Song recording of the year
1) Get Over It - OK Go
The underlying song has an outstanding power pop melody. The lyrical viewpoint of the song is bracing rather than saccharine or whiny. This may be the best song that Ray Davies never wrote.
2) We Are Going to Be Friends - White Stripes
They dropped a clean, pretty, quiet schoolyard love story in the middle of all the alternative rock. It's a tender and catchy tune. The lyrics are pure but direct and simple poetry. And unlike many modern pop records, this song is entirely appropriate for even very young children.
3) Makes You Feel That Way - Blackalicious
There's actually some songwriting under this deal. It may be the most uplifting rap record you'll ever hear. One funny thing about most rap: despite being so overwhelmingly about words, the big majority of rap lyrics are exceedingly redundant and stupid. Besides having a tune, these words are actually imaginative and poetic. They even read good on the page.
4) Hate to Say I Told You So - The Hives
This recording gives you the best of a couple of worlds: the shrieking abandon of good old fashioned punk rock- along with the skillfully sculpted songwriting very few punk acts ever achieved.
5) When I Was Cruel No. 2 - Elvis Costello
Long, slow trip hop electronic groovery in the classic title song of his latest album sets up long and twisted but memorable melodic phrases. The whole thing throbs with an involuntary empathy for just the type of petty scheming entertainment industry jackasses whom he has classically regarded as his most hated enemies throughout his career. "Things were so much easier when I was cruel."
6) Hot in Herre - Nelly
Doggone, but there's a smooth, catchy tune running under this dance floor monster. Those spare guitar chords cast some nice harmonic accents into the rhythm. Also, he sets up a really classic image leading to the best lyrical hook of his career, describing the girl dancing in front of her mirror at home, talking to her girlfriend on the phone, declaring "I think my butt's getting big."
![Chicago: Live in Concert [Blu-ray] Starring Robert Lamm, Lee Loughnane, James Pankow, et al. (Nov 1, 2011)](http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/5198vHFv5UL._AA115_.jpg)
Article comments
1 - Bill Sherman
Good list, Al: clearly, you've been in a Critiquee frame o' mind.
Me, I think the Earle song (not the best on the album, to my ears, but there-ya-go) is part of a folk tradition: songs told from the perspective of a real-life outlaw (as opposed to some country poseur claiming to be an "outlaw.") I find the song pretty matter-of-fact in its presentation - perhaps too much to be really challenging - but hardly the unpatriotic screed many of its critics claimed it was before they'd even heard it.