I have to admit, I tinkered quite a bit with the top of this list, and even as I publish it am not convinced, that numbers two, three, or four in particular shouldn't be number one. But, hoping that you understand that the differences are minute and that while obviously I truly appreciate all of the songs on this list, I'm going to go with my heart. As with the last version, the * indicates artists I've seen in concert (in some cases multiple times).
1. Swim Until You Can't See Land by Frightened Rabbit*.
"Up to my knees now, do I wade? Do I dive?
This sea has seen my like before, though it's my first and perhaps last time.
Let's call me a baptist, call this the drowning of the past.
She is there on the shoreline, throwing stones at my back."
I suppose those who follow the list won't be surprised by this choice. Hearing Frightened Rabbit for the first time (on the t.v. show "Chuck" - remember when we watched network t.v.? and it was good? and had great curated music?) in 2010 in many ways shaped my musical decade. While it might be easy to read "Swim" as yet another song where Scott Hutchison contemplated suicide, I find that, quite the opposite, it is a song of hope, as Scott the baptist cleanses himself of a relationship gone bad (while she throws stones at his back, of course). While Hutchison's passing was incredibly sad, I'm grateful that he lives on in music like this, my favorite song of 2010, and, as it turns out, the entire decade. Other FR songs on my list throughout the 2010's were "I Wish I Was Sober" (number five in 2016), "Holy" and "Late March, Death March" (seventh and twenty-eighth in 2013), "State Hospital" (number 12 in 2012), and "Nothing Like You" (number four, also in 2010).
2. Young Fathers by Typhoon*.
"When you're young you're hot
You have your whole life before you
Everyone will adore
You'll grow up, you'll be an astronaut
(or anything you want)."
2. Young Fathers by Typhoon*.
"When you're young you're hot
You have your whole life before you
Everyone will adore
You'll grow up, you'll be an astronaut
(or anything you want)."
Typhoon's dawning of adulthood lament/cry for clarity has everything I love about a song - multi-percussionists, smart lyrics, group-shout choruses, and of course a horn section. Young Fathers was number one on my list in 2013, followed up by "Common Sentiments," which was eleventh in 2014. Also one of the best concerts I've ever seen.
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| Typhoon at Cat's Cradle, March 2014 (photo by me) |
3. Old Friends by Pinegrove.
"My steps keep splitting my grief
Through these solipsistic moods
I should call my parents when I think of them
Should tell my friends when I love them."
Stripped down simplicity compared to Typhoon, Pinegrove's style is equally appealing - even to someone who is separated by many years from Gen Zers. Pinegrove has admirably soldiered on despite the social media uproar surrounding front man Evan Stephens Hall. And, in my opinion, we are all the better for it. The band from Jersey also appears on the list in 2019 ("Darkness" was 33), 2018 ("Easy Enough," number 14), and 2017 ("Then Again" was number 16, while Old Friends topped that year's list).
4. Calamity Song by The Decemberists*.
"Hetty Green
Queen of supply-side bonhomie bone-drab
(If you know what I mean)
On the road
It's well-advised to follow your own path
In the year of the chewable Ambien tab."
If this were a list of my favorite artists of the decade, surely The Decemberists would be number one. But, alas, it's not. Calamity Song remains my favorite of the decade (it was number one in 2011) among all of those issued by our intrepid balladeers from the Northwest (although "Ben Franklin's Song" came pretty darn close). I usually like to include live versions of songs through the videos, but the above for Calamity Song so perfectly captures Colin Meloy's dark perspective and whimsical humor that I had to use it instead. Joining Calamity Song in my catalogue of tunes were: "Down by the Water" (number 11 in 2011), "A Beginning Song" (number three in 2015), "Ben Franklin's Song" (number four in 2018), "Once in My Life" (number 11 in 2018), and "We All Die Young" (number 18 in 2018).
5. Night Shift by Lucy Dacus.
"I feel no need to forgive, but I might as well
But let me kiss your lips, so I know how it felt
Pay for my coffee and leave before the sun goes down
Walk for hours in the dark feeling all hell."
Perhaps my all-time favorite breakup song because it starts as a lament (don't they all?) but ends with the "I think I'll be fine" sentiment conveyed by the lines: "In five years I hope the songs feel like covers; dedicated to new lovers." Along with Night Shift, my favorite song of 2018, my new "teacher's pet" (as one friend has described her) also had "Nonbeliever" (number 12 in 2018), "Forever Half Mast" (number 18 in 2019), and her cover of The Boss's "Dancing in the Dark" (number two cover song of 2019) on my lists.
6. Bloodbuzz Ohio by The National*.
"I still owe money to the money to the money I owe
I never thought about love when I thought about home
I still owe money to the money to the money I owe
The floors are falling out from everybody I know."
Along with Sprawl II, the other song (not surprisingly also from 2010) that didn't make a list previously, Bloodbuzz Ohio is the perfect representation of The National's musicianship and Matt Berninger's great voice and inscrutable lyrics. Other songs by The National on my lists throughout the decade were "Quiet Light" (eighth in 2019), "The System Only Dreams in Total Darkness" (ninth in 2017), "Humiliation" (second in 2013), and "Don't Swallow the Cap" (twenty-third in 2013).
"It's too late to articulate it
That empty feeling
You share the same fate
As the people you hate."
Again, a song to which I can only vaguely relate, through Car Seat Headrest mastermind Will Toledo, to my ear, captures perfectly the angst of younger folk these days. Drunk Drivers was my second favorite song of 2016, and, since my top song that year is twenty-eighth on this list, that's a pretty good indication that it's grown in my estimation over the last few years (or I got that year's list really, really wrong). CSH's "Bodys" was also number two on my list in 2018, and "Fill In The Blank" was number eight in 2016.
8. Die Young by Sylvan Esso* (Echo Mountain Sessions version).
"I had it all planned out before you met me
Was gonna leave early and so swiftly
Maybe in a fire or crash off a ravine
People would weep, 'How tragic, so early.'"
A twisted love song, the studio version is very good, but the Echo Mountain version is sublime. My second favorite song in 2017.
9. Chocolate by The 1975.
"Now we run, run away from the boys in the blue
And my car smells like chocolate
Hey now think about what to do
I think about what to say, I think about how to think
Pause it, play it, pause it play it, pause it."
The 1975 has had more popular songs since they announced their presence (to me anyway) with this one, my third favorite song of 2013, but it still remains my favorite. They also made the list in 2018 ("Give Yourself a Try" was twenty-eighth that year).
"Now I’m just waking up and
I’m not thinking clearly so don’t quote me.
With one eye open, I'm writing you this song
Ain’t it funny how some people pop into your head so easily
I haven’t seen you in there for so long."
One of the songs I believe I seriously under-appreciated when it first debuted, ranking it ninth in 2015. Now it's only one place down for the entire decade. Just a beautiful song about about fondly recalled lost love.
11. Sister Cities by Hop Along*.
"See the old man on the bridge?
He's hauling up a sagging net.
It's full of eels twisting through
The eye sockets of a horse's head
And this fiend has no family
So he will outlive you and me."
Not exactly the sweet sentiment of "All Your Favorite Bands," now is it? Regardless of how real life "Sister Cities" is or not, front woman Frances Quinlan's lyrics and singing can't help but grab our attention. It was my favorite song of 2015, followed by "Waitress" (number 15 in 2015), and "How Simple" (number 20 in 2018).
12. Getting Ready to Get Down by Josh Ritter*.
"And now you come back sayin' you know a little bit about
Every little thing they ever hoped you'd never figure out
The Red Sea, The Dead Sea, the Sermon on the Mount
If you wanna see a miracle, watch me get down!"
Even though she "didn't like him then [and] probably won't like him now," Josh is entitled to take a shot, isn't he? Ritter's quick wit and sly humor shine through in Getting Ready ... a sort-of updated "Footloose" without John Lithgow's incredibly bad southern-Oklahoma accent. This was my sixth favorite song in 2015 (which, as I previously noted, was apparently my favorite year of the decade as far as music goes), joined by "Homecoming" (number 14 in 2016), Ritter's cover of Frightened Rabbit's "Old Old Fashioned" (seventh on my 2019 covers list), and "Old Black Magic" (number 13 in 2019).
13. Bros by Wolf Alice.
"I tell you all the time
I'm not mad
You tell me all the time
I got plans."
A great song about friendship, remembrance, and how things can never be the same, but memories can. Number seven on my list in 2016.
14. Until the Night Turns by Lord Huron*.
"I got a helluva view for the end of the world
I've got a bottle of booze and a beautiful girl.
If I'm a'goin' to die I'm gonna go in style."
Lord Huron went from cowboy-tinged rock to alt noir during the decade. But of course my favorite song from the boys from the Mitten State was their apocalyptic "Until the Night Turns," my second favorite of 2015. Also on various lists: "Ancient Names (Part I)" (twenty-fifth in 2018), "Fool for Love" (twenty-third in 2015), "Time to Run" (fourth in 2013), and "The Man Who Lives Forever" (twenty-first in 2013).
15. Let Me Down Easy by Gang of Youths.
"Honey, it’s no secret that I’ve been losing my way
In the weirdest of moments and the stupidest of ways
But hey, I’m still young and it’s gonna be okay
I got solipsism, baby, and I brought lemonade."
One of several artists on this list that I regret having not (yet) seen live. Let Me Down Easy was my third favorite song in 2018, and the boys from Down Under had another song farther down the list that year ("The Heart is a Muscle" was number 13), and in 2016 ("The Diving Bell" was number 31).
16. Fast Talk by Houses.
"So if you’re guilty and you know it, put your hands up.
Cause karma’s just a different word for bad luck, and
What if death is just another pair of handcuffs.
Well then we’d better run."
I should probably be too old to appreciate Houses. But I do nonetheless. Fast Talk was number nine in 2018, while "Left Alone" was seventeenth last year.
17. Living the Dream by Sturgill Simpson.
"That old man upstairs, he wears a crooked smile
Staring down at the chaos he created
Said son if you ain't having fun just wait a little while
Momma's gonna wash it all away
And she thinks Mercy's overrated."
My, my what's happened to our man Sturgill the past few years? He went from an obscure country singer to a full-on one man industry. While Living the Dream (number 16 in 2015) remains a favorite, based on the above lyrics if nothing else, check out his new effort ("Sound and Fury") as well, kind of Lynyrd Skynyrd meets ... I dunno, Led Zeppelin? "Mercury in Retrograde" (fifteenth last year) made the list from that excellent album.
18. Pompeii by Bastille.
"But if you close your eyes
Does it almost feel like nothing changed at all?
And if you close your eyes
Does it almost feel like you've been here before?"
Pompeii has over half a billion views on YouTube. So much for my eschewing popular songs ... It was number five in 2013, followed by "Good Grief" (eleventh in 2016), and "Quarter Past Midnight" (32 in 2018).
19. a million other things by pronoun.
"Remember the night?
Even though we were sad
That we cried so hard that we started to laugh
Cried so hard that we started to laugh."
pronoun has gone from mysterious artist dribbling out a few songs to full on alt presence in the past year. But this is still my preference from the artist otherwise known as Alyse Vellturo. a million other things was my seventh favorite song in 2017, followed by "everybody knows" from "i'll show you stronger" (number 16 in 2019).
20. Cleopatra by The Lumineers.
"The only gifts from my Lord
Were a birth and a divorce.
But I've read this script and the costume fits,
So I'll play my part."
I read somewhere that Cleopatra is based on a conversation that The Lumineers' lead singer Wesley Shultz had with a taxi driver in the Republic of Georgia. It was number three on my list in 2016, followed by "Ophelia" (twenty-first that year), and following "Ho Hey" (fifth in 2012).
21. Depreston by Courtney Barnett.
"Then I see the handrail in the shower
A collection of those canisters for coffee, tea and flour
And a photo of a young man in a van in Vietnam."
Ms. Barnett's observational lyrics, chronicling what appears to be but certainly is not the mundane, are most brilliantly demonstrated (in my estimation) in Depreston, my tenth favorite song of 2015.
22. Someone New by Hozier.
"I wake at the first cringe of morning,
And my heart's already sinned.
How pure, how sweet a love, Aretha,
That you would pray for him."
"Take Me to Church" was a bigger hit, but the contrary Someone New was my favorite Hozier song of the decade. this was number 12 on my list in 2015; others from the Irish crooner (how's that for music journalism cliche?) were Take Me to Church (number 29 in 2014), and "Nobody" (number seven last year).
23. Blown to Bits by Charly Bliss.
"Your mom in the yard
Your dad's favorite team
Poised to fail,
Then somehow suddenly win."
My favorite song of 2019. I'd love to see them, and particularly lead singer Eva Hendricks, live some day soon.
24. Love Is Mystical by Cold War Kids.
"Oh, can't you hear the future is calling
For heaven's sake
It's either hell or high water
Let's get outta this place."
A Little Richard-esque piano and "Woo hoo ho" to boot? Oh yes. Love Is Mystical was my third favorite song of 2017.
25. Little Trouble by Better Oblivion Community Center.
"Well, tell me, baby, what’s your biggest conceit?
Is it that you did it, or you did it with me?
I can't imagine what the problem could be
You found one song that you like, and you just play it on repeat."
Phoebe Bridgers is the only artist to appear on this list more than once, first solo with "Motion Sickness" and now with Conor Oberst as part of Better Oblivion Community Center. Little Trouble was my second favorite song in 2019.
