Top Songs of 2005 (continued)

30.  Nervous Tick Motion – Andrew Bird

When songs have really long titles, you have to make up your own title at some point because the musician has failed you.  

29.  Word of Vibrations – Blackalicious

Though The Craft was hardly half as good as its predecessor, it did have two songs that rival anything on it. 

28.  Lay Low – My Morning Jacket

This one is tough for me to rank because the solo kicks so much ass, and one does not say that about solos in 2005, but what happens before that sounds borderline uninspired. 

27.  Sixteen Military Wives – The Decemberists

With further Dylan comparisons, what Meloy does a very good job of is being political via showing versus telling, something Dylan was a master of.  While the Beastie Boys are telling you how much they hate George Bush, the Decemberists aren’t trying to pull you into their politics. 

26.  Can I Have It Like That? – Pharrell

You got it like that. 

25.  Dondante – My Morning Jacket

I’m not sure why the sax comes in at the end, but it works. 

24.  I Turn My Camera On – Spoon

I almost want to put this in my disco song group, like I do the Scissor Sisters, but it would stick out like a sore thumb despite its mellow cool. 

23.  The Skin of My Country Yellow Teeth – Clap Your Hands Say Yeah

One of the things that made their debut album so good was its humility.  This song has to be loved by non-smiling faces people across the nation, well, aside from the fact that that’s usually rednecks who wouldn’t listen to a band like this in a Brazilian years. 

22.  Gold Digger – Kanye West

Though I hate the gratuitous use of the N word, almost rendering this great song unlistenable, I have to give it props, though I'm pretty certain in a manner similar to my mom saying the word "diss" the other day, "props" probably don't exist anymore aside from being on movie sets. 

21.  Bucky Done Gun – MIA

20.  First Day of My Life – Bright Eyes

Between Colin Meloy and Coner Oberst, I’m making Dylan comparisons for 2005 and that’s a good thing.  As much as I love this song, and this album, perhaps Coner reminds me of Dylan at times because a song like this sounds so much like “Don’t Think Twice, It’s Alright”.  Oh well, I still would rather be working for a paycheck, then waiting to win the lottery. 

19.  Broken Drum – Beck

The laser beam does chime in at a specific time, contrary to popular belief, maybe just not a particular beat. 

18.  Oh La La – Goldfrapp

Daaaaaaaaaaaaaamn.  That’s why I think every time I hear this song. 

17.  Upon this Tidal Wave of Young Blood – Clap Your Hands Say Yeah

What I always thought was a David Byrne rip off seems more like a whoever the singer of Television is ripoff.  Either way, it’s done well, so it’s borrowing and not stealing. 

16.  It Beats For You – My Morning Jacket

15.  The Sides of Monsieur Valentine – Spoon

14.  Fake Palindromes – Andrew Bird

Not that this song is commercial or anything, but it’s a HUGE crossover for the man.  It’s almost like him trying to go pop.  The results are amazing. 

13.  Stevie Nix – Hold Steady

12.  John Wayne Gacy, Jr. – Sufjan Stevens

I play this song on Anxiety some times, but Suffy’s vocals are pretty impressive so I may stop. 

11.  Is This Love? – Clap Your Hands Say Yeah

I’m tired of laying this pretty head in the ground. 

10.  Road to Joy – Bright Eyes

I get why one would hate Coner Oberst.  It’s easy, but the lyrics he has on this album are some of the best I’ve ever heard. 

9.  Come on Feel the Illiniose! – Sufjan Stevens

There aren’t too many changes as good as the one during the jam part of this one. 

8.  We Are Nowhere and It’s Now – Bright Eyes

The Knocked Up crew almost ruined this private treasure, but fortunately, it was a good enough movie for this song to remain awesome.  It did however ruin its intimacy … kinda like a newborn baby. 

7.  Cattle and the Creeping – Hold Steady

This is the song that made me fall in love with the Hold Steady. 

6.  Off the Record – My Morning Jacket

This is that “song Zach learns on guitar 1^st so he falls in love with the band” song of theirs for me.  It also kicks ass live.  This may not sound complimentary to some, but seeing them play this live makes you feel like you’re at a good Phish show. 

5.  Wordless Chorus – My Morning Jacket

I’ll never forget the moment I threw this album on, heard this song kick it off and immediately think, “Wow, I can’t believe pawned their last album!”  Also, seeing Jim James sing this live kicked major ass. 

4.  Side to Side – Blackalicious

This is probably the best rap song ever that people probably don’t know.  Blackalicious in general is pretty unpopular so it’s a fair bet most people haven’t heard them.  This is their best song.  It’s not too much more complex than that.  I love the phrase “I think you need Jesus” even though … you know. 

3.  Chicago – Sufjan Stevens

This is a great post wedding drinking a Bloody Mary in a Milwaukee airport remorseful song.  Some of these songs on Illinios I can’t imagine seeing live.  Chances of Sufjan coming to Tampa I’d say are worse than Tampa winning the Super Bowl, Stanley Cup and World Series all in the same calendar year.  That’s the downside of Florida.  You miss the acts sometimes.  The upside?  If he did come to Tampa, like 6 people would go and you’d have a very personal show.  It’s getting to the point where I can no longer count on one hand acts I’ve seen with hundreds while the night before the same band was playing in front of tens of thousands. 

2.  Pull Up the People – MIA

Less than a year after I heard the MIA/Diplo “mix tape” which was basically making it seem like she was so confident in her album that’d come out the following year that she could lend it to a mash up.  It didn’t work, but it did.  I didn’t want to get this album because I figured I had heard it already.  For one reason or another, this one wasn’t included in the mash-up and led off what I thought would be a new era of music.  Ultimately, I’m not sure if she’ll be remembered for anything other than wearing a cheer leader outfit and giving football fans the bird during the Super Bowl, but I didn’t start listening to her because she was that idiot.  There’s something very unique going on here. 

1.  At the Bottom of Everything – Bright Eyes

Years later, I’d go on to find out that that’s Jim James from My Morning Jacket providing back-up vocals. 

So there was this woman and she was on an airplane, and she was flying to meet her fiance seaming high above the largest ocean on planet earth.  She was seated next to this man she had tried to start conversations, but the only thing she had really heard him say was to order his Bloody Mary.
She was sitting there and she was reading this really arduous magazine article about a third world country that she couldn't even pronounce the name of.  And she was feeling very bored and despondent.  And then suddenly there was this huge mechanical failure and one of the engines gave out, and they started just falling thirty-thousand feet, and the pilots on the microphone and he's saying "I'm sorry, I'm sorry, oh my god... I'm sorry" and apologizing.  And she looks at the man and says "Where are we going?" and he looks at her and he says "We're going to a party.  It's a birthday party. It's your birthday party.  Happy birthday darling. We love you very, very, very, very, very, very, very much."
And then he starts humming this little tune, it kind of goes like this: 1, 2, 1, 2, 3, 4

Yes, the intro to this, where Coner Oberst uses the word arduous is possibly the most pretentious intro to an album in the history of life, but he backs it up with a magnificent piece of work.  If I’m Wide Awake It’s Morning is anything but an A+ of an album, this would fail.  Fortunately, it’s an A++ and everything that follows is immaculate.