Darling Ones,

My love of 90s-era Matthew Sweet has flared up recently and boy, has it been an utter delight.

As with 98% of all my musical loves, I happened into Matthew Sweet in a haphazard, backwards way. I didn’t fall in love with the “Girlfriend” video like so many people I know.

I didn’t pay attention to Matthew Sweet until some intern at Zoo Entertainment sent a copy of “Altered Beast” to the college newspaper where I was the Arts Editor (Or Arts Minotaur as I was often called, Or Bitter Arts Goddess, nicknames were big around the newspaper office). Two years later some other intern sent me “100% Fun.”

Still, I’m not entirely sure exactly how or when I fell in love. It was probably one of those slowly then all at once scenarios. I do remember at some point in the spring of 1995, my friend Johnson turned to me and said, “You love this guy so much.”

We were in the bubble, a small, glass encased room in the aforementioned newspaper office.

“What?” I asked him, because I couldn’t hear him over the 73rd repeat of “Sick of Myself.”

“God,” he sighed. “You’ve been listening to him for two years straight.”

I hadn’t really thought about it, but Johnson was not wrong. I loved Matthew Sweet! Still do, though after the 90s when my musical taste really diversified, I didn’t pay as much attention to him as he deserved.

Anyway, I got a Greatest Hits According to Me playlist all ready to share with you. There’s a Spotify version and for those who eschew Spotify, there’s a YouTube playlist.

As with all Greatest Hits According to Me lists it’s helpful for you to remember this is the one right and true list. All others are imposters.

Also, I won’t have something to say about every song because sometimes the only explanation is, “I like it because it is good.”

Someone to Pull the Trigger

There’s a certain kind of 21-year-old who hears this song and is all, “yes, yes, this is the truth and it speaks for me.” I was exactly that kind of nihilistic, jaded kid. Still kinda am. I have listened to this song on repeat for hours after every single romantic heartbreak I have endured since 1993. So many hours. I need someone to pull the trigger, cause there’s a hole in my heart getting bigger. And everything I’ll ever be I’ve been. Indeed. Indeed.

Sick of Myself

While not my favorite Matthew Sweet song (see above), this is by far his best song. It’s sugar-coated power pop deliciousness. And it’s infectious as fuck. Just objectively perfect.

Evangeline

The intro to this one is so enticing he could sing nonsense or made up words and this would still be a great song. But he’s not signing nonsense, he’s singing about wanting a girl who does not want him back.

Girlfriend

Sometimes I wonder if I’d have fallen so hard for Matthew Sweet’s music if I had discovered him through “Girlfriend.” I don’t think so. I’m all for a good love song, and even more so for a good “wanna love me?” song, but I much prefer the “I’ve been decimated by love” songs (See: obsession with Frightened Rabbit).

Devil with the Green Eyes

See above and then add these lyrics: Cause I came up from a dark world, and every love I’ve ever known is dead.

Thought I Knew You

This Moment

When I wrote The Jayhawks’ Greatest Hits According to Me I said I would include the track an artist did on “Sweet Relief: A Benefit for Victoria Williams.” I am not a liar.

Time Capsule

Super Baby

This is one of those songs that causes a physical reaction in me. I wish I had a better knowledge of musical vocabulary. I don’t always know what things are called. Maybe this is a guitar lick? I think it might be the melody. I don’t know but it’s the five or six guitar notes, then it goes high, then it goes low again and on like the third repeat the drums drop in. Holy cow! My body loves that part of the song and then when promise you won’t go far, I want you right where you are part of the chorus kicks in? I feel that right between my legs. Damn.

Where You Get Love

I dig the throwbacky vibe.

Superdeformed

God love Matthew Sweet. It seems like he never met a compilation record he didn’t want to be a part of.

Smog Moon

I like songs that mention the moon.

What Matters

Write Your Own Song

I also like songs about writing songs. See: Stevie Nicks’ “That Made Me Stronger” and Frightened Rabbit’s “I Feel Better.” I should make a playlist of those some time.

Dead Smile

I forgot about about this one until my friend Tony brought it up in a Twitter discussion last week.

Let Me be the One

As I said, the man never met a comp he didn’t want to be apart of. I blame this Carpenters’ cover album for making me think I’d dig Sonic Youth, but in the immortal words of Juno MacGuff, “I bought another Sonic Youth album and it sucks. It’s just noise.”

And Your Bird Can Sing

Suzanna Hoffs + Matthew Sweet = bliss.

Ballad of El Good

It’s not a revolutionary cover, but I love this song as much as I love Matthew Sweet.

That’s enough typing for now. Happy listening,
Jodi

The post Matthew Sweet’s Greatest Hits According to Me appeared first on I Will Dare.

Dear Darling Ones,

You know that parable about boiling a frog? The one that says if you drop a frog in boiling water it jumps out right away, but if you put it in cold water slowly heating to a boil you can murder the frog because it adapts to its environment.

I feel this way about the music of The Jayhawks, but without the murder. It’s like one day I was humbly existing listening to The Spin Doctors, Pearl Jam, and The Cranberries, and the next day The Jayhawks were everywhere. And they were my all-consuming aural fixation for awhile.

While I don’t have an exact memory attached to my very first introduction to The Jayhawks, I’m 99.99% sure it was one of those Cross Country Boys who brought them into my life. They brought a lot of music into my life — The Replacements, The Gear Daddies, and The Jayhawks.

It’s a little sad this Minnesota girl had to go to college in Wisconsin to discover everything thriving in her own backyard, but there you have it. I usually like to blame my lack of imagination on discovering these bands that were so close to home so late. The truth is, I didn’t have the mental or emotional capacity to dig beyond what was served up to me on my the radio. Poverty, abuse, and constant bullying at school kept my mind pretty preoccupied.

Anyway, like I said one day they didn’t exist and the next day I was seeing them live as much as possible. BFK and I were recently reminiscing about the early days of our friendship. One of our first non-work friendship outings involved me fifth-wheeling it with her, Atom, and another married couple to the Basilica Block Party where I promptly ditched the marrieds to go watch The Jayhawks. We suspect that might have been the only reason I went along, but aren’t sure.

It was that conversation plus the internal debate about whether “Save it For a Rainy Day” or “Blue” is my favorite Jayhawks’ song that led to this list. I don’t have actual reasons for why I chose all the songs I did. Most of the reason is, “it sounds good and I like it.”

Without further ado: The Jayhawks’ Greatest Hits According to Me (you can listen on Spotify if’n you want).

01. Blue

This is like the Platonic ideal of a Jayhawks’ song. The lyrics. The harmonies. The aching sadness cloaked in such a warm, friendly sound. On certain mornings when it’s been cloudy for too many days in a row and I haven’t spoken to anyone in awhile this song will make me cry.

02. Save it For a Rainy Day

There is a strong bias towards 2003’s Rainy Day Music record. It’s the record I turned to when dealing with my first adult heartbreak. This song in particular was super comforting.

03. Waiting for the Sun

This would be the Platonic ideal Jayhawks’ song if “Blue” didn’t exist.

04. I’m Gonna Make You Love Me

I like sweet love songs, sue me.

05. Quiet Corners & Empty Spaces

Use an ampersand in your song title? Right to Greatest Hits.

06. Take Me With You (When You Go)

Remember how I said I loved sweet love songs? I super love sweet love songs that involve dying. See: #16 and Death Cab For Cutie’s “I’ll Follow You Into the Dark.”

07. She Walks in So Many Ways

08. I’d Run Away

Tomorrow the Green Grass is one those solid front-to-back albums. Kinda like Sugar’s Copper Blue, when I hear any song from the record I have to listen to the entire record in order or my brain feels like it’s short circuiting.

09. Tailspin

10. Bad Time

Do you remember where you were when you learned that “Bad Time” was a cover of a Grand Funk Railroad song? I DO. It was a Sunday morning in, I don’t know, maybe 2012? 2013? I was driving to get a sausage biscuit and a Mocha Frappe from McDonald’s. I was stopped at a red on Marschall & Vierling when the song came on the radio. I was all, “hmm, this doesn’t sound right.” I thought it was someone covering The Jayhawks. I had no idea. I was shook to say the least.

11. Lights (From Sweet Relief vol. 1)

I would venture to guess if I made a Greatest Hits According to Me list for every artist on Sweet Relief: A Benefit for Victoria Williams, every single list would include thier song from that project. Pearl Jam & Crazy Mary? Yes. Soul Asylum & Summer of Drugs? Youbetcha. The Waterboys & Why Look at the Moon? Why do you even have to ask?

12. All the Right Reasons

13. Smile

It’s the line genuflect beneath the starry skies for me. Genuflect has been one of my favorite words since I first learned it in junior high. Any band with the audacity to toss it into a song gets that song automatically added to their Greatest Hits.

14. Angelyne

It’s pretty basic, but I like the snowflake/ache & winter/linger rhymes in this line, Snowflakes make your bones ache in the winter. Your face will not fade, it will just linger.

15. Two Angels

This one starts, I’d hope to find you this morning, talking to the trees.
My college roommate F.R. Chicken & I used to drive out to the edges of Eau Claire to visit her favorite tree. I had never heard of someone having a favorite tree before, but since then I’m always picking favorites. In fact, this is the time of the year where I actively flirt with trees and cat call them (in my head) as I drive by.

16. Will I See You in Heaven

See #6.

17. Miss Williams’ Guitar

18. Falling Star

19. A Break in the Clouds

Okay, I’m gonna stop with the jodisplaining because this is nearly one thousand words already.

Thought I was someone, turned out I was wrong,
Jodi

The post The Jayhawks’ Greatest Hits According to Me appeared first on I Will Dare.

In honor of The Replacements’ appearance on The Tonight Show tonight, I decided to but myself through this excruciating exercise. Much like the other Greatest Hits According to Me the list had to be between 16 and 20 songs. I was going to be super pedantic and find all the ‘Mats’ songs I’d mentioned in the history of I Will Dare, but there are some 290 posts that mention Paul Westerberg and The Replacements and who has time for that nonsense?

Here we go!

I Bought a Headache

I love a lot of songs off of The ‘Mats first album “Sorry Ma, Forgot to Take Out the Trash.” For me this record is the soundtrack to shitty post-college, pre-career jobs. When I worked at the gas station, “Customers” was the sound of all my fantasies. “I’m in love with the girl who works at the store. . . .”

But of all the songs I chose “I Bought a Headache.” Why? Because it’s clever and of all the songs on this debut record I think it hints the most at the Westerberg song writing to come. Plus, I like the way he says “Christopher Mars” at the end.

Shiftless When Idle

I just took “Valentine” (which I do appreciate) off the list and replaced it with this. This one is more fun and the sassy “na na nas” are pretty rad. Plus, “Valentine” is a predictable choice.

Go

If you want to have a brief idea of how emotionally fraught making this list is for me, I just swapped out “God Damn Job” for this one. I don’t know why. It just felt like the right thing to do. I have the least emotional connection with “Stink” though I eventually came around.

Color Me Impressed

Next to “Can’t Hardly Wait” “Color Me Impressed” is probably the Replacementsism I use the most. I’m annoying like that. However, if I were a dude named Gary you can bet your sweet ass I’d been about eleventeen times more annoying.

What’s so great about this song besides the whistle at the beginning is the double meaning of the line “Can you stand me on my feet?” This is what I love so much about Westerberg’s writing (also, this one has another shout out to Chris).

Within Your Reach

This is one that barely made this greatest hits compilation. And as my fingers type out these words I’m still a little on the fence. Of course we all know that it was very nearly the song Lloyd Dobbler played on that “Say Anything” boombox, but, depending on the day and my mood, the synthy sound grates on me. However, the sentiment of living without your touch but dying within your reach is kind of swoony.

I Will Dare

Duh.

Sixteen Blue

Is there a song that sums up teenagehood better than this one? I don’t think there is.

Answering Machine

This song find Westberg at the top of his game. Though, I have to admit, the whore line kinda bugs because I hate the word whore (and slut, and any other word that judges women on their sexual activity), but I chalk that up to the mores of a different time, you know the time when we actually used answering machines. Whore aside, this song is lyrically brilliant.

The line about “a handful of friend, one needs a match and one needs some ice.” Goddamn. At first blush it seems he’s talking about his smoking and drinking buddies, but when you think about it you know he’s talking about his cigarettes and booze.

Kiss Me on the Bus

Handclaps. Have I mentioned how handclaps elevate song by at least 15%? It’s simple rock & roll math really, handclaps are fun, and so is this song.

Bastards of Young

This is the first of what I consider The Holy Triumvirate (the three iconic ‘Mats songs). The brilliance of this song is that virtually every post-Boomer generation could claim it as their anthem. (Sorry, GenX I already claimed Soul Asylum’s “Misery” for us. You’re welcome.)

The kind of frustrated, strangled scream at the beginning of this one, who hasn’t felt that? That, That should be the official sound of GenX.

Left of the Dial

#2 in the Holy Triumvirate. If you don’t get a stirring in your loins when the drum comes in about seven(ish) seconds into this song your loins are probably broken. They have pills for that. On record this song is pretty decent, but when it’s played live it’s elevated to something else and the memories of hearing it gives me goosebumps.

While I know Westerberg wrote the song about a girl in a band he had a crush for, in my mind the song has morphed into one for anyone who has fallen in love with a song or a band or someone who you bonded with over those things. So much longing in this song.

Also, if I ever start a band it will be called “The Sweet Georgia Breezes.”

Here Comes a Regular

This is a lovely, sad song that is perfect for those final crisp days of autumn when you can smell winter in the air. This song is what the word ‘weary’ would sing if it could do that.

I’m embarrassed by how deeply I connected with this song as a 23-year-old who was pretty sure she’d seen it all whose drinking buddies were bound to another town, who used to live at home but now stayed at the house. ACK! I was such a twit. That, however, does not take away from the loveliness of this song.

Alex Chilton

Here’s another embarrassing confession: for longer than I care to admit I thought Alex Chilton was a fictional dude Westerberg made up. This was when the Internet was a baby and you had to dial that shit up and once your AOL hours were up you had to pay lots of money for access. Sometimes we wandered around with ignorance that went unchecked for months and months and months.

I learned Alex Chilton was an actual factual person by listening to Evolution of the Revolution on Rev-105.

This has nothing to do with the greatness of this song which while lyrically okay, is more sonically catchy as hell. Also, handclaps.

Skyway

This song is the quintessential Minnesota song. Everything about it screams Minnesota. The music is so delicate and sweet. Then there’s stupid hat and gloves and the snow and the Skyway. The passive love of something. The taking forever to get the gumption to make a move. The wah-wah sad trombone ending (not literally trombone, there’s no horns on this one).

Can’t Hardly Wait

#3 in the Holy Triumvirate. Speaking of horns, I am a strong proponent of all the versions of “Can’t Hardly Wait” that don’t have the Memphis Horns. Though, yes, I admit the horns-version does a great job of building the tension of the song, but I would argue the tension is just as delicious in the Tim version. However, the PtMM version has the better opening line “I’ll right you a letter tomorrow. Tonight I can’t hold a pen.” vs. “I’ll be there in an hour, take half a month on foot.”

Even with the crummier ending, the airshaft version is my favorite.

I have 25 versions of this song in my iTunes library + 1 parody version called “I’m Always Late” which my Westernerd friends Zook & Wolfdogg wrote for my 06/06/06 birthday. It is awesome and mentions in no particular order: napping, Mike Doughty, Vodo & writing classes at The Loft, Ruby, gin, giving people the finger, masturbation, and my penchant for always being late.

Achin’ to Be

Much like “I Will Dare” I don’t know if I can ever find the words to explain my affection for this song or even why it’s so good. It just is.

Merry Go Round

This is the one that started it all on that long ago night back in 90s when Kelly McKnight gave me money for the jukebox. His only condition was that I had to play at least one ‘Mats song. If you read The Replacements book you already know this. I randomly chose “Merry Go Round” and set in motion something that would become a guiding force in my life.

That’s not even an exaggeration. You are, after all, reading these words on a 14-year-old website called I Will Dare. I don’t know what would have happened if I had chosen “Sadly Beautiful” or “Someone Take the Wheel.” It was this song at that moment that made me fall in love.

Nobody

This was probably the second Replacements’ song I fell in love with. After all, “All Shook Down” was the first record I got and this one is exactly the kind of thwarted love song that I adore. And for a very long time I harbored a great desire to sign all wedding guest books as “Nobody.” I am exactly that kind of nerd.

Nowhere is My Home

Besides the opening drum the thing I love on this one is how ragged Westerberg’s voice sounds. It’s super hot. Also, finding this song when you’re like twenty four or twenty five and feeling very unmoored on the planet, it really speaks to you. Plus, the word disconcerted is awesome.

If Only You Were Lonely

This song has the honor of being the very first song I ever downloaded from the Internet way back in like 1996. It might have been a .WAV and not even an MP3. I can’t remember. What I do remember is that I listened to for about six months straight. God, the line “somewhere there’s a smile with my name on it” slays me still to this day.

This is also the song I would LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE to hear more than any other song on Saturday when the ‘Mats take the stage at Midway.

The post Greatest Hits According to Me: The Replacements appeared first on I Will Dare.

I was gonna celebrate Liz Phair’s birthday by being all ‘voice of my generation’ and declaring her the sound of Gen X’s sexuality, specifically the women of my generation. Then I thought about it for twelve more seconds and realized that would be a shitty, heteronormative thing to do. Besides, what do I know about anyone else’s sexual journey? Bupkis, that’s what. So instead I’ll just be the voice of me and say that around these parts she’s known as La Liz, Patron Saint of Sexuality. And by these parts, I mean mine.

Over the past thirteen years on I Will Dare (aside THIRTEEN YEARS!) I’ve probably spilled as many pixels about Liz Phair as I have about Paul Westerberg. They’re my biggies. They’re the artists whose music I cannot discuss with any degree of rational thought or without tears. And yet, here I am making a list of Liz’s Greatest Hits where I will try to find adequate words to convey the greatness. I will probably fail miserably, but I will try. Afterall, it’s Liz Phair’s birthday and it’s the very least I can do for the woman who wrote the songs that have embedded themselves into the very core of who I am.

If’n you like you can listen to this list on Spotify, or most of the list. The acoustic version of “Why Can’t I?” Isn’t included because of shitty DRM. Also, I would just like to add that I have some 200+ Liz Phair songs in iTunes, making this list was a bitch

From “Exile in Guyville”

First you should note that this record is going to turn twenty in June. TWENTY. We’ve had “Exile in Guyville” for TWENTY YEARS. Hallelujah!
6’1″: Side 1, track 1, how could I resist? And I say side 1 like I ever had this on vinyl and not on CD. I do, however, have “Whip-Smart” on vinyl and if I ever get a record player I will play the shit out of that albums. Also, I often sing this as “and I kept standing 6’1″ instead of 6’5″” even though it doesn’t rhyme.

Mesmerizing: The mournful way she sings “Don’t you know I’m very happy?” + handclaps.

Fuck & Run: This is probably the iconic Liz Phair song. It was the song twenty-two-year-old me identified with hard. I wanted a boyfriend. I wanted all the stupid old shit. Forty-year-old me sees this song as charming in a sort of archaic way, because forty-year-old me know that I am the “Fuck and Run” type and not the wanting a letters and soda type. Things change.

Divorce Song: 1994? 1995? Driving in Anderla’s Accord that her parents decked out with a CD player, smoking cigarettes, twisty Eau Claire roads in the late spring. Youth and unearned bitterness and frustration and friendship. This song is all those things.

Flower: This song. I can’t even. It sounds like discovering the joys and powers of sex. At least this is what my experience of that sounded like.

From “Whip-Smart”

I’ve listened to this album hundreds of times. That’s not exaggeration. “Whip-Smart” along with Matthew Sweet’s “100% Fun” was the soundtrack of every single word of fiction (and much non-fiction) I wrote from about 1995 until February.

Supernova: “Your kisses are as wicked as an M16, and you fuck like a volcano and you’re are everything to me.” A very smart ex-lover used this song to describe me and my ego has never forgotten it. Neither will you, now.

Shane: This is included purely for that exhalation of breath at the very beginning of the song. It makes my heart knock against my chest.

From “Juvenalia”

Jealousy: First, yes this song does appear on “Whip-Smart” but I wanted to include something off of this EP just because it was really hard for me to get. There’s also a cover song later on the list and so I couldn’t also include “Turning Japanese.” So this song, yeah, it mentions hips and I’m a sucker for those kinds of songs.

From “Whitechocolatespaceegg”

Perfect World: Embarrassing confession #1: Back in the early aughts when I used to date all the time I had a profile on various dating sites. The headline was often some variant of “Cool, Tall, Vulnerable & Luscious” a play on a line from this song. Liz wants to be tough, I am tall. You get it. Do you want to die of embarrassment for me? I kind of do. Incidentally, and somewhat related, I realized that I stopped (for the most part) dating once I bought Supergenius HQ. I need to examine that bit of navel at some point. Embarrassing Confession #2: That acoustic guitar squeak thing (featured throughout this song) is like an aphrodisiac to me. Instant lady boner type thing.

Polyester Bride: This song came out when I was twenty-six and working at a gas station. It was a low, low time filled with Internet addiction and depression. There was something oddly hopeful in this song, the whole you’re lucky to be alive, you’ve got time thing. I clung to this song like a life raft. It buoyed me when I needed it and a year later everything changed for the much much better.

Baby Got Going: Mostly for it’s inclusion in the movie “High Fidelity.”

From “Liz Phair”

Now a lot of music snobs are rubbing their eyes and being all “What? What? Songs on this one albums after Whitechocolate and/or Whip-Smart? This is bullshit nonsense.” And to those snobs I say step off haters, pop Liz is not such a bad thing, but I can admit some of the songs on this one are an embarrassment.

Extraordinary: This song got me through a particularly nasty breakup in 03 or 04, I am too lazy to go look up the specifics. It came along at a time in my life when I needed to feel that I was worthy. Losing out to a woman you didn’t even know you were competing with can be quite damaging to the ol’ self-esteem.

Rock Me: If I hadn’t read a few totally shitty Chuck Klosterfuck piece from 2003 issues of SPIN last week this song wouldn’t have made the cut, but then he was being such a dick about the evolution of Liz’s music and how she portrayed her sexuality through it that I included this as a sort of karmic fuck you to him. He is seriously the suck. In one article he talked about her distracting her miniskirt was and then had the audacity to ask her if she exaggerated her sexuality for artistic purposes. Dude is such an ass. Phew. I feel better for having gotten that off my chest.

Why Can’t I?: The version on my playlist is acoustic from some iTunes session. This is a great song about having a crush, probably one of my favorites, and it helped me get over that aforementioned breakup. The way she sings “Here we go we’re at the beginning. We haven’t done it yet, but my head’s spinning” perfectly captures that pre-sex stage of a relationship.

From “Somebody’s Miracle”

This is probably my least favorite of Liz’s oeuvre. I don’t mind poppy Liz, but boring poppy Liz? Not my thing. This album doesn’t do much for me at all. However, I do like one particular song.

Got My Own Thing: I like this song because it feels to me Liz has come to terms with what it means to be Liz Phair, the voice of some many Gen X women and the pin-up girl to so many men who don’t really understand what she says but like it when pretty girls say fuck. Those dudes suck.

From “Funstyle”

This was that weird-o basement tape sort of record Liz put out a few years back. It’s bizarre.
Bollywood: This one makes the list more for what it says than what it sounds like it. Basically, it’s about getting the rights back to the songs on “Exile.” I can only imagine how empowering that would have been.

Random Cover Song

Mother’s Little Helper: Liz Phair covering The Rolling Stones. Enough said.

The post Greatest Hits According to Me: Liz Phair, in honor of her birthday appeared first on I Will Dare.

Because the main character in the longish fiction piece I’m working on is a female rockstar, I’ve spent a lot of time trying to listen to women who sing. Now, I like a lot of female singers. Love a lot of them, even. But my ear’s internal bias seems to be toward the male voice, which makes me kind of sad. My last.fm is a ridiculous sausage fest, with Liz Phair the only woman in the Top 10. Then you have to scroll for a fortnight until you find Lucinda Williams at 23, Tegan and Sara at 32 and finally Neko at 35.

Oh, the shame. So much shame. But, now that I realize the problem I can remedy it. And in doing that I’ve spent a lot of time this week ping ponging between Stevie Nicks and Neko Case.

Neko came into my life through The New Pornographers, who came into my life because of Sonja, a woman I worked with at the little software company on the prairie. One day in like 2003 Sonja was all “Do you like The New Pornographers?” And I was all, “the wha?” And she sent me a bunch of MP3s. About 32 seconds into “Mass Romantic” I was all in.

From there I spiralled into a deep and consuming love affair with Neko Case’s voice. She is the most fun to sing along with — all belty and torch songy. So delicious. Now, because I am super fancy like that, you can listen to Neko Case’s Greatest Hits According to Me on Spotify. Look at this old dog learning new tricks.

From The Virginian

Lonely Old Lies: In the making of this list, this song won a very hard-fought battle over “Polar Nettles” off of “Middle Cyclone.” If you don’t remember I set up the arbitrary rule where each Greatest Hits comp can only have fifteen songs. While I don’t want to say the song won only because it’s the sole representative off of Neko’s first album, but it kind of did.

Furnace Room Lullaby

Set Out Running: “If I new heartbreak was coming, I would’ve set out running.” Damn, wouldn’t we all? Probably, but we shouldn’t. Some heartbreak is worth it, but even so that lyric is fabulous. “I just can’t shake this feeling that I’m nothing in our eyes.” OH, Neko. I know, I know that feeling all too well.

Guided By Wire: I said this yesterday and it still holds true today: “Guided by Wire” is my favorite Neko Case song. Each line of the song just gets me at the very center of my bloody heart where emotional truth lives. “But I owe much to the nameless and all the surrogates. Those who’re singing my life back to me.” I could quote every single line and explain with words and exclamation points the perfectness and what it means to me. I will spare you that. However, I will remind you that for many iterations the tagline to this very site was “Life is not a constant thing, it’s only made of short stories.” That’s until I stole the Soul Asylum lyric.

Mood to Burn Bridges: I love the sassy, fuck offness of this one telling people to tuck away their moral advice. Nice.

Furnace Room Lullaby: I could listen to the first 20 seconds of this song over and over and over again until my head fell off. Neko’s voice and just those two strums of guitar. Gah!

Blacklisted

Deep Red Bells: “And tastes like being poor and small. And popsicles in the summer.”

I Wish I was the Moon Tonight: We all get a little sad & lonely sometimes, right? Neko’s sad and lonely is lovelier than mine.

Runnin’ Out of Fools: There are some songs that you hear and you’re like “God Damn, did they write that about me?” Then you realize of course they didn’t because they don’t even know you. But that doesn’t even matter because it’s kind of comforting to know you aren’t the only one. “Now you wanna break my heart twice? Is that why you got in touch with me? Oh, guess you must be runnin’ out of fools.”

The Tigers Have Spoken

The Tigers Have Spoken: I really like the metaphor of the tiger on his chain and going crazy walking in circles. Also, tigers.

Train from Kansas City: I always like to include a cover song on these imaginary greatest hits comps. I thought about going with Neko’s cover of “Christmas Card from a Hooker in Minneapolis” because, it’s Tom Waits. At the last minutes I went with this one because it’s from the female point of view. Also, I love the line “I’ll be back in the time it takes to break a heart.”

Fox Confessor Brings the Flood

Margaret vs. Pauline: The imagery in this one is so wonderful. Girl with parking lot eyes, jaws aching with wanting, love steams like rage. . .

John Saw That Number: My religious education mostly consists of the Catholicism that leaked onto me from my extended family, many viewings of “Jesus Christ Superstar” and whatever I gleaned from that Christopher Moore book. Still, I like tall the holy, holy and lord of this one.

Maybe Sparrow: I really like the violin at the beginning of this one.

Middle Cylcone

This Tornado Loves You: I was terrified of tornadoes as a kid. It was a fear passed down from my Grammu to my mom to me and was only exacerbated by love of “The Wizard of Oz.” At the same time, my fondest memory of my Grandpa St. Martin who died when I was like ten, involves tornado warnings and basements and that reassuring warmth of someone who loves you sacrificing their own comfort so you feel safe. This was a feeling that was sorely lacking in my childhood. This song reminds me of my Grandpa forsaking sleep to sit in a basement during a thunderstorm.

People Got a Lotta Nerve: This is a great song we don’t need to argue that, but I love this song, much like the one above, for the memory it invokes. This time it involves my friend Wolfdogg playing this song on my guitar at a Rock & Roll Bookclub a few years ago. While he played his beautiful daughter Delilah sang. It was touching and awesome and all the things I love about my bookclub.

UPDATE: Emily Lloyd pointed me at this beautiful cover of Neko’s “Star Witness” and it’s so amazing I had to tack it on the end here.

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