his sleeping bag
Preacher lights up a bud and takes a drag
Waitin' for when the last shall be first and the first shall be last
In a cardboard box 'neath the underpass
Got a one-way ticket to the promised land
You got a hole in your belly and a gun in your hand
Sleeping on a pillow of solid rock
Bathin' in the city's aqueduct
The highway is alive tonight
But where it's headed everybody knows
I'm sittin' down here in the campfire light
Waiting on the ghost of Tom Joad"
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