My Favourite 10 Songs

I tend to prefer sing-songwriters over just singers.  I think it's because the words are the most important to me.  Little poems that take a picture of your feelings for a moment in time you want to remember.

Lake Marie by John Prine - John compares a tragic murder on the shore of a hidden lake to a failed marriage. Sad, beautiful with as much unsaid as said.

Desolation Row by Bob Dylan - A 12 minute odyssey through a surreal world and a cast of characters full of Biblical and literary shadows.

Against the Wind by Bob Seger - This is just Bob checking in and letting us know life can be difficult and it's easy to get lost. But he's still at it.

One Good Year by Slaid Cleaves - Wishing for a break, expecting a break some day and in the meanwhile giving his best effort.

One of Us Cannot be Wrong by Leonard Cohen - This outstanding bit of poetry is about a woman. Of course she's a woman of such remarkable beauty that she ruins men.

Metal Firecracker by Lucinda Williams - Lucinda mourns a difficult breakup with a man whom she was very emotionally intimate with and loved like crazy. It evokes a lot of pain.

Mr. Tambourine Man by Bob Dylan - When this song came out it was banned in places because of it's slightly obvious implication that the tambourine man in question sold cannabis.  And maybe a few versus that describe an ecstasy of possible pharmaceutical origin. Regardless the gem of everything Dylan ever wrote is the fourth verse which never got played on the radio: 

Then take me disappearin’ through the smoke rings of my mind
Down the foggy ruins of time, far past the frozen leaves
The haunted, frightened trees, out to the windy beach
Far from the twisted reach of crazy sorrow
Yes, to dance beneath the diamond sky with one hand waving free
Silhouetted by the sea, circled by the circus sands
With all memory and fate driven deep beneath the waves
Let me forget about today until tomorrow 

Ball and Chain by Social Distortion - He wants to be released from the metaphorical ball and chain which he carries around with him everyday. You decide what it's a metaphor for, he's still trying to understand his.

Fields of Gold by Sting - A couple who enjoyed making out in a field of barley so much they eventually married and lived happily ever after.  I like happy endings.

Dreadful Selfish Crime by Robert Earl King - R.E.K. visits his hometown after a long absence and remembers a girlfriend, his band and ponders how it all turned out.  He has an uneasy feeling he coulda and shoulda done more.

A Ride Home by John Mellencamp - Okay this is the 11th, think of it as a bonus.  In reality, it's difficult to pick just 10 cause while I personally believe in them, they're not the only songs so significant you'll want to re-evaluate different aspects of your life.  There's some great stuff out there.

But I like this song so much, I'll bet it gets played at a lot of funerals. I'm not even sure what it's about, maybe just life.  But he is asking his Creator if all is done, can he return back to heaven from this land of woe. He's trying to do right but somehow when the game started, some one turned up the difficulty setting and it's spoiling the fun.