My Oh My

There are two reasons that I wouldn't think that the song "My Oh My" is awesome: I've never paid any attention to baseball or Dave Niehaus, and I've never really listened to Macklemore. Those reasons did not do anything to change the simple fact that this song is really fantastic.

It's about growing up in Seattle, and the impact that Niehaus had as the announcer for the Seattle Mariners. Even without it having any bearing on my own life, it's one of the most poignant songs I've heard in a long time.

Best song around right now (part 2)

King of Spain! I've written about this song a little bit before, or at least mentioned it as a good summer song, but right now it really is my favorite. It isn't on my iPod (there's a long post that could be spend describing my incredibly janky iPod, but since it isn't something I actually like, it isn't terribly suited for this blog), so I can't listen to it as much as Come on Mona. All the same, I just picked up the new Tallest Man on Earth album that has this on it, and it's fantastic.

King of Spain, like most of the songs I love, tells a story. It talks about how the singer dreams about being the titular King, and asks the lady who he is singing to - since she can "redefine him" as her lover - to make him as such. He both describes his hypothetically ideal life as the monarch in question and questions her relationship with him.

The song is centered around the singer and his guitar, and the two blend seamlessly. It's really fantastic, a fast and upbeat song that lends itself to a range of interpretations. Go listen to it.

Why do I think "The Way" is the best song ever?

It is a good question. Completely without reservation or regret, I have stuck by this opinion for the last few years, since I pulled the song off on "Now: That's What I Call Music Volume 1". Before that I hadn't heard it since sometime in the late nineties.

My best guess is that it more or less have everything I want in a song:

• The lyrics are catchy
• The lyrics tell a story
• It has a piano (with a very similar riff to "Come on Mona"! Actually, almost exactly the same... Hm.)
• It's got one of the best intros I've heard (a radio switching around)
• No one under 25 has heard of it
• Pretty much everyone has heard it
• It's from a one-hit wonder, so no one will cite a better song
  

Not terribly exhaustive, but that's okay. It's the best song ever.

Summer Songs

I am not good at picking specific music for seasons or weather or whatever. All the same, it's Too Hot here and these are some new-ish songs that don't make me think of how much better life was in the winter:

• King of Spain - Tallest Man on Earth
• Home - Edward Sharpe & the Magnetic Zeros
• Thinkin' Bout Something - Hanson (yes. Hanson. Shutupshutupshutup.)
• Turn Off the Song and Go Outside - The Lonely Forest
• My Life With the Living Dead - The Secret History
• Romance is Boring - Los Campesinos!
• Come on Mona - Mona Reels
• All Y'all - Carcrashlander
• Little King - Casper & the Cookies

Yeah, I've talked about half of these before, but I don't really have any way to get new music.

Besides those, these older songs immediately pop into my head too:

• Float On - Modest Mouse
• Psychic City (Voodoo City) - YACHT
• The Ave - Blue Scholars (full disclosure, I am on or near the Ave 80% of the time that I'm listening to music)
• Nothing to Worry About - Peter, Bjorn & John
• Faster - Dept. of Energy
• This Year - The Mountain Goats

That's all that comes to mind right away. Go outside.

Best song around right now

Off the People In A Position To Know sampler CD (the origins of which I'm going to need to go into in another post) comes a fantastic track from a band I've never heard of. "Come On Mona" by Mona Reels is a bright, almost twee track with a solid piano back. In fact, listening to the song I'm unable to hear any guitar, just the piano and drums, with a few bits of harmony thrown in among the singing. Speaking of the singing, the lyrics are fantastic: "I found her very smart, she said 'you're just too dumb, and that's going to be the only time I tell someone'" is just one of the better bits. Despite a line like that, it's still an incredibly upbeat number. Check it out.

http://www.myspace.com/themonareels