League of Inveterate Poets

Radiohead, “Fake Plastic Trees” (listen)
This is the one I paste into the dictionary under “Rock Anthem.” This song epitomizes Radiohead’s startling ability to venture into the epic without ever veering into excess or schmaltz. This is one of those songs that I distinctly remember hitting replay about 20 times the very first time I heard it.

Counting Crows, “A Long December” (listen)
I’m sure it’s fashionable to hate the Crows. Not hard to see why; unlike Radiohead, they regularly pile the excess and schmaltz on the epic. Don’t care – this song makes me cry every time. It squeezes hard on the heart of regret, and once again over relationships blown, that which might have been. I’ve had a lot of “long Decembers” when I decide it might be time to see the ocean.

Jackson Browne, “The Late Show” (listen – excerpt)
I agree with John Darnielle (who tagged me for this meme) that JB’s debut album is flawless all the way through, but it is Late for the Sky I find myself returning to time and again. And the one song I must hear off that album is “Late Show.” It captures for me one of the saddest aspects of my life: the relationships I’ve lost or blown off. “Now Im so tired of all this circling/And all these glimpses of the end/(you know its useless to pretend)/Thats all the voices say:/You’ll go right on circling/Until youve found some kind of friend.” But I love the hope that the song ends with. I live for that moment at the end when you hear the two car doors slam and “You go and pack your sorrow/The trash man comes tomorrow/Leave it at the curb and we’ll just roll away.”

Bill Mallonee (Vigilantes of Love), “Nothing Like a Train” (listen)
There are so many Bill Mallonee songs I could put here. Mallonee had the most songs on my “most frequently played” until he was bumped to #2 by John Darnielle (Mountain Goats). Like “Late Show,” “Nothing Like a Train” is a song about the constant partings that life brings. I think I identify with such songs because of all the times I’ve moved in my life. Favorite line: “You can map the lay of the land/Darling you can describe the sad terrain/Let us survey all the borders/Sugar don’t it all still look the same.” His fans don’t call him the Master of Metaphor for nothing.

Andrew Osenga, “Early in the Morning”
Andy has been pegged as a “Christian musician,” and I think it’s a damn shame, because it means so many people will never hear music by this genius who is in the same songwriting league as Darnielle and Mallonee as far as I’m concerned. His best songs are mini-narratives of a captured moment. “Early in the Morning” is his observation of his neighborhood waking up, people finding the little but not insignificant courage to do whatever it is they do. If I could, I would wake up to this song every morning for the rest of my life.

Connor Oberst (Bright Eyes), “Lua” (listen)
“What’s so simple in the moonlight by the morning never is.” Like many of Oberst’s songs, Lua is about the way we hold on to a romantic ideal even though it is killing us, and we still manage to convince ourselves we can’t live without it.”It’s not something I would recommend/But it is one way to live.” With just his acoustic guitar accompanying, Lua allows Oberst’s fragile voice to shatter and the shards to cut our hard skin.

Neil Young, “Don’t Let It Bring You Down” (listen)
I confess I may have fallen in love with this song forever because of Neil’s intro for it on the Four Way Street live album: “Here’s a little song guaranteed to bring you right down. It’s called ‘Don’t Let It Bring You Down.” He strums a few chords, stops and mumbles, “It sorta starts out slow and then fizzles out altogether.”

Kocani Orkestar, “Siki Siki Baba” (listen)
No high school band geek such as myself could possibly resist a band whose bass section is four tubas. If you can resist shaking your belly to this Balkan Grand Slam Breakfast, I don’t even want to know you. Thank you thank you thank you Zach Condon (Beirut) for letting the world know that this music exists.