Five Great Songs from Five Different Decades
1. These Days(written by Jackson Browne) by Nico(1967)
There's something haunting about Nico and her voice, which makes amazing songs transcend into heavenly bliss. It's not like she's the greatest singer. But something about her, the longing, the sense of infinite womanly knowledge, like she's the incarnation of the modern lonely woman. Warhol made Nico into a beautiful image, an ideal, and as such there's something ethereal and unreachable about her. Jackson Browne wrote this when he was sixteen. That's awfully impressive. The lyrics are poetic, yet simple and brutally honest. The guitars are sublime. It's one of those immaculately conceived and executed ideas of a song. Every touch, every sound inside the track is perfect. The whole of this song is greater than the sum of its parts. One of my favorite songs from the 60s.
YouTube - These Days - Nico
2. Let It Loose by The Rolling Stones(1972)
Structurally, it's not very Rolling Stones, rambling, quietly building to an irrepressible climax, a patient song that yields deep rewards. The layers peel back. This is Mick Jagger with his best vocals. It's their stab at a gospel hymn, part of the downswing in Exile, a keystone in a group of songs of a radically different tone than their preceding tracks. It's so much more than a gospel song though. For me, it's a song of immense emotional power. Notice that I say emotional power, because it can make me feel any sort of emotion, depending on the mood, and make it powerful. The wailing of the choir in the background can be either great triumph, or a deep sorrow. It's the beautiful chameleon in my mind. I have no doubt that this is the best Rolling Stones song. Usually I'm more open minded, but I will not be swayed from the fact that 'Let It Loose' is the king of the Stones' catalog. The guitar, particularly, has some weird, drowned effect on it. The brass, the piano, the choir, the drums, it's all perfect. It's the song of a scorned lover and a song of seemingly effortless heart wrench, and that's special.
YouTube - The Rolling Stones - Let It Loose
3. Redemption Song by Bob Marley(1980)
It really makes me want to cry. He should be in the pantheon, but not like this. Not like this. Dug by d*uchebag frat boys clearing bongs, beer and bikini posters on their walls, thinking they're hot sh*t, and soon they'll be investment bankers, taking a trip once in a while to some isle in the Caribbean, perhaps Jamaica, and they'll be served their Pina Colada by the oppressed. I shouldn't be approached by some girl in the supermarket who I know for a fact gets Oxycontin in the mail and I know for a fact she lives in a trailer and will f*ck anything that moves, I shouldn't be approached when I have a quote from this song on my back(my T-shirt), “Emancipate yourself from mental slavery, none but ourselves can free our minds”, and I shouldn't be asked “Hey I just got the 80s in the mail, you want a few? Oh, awesome shirt by the way, I'm totally into Bob.”
I hate all of that, and in many more ways than just this, I hate myself too, because I'm one of those cliches, the self-righteous, radical leftist suburban white boy who thinks he's cool and hip and 'down' and totally f*cking Twenty First century, right? But I'm a hypocrite, and so are most of you, that's what makes us human, we have flaws and we contradict ourselves, and I really wonder why hypocrite is such a bad word if most of us are one. Hypocrisy? Marley was a fool who bought into the naïve sentiments of universal peace, and I'm a fool too for thinking I know better than to buy into that dream, but he was a poet and I'm not, so that's where we're at.
Redemption Song is the epitaph.
YouTube - Bob Marley - Redemption song
4. In the Garage by Weezer(1994)
I thought I'd shift moods, with a sunnier song, a classic off the Blue Album. An amazingly nostalgic song about the delights of being a secluded nerd, because if there weren't any upsides, why would anyone be one? Light yet heavy, it's a happy sing along that makes you sigh and remember high school, even if you weren't a nerd, but hits home for some of us, with your dungeon master's guide and your KISS poster on the wall. I don't worry about the specifics, I never did those things, but I did other equally nerdy things. Speaking of nerdiness, doesn't the beginning remind you of Ocarina of Time? I can see Link standing there in Hyrule Field, playing that little ditty at the beginning. The Blue Album was an amazing happening in 90s music, and it's something Weezer will never be able to replicate, I think, but that's okay, because few other bands have ever perfectly captured the zeitgeist of their time. The Blue Album is a time capsule of sorts, for the decade of my childhood, the 90s. It totally rocks and is totally nerdy, self-conscious, never self-indulgent and not caring if anyone doesn't dislikes it, but still knowing very few will dislike it.
YouTube - Weezer - In the Garage [Lyrics]
5. Peacebone by Animal Collective(2007)
It may not be their most popular or acclaimed song, but to me, it's everything that makes Animal Collective light years ahead of everything else these days. Each and every one of them are sorcerers. I will never know how they make electronic music sound so natural and organic. It isn't electronic music really, it's the mad sounds I heard in my head when the first couple of times I got stoned, it taps into some hidden vein in the subconscious and brings it out in a frantic and manic fashion. It's an interesting mix of comprehensible and incomprehensible. The words seem to have no basis in sense or logic, but they're still understandable. The song really says it all: 'Its not my words that you should follow, it's your insides.' The chorus and verses are equally catchy, and I absolutely adore the vocals. That's another standout with this band, something I can't quantify or put into proper words, but I really like the sound of their voices. I like the jumping of octaves and the unorthodox things that happen, they might break out into a shriek or start harmonizing beautifully. It's a song of unexplainable joy, and I simply adore it.
YouTube - Animal Collective - Peacebone