99 Lives

My 99 favourite tracks of the year. The rules are (1) songs should be first released in an English-speaking country this year or last (but see #2) and (2) really long songs are discouraged (but see #1). Songs that should've been in last year's list, but weren't, are eligible. Thus "Gold Digger", which everyone else thinks is a 2005 song, makes it this year, because last year I was preoccupied with "Diamonds from Sierra Leone" and "We Major". Here at East Bay View, we don't always get there first, but we get there.

I thought the list would be completely dominated by legends, but it didn't turn out that way; they'll probably own my albums list, though. Four songs for Ghost, also four for Frank London: two with his Klezmer Brass Allstars and two with the Klezmatics, though he doesn't do much, if anything, on the higher one. Three each for Pink, Dylan, the Dolls, the Hold Steady, and Lorin Sklamberg of the Klezmatics. Lots of Timbaland. Monk percentage unchanged from last year. Hard to pick trends, aside from an increased interest in Eastern European flavours, whether Gypsy or Jewish.

It was a two way race for the top spot, albeit not at as rarified a height as the classic "1 Thing"-"Since U Been Gone" duel last year. Natasha Bedingfield's reinvigoration of a hackneyed phrase was exceedingly savvy, heartfelt, and just plain smart. But though she pushes the boundaries of her genre, David S. Ware erases the boundaries of his. No one, not Ware himself on his first recording of "The Way We Were", not even Coltrane, has ever destroyed a well-known tune quite the way Ware, Matthew Shipp, Wlliam Parker and Susie Ibarra do on this year's number one.

1. David S. Ware Quartet, “The Way We Were”
2. Natasha Bedingfield, “These Words”
3. Kocani Orkestar, “Siki, siki baba”
4. The Klezmatics, “Come When I Call You”
5. Be Your Own Pet, “Adventure”
6. Sonic Youth, “Incinerate”
7. New York Dolls, “Dance Like a Monkey”
8. Ghostface Killah ft. Ne-Yo, “Back Like That”
9. Frank London's Klezmer Brass Allstars, “Midnight Banda Judía”
10. Killer Mike, “That's Life”
11. Cham ft. Akon, “Ghetto Story Chapter 3”
12. Jon Faddis, “Teranga”
13. Ghostface Killah ft. Trife, “Be Easy”
14. Gnarls Barkley, “Crazy”
15. Neil Young, “This Old Guitar”
16. The Go! Team, “Ladyflash”
17. Irène Schweizer & Han Bennick, “Hackensack”
18. Shelby Lynne, “Johnny Met June”
19. Robyn, “Be Mine”
20. The Coup, “I Love Boosters”
21. Mr. Lif ft. Murs, “Murs Iz My Manager”
22. The Shys, “Never Gonna Die”
23. Irène Schweizer & Louis Moholo, “Angel”
24. Arctic Monkeys, “When the Sun Goes Down”
25. Pink ft. the Indigo Girls, “Dear Mr. President”
26. Bob Dylan, “Workingman's Blues No. 2”
27. Justin Timberlake ft. T.I., “My Love”
28. Bobby Pinson, “I Thought That's Who I Was”
29. Public Enemy ft. Paris, “Hard Rhymin'”
30. New York Dolls, “Fishnets and Cigarettes”
31. The Mountain Goats, “This Year”
32. T.I., “What You Know”
33. Prince, “Lolita”
34. Kimya Dawson, “My Mom”
35. Pink, “U + Ur Hand”
36. Clap Your Hands Say Yeah, “Upon This Tidal Wave of Young Blood”
37. Ladytron, “Destroy Everything You Touch”
38. Bob Dylan, “Spirit on the Water”
39. The Hold Steady, “Your Little Hoodrat Friend”
40. Romica Puceanu & the Gore Brothers, “In Gradina Cu Tufani”
41. Ghostface Killah ft. Raekwon, “Kilo”
42. Todd Snider, “You Got Away with It (A Tale of Two Fraternity Brothers)”
43. Kanye West ft. Jamie Foxx, “Gold Digger”
44. The Hold Steady, “Chillout Tent”
45. Earl Greyhound, “SOS”
46. Fergie, “London Bridge”
47. Dixie Chicks, “The Long Way Around”
48. Comet Gain, “Days I Forgot to Write Down”
49. The National, “Abel”
50. Beyonce, “Irreplaceable”
51. Scissor Sisters, “I Don't Feel Like Dancing”
52. T-K.A.S.H., “How to Get Ass”
53. Lil Wayne, “Shooter”
54. Dr. John, “World I Never Made”
55. Arctic Monkeys, “Bigger Boys and Stolen Sweethearts”
56. The Rakes, “22 Grand Job”
57. OutKast ft. Lil Wayne & Snoop Dogg, “Hollywood Divorce”
58. Wide Right, “Laws of Gravity”
59. The Hold Steady, “Chips Ahoy”
60. The Pipettes, “Pull Shapes”
61. Wussy, “Airborne”
62. Emmanuel Jal & Abdul Gadir Salim, “Gua”
63. Herbert, “Harmonise”
64. Bébé Manga, “Ami O”
65. Pink, “Leave Me Alone (I'm Lonely)”
66. Sobanza Mimanisa, “Kiwembo”
67. Rihanna, “S.O.S.”
68. Justin Timberlake, “Lovestoned/I Think That She Knows”
69. The Little Willies, “Love Me”
70. Comet Gain, “Just One More Summer Before I Go”
71. Ghostface Killah ft. Theodore Unit, “Jellyfish”
72. Jamelia, “Beware of the Dog”
73. The Coup, “Laugh/Love/Fuck”
74. Sonic Youth, “Turquoise Boy”
75. Romica Puceanu & the Gore Brothers, “Vintule, Bataia Ta”
76. Rhymefest ft. ODB, “Build Me Up”
77. Saint Etienne, “Milk Bottle Symphony”
78. Be Your Own Pet, “Bicycle, Bicycle, You Are My Bicycle”
79. World Saxophone Quartet, “Political Blues”
80. Mahala Rai Banda, “Mahalageasca”
81. Ray Cash ft. Scarface, “Bumpin' My Music”
82. E-40 ft. Keak Da Sneak, “Tell Me When to Go”
83. Gui Boratto, “Like You (Supermayer mix)”
84. Franz Ferdinand, “Do You Want To”
85. Bob Dylan, “Nettie Moore”
86. Frank London's Klezmer Brass Allstars, “Oh Agony, You Are So Sweet Like Sugar I Must to Eat You Up”
87. Nelly Furtado ft. Timbaland, “Promiscuous”
88. Rich Boy, “Get to Poppin'”
89. The Klezmatics, “Mermaid Avenue”
90. New York Dolls, “Plenty of Music”
91. Ak'sent ft. Beenie Man, “Zingy”
92. Arctic Monkeys, “I Bet You Look Good on the Dancefloor”
93. OutKast, “Morris Brown”
94. Wide Right, “Dishrag”
95. Neil Young, “Let's Impeach the President”
96. Tommy Smith & Brian Kellock, “Moonlight in Vermont”
97. Busta Rhymes, “Touch It”
98. Alexander von Schlippenbach, “Green Chimneys/Little Rootie Tootie”
99. The Streets, “Hotel Expressionism”

Omitted for length: John Coltrane, "One Down, One Up"; George Russell, "Electronic Sonata for Souls Beloved by Nature"; Craig Harris, "The Color Line".

BONUS TRACKS: Some of these are stunningly obvious, but if you have this CD and last year's, you'll have all of my 20 favourite songs of the decade.

• Amy Rigby, “Don't Ever Change” -- still #1 for the decade, only has to hang on for three more years
  
• Eminem, “The Real Slim Shady”
• Eminem, “Stan”
• Aimee Mann, “Ghost World”
• Panjabi MC, “Beware of the Boys”
• Freelance Hellraiser, “A Stroke of Genius”
• Youssou N'Dour, “Tan Bi”
• Sonic Youth, “Free City Rhymes”
• OutKast, “Ms. Jackson”
• Daft Punk, “Digital Love”
• Britney Spears, “Toxic”
• OutKast, “Hey Ya”
• Northern State, “Dying in Stereo”