I love great songs, but I don't usually make lists of "best this" etc. However, I am coming up on my 31st anniversary in the show business, and my 19th as a recording artist (Fallen Hand Of Love came out 11/92). So I figure this is as good a time as any to reflect on what has lived with me the most in the world of songs during these 19 years.
10. Wayne Hancock -- "Thunderstorms And Neon Signs"
I saw him do this in a play called Chippie, which featured Joe Ely, Terry Allen, and Joe Ely, back I guess in 94 or so, and it ripped me open. I went back a few times, and it was the show-stopper in a play made up of notable songs. Wayne was at that point a comparative unknown, but he was the moment in that show, and this song was the star.
9. Chris Gaffney -- "The Man Of Somebody's Dreams"
Gaffney's Loser's Paradise album is a sad reminder of what an immense talent we lost a few years back. Probably Dave Alvin's best work as a producer, too. This song was in some ways Gaffney's ultimate moment, not least of all because it was his most perfect "tough guy/soft heart" moment, and because he was the most powerful quiet singer you could imagine, Peter Rowan notwithstanding.
8. Richard Thompson -- "Cooksferry Queen"
Lotsa guys write songs about being a musician, but this is the one. And the line "The people speak my name in whispers/What higher praise could there be?" is an unbeatable line.
7. Dave Alvin -- "From A Kitchen Table"
It's hard to imagine anything better than Dave when he has his fastball. Despite the public favorites being his big anthems, he has always really been his best and most human when he writes small, from "Border Radio" to "Leaving" and on out, his most real moments are when he's up close and personal. This is in my mind his best song, certainly his most compassionate and well-told. Chokes me up, even now.
6. Van Dyke Parks -- "Orange Crate Art"
This is pulled from the Brian doc I Just Wasn't Made For These Times, where a great many rock persons were talking about all this beautiful music Brian had in him. When the film got to this song, it seemed to say "like what Van Dyke writes". "Orange Crate Art" is an art song in the sense of what classical composers recognize, a pop song of a very high order, and a truly loving and lovely piece of Californiana on par with any. While Van Dyke's gifts can oftenbe elusive as they are formidable (and boy are they), "OCA" distills the very best of a very beautiful musical mind.
5. Steve Earle -- "Texas Eagle"
I might think Steve Earle is the most overrated songwriter since Gram Parsons. That said, "Texas Eagle" is a shot of true greatness. He's written a three chord song about something he truly understands and feels strongly about, and it's a tape measure grand slam that won the series. The Del McCoury band is eating this with a spoon, too. If he could be at his best as often as, say, Dave Alvin or Graham Parker, I'd be devoted. That said, you only have to be this good once to have been this good.
4. Tom Waits -- "I Don't Wanna Grow Up"
Not every real emotion is attatched to romantic love or the Springsteen-esque working class. At the risk of sounding corny as hell, for all the acclaim attatched rightfully to Rain Dogs, this song is profound. The idea of a kid laying in bed and listening to his parents arguing and going through it all in his head... Pretty much as good as it gets.
3. Nick Lowe -- "I Trained Her To Love Me"
Nick's ascendancy as the greatest songwriter of the post-Pistols world (even if he was pre-Pistols) seems to have started with 1994's The Impossible Bird, specifically with "The Beast In Me", which is as perfect a song as any, but I kind of prefer this one as an example specimen, because it has everything -- perfect pop melody and hook, dark evil lyric, and an overall sensibility that can;t be described, except to say that it might be the intelligent person's answer to "To All The Girls I Loved", which goes down in history as the worst lyric ever written by the greatest lyricist of a generation, the otherwise unimpeachable Hal David.
2. Bob Dylan -- "Mississippi"
Bob Dylan has never not mattered. These last few albums have given us a handful of his best songs, and picking one is nearly impossible. But few have been as mythical as "Mississippi", which is actually about me and this girl from AZ I knew. I know Bob didn;t really write it about me and her, but he write it about me and her.
1. Randy Newman -- "Losing You"
I'd have to give Randy Newman the ultimate nod, the way I give it to Roger Miller or Johnny Mercer. He's a songwriter in the classical sense, and -- like far too few of the post-Dylan luminaries -- his songwriting takes in the full range of life, and not just one segment. He has been at turns mean, funny, romantic, philosophical, loser-ly, etc -- and he's always been the right guy for the job. Again, as with Dave Alvin, his most affecting moments are when he takes a turn to the small. "Losing You" is for me the most powerful thing I've heard in so many years, and it explains why I'm a lifelong advocate of the guy.
PS Honorable mention to Big Sandy for "Between Darkness and Dawn", Stan Ridgway for "Fork Lift", and the late, great Walter Hyatt for "Where The Blue Begins".
