Song of the month May 2016

“Let me Roll It”
Paul McCartney
When Sir Paul visited in April, David Greenwald put together a list of 15 of McCartney’s best songs since the Beatles.  I’d always thought of myself as a “Paul”, but as I listened my way through the list it became apparent that I’m actually a “John”.  His counter-culture weirdness has always bugged me, but I think I like his music better.

The one Paul song on the list I felt compelled to buy, was described by Mr. Greenwald as “a very John Lennon song.”  Huh.

“Unbelievers”
Vampire Weekend
I was thinking I didn’t have any songs for this month, and decided to go back to the unbought archive and add this one.  Then I noticed I had already picked out the above song, but decided to buy this one anyway.

I love how this song came together.  The hammond-style organ sound with the tom drum plus the lyrics are a winner.  Also, I can play it on the piano!

Rolling around my head this month:
“Jamie All Over”
Mayday Parade
Years ago, someone who was briefly my friend on Facebook put up a post in June with a picture of evening sky and text that said, “Let’s put a 10 on the high card, and spend the summer on the West Coast.”  Intrigued by the sentiment, I googled it to see just what it was.  It turned out to be a line from this song.  My wonderful library soon provided me with the album.  It’s a great album, and the band has a habit of naming their songs not-obvious things.  Sometimes they are funny, such as “I’d Hate to be You When People Find Out What This Song is About.”

But this song is my favorite on the album.  I love that it’s a duet–which is rare in this genre–and that the band sounds like they are having an incredible time when they recorded it.  I love that they lyrics aren’t entirely clear on first (or second, or even third) listen.  I love that it captures that freedom of early adulthood and saves it for me, who has long left that stage behind me. It’s good I like it so much, because it’s terribly catchy and gets stuck in my head for days.