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12/30/2016 9:24 am  #1


Best songs of 2016

Despite losing too many outstanding musicians this year (Bowie, Prince, George Michael, Glenn Frey, Merle Haggard, two members of Emerson, Lake, and Palmer, Leonard Cohen, Phife Dawg, and Sharon Jones), this was a pretty good year for new music. 

Here is a list of some of my favorite songs in 2016.....

#5 - "Blessings" by Chance the Rapper

Part hip-hop, part funk, part jazz, and part gospel, this is a great song that would fit into any black southern Baptist Sunday service.

"When the praises go up, the blessings come down"



 


I think you're going to see a lot of different United States of America over the next three, four, or eight years. - President Donald J. Trump
 

12/30/2016 9:28 am  #2


Re: Best songs of 2016

#4 - "Home" by Phish

Phish put out a new album this year and for me, it mostly fell flat. It sucks when a band you've loved for 25 years is slowly devolving into creating Yacht Rock songs. 

But "Home" was the one exception. A six and a half minute song, the last 2:30 is a juicy sonic jam which reminds me why I follow these guys.



 


I think you're going to see a lot of different United States of America over the next three, four, or eight years. - President Donald J. Trump
     Thread Starter
 

12/30/2016 9:35 am  #3


Re: Best songs of 2016

#3 - "You Want It Darker" - Leonard Cohen

Like David Bowie, Leonard Cohen dropped an album in 2016, and then promptly died. This song is filled with dark poetry about death and heartbreak, with Cohen telling his maker that he is ready to go and at times sounds like an Islamic call to prayer and in my opinion stacks up with some of Cohen's best work.



 


I think you're going to see a lot of different United States of America over the next three, four, or eight years. - President Donald J. Trump
     Thread Starter
 

12/30/2016 9:47 am  #4


Re: Best songs of 2016

#2 - "Tis a Pity She Was a Whore" - David Bowie

David Bowie's "Blackstar" was my favorite album this year and any end of year list will include either "Lazurus" or "I Can't Give Everything Away" as the best songs off of the record. I cannot argue with those opinions. 

But my favorite song off the album was "Tis a Pity She Was a Whore". The dueling saxophones, one coming from the left channel, and one from the right, makes this the headphone song of the year and reminds me of the best stuff from the "Young Americans" sessions Bowie did in the 70's at Sigma Sound in Philadelphia. 



 


I think you're going to see a lot of different United States of America over the next three, four, or eight years. - President Donald J. Trump
     Thread Starter
 

12/30/2016 10:00 am  #5


Re: Best songs of 2016

#1 - "What it Means" by Drive-by Truckers

Not only was "What it Means" my favorite song of 2016, it really was the best song written this year.

Who would have thought a white, southern rock band would have written the best song in defense of the Black Lives Matter movement?

The song perfectly sums up 2016, and all of the problems we've seen in America the past couple years. It touches on racial inequality, our crappy cable media, the anti-science movement, and provides a big "F**k you" to George Zimmerman.




He was running down the street
When they shot him in his tracks
About the only thing agreed upon
Is he ain't coming back
There won't be any trial
So the air it won't be cleared
There's just two sides calling names
Out of anger out of fear
If you say it wasn't racial
When they shot him in his tracks
Well I guess that means that you ain't black
It means that you ain't black
I mean Barack Obama won
And you can choose where to eat
But you don't see too many white kids
Lying bleeding on the street

In some town in Missouri
But it could be anywhere
It could be right here on Ruth Street
In fact it's happened here
And it happened where you're sitting
Wherever that might be
And it happened last weekend
And it will happen again next week
And when they turned him over
They were surprised there was no gun
I mean he must have done something
Or else why would he have run
And they'll spin it for the anchors
On the television screen
So we can shrug and let it happen
Without asking what it means

What it means?
What it means?

Then I guess there was protesting
And some looting in some stores
And someone was reminded that
They ain't called colored folks no more
I mean we try to be politically
Correct when we call names
But what's the point of post-racial
When old prejudice remains?
And that guy who killed that kid
Down in Florida standing ground
Is free to beat up on his girlfriend
And wave his brand new gun around
While some kid is dead and buried
And laying in the ground
With a pocket full of skittles

What it means?
What it means?

Astrophysics at our fingertips
And we're standing at the summit
And some man with a joystick
Lands a rocket on a comet
We're living in an age
Where limitations are forgotten
The outer edges move and dazzle us
But the core is something rotten
And we're standing on the precipice
Of prejudice and fear
We trust science just as long
As it tells us what we want to hear
We want our truths all fair and balanced
As long as our notions lie within it
There's no sunlight in our ass'
And our heads are stuck up in it
And our heroes may be rapists
Who watch us while we dream
But don't look to me for answers
Cuz I don't know what it means

What it means?
What it means?


I think you're going to see a lot of different United States of America over the next three, four, or eight years. - President Donald J. Trump
     Thread Starter
 

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