The songs we hear.

Rolling Stone magazine can churn up 25 songs every year, recorded that year, in a list of 25 of that year we probably should have heard but didn't because no one should like Miley Cyrus. Or the Jonas Brothers.

Or the Arctic Monkeys.

Oh no he didn't?!

It's brutal, these lists. And I'm never up-to-date enough for them.

It's taken me 69 years since it was first recorded to come across Worried Life Blues, in its 39th cover version. I doubt I ever intend on crossing the lines of "Party in the USA" by Miley Cyrus, (the #4 song in the list this year).

So, here goes, the songs I heard in 2009.


1. Phish - Character Zero
Repeat a verse and a chorus twice; pump up the volume and tell your vocalist to cry himself after an Irish priest, or I hear, possibly, a Hebrew king.

They described it as cathartic. True dat!

2. Regina Spektor - One More Time With Feeling
I don't really get Regina Spektor. Or Bjork. From what I hear, it might make me a lesser person. But the lady belts her heart out on this track and I fear a monkey would be moved to tears.

She strains a "Hold on" at the start of the chorus that longs for you to yell out with her. And then there is a cold, matter-of-factness on "this is why we fight".

Listen to her.

(There's a kid yelling a Tarzan emulation near my window - what is going on?).

3. B.B.King and Eric Clapton - Worried Life Blues
So 2009 signalled a serious entry into the blues for me. Until now, its been its and bits, but suddenly the sound of Willie Dixon crooning on Study War No More, or Lil' Walter on My Babe, or even Robert Plant on Traveling Riverside Blues makes me kick myself a little for staying away from it for so long.
I got listening to B.B.King towards the latter part of the year. And then heard this track on the 2000 collaboration, Riding With The King. Clapton sounds older and wiser, and B.B. King sounds like a horn in the foggy distance and then suddenly, like everything the blues is supposed to be.

I am certain none can pull off "Oh Lordy lord" like they can.

4. Piers Faccini - A Storm Is Going To Come
Grey's Anatomy grows on you. Its a horrible mushy soppy soap and I love it. One thing it does bring out, every now and then, in between songs by high-pitched electrowomen, is a solid inclusion on their soundtrack.

Faccini's A Storm Is Going To Come popped up in Season 5 of the show in an episode climax and told T.R.Knight to put a sock in the emotion. I don't think the producers intended on that.

A must listen on this list. The rest of the album is worth a listen too.

5. Amit Trivedi - Saali Khushi (from Dev D)
I didn't care much for Anurag Kashyap and Dev D. Abhay Deol got me on Oye Lucky, Lucky Oye but not while he tried to pull off Vodka and coke. Waddup man!?

Dev D should most certainly be remembered for Amit Trivedi's OST. He meanders through Punjabi folk, electropop, jazz, rock and even bandmasters and does it well for the most part. Some stellar tracks on the album though; most memorable, Pardesi and Saali Khushi. Have a listen.

6. The Roots feat. Cody ChestnuTT - Seed 2.0
That is one of THE coolest guitar riffs I've heard. Got me listening to a lot more rap than I ever would have.

And he's got two T's in ChestnuTT. Hah!

Oh wait. Three! Brilliant.

7. A.R. Rahman feat. Blaaze, Benny Dayal and Vivinenne Pocha - Delhi 6 (from Delhi 6)
The way A.R. Rahman often avoided questions and press conferences on his Oscar winning work on the Slumdog Millionaire OST was testament to a rather mediocre year of music making for him. He sealed with the rehashed Jai Ho. Doh! for the Pussycat Dolls.

There was one bright star though, this album. It was a brand new day in music production in Indian cinema. Amit Trivedi (see #5) suggested in an interview that Jai Ho was nowhere close to the prowess Rahman showed on this OST. Truth. Have a listen, wherever you are sitting.

8. Foo Fighters - Skin and Bones
Heard this song off the DVD of the acoustic tour of the same name. Grohl, on the opening track, Razor, rocks the f*ck out of it. And the whole show is pretty brilliant from there on.

This song, though, has a hook. And that closing riff sounds like a Goan band should play it. With tambourines. And crab masala. Awesome.


That's it. I've missed a couple out. I got 'em goldfish skills. Who cares.


Next time around, movies.