Broken Wing

Top ten songs of the year 2005

At the end of every year, many bloggers make "Best of" lists. Now that it's the beginning of 2006, I'm a little behind the trend, but that is not a rare occurrence, as one look at my drawer full of Zubaz makes clear. When I had the idea to make a ten best songs of 2005 list, I was conflicted. On the one hand, every entry that I write is genius and will undoubtedly be loved by all of my adoring readers. On the other hand, I don't like my blog to include any serious facts or opinions, so it could be too much of a stretch for me to tell you what songs I actually like. So, to compensate, and to avoid redundancy, I've tried to include in every entry a hilarious new way to say "awesome". I'm not sure I'll actually get to 10, but here's what I got:

1. Sufjan Stevens - Casimir Pulaski Day - Illinois - After all the hype this album got, I can't believe it took me so long to check it out. But I did, and this song is the best of the bunch. The harmonies in this song are so uplifting, it's like you're getting a hand-job from an angel.
2. The Stars - Calendar Girl - Set Yourself on Fire - This is one song on the CD where the female singer in the group takes over, and the results are write-home-aboutable. So, take that, everybody who said that females were only good for cooking, cleaning, drumming, and playing the President of the USA on a fictional television series.
3. Some By Sea - Never Climb a Mountain Backwards - The Saddest Christmas EP - This up-and-coming all over your face west-coast band really blew me with this last release. Stay in and buy it now! Or at least go listen to it! I mean on the Internet!
4. Fiona Apple - Extraordinary Machine - Extraordinary Machine - After a long wait, Sony allowed Fiona Apple to release her third studio album, and I was able to end my asphyxiation strike. That's right, some pussies (cough! Gandhi cough!) stop eating to prove a point, well motherfucker I stopped breathing! So it's no small compliment when I tell you that this song left me breathful.
5. Decemberists - The Mariner's Revenge Song - Picaresque - This epic 8+ minute tale of sorrow and vengeance is just one of many memorable tracks from the Decemberists latest album. You can almost feel the ship swaying in the waves and the spray of the ocean mist on your face, until you wake up and realize you've passed out in the bathtub with the shower on again.
6. Bright Eyes - First Day Of My Life - I'm Wide Awake, It's Morning - This poignant love song was accompanied by a heart-warming video showing loving couples listening to the song together. Some of them were gay! How novel! If you are in a happy relationship, hearing this song will make your heart swell with warm emotions for your lover. If you are not in a relationship, this song will push you into a dark, dark, depression until you put your Decemberists record back on and resume your one-man pirate opera.
7. Hot Hot Heat - Goodnight, Goodnight - Elevators - Sure, it's short enough that if you sneeze during the record you'll miss it, but this song is everything the parents of dance-punk could have hoped for when dance-punk was just a bratty high school freshman wearing eyeliner and a spiked choker necklace.
8. Fall Out Boy - Dance, Dance - From Under the Cork Tree - Okay, I'm a little embarrassed to even own a Fall Out Boy record, let alone tell people about my love for one of their songs. But this song is more fun than a rabid cougar and it won't do as much damage to your shower products!
9. Joanna Newsom - Inflammatory Writ - The Milk-Eyed Mender - When I showed my sister and her friend Nick my Joanna Newsom desktop background image, I explained that she was my "celebrity crush," and Nick said, "I think you could probably get her." So Joanna, if you happened to Google yourself (and I mean that in a non-sexual way), and found this blog posting, I am available and interested (24/M/Minneapolis). Anyways, usually when I fall in love with a new band, I can't believe that everybody else doesn't also love that band. But Newsom's music is somewhat avant garde, and most of you lovable oafs and blundering idiots wouldn't get it. But this song, I think everybody in the world should love, and make into your ringtone. DO IT!
10. Sondre Lerche - Track You Down - Two Way Monologue - It's hard to pick the one song on this Swedish crooner's second CD that I loved the most, but I'll go with this one. If you are having company over that you would like to become intimate with, and are looking for something a little more subtle than Barry White or "Let's Get It On," this song would be a good starting point. I guess it does have kind of a stalker-sounding title though, so don't be like, "This song is about what I would do if you ever tried to leave me." I'm not sure, because I never did any kind of lyrical exegesis of the song, but I don't think it's about hardcore after-school-special-style stalking.

Posted by mill1991 at January 5, 2006 11:29 PM | TrackBack