#42) "Summertime" by Kenny Chesney - Kenny Chesney has built his career largely around kicking back and looking back. His music for the most part avoids the piss and vinegar prevalent among many of his country music co-stars; that is, it avoids being overly 'country', 'American', or 'Southern', sentiments which can lead to a kind of exclusion unless you're determined to strike a serious, and absurd, pose.
This laid back (and truthfully no less 'country', 'American' or 'Southern') musical style and vibe appeals to me. Chesney has come to represent, for me, what being a small towner should be about...and was for me, to an extent, in days gone by (minus the cowboy hat and boots, which I would look positively horrendous in). Some of the first times and good times in his music are idealized, but really no more so than they wind up being in people's memories. Some people were lucky enough to get a taste, just a taste, of something idyllic. I was one of them.
Summertime is an ode to the sweetest season; the only season I would ever dream of trying to pull off 1/48/50 in. It's a clarion call to the anticipation and practice of a perfect summer. Like much of Chesney's music, it just kind of feels good, and more importantly, I get the sense that everyone's invited to the party.
"The nights roll in, man, just like a long lost friend..."
#43) "Winning" by Santana - Winning was released in 1981, but I didn't realize it was Santana until 2007. I'm not sure who I thought it was all those times it droned in the background on this classic rock station or that; some one-hit wonder of the era, I guess. It's not Carlos Santana singing, it rarely (never?) is, and the singer's vocal style is a bit different from other Santana collaborations. But the guitar work is hard to mistake for anyone but Santana, and this just might be the mother of all 'never say die' survival songs. I don't like the thought of getting out of bed without this song within reach, really, much less driving 14,000 miles across the country.
"I had a dream, but it turned to dust/what I thought was love that must have been lust..."
#44) "(Sittin' on) The Dock of a Bay" by Otis Redding - Recorded just a few days before the soul singer's untimely death in 1967, (Sittin' on) The Dock of a Bay became a huge hit in the aftermath. But to dwell on the posthumous factor is to detract, unfairly in my opinion, from the greatness of the song. Between the elegant arrangement complementing his butter smooth voice, and his butter smooth voice complementing lyrics that are as salty as they are tragic, I think even if Redding were alive today this would still be considered, and rightly so, one of the greatest recordings ever.
And if you really think about it a moment, sitting on the dock of a bay, wasting time, might just be the ultimate, ultimate state of living nebulously!
"Sitting here resting my bones, and this loneliness won't leave me alone..."
#45) "Hey, Soul Sister" by Train - Train is one of those bands people love to hate; their songs usually turn up on playlists as dirty little secrets, but this keeps the band quietly and securely living on the close periphery of stardom. They never make a huge impact; never reveal themselves as game changers, never sweep the Grammies (although they have won). But since the late 90s they've kind of always been there, doing their thing. Everybody knows the band, but nobody seems to know what the lead singer's name is offhand, and nearly everyone I've talked to over time has at least one song they like that they were surprised to learn was a Train song.
For me, Train's music is like wine. The more time goes by, the better it tastes - the richer and more complex the notes. Drops of Jupiter, Meet Virginia, Calling All Angels...songs that used to annoy me (without really knowing why) simply don't anymore (also without knowing why).
I have a special place in my heart for 2009's Hey, Soul Sister. It was released at a time of upheaval in my life. When everything was changing all at once, when it was anybody's guess how things were going to shake out, and I was faced with coming to terms with a few of the leaden realities of life, this song came along like a gasp of relief, a brightly lit reassurance that everything was going to be all right, that I was going to be all right. Music doesn't normally serve that function for me, but Hey, Soul Sister was at the right place at the right time.
