Neko Case has a plethora of songs that I would put on this list, but I am trying to limit this to one song per act, though I’ll stretch that from time to time. So which do I pick?
“Deep Red Bells?”
“I Wish I Was The Moon?”
“Margaret Vs Pauline?”
“John Saw That Number?”
“Bad Luck?”
Hell, even picking out selections for a list of songs I’m not using was difficult.
When I teach a course on philosophy and music, their first assignment is to examine “Rag Time” and, without any investigation or research, describe what the song is about. I get a wide variety of answers, often missing the obvious – sometimes a song is exactly what it’s lyrics say. That doesn’t make it shallow. The personal is universal.
“Rag Time” as a track continues past the end of the song which might disrupt the flow of a playlist, so instead I went with the track from the same album that has one of my favorite lyrics:
And it breaks my heart just like the day
That I looked down and I realized
I’ve been sailing so long I’ve become the shore
“City Swans” is from the album The Worse Things Get, The Harder I Fight, The Harder I Fight, The More I Love You. Once again, just a touch of western with a slide guitar to fill out the driving guitar riffs that kick off the song. The tom hits in the chorus plays off and builds to the next line in the vocal melody. The breakdown feel of the groove during the lines “sailing so long” is like a rock skimming across the water. All of this adds up to a remarkable track on a remarkable album.
Music That Matters (To Me) 
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