Song o' the Month: January 2009

Every January, I discover a song that I am sad to have left off my mix of the best songs of the previous year. And this year's winner is Matt Mays & El Torpedo's "Building A Boat":



"I'll bring all my Roy Orbison tapes." Nice.

Song o' the Month: December 2008

Because a good song'll make you laugh and cry, here's Hayes Carll's unreleased (but available here) "I'm Grateful for Christmas This Year" (it starts at 3:00):

Song o' the Month: November 2008

Sometimes it takes a little bit before a song gets to you, particularly when it's on an album with some tracks you focused on nonstop for a few months. Such is the case with November's Song o' the Month, Kathleen Edwards's "Scared At Night" (from the stupendous "Asking for Flowers," which you oughta own). I prefer the album track, with its keening steel guitar, but that aint on YouTube and this is:



And in case you miss the lyrics due to the recording quality, here you go:


As a child I would wake at night
I was scared, but I kept real quiet
Shadows on the walls moving in on me
Underneath my sheets I could barely breathe
Your room was only just across the hall
All it would have taken was a single call
Maybe sometimes you've got to trust yourself
Not to scream out loud and run like hell

Believe me
All the days you're unsure
Believe in me
I don't want to anymore
In the dark
Picture me in your mind
And I'll lay with you
You don't have to be scared at night

As a young man you were shooting rats
By accident you hit the farmyard cat
He ran for the fields and
came back the next day
You had blown out his eye
and you could see his brain
Your dad said "Boy, there are some things in life.
You don't want to do but you know is right.
So take him out back and finish him off."
You got your gun off the shelf
it only took one shot

Believe me
All the days you're unsure
Believe in me
I don't want to anymore
In the dark
Picture me in your mind
And I'll lay with you
So you don't have to be scared at night

I flew to Winnipeg on your final day
They said that you waited until I came
We sang your favorite hymns
and we held your hand
You took your final breath and that was that
But I'd never seen a person die before
I tried so hard not to cry, you know
Maybe sometimes we've got to trust ourselves
That when you die you go someplace else

Believe me
All the days you're unsure
Believe in me
I don't want to anymore
In the dark
Picture me in your mind
And I'll lay with you
So you don't have to be scared at night
You don't have to be scared at night
You don't have to be scared at night

Song o' the Month: October 2008

Charlie Louvin's "See The Big Man Cry" (written by Ed Bruce):



It would be horribly cliched to say they don't write songs like that anymore. It would also be true.

The song had already been in my head before seeing Mr. Louvin in concert twice last week, but now it is firmly lodged in my brain and will likely remain there for the rest of the month, maybe longer.

By the way, this is the best stage banter from Mr. Louvin from the two shows (this was from the Banjo Jim's show and is likely slightly paraphrased, but it captures the spirit of the thing):

[Spoken to an older woman with very blond hair] "Say, you remind me of my wife. What color are you on now? My wife asked me if I would love her when she went gray, and I told her, 'Well, I've loved you through about 40 other colors, so I reckon I'd be OK with that one.'"

Gotta love Charlie Louvin.

The Tinsel and Rot Sirius Stiletto Top 20: DISCONTINUED

Because my Stiletto is continuing its slow descent into a worthless piece of crap and Sirius customer service has done its best not to help me, Tinsel and Rot must call an end to the Top 20. In its place, we present the Song o' the Month for September 2008, Luke Doucet's "Broken One."