The countdown is my top 10% of the top 10% of the year in the "best of", and ranking them in order. So, here they are, my 11th favorite song of the year 2008 to my very favorite.
11. "007 And Counting" by John Barry
I first heard an edited version of this track on some sort of hipster electronic compilation, and ordered the Diamonds Are Forever soundtrack immediately to get the full version. It gives you the feeling of travel, as if you were in space. I did a lot of traveling in 2008, and the melancholy but gorgeous sound of this song stayed with me all year.
10. "This Time Tomorrow" by The Kinks
I thought I was the world's biggest Kinks fan, or one of them, but I did not really hear this song until 2008 even though I had the album for many years. I heard it played by a dj in a hotel in France as I was trying to avoid the girl I was breaking up with. Alone with my drink and thoughts, she woke from a nap and found me down there when all I wanted to do was be alone. Then, this came on. I was pretty sure it was The Kinks but had never heard it. I thought it was the best thing I had ever heard and made her go over to the dj and ask who it was. I guess it was used in a movie recently. It instantly lifted my mood and remains a favorite of mine.
9. "Let The Beat Build" by Lil Wayne
I was a little late to Lil Wayne but this is off his huge album from 2008 and knocked me out the first time I heard it. I love his swagger on here and I love the continuous vocal loop behind him. "I pay my dues, you keep the difference" is just one of my favorite lines on here. He's so good on this that it's almost like showing off, and the production is amazing.
8. "Metal Guru" by T. Rex
Marc Bolan probably never sounded more joyful than on this T. Rex track. A few years before, a girlfriend used to play T. Rex all the time but 2008 was the year I really dug into their albums and found brilliance like this. It's such a glorious mess, you can just picture a room full of people in the studio singing over all this.
7. "Gettin' Up" by Q-Tip
One of my favorites of 2008 that bled over into 2009 and took on even more significance. Because that's what songs do. Like the song before it, it's just so happy and positive. I needed to hear this in 2008. Still do. The piano sample is fantastic and Q-Tip is completely on point.
6. "Living Life" by Eels
Oh gosh, this song. It's a cover of a typically ramshackle Daniel Johnston song and its played with just the right empathy. The lyrics just stay with you, as does all the sentiment. This blog is not the place for me to talk about what this song meant to me in 2008, but no song meant more. I'll never forget it.
5. "Sing Me Back Home" by Merle Haggard
More outlaw than Lil Wayne. The most kick-ass opening chords ever, with that drumbeat, you really do feel like you are the protagonist in prison facing the electric chair. Haggard's singing is so expressive without being too sentimental, despite the subject matter. Helped me deal with slightly less adverse situations in 2008 with grace.
4. "Stick With Me Baby" by Robert Plant & Alison Krauss
This is a cover of The Everly Brothers. It's just so beautiful and hopeful. Falling in love with it when I did just feels like either the saddest or most inspiring thing I could imagine. The playing and production are so right-on, so warm and gentle. Plant and Krauss sing like lovers whispering in the middle of the night. I'll always remember hearing this at a similar hour.
3. "Imagine" by Nas ft. Pitbull
Nas rapping on a mixtape over John Lennon's "Imagine". He's great, but Pitbull steals the show. It's provocative, inspiring, and deeply moving. This is the one song that when I played it for anyone in 2008, they were blown away. I bet John would be proud.
2. "Hip Hop Saved My Life" by Lupe Fiasco ft. Nikkie Jean
I don't know what it is about this song, but it just turned me upside down when I heard it. I'm a big fan of Lupe Fiasco, but this song has an emotional hook that most hip hop songs don't necessarily have. You feel like you are witnessing someone's desperate life and you feel the stakes. The vocal hook by Nikkie Jean, who wrote the song, is great. As is the backing track which feels just as dramatic and uplifting as the story. I played this as much or more than any song in 2008.
1. "Tell It Like It Is" by Nina Simone
I don't remember how this became my favorite song of 2008. Not immediately. I love Nina Simone and found this track on a box set of rarities released in 2008. I was of course familiar with the Aaron Neville original, but the heavy organ on this just had this pull on every part of me. I love the way she doesn't even start singing until a minute into the song, and then with wordless scatting to warm herself up. And she sings the great lyric with such gentle defiance and warmth. Lines like "Life is too short to have sorrow/you may be here today and gone tomorrow/you might as well get what you want" sound like a way to live when sung by her.
