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Ray LaMontagne
“Jolene”
Trouble (2003)

Ray Lamontagne has one of those voices. It’s impossible for me to dislike anything he does. There’s something very honest about him. He is untouched, pure. He hasn’t been moulded into another one of those heartbroken crooners and it’s that raw magic that makes him so special. I knew for definite that I wanted to put him first on my list. It was originally a toss-up between this and “Burn” but I decided that this song reigned simply because it read as a beautiful story. It captures Ray’s life journey in a very real, poignant manner. That’s the beauty of it too - because it is so genuine, it’s easy to transcribe some facet of your life into some element of the song because at bottom, it's about having gone through some rough, confusing, and lonely times in life.

Cocaine flame in my bloodstream / Sold my coat when I hit Spokane / Bought myself a hard pack of cigarettes in the early morning rain / Lately my hands they don't feel like mine / My eyes been stung with dust and blind / Held you in my arms one time / Lost you just the same




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Sam Cooke
“That’s Where It’s At”
Portrait of a Legend 1951-1964 (2003)

I don’t know how much can be said about this song. It’s so wonderfully simple. Proof that love songs don’t have to be complicated or cringe-worthy. It reminds me of The Beatle’s “I Want To Hold Your Hand” in a sense, because it’s about a moment. Just one moment, whereas most bands write about sex and pain and the hardships of love… this song, it’s perfect, it’s easy, it’s effortless. No strings attached… I love you now, I don’t know what will happen tomorrow and I don’t care about what happened yesterday love.

Your world turned upside down / You're making not a sound / No one else around / That's where it's at, yeah / Let me tell you / Your heart beating fast / You're knowing that time will pass / But hoping that it lasts / That's where it's at




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Coheed and Cambria
“Delirium Trigger”
The Second Stage Turbine Blade (2005)

This is very different from the previous two. There’s dispute as to whether this song was written as part of The Amory Wars (a series of science fiction comics written by Claudio Sanchez) or not. I’ve read that it’s about Coheed being injected with a virus and the panic following and I’ve also read more personal meanings behind it but I guess the whole reason I love it is because it builds up this great energy and in the last minute, it just explodes. It’s absolutely brilliant.

Oh dear God, I don't feel alive when you're cut short of misery / Will you pray it be the end? Give a look surprise wide eyed to me / Then you'll know just what I am / The scare that triggers your fear / Come know me in a different light, come know me as God



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R.E.M.
“Daysleeper”
Up (1997)

I see this as a song about dehumanisation. It’s about someone who is tired of life, the over industrialisation and the loneliness of it all. Although it’s relatively upbeat, there’s a darkness (“headache grey”) to it. Strangely enough, it’s a song that makes me happy. There is a light music behind it and a big contrast. You could pick the lyrics out and create one of the saddest songs in the world. Perhaps the music conveys a sense of acceptance?

I see today with a newsprint fray / My night is colored headache grey / Don't wake me with so much / The ocean machine is set to 9 / I'll squeeze into heaven and valentine / My bed is pulling me / Gravity / Daysleeper



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Counting Crows
“Anna Begins”
August & Everything After (1993)

I once saw an acoustic version of this song on a list of the 100 Saddest Songs of All Time. I was confused because I had always thought it was incredibly romantic. Now I look back and I don’t think I was really listening to it because as beautifully romantic as it is, it’s very dark. There’s a gentle sadness behind Adam Duritz’s words. I remember watching their Across A Wire - Live From New York DVD and hearing him explain the feeling of emotional instability, avoiding the unavoidable… the inevitable end of a relationship. There is so much love in this song (“I should snap her up in a butterfly net pin her down on a photograph album”, “Every time she sneezes I believe it’s love”) but repetition of words like “can’t” and “not” leave a dim, somber tone behind Adam’s words.

The time when kindness falls like rain / It washes me away and Anna begins to change my mind / And everytime she sneezes I believe it's love and / Oh lord, I'm not ready for this sort of thing / She's talking in her sleep / It's keeping me awake and Anna begins to toss and turn / And every word is nonsense but I understand



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Fiona Apple (with Elvis Costello)
I Want You (live)
Decades Rock Live (2006)

A song about overwhelming lust… obsession even. It's both creepy and sexy. The reason I chose Fiona Apple’s cover over Elvis Costello’s is simple… I think she sings it better. I absolutely love the original but the way her voice shivers, the emotion, the way she almost wails certain lines… it’s intense. She expresses Costello’s lyrics in a way that creates the most incredible air of terminal and fatal passion. The amount of times I have watched and rewatched this video on you tube is almost embarrassing, but damn, it’s powerful.
I want you / It's the stupid details that my heart is breaking for / It's the way your shoulders shake / And what they're shaking for / I want you / It's knowing that she knows you now / After only guessing / It's the thought of her undressing you / Or you undressing / I want you / She tossed some tatty compliment your way / I want you / And you were fool enough to love it / When she said "I want you"



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mewithoutYou
“Gentlemen”
[A-->B] Life (2002)

This song is all about the build-ups and the break-downs... The bass and then the silence, the crashing cymbals and heavy guitar... It’s crazy and angry and eccentric. Weiss‘ yells are fantastic, but the most arresting and powerful moment is when all is quiet and he murmurs "you'd better be alone". Although he admittedly hates this song because it’s so full of hatred and resentment, it’s my favourite. It’s taunting and expressive and undeniably vicious.

We never met, you and I / We were always inside / We were somewhere inside one another / And I'll live without you, love / But what good is one glove without the other? / You only ask about my leaving / Well honey I had no choice / So I call and / (When you hear that heavy breathing) / For that sound of your voice



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Eddie Vedder
“Guaranteed”
Into the Wild (2007)

A song generally about freedom. This song embodies a man's struggle to go back to the simplest way of life. Going back to basics is knowing the freedom that we have in life. The fast paced guitar creates a sense of movement and progress and compliments Vedder’s calm but firm tone. “Guaranteed” is the outlook on life that Chris Mcandless had in when he ventured into the wild. In this case, the song and the movie go hand-in-hand. The great thing about it is that it also manages to touch on the one glitch in Chris' philosophy, the missing link he did not understand until, devastatingly, the end of his life: happiness is only real when shared.

Everyone I come across in cages they bought / they think of me and my wandering / but I'm never what they thought / got my indignation but I'm pure in all my thoughts / I'm alive... / Wind in my hair, I feel part of everywhere / underneath my being is a road that disappeared / late at night I hear the trees / they're singing with the dead / overhead...

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