10. "Boom Boom, Out Goes The Lights" by Little Walter And His Jukes
So many songs this year caught my ear for their percussion, and none more than the drums that punctuate the "boom boom" here. Are they gunshots? One interpretation of this song seems to be that when he catches his wayward lover, he's going to shoot her. Of course, being a blues song, there's another sexual connotation, where he beds her so violently that he knocks her out. Either way, I loved the simplicity and raw sound of this song, as well as the balance of humor and anger in Little Walter's vocals.
9. "Street Fighting Man" by The Rolling Stones
The distorted opening riff, the drums fills and Mick Jagger's opening lines are about the most perfect start to any song in the Rolling Stones canon. I know it's one of their more politically overt songs, coming out during the unrest of 1968, but it's still suffused with ambiguity and humor. The songs just builds, with the piano and sitar piling on to the chugging guitars but never slowing them down.
8. "When Will They Shoot?" by Ice Cube
After the one-two punch of the first two songs on this countdown, Ice Cube sounds like the knockout blow. Never has pure fury ever sounded more articulate, witty even. The production is a glorious mess, piling on so many samples that Ice Cube even samples himself. There was no song last year I wanted to play louder than this one.
7. "You're Nobody 'Til Somebody Loves You" by Dean Martin
I've long loved this song, among many others, by Dean Martin but it was only this past year when it found it's way onto my music blog. It's hard to describe all the emotional hues this song seems to engender: hopefulness, resignation, wisdom and naivete. It's breezy but surprisingly profound. I came back to it over and over again.
6. "The Prettiest Star (original single)" by David Bowie
What is "cold fire" and how does somebody embody that? These are Bowie lyrics at their most simple, and his singing at its most heartfelt. I heard this over a brunch one spring morning and couldn't believe I didn't know it earlier. On the larger "best of" I've included the version he re-recorded for the Aladdin Sane album a few years later, but I like this early version even more. No ironic 50s back-up chorus, and the singing feels more nakedly emotional than anything he ever did before or after. And all of this with Marc Bolan playing guitar on it as well. Apparently, Bowie wasn't happy with this version. But I am.
5. "Story Of An Artist" by M. Ward
A few years ago I discovered a compilation of artists covering Daniel Johnston songs. It seems each year I seem to fall in love with a new song from that album, and this year it was this beautiful version. This might be not just M. Ward's best vocal performance but the best match of material to his talent. Johnston's lyrics sound simple and child-like on paper yet are transformed into something deeply moving here.
4. "The Ghost In You" by Robyn Hitchock
The original version of this song by The Psychedelic Furs was a favorite of mine growing up. When I discovered this rare stripped-down version by Robyn Hitchcock it was like discovering the song all over again. I never really heard the lyrics before and felt like this version made me understand it better, and I heard it at the exact right time.
3. "Got To Be There" by Michael Jackson
I thought I knew the biggest hits of The Jackson 5/early solo Michael Jackson era, but I never really knew this song until this year. It's his very first single as a solo performer and, to me, his very best. This year I included a more "stripped-down" version as well as a completely a cappella take that is breathtaking. But the instrumentation on here is perfect: subtle and powerful. I found nice versions of this by great singers like Chaka Khan and Smokey Robinson, but no one ever sang like this.
2. "Toot, Toot, Tootsie, Goodbye!" by Al Jolson
No song brought me more pure joy last year than this one. I've heard other versions of this standard, ranging from Sonny Rollins to Dean Martin, but obviously he owns this song forever. He's saying goodbye to his lover for now, but with such humor and hope that it verges on delirium. Then the bird whistles comes in. Insane and irresistible.
1. "Return Of The Hip Hop Freaks" by Nice & Smooth
This was the second song on my first mix of the year and it was never really in doubt that it was my favorite song of the year. It's both easy and hard to explain. Even by their standards, the lyrics are graphically juvenile and not especially clever. Their usually inventive sampling, which ranged all the way to a riff of a Partridge Family song, is reduced here to a drum theme with some charmingly amateurish singing for melody. But it all works. No song was more addictive to me this year, or felt more anthemic to me: resilient, funny, profane and looking forward. The wordless outro over the drums could be played on loop forever in my mind.
