Year: 1979
I don’t particularly like the band, or even the lyrics to this song. But somehow this became one of my favorites.
Category Archives: Music
The B-52s — Love Shack
Year: 1989
What a delightfully weird-ass song. Bang bang bang on the door baby.
Also, Fred Schneider and Kate Pierson are older than my parents. Pierson is 73! That doesn’t seem possible.
The Association — Along Come Mary
Year: 1966
Another song with a crescendoing “don’t-take-a-breath” chorus.
Arrested Development — Tennessee
Year: 1992
A powerful song about pain, Black culture, and racism that of course I completely misunderstood as a child. Complete accident that it came up on King’s holiday, but it works.
Music video cuts out the last speech by Aerlee Taree:
Headliner, I won the game of horseshoes
Now you owe me a watermelon
Let’s go climb trees and skip over rocks
Do like they do below the border
Speech’s hair
Don’t it look like the roots of the tree that the ancestors were hung from
But that’s okay, get it.
Cause he’s down to Earth
Jann Arden — Insensitive
Year: 1994
Not a huge fan of Arden; her melodies usually just feel off to me. But this song is just about perfect. The chorus’s slow crescendo without taking a breath is always a favorite of mine.
John Anderson — Seminole Wind
Year: 1992
As rural a country singer as you’ll find while also an environmentalist. This video was filmed with the Seminole on their land with their permission.
Carl Anderson — Too Much Heaven On Their Minds
Year: 1973
There won’t be many songs from musicals on here, but this had to be here. Anderson had some serious pipes. Sadly, when I went to see this in the theater, he was out sick that day.
Lily Allen — Fuck You
Year: 2009
If you want to hear vindictive music but are in an upbeat mood, Lily Allen is your go to. Smile, LDN, and The Fear are all great but this one is the most fun to sing along with.
Gary Allan — Tough Little Boys
Year: 2003
I always liked this song, but now that I have children I cry half the time I hear it.
I own Allan’s first six albums. Just something about his voice. Smooth as silk. Unlike Trace Adkins’ wife who shot him, Gary Allan’s shot and killed herself. His album after that was pretty dark. Songs he wrote were “I Just Got Back From Hell,” “Puttin’ Memories Away” and “Putting My Misery on Display.” And then a great cover of Vertical Horizon’s “Best I Ever Had.”
All-4-One — So Much In Love
Year: 1993
I honestly didn’t remember this song was a cappella until I listened to it again. These guys harmonize so well. The original doo-wop version by The Tymes is pretty good, too.
Death By Troggles 
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