One Year of Songs

Musicals have "want songs" that do what they're called: Let the audience know what characters want. Les Mis 's first act is nothing but want songs, and it closes with this springboarding mega-want song that lets you know where everyone is and what they want going into Act II. Jean Valjean wants to be reunited with Cosette. Javert wants to quash the revolution. Eponine wants Marius. Marius wants Cosette. It's all very complicated, but that doesn't matter because it sounds amazing. This performance by cast members from the West End, Broadway, and Sydney productions is literally an ensemble of ensembles and may never be topped. A mainstay of high-school and off-Broadway theater, even people who have never seen  Les Mis  may know it as the musical that occasionally reappears on social media via a flash mob  or Carpool Karaoke .

An '80s song if there ever was one, "West End Girls" is also one of the catchiest songs of the era. Neil Tennant's mezzo-soprano vocals shine in the hooky chorus about guys out on the town for a night of fun in light of verses that describe urban blight and anxiety. By the time "West End Girls" was released, electronic music was creeping into the mainstream. However, most commercially successful electronic songs were somewhat hokey and did not sound like it was produced with live instruments whatsoever. "West End Girls" is a completely electronic production that may fool most ears, including the "trumpet" solo that is actually an emulator. Chris Lowe, who makes up the other half of the band and has produced and arranged almost every Pet Shop Boys song, is said to be a fine instrumental musician but prefers to create almost every bit of music on the band's 14 albums from electronic machines. A concert film of Pet Shop Boys' 2023 wo

A PhD-level indie band if there ever was one, The Decemberists is a collection of top-tier musicians and lyricists who create vivid landscapes, characters, and narrative with each song and album. The album  The Hazards of Love  tells a fairy-tale style love story fraught with magical and mystical creatures and peril. The characters are voiced by The Decemberists singer Colin Meloy as well as Becky Stark and Shara Nova from Lavender Diamond and My Brightest Diamond, respectively, who are brilliant in every way throughout the album. "The Hazards of Love 4 (The Drowned)" closes the album as our heroes bind themselves in marriage just before their tragic end. During a tour for the album , the band and various contributors would go through costume changes and act out moments from the story on stage.  However, I was introduced to the album when The Decemberists debuted the entire stage act at SXSW 2009, which NPR broadcast live and later included in its All Songs Considered  podcas

It's difficult to explain how popular Duran Duran was at its height in the 1980s. At one point, it had three different songs at No. 1 on three different continents. One of those songs was "Hungry Like the Wolf," a guitar-driven lust-fest that makes the intercontinental success of the band rather interesting because part of it was banned in some places for being too risqué. Simon Le Bon's unmistakable vocals go between soft and tender to forceful and wanting throughout the song with terrific effect. Le Bon once said the lyrics were meant to be Indiana Jones on a crusade for sex. As part of the British Second Wave, it was nearly obligated to use some sort of synthesizer and/or drum machine to make sure American audiences knew it was an import (of some sort). Making the song's international success even less likely, the music video was taboo in some places as it showed an interracial love connection 15 years after Captain Kirk and Uhura kissed .

There are breakup songs. Then, there's "Dreams." The song is written from a point of knowing as all five members, including both intra-band couples, were going through breakup or divorce, giving the song deeper meaning than what comes through in the song alone. Written in C-major, the song has a dower sound to it, leaving no mistake before the lyrics even begin that it is about some sort of loss and/or longing. One of Stevie Nicks's finest performances, "Dreams" -- like many songs on the album it's from, Rumours  -- feels like a series of daggers sent toward the unnamed other, making it a go-to song when a relationship goes wrong. The words "What you had and what you lost" have never sounded so bitter. Twenty-nine years after "Dreams" was released, the Iranian-American DJ duo Deep Dish recorded a techno version of the song with Nicks's original vocals. Nicks liked it but wanted to re-record her vocals to better fit the mood and ti

An unexpected smash hit, the title is less about automotive transportation and more about escapism. A stripped-down, down-tempo ballad, Chapman uses her baritone to tell a tale about wanting to leave a hopeless place with a friend with what little they have and start a new life in an undecided location. It's difficult to find singers who display as much desperation as Chapman puts forth on the choral "I" when she pleads for a new beginning. "Fast Car" has become an anthem for lesbian pride, noting the symbolism of coming out of the closet or leaving a prejudicial place to find one that is more welcoming of queer culture. Chapman wrote and arranged the song and earned three Grammys for it, including Song of the Year. Over three decades later, Chapman also won a Country Music Award for Song of the Year as Luke Combs sent a cover of "Fast Car" to the top of the country charts. 

It's a late-'70/early-'80s Saturday morning. You're a kid. You have a bowl of sugary cereal. You turn on the television to watch cartoons. Mom and dad are sound asleep. There is no school. Thus, you don't have to worry about super-poopy grownups trying to teach you things. ... unless those things come with a rocking arrangement! Schoolhouse Rock  is one of the most ambitious -- and arguably successful -- educational tools in modern history. It was the brainchild of an ad executive who wanted to teach his kid multiplication tables but expanded into many other areas, including civics . I was one of those children who unknowingly learned a lot from Schoolhouse Rock , and as a writing professor, I use "Conjunction Junction" as part of what I like to call "Punctuation and Grammar Boot Camp." Despite the fact the series is decades older than most of my students, most of them light up when the portly conductor pops up on the overhead each semester. Ho

Nobody embodied the dual threat of song and dance like James Brown. A smooth crooner if there ever was one, Brown was also a masterful stepper. His signature moves undoubtedly influenced early breakdance and are still recognizable in popular dances from today's Tik Tok generation. "I Got You" is a terrific song to dance to. James's slides and sustains on words like "feel," "nice," and "spice" allow dancers to hold poses or elongate moves the way he did on stage, usually slowly sliding to the side before popping into another move. Brown's signature move during shows was to faux faint or act like he was exhausted near the end of a set , signaling helpers from off stage to revive him, place a cape on him, and walk him away from the crowd before Brown would push them away and return to the microphone and an amped-up audience. One of the few criticisms about Brown's performances was the fact some of the things he'd say -- especiall

One of my favorite techno/EDM love songs, "Piledriver" is a cut so deep, it is nearly impossible to find as a single. Producer and mixer Andy Gray, who worked with renowned DJ Paul Oakenfold, produced upcoming artists' records in exchange for exposure on Oakenfold's tours and Ibiza residencies as well as Oakenfold's compilation albums, which were released under the series title "Perfecto Presents." "Piledriver" is the final song on Disc 1 of Perfecto Presents: Another World  ( Disc 2 is available here ) and caps off the first half of one of the best compilation albums of the late-90s/early-00s, when techno/EDM compilations were at their peak, ushering in the EDM era that has lasted the last couple decades as more and more music turns to synth production. "Piledriver" is not unlike The Temptations' "My Girl" in that it's a series of simile and metaphorical compliments to an unnamed lover, capped off with the line &quo

Operatic rock 'n roll stands out from the crowd, but it often lacks a large audience because it can be challenging. Many people want a 4/4 beat, a hook, and some lyrics. No substitutions, please. "Scenes from an Italian Restaurant" will have none of that. With five distinct movements that tell the story of Brenda and Eddie, bookended by calls for reunion, it is easily one of the greatest, single-song rock operas. Joel's piano is present throughout the song but sometimes fades into the background as the arrangement requires other instruments to carry a few bars or an entire section of the song. Joel is a master lyricist and paints vivid pictures of how our lovebirds started as well as how they ended -- and got to where they are today. The ballad of Brenda and Eddie is further told in a musical, Movin' Out , which won Joel a Tony Award for Best Orchestration.

Some bands would take a song with this title and make it tongue-in-cheek. Queen played it straight as an arrow. If you're in a bar and the a-Capella intro comes on -- particularly during the witching hours -- you'll see a good percentage of the properly-posteriored women in attendance get up and dance. Perhaps, it's because most popular music celebrates skinny -- often malnourished -- women. Perhaps, there's correlation between ass size and response to Freddie Mercury's voice. Maybe, big girls simply have more fun. "Fat Bottomed Girls" is not a particularly tricky song. It has some harmonies, plays at a middling tempo, and relies on some simple guitar transitions without a solo -- although, the riff Brian May plays behind the bridge is actually one of his finer works. The Louvre has plenty paintings celebrating fat-bottomed women, so Queen didn't exactly break ground with their appreciation. However, 24 years after "Fat Bottomed Girls" was re

Already established as one of the best rappers of all time, Eminem released one of the most celebrated records in the genre's history as well as one of the greatest songs from a movie as part of the 8 Mile  soundtrack. The song's untuned and uneven guitar buildup and Eminem's progressively aggressive delivery take steps up and up until the chorus explodes into your ears. The lyrics are mostly autobiographical, but amusingly, one of the most memorable lines isn't even based on fact but leads people to visit a once-unsuspecting trailer park north of downtown Detroit . Used to get crowds pumped up during sporting events, including Detroit Lions playoff games, since the day it was released, it has become a staple of get-up mixes and motivational playlists. Not bad for a song with a line about chucked-up dinner that led to  Eminem opening an actual restaurant in his hometown  (I recommend the meatballs).

Everyone loves a whacky tale, and "Lawyers, Guns and Money" -- as its name suggests -- has a few of them. Part murder ballad, part straight rocker, it is one of those songs that did not get a lot of play when it was first released as a single. However, it's a staple of classic-rock radio, and its title has been used or referenced in many television dramas and movies. "Lawyers, Guns and Money" isn't a particularly complex song. The most unusual thing about it is how often it has hard rests before a cymbal crash and the music kicks in again. However, part of the song is more fact than fiction. In a biography of Zevon by his widow, " I'll Sleep When I'm Dead ," Crystal Zevon recounts a story Warren told her about the song's title. While heading to a stranger's house in Hawaii, a person Zevon and his manager were riding with nonchalantly said the house may be empty and locked. In succession, Warren and his manager said, "Send lawye

Ghostface Killah occupies a corner of rap all to himself. His stream-of-conscious flow and ability to conjure imagery from his lyrics are unmatched. "Shakey Dog" is about a drug deal gone wrong, going from the stakeout ("Whip smelling like fish from 125th/Throwing ketchup on my fries, hitting baseball spliffs") to the approach ("Straight ahead is the doorway, see that lady that lady with the shopping cart/She keep a shotty cocked in the hallway") to the action ("I'm on the floor like holy shit! Watching my man Frank get busy/He zoned out, finished off my man's wiz"). Like many Ghostface records, the entire song is a single, nonstop verse that ends as soon as the final lyric. He simply doesn't have time for outros. Ghostface also holds a special place in comic-book history. His first album was titled Ironman , and he began calling himself "Tony Stark" on that and early Wu-Tang Clan albums.  With that in mind, Jon Favreau, a n

Already well-established among techno fans but still bubbling under the radar for most teens and 20-somethings, Daft Punk exploded into bars and clubs around the world in 2000 with the first single from its second album, Discovery . "One More Time" is an archetypal good-time, get-up song. Its driving bass and stop-start synth horns ( lifted from Eddie John's "More Spell On You" ) lay the perfect foundation for Romanthony's heavily auto-tuned vocals.  The song includes a moment straight out of the James Brown playbook when the beat falls out, and Romanthony pleads for listeners to join him in celebration until everything goes silent before the song comes back full at maximum drive. The music video is part of an animation movie that would be released three years after the song . The only audio in the movie is Discovery , which plays in its entirety, as a story unfolds about a band that gets taken captive after a planetary invasion, undergoes experiments from s

Western ballads laid the blueprint for many generations of singer-songwriters, including Joni Mitchell, Paul Simon, and Bruce Springsteen. "El Paso" ranks high among the great Western ballads with its tale of love in a lawless land. It's an archetype that has been written in many places around the world for millennia, but this particularly tune is unmistakably American. Robbins packs imagery and action into 466 words and 14 verses over more than 4½ minutes.  It's a wonder Robbins didn't get lost in the lyrics during live shows because there is very little difference between the arrangement or rhyme schemes in any given verse compared to the one before or after -- except the occasional register lift or drop. Some radio stations refused to play it because it was so long, or they played an edited-for-time version, which is a shame because the entire story deserves to be heard. In 2008, Chris Thile performed  a must-listen rendition of "El Paso" on A Prairie

Widely credited with helping usher in heavy metal, "Paranoid" was originally a filler for Black Sabbath's second album, but it became the band's first-ever single. Indisputably one of the greatest guitarists in rock 'n roll, Tony Iommi's power fifths give the song a driving edge that goes from start to finish and are one of the most replicated sounds in the genre to this day. Most of the words in bassist Geezer Butler's lyrics are monosyllabic, allowing Singer Ozzy Osbourne to give a haunting performance with doubled quick-hits and sharp cut offs -- especially at the end of lines, when Iommi's guitar plays in front of the cymbal crashes. A song without a chorus, "Paranoid" occupies a strange place in the pantheon of music -- especially for its time. At first, few radio stations played it in the U.S. because its lyrics and the band's name were seen as Satanic or occult . Now, it's a metal classic and recognizable to non-metal fans.

In college, one of our neighbors, a woman, proclaimed a song we were listening to was "about sex." My roommate responded, "All rock songs are about sex." I'm not certain he was wrong. "Laid" is about amazing sex and the politics that surround it -- especially in a (sort of) relationship. It introduces itself with soft, sensual guitar strums before quick, pulsating drums properly usher in the song. Singer Tim Booth's vocal performance is outstanding. Many sequential lines in the verses have an octave and/or register shift while remaining on pitch. Some lines climb or drop entire octaves within themselves with very few slides. However, the elongated sustains on "pretty" in each chorus is what makes the song most memorable -- and probably a pain in the ass at karaoke. Those "heee-eeee's" effortlessly slide between E4 and A5, and in the mid-'90s, Booth was only sometimes even a quarter note off during live performances . As

The next-to-last episode of Marvel's "M.O.D.O.K."  had a literal showstopping moment for me. One of the characters does a dance routine to this song. Immediately after the scene, I rewound to the start and watched it again, focusing on the music. Then, I went to the show credits to see what song it is. Nothing. Then, I went to the internet to see if someone posted information about it (within 2 hours of the episode's release). Nothing. After nearly 30 minutes of searching for various lyrical combinations, I stumbled upon this, the official music video for that song. I have no idea why it's unaccredited on the show, but it's one of my favorite songs of the last few years. I love synch pop, but synch wave is another level of eargasmic listening. The lyrics are cute, but the slow-tempo beat is infectious when paired with the keytar-ish synth progressions. Here's the kicker: This isn't even my favorite version of this song. Starcadian has an alternate vers

Undoubtedly one of the best songs of the 21st Century so far, "Chandelier" is the very definition of a complete, musical package. It opens with a minimalistic arrangement and jagged, uncentered percussion, but the anticipation explodes into a volley of synths and Sia's soaring vocals. When Manny Marroquin, who has worked with dozens of big-name musicians, mixed the song, he knew the job: Build a sonic foundation under Sia's voice to give her the presence to shine from start to finish, and he nailed it. Although the song's chorus sounds like a party anthem, its verses have a cold, dark story about a girl who burns her life at both ends to be the life of the party -- no matter the cost. The video is an arthouse masterpiece, featuring 11-year-old Maddie Ziegler, who would go on to become a celebrity in her own right . The video's camera and Ziegler never stop moving for prolonged, dynamic shots that show the star tumbling and contorting through what appears to be

Few sounds are as exciting as major keys on an organ. When handled by the right player, they can send a room into a tizzy. At age 18, Steve Winwood was the right kid and the right time as he unleashed a largely improvised key progression during a studio session on what was kind of a fill-in song, but as the band worked with some rough sketches and progressions, they realized they had something special on their hands. Winwood's keys and vocals about a romantic rendezvous sit just above frantic yet fantastic rhythm laid down by his older, bassist brother, Muff, and drummer Pete York. The Spencer Davis Group was a musician's band. Ask any musician who is remotely versed in 1960s rock 'n roll, and they'll tell you SDG doesn't get the respect it deserves. A bit of a supergroup in reverse, Davis pulled in 14-year-old Steve Winwood at the behest of Muff, who was already in the band. Steve would go on to play with Blind Faith and Traffic before embarking on a wildly success

Nothing gets young people fired up like a song that's a middle finger to The Man, and in the summer of 2008, "Paper Planes" could be heard from pretty much every radio controlled by a teenager or 20-something. The lyrics are about M.I.A.'s displeasure with Americans' perception of migrant workers, but the message could get lost behind its rather stripped-down arrangement and the ultra-catchy chorus, featuring some of the best-timed sound effects in a song you'll ever hear. On first listen, it might come across as a girl-power song, but it's more of a power-to-the-people song. A career boundary-pusher, M.I.A. gained enough notoriety from "Paper Planes" and its album, Kala , Madonna invited her to perform during her Super Bowl XLVI halftime show. At the end of her routine in what is widely considered one of the best halftime shows ever, M.I.A. flipped-off the camera, leading to one of the NFL's weirdest legal entanglements .

One of rock 'n roll's greatest oddities and most talented performers, England's David Bowie used his 1975 album, Young Americans , to explore American soul and R&B. The eponymous first single is a wall-to-wall powerhouse that mixes blue-eyed soul with elements of jazz and island rhythms mixed with politically-tinged lyrics, which include a not-so-veiled reference to The Beatles . This performance from The Dick Cavett Show  shows Bowie in his element -- probably coked up and letting it all hang out for a national audience. If you look closely, you'll even recognize a young Luther Vandross singing backup. Both the record and album have found new life as each generation has championed them as underappreciated accomplishments in the medium.

The archetypal big-bang, swinging-jazz song, "Sing, Sing, Sing" is probably the song you think of when you think swing. Its infectious horns and up-tempo rhythm laid the groundwork for many future genres. In fact, it isn't a stretch to say swing was the punk of jazz, a punk-ish style in its own right at the time, and "Sing, Sing, Sing" was its "Blitzkrieg Bop." The unsung heroes of "Sing, Sing, Sing" are the percussionists, who uniformly speed up and slow down the song over and over. Remember, this was recorded at a time when everything had to be done in one take in the studio. There were no punch-ins, overdubs, or edits. The entire band had to be on point from start to finish. Nonetheless, there hardly any blemishes on the studio recording, and the few that are even remotely noticeable are more charming than interruptive -- cute relics of their time. Over 60 years after it was released, NPR included "Sing, Sing, Sing" on its NRP 10

By the time "Alone" was released, Heart was an established, female-led, rock-n-roll powerhouse . However, "Alone" unleashed Ann Wilson's vocal prowess on radio airwaves in a way few singers had done before, establishing her as one of the genre's greatest female vocalists -- and arguably the best. A song in one of the dreariest of keys (B-flat minor) about longing for a lover, Wilson's performance embodies the anguish that can come from physical distance between someone and their would-be partner. The pinnacles of the song are Wilson's F#5 wail during the bridge and the often-imitated (well, attempted, anyway) C5-D5 sliding exclamation "'Til now" during each chorus. The former was described by one of my friends, a classically-trained singer, as "The Bitch Note." 

On the short list of greatest love songs ever, if you start "My Girl" anytime anywhere, people will groove along, and lovers will swoon. There's nothing complicated about "My Girl." It has a 4/4 beat with a rather simple guitar introduction and drum roll. It also has kitschy -- yet catchy -- lyrics and rhyme schemes courtesy of Smokey Robinson. However, David Ruffin's unbridled, often off-time delivery makes it one of the most memorable songs you'll ever hear. That and the terrific final minute of orchestration send off the listener into a musical sunset for the ages. If you tour Motown Museum , the last stop is Studio A, where almost the entire Motown catalogue was recorded. There are music stands with sheet lyrics for "My Girl," and tourists are encouraged to join their guide in an a-cappella rendition of the song. Needless to say, most people don't need the lyrics.

Songs about musicians' hometowns have a long, storied history . However, they fell out of favor with most mainstream artists sometime in the 1960s as more socially conscious songs entered the zeitgeist. Yet, rap has remained a home for songs about where songwriters came from . Kanye West has probably given more shoutouts to Chicago than any other musical act (save, perhaps, Chicago ). On "Homecoming," the closer to arguably one of the best rap albums of the 2000s, Graduation , West conjures visions of The Windy City's downtown -- especially its waterfront. At times, West raps out of sync with the beat but quickly pulls back in line -- as if he was pushed by the city's blustery weather but managed to get back on track anyway. The choice of a British accompanist in Coldplay's Chris Martin is bold in the face of many Chicagoans who could have provided equally -- possibly better -- support for the song, but that could be seen as a testament to The Second City'

During any discussion of the greatest guitar songs of all time, someone will eventually mention Metallica, and they will almost certainly mention "Master of Puppets." If the group has at least five self-proclaimed metalheads, at least one of them will scoff and say something derogatory about the band and/or the song. You can confidently ignore everything that person has said and ever will say. "Master of Puppets" wasn't the first thrash-metal hit , but it brought the genre to the masses like never before. For the uninitiated, it could sound sped up -- especially because the original studio recording sounds unusually higher-pitched than what you'd expect in a metal song from the 1980s. A sonic assault from the start to its post-interlude buildup, it not only has some finger-twisting chords and riffs, it changes time signatures over and over and over, making it one of those songs that makes you wonder, "Can the band pull off this song live?" Yes, it

Piano gospel has a distinct sound. So does Macy Gray. So does pretty much everything Fatboy Slim has produced. That makes this closer to Slim's Halfway Between the Gutter and the Stars , a terrific, sonically-satisfying album, a seminal achievement of the early-electronic dance music era. The piano sample is lifted from a Bill Withers war-protest song but feels at home in this tale of lost love and a need to belong. Slim has made far more catchy, radio-friendly songs, but few of the had the gotta-listen-to-that-again value of "Demons."

The White Stripes' live shows were widely deemed must-see performances, and if this is any indication, there's merit to that statement. Meg White provides a steady wave of rhythm for Jack White to ride upon, acting as a multi-instrumental, one-man band. Using an assortment of pedals and filters to adjust the sound of his guitar, Jack seamlessly shifts from keys (both physical and tonal) to chords and back in split seconds. The "Later with Jools Holland" audience usually gets into songs as they're played. However, it mostly fixates on how two people sound like a three- or four-piece band until the song ends, and it erupts in enthusiastic applause. "Icky Thump" was not as commercially successful as some of the band's other songs, but it's hard to not get lost in the magical artistry that came to life on that British soundstage.

The worst part about this song is its quality was overshadowed by the controversy that surrounded its video, which has become one of the most iconic of the '90s, has been imitated numerous times, and seems tame compared to some videos in recent years. The mid-'90s had a slew of bad-girl songs that pushed the boundary of what women could sing about and get those songs played on commercial radio. Two years before "Criminal" was released, Alanis Morissette's "You Oughta Know" gave a heavily-redacted account of acts she performed (and wished to perform) on an ex-lover. In that vein, Apple confessed (with few details) that she was also quite naughty, cheating on her boyfriend. Confessional songs, which were nothing new by any means, soon had a bit of a moment on MTV and radio as artists spilled their souls on topics like love, money, and the environment. However, few artists could hope to combine the raw emotion and raspy vocal technique Apple gives in her pl