The Best Song of 2007

Ladies and Gentlemen,

I present to you my favorite song of 2007.

But first, before the big reveal let me tell you a little bit about how this song hit me. I am working man. I have a credit card and bills and a drinking habit and a going to movies habit and a buying things habit and a fixing gear necessity and a van that gets 13 miles to the gallon. What I’m trying to say is I need money, and I work for it occasionally. Half of my income comes from playing acoustic shows, some of my friends can’t stand it, I love it. It usually pays well, I don’t play anything I don’t genuinely enjoy, I meet some interesting people that I will never see again and I get free beer and food sometimes, not a bad “gig”.

I also work at a hipster retail outlet that shall remain nameless, though you could probably easily guess the establishment by the end of this blog… there is no prize. It’s a really easy job and I’m pretty good at it: folding shirts, telling people they look awesome, being friendly and whatnot. But, it is not music. It in no way helps me with music other than financially and I am rarely inspired if I am anywhere near fluorescent lighting. However, sometimes I get to pick the music that plays in the store. There were three CDs delivered to the store this year that I loved and about 40 that I hated. Mainly dancy electro sass pop that sounded English but probably wasn’t.

Anyways, the first cd I put in was the new one by Spoon, gagaggagagagaga, something like that. It is fantastic as their discs always are and I was so happy to see them perform “the underdog” on SNL this year, definitely one of my favorite songs this year… but not THE one!

After that I pop in “Cease to Begin” by Band of Horses. I had heard their name tossed around a lot which usually means the cd will inevitably be “too indie for its own good”. However, they are indeed “the real deal”. This cd slowly slipped into my subconscious and some of the songs are nothing short of classic solid songwriting. There’s one called “no one’s gonna love you more than I do” that could (and should) be covered for years to come. It is a beautiful ballad; maybe if Robbie Williams belts it out it will catch fire across the globe.

Finally, I put in Wilco’s “Sky Blue Sky”. This cd didn’t catch me as immediately as their others had. Being There is still one of my all time favorites and probably will be my go to road music for years to come. Jacob “the Snakob” had the tunes on his ipod for one of our trips to West Palm and I remember digging the guitars but none of the songs really caught me the songs like “She’s a Jar”, “California Stars” and “Outtasite (Outtamind)” did before.

About three or four months ago I was pretty low. Low on fuel both literally and figuratively, low on inspiration, low on cash, lowlowlow. I wrote somewhere around 35-45 songs last year, some of them are pretty good, but every time I picked up a guitar after around August it felt like I had played a certain chord too many times, played it a certain way too many times, sung a similar line too many times. So I was at work folding a stack of ironic t-shirts next to a pile of skinny jeans, adjacent to a hanger of skinny ties (you get the point), and the first chords of Wilco’s “What Light” creep over the stereo system.

They’re chords I’ve played before, it is a structure I’ve played before, it’s at least close to a melody I’ve messed around with… but it’s special this time, it is new and exciting and important. The song is simple, really simple and it sounds like it could have been a cut of off the Basement Tapes, maybe some undiscovered Dylan & the Band collaboration… what’s lower than a basement? The Parking Garage Tapes? And it’s a simple sentiment but it is the most relevant and important statement about art I’ve heard this year and every time I sit down to write I think about its message.

Now here’s something wonderful… if you haven’t heard this song you can download it at the Wilco myspace, for free… myspace.com/wilco

If you’re a musician, a writer, an artist in any sense of the word, I hope this song hits you the way it hit me.

In closing, it ain’t worth it if you don’t mean it. Amen.

WILCO
“What Light”

If you feel like singing a song
And you want other people to sing along
Just sing what you feel
Don’t let anyone say it’s wrong

And if you’re trying to paint a picture
But you’re not sure which colors belong
Just paint what you see
Don’t let anyone say it’s wrong

And if you’re strung out like a kite
Or stung awake in the night
It’s alright to be frightened

When there’s a light (what light)
There’s a light (one light)
There’s a light (white light)
Inside of you

If you think you might need somebody
To pick you up when you drag
Don’t loose sight of yourself
Don’t let anyone change your bag

And if the whole world’s singing your songs
And all of your paintings have been hung
Just remember what was yours is everyone’s from now on

And that’s not wrong or right
But you can struggle with it all you like
You’ll only get uptight

Because there’s a light (what light)
There’s a light (one light)
There’s a light (white light)
There’s a light (what light)
Inside of you