I Have To Be Crazy to Ever Think Someone Could Love a Nobody Like Me

Everybody wants to be somebody's somethin'.




“All My Life,” Steve Earle
A song from 2000’s Transcendental Blues. Steve Earle is one of my heroes. There aren’t many artists who have the testicular fortitude to write a song in the voice of John Walker Lindh, the so-called “American Taliban” (“John Walker’s Blues”) or bust a lusty move on the Secretary of State (“Condi, Condi”). Robert Chalmers profiled Earle last summer in the British newspaper, The Independent, with the provocative headline “Is Steve Earle America’s Greatest Living Songwriter?” I don’t know if he’s the greatest. He’s certainly the bravest. Here he is as Waylon on the greatest TV drama in the history of TV dramas, The Wire.

“Trying to Explain,” Matt Elliott
First operating under the name The Third Eye Foundation, Matt Elliott is a musician who has relied heavily on sampled sounds and drum and bass rhythms to create his atmospheric sound. This is an instrumental interlude from his 2005 album Drinking Songs, put out on the Ici Dailleurs imprint.

“We Don’t Need,” Daby Toure
This lovely tune is from Stereo Spirit, which made my year-end list of stand-out albums from foreign born artists. Toure (no relation to Ali Farka and Vieux Farka) is Mauritanian. The album showcases his love for Western style song-writing while still maintaining that West African lilt that I love so well.

“Priests Knees,” Destroyer
Just what is a “west-coast maximalist” anyway? The usually media-shy Dan Bejar did this surprisingly revealing interview for Exclaim! during the run-up to the release of Destroyer’s Rubies. I love his quirky pop sensibility and I admit, whenever a New Pornographers album comes out, I listen to his songs first. Two parts Bowie, one part Al Stewart? I don’t know if Bejar is into doing covers but “Year of the Cat,” Destroyer-style, absolutely needs to happen. Look for a new Destroyer album this spring.

“Just As I Am,” The “5” Royales
One of the early R&B and doo-wop groups, this quintet were huge hitmakers. The thing was, though, they made hits for other people. James Brown, Aretha Franklin, the Shirelles, and the Mamas & the Papas all recorded tremendously popular versions of the band’s songs. Lowman Pauling, the main songwriter and lead guitarist, also inspired a generation of blues-rock guitarists with his fiery guitar work.