Happy Monday, folks! It’s a dreary one here in Northern Virginia, but that won’t stop the rock!
- The Beatles, “Little Girl”: A song cut from Rubber Soul, and if I’m being honest, there was good reason. There’s just not much to the song, lyrically or musically. I mean, even John Lennon can stumble once in a while.
- Elvis Costello, “Miracle Man”: Aside from listening to the super deluxe version of Rubber Soul (which features three different versions of the album. Three!), I’ve also started listening to the 49th Anniversary edition of Costello’s My Aim Is True, and it’s still a great record. The acerbic wit just does not let up with this man.
- Gin Blossoms, “Idiot Summer”: Classic Gin Blossoms. Only downloaded the album because I assumed it was rerecorded versions of old songs, but this did not turn out to be the case. It’s the original versions, all of which I already have on other albums and did not need a second time. This is still a good song, though.
- Arlo Guthrie, “East Texas Red”: Who doesn’t love a song about a murderer who rides the rails in East Texas getting what’s coming to him?
- Elton John, “I Want Love”: Does anyone else remember the video for this song that featured Robert Downey, Jr.? The song itself reminds me of the Beatles Anthology new songs.
- Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers, “Too Much Ain’t Enough”: Early Petty has a loose energy that later, more-refined songs simply lacked. I enjoy such loose energy.
- Huey Lewis & the News, “If This Is It”: To this day, I am constantly amused by the fact that these guys named an album Sports, a pun that my team teacher only just got today when I explained it to her.
- The Band, “The Weight”: Is this the best song about taking your Martin to Nazareth, PA, to get it fixed that exists? Is that too narrow a genre? It might be because they nailed it in one.
- Ben Folds, “Rockin’ The Suburbs”: It’s a Ben Folds song that features guitar! But he famously plays piano! How wacky.
- The New Pornographers, “Sweet Talk, Sweet Talk”: If AC Newman and Neko Case could work together forever cranking out amazing pop rock songs like this, I’d be okay with that.
