Top 20 Songs of 2012

I told myself all year that I wouldn’t create a “Top Songs” list for 2012.  In years past, I’ve invested massive amounts of time to create what had over the years turned into a list of the Top 100 (!) songs, a list that pretty much no one every read or cared about (here’s last year’s list!). I decided this year that my time was better spent focusing solely on my albums list.  Then again, as the month of January has crept forward, I kept getting the itchy typing finger to still throw a list of songs together. I’m not quite sure why I ever made a song list considering I’ve always been an “album” kind of guy.  Then again, there are always those tracks that stand out and get revisited when I’m not listening to an album in its entirety. Most commonly my favorite songs from the year are found  on mediocre albums that I’m not interested in revisiting in their entirety, but you will also find familiar tracks that can be found on my definitive “Top 40 Albums of 2012” list. What you read below is far from definitive. Simply put – it’s a collection of songs that you may enjoy as sweet little morsels of dessert to follow my 40-course meal of albums.

BDWPS Podcast #8

In this episode I pay tribute to Omaha’s record store legend Dave Sinks, and check out new tracks from Cat Power, Django Django, Ariel Pink’s Haunted Graffiti, and Jens Lekman. I also play a track by my friend’s comedy band Sun Babies Inc, and of course, I close off with another classic from Bob Dylan.

Check it out here (or subscribe to it on iTunes – search “BDWPS”):

http://bdwps.podomatic.com/entry/2012-10-01T21_12_34-07_00

Track Listing:

Minutemen “One Reporter’s Opinion” and “History Lesson Part II”
Cat Power “Manhattan”
Django Django “Default”
Ariel Pink’s Haunted Graffiti “Mature Themes”
Jens Lekman “Every Little Hair Knows Your Name”
Sun Babies Inc. “Drunk Alphabet Song”
Bob Dylan “Talkin Bear Mountain Picnic Massacre Blues”

Top Tracks of 2011 (60-31)

You are about to read through what I deem the top 60 tracks of 2011. Yes, 60. For some reason, lists need to fit within the confines of the top 100, top 50, top 40, Top 20, or Top 10. Any other number seems arbitrary. I had the same uncertainty with the number 60. When I first assembled my list it consisted of 87 songs. I had a decision to make: force 13 more songs onto the list and create another monolith like I did last year (it was a lot of work by the way), or attempt to whittle the list down to 50. I went with the latter, but when finished, I found I still had 67 songs. I struggled and struggled and eventually had it to the number we have now: 60. At this point, I couldn’t remove one more song. None of these songs could be tossed aside, each holding a special meaning, memory, or melody that helped me through another year.