Burnside’s Best Songs of 2006

Okay, you got me…this is actually just my favorite songs of 2006, but the music side of Burnside is very close to my heart, and before I give it over to the able hands of Bob Ham, I had to have one last mix to throw in there. These are the songs I listened to over and over this year, especially my favorite song of the year, which iTunes shows I listened to 54 times, and that’s not counting the fact it was in my car CD player most of the year.

This mix is available (with one major exception) on iTunes. In the iMix section, search for “burnside collective” and it should show up.

1. “The Greatest”, Cat Power. “The Greatest” is a calm opener, with Chan Marshall’s husky voice riding in on drum brushes and that big grand piano sound. The lyrics a big sticking point here: “Once I wanted to be the greatest/No wind or waterfall could stop me.” The song has a universal feel; it’s about anything to the listener, but something specific and mighty to Marshall.

2. “Here’s Your Future”, The Thermals. We’ve gotta kick into 5th gear at some point, so it might as well be now. A song summing up the Bible in two minutes and twenty-eight seconds had better kick off with an organ hum. The Thermals may be wrapping the Bible up in less-than-shiny phrases, but they get it pretty right, which is tough to get past.

3. “Star Witness”, Neko Case. There’s a transcendent moment in this song, about a minute in, where Neko sings “Nickels and dimes of the Fourth of July/Roll off in a crooked line/To the chain link lots where the red-tails dive/Oh how I forgot what it’s like” and I just feel like folding four times over in shame at something so beautiful. This, my friends, is the best song of the year, mixed with dread and Pacific Northwestern melancholy, and we’ve got Neko Case singing it into our ears.

4. “John Saw That Number”, Neko Case. We’re keeping Neko’s songs packed together, and while the second track isn’t on the level of the first, “John Saw That Number” is the best song I can think of based on the Book of Revelation, and it’s still one of the great songs released this year.

5. “Rough Gem”, Islands. The movie “Blood Diamond” makes me wonder if this is about the diamond trade, but it’s a trippy little tune I view as the only bright spot during a stay in a crap hotel room in Toronto, Ontario. The people in that city were great, though. I love Canadians, bad food and all. “Can you cut/I can cut/’Cause I’m a rough gem!”

6. “Weed Party”, Band of Horses. I’m not sure what kind of crazy party this might be, but the soundtrack is great.

7. “Roscoe”, Midlake. I’m sucker for weird turns of phrase, and “Roscoe” does the job with Midlake sings “Whenever I was a child/I wondered what if my name had changed/Into something more productive/Like Roscoe”. My high school years were packed with Fleetwood Mac, and hearing a band emulate the dysfunction of Stevie, Mick, Lindsay, Christine and John brings some strange warmth to my heart.

8. “Lloyd, I’m Ready to Be Heartbroken”, Camera Obscura. A friend of mine called this ‘the soundtrack of her Summer’, and I can see why. This song has one of those melodies you swear you’ve heard before, and when you realize you haven’t, you wonder why no one ever came up with it until now.

9. “South Town Girls”, The Hold Steady. This song seems a bit out of place on Boys and Girls in America, but it also rocks the socks off of anyone who comes near. Don’t ask me explain what the song’s about, because I don’t know, and I don’t want to know. It doesn’t matter, because this is “South Town Girls”’ hook will bring you back.

10. “Returning To The Fold”, The Thermals. The best song off The Body, The Blood, The Machine. I turn it up every time, especially in the part when Hutch Harris shouts “I regret leaving it all/I forgot needed God like a Big Brother,” because there’s hope in that shout, even laced with sarcasm.

11. “God Only Knows”, Petra Haden. In the mid-80’s, our family drove to Huxley, Alberta for a family reunion, and I listened to the Beach Boys the whole way. 20 years later, I’m back on the wagon, and Haden’s stunning cover, using only her voice for every instrumental part, should’ve been the theme for “Big Love”. This is the second best song of the year, and you won’t find it at iTunes. Fortunately, you can download it for free on Petra Haden’s website. Thank me later.

12. “For Your Eyes”, Micah P. Hinson. There’s something about the guitar riff in this that parks itself in my head, but I never mind.

13. “Postcards from Italy”, Beirut. In keeping with the theme mentioned above, the horn break and outro from Zach Condon’s standout track scatters in and you can’t help but sing along…not the lyrics, mind you, just the horns.

14. “Come Thou Fount of Every Blessing”, Sufjan Stevens. I know this is on a Christmas album, but I don’t think of this hymn as a Christmas song, and Sufjan’s rendition is glacially beautifully all year round. The writer, Robert Robinson, penned the hymn when he was 22 years old. I wish worship was like this everywhere. And here’s some information on Robert Robinson.

15. “Sons and Daughters”, The Decemberists. I wrote this before in my review of The Crane Wife, but this song almost has to be about Heaven. Colin Meloy brings literature to each phrase: you can almost taste the cinnamon and catch the sunlight off the aluminum. It’s not yet time for all the bombs to fade away, but I get giddy thinking about it, especially when the whole band comes in together.