I’m going to be posting a series of Logan-like posts the next couple weeks. Each day I’ll post a song that has a particular moment that just kills me, for whatever reason (and I’ll update the original week’s post each day). A lot of my favorite songs have those kind of moments in them–moments I live for. Sometimes it’s something the singer does vocally, sometimes it’s a harmonized vocal part, sometimes it’s something going on musically (usually a crescendo).

Obviously, I know these songs backwards and forwards, and many of them are in my list of all-time favorite songs. But don’t worry if you don’t like ‘em, I won’t take it personally. (Mostly you’ll just be getting a glimpse into what makes me love a song, I guess.)

And I’m starting out with…

• Monday: Nick Drake - Northern Sky
• Tuesday: Opeth - Closure
• Wednesday: Bad Brains - House of Suffering
• Thursday: Billy Bragg & Wilco w/Natalie Merchant - Way Over Yonder in the Minor Key
• Friday: Cheap Trick - I Want You to Want Me

Nick Drake - Northern Sky
Moment: 2:10
Song lyrics

Nick Drake is someone I think of as having universal appeal. I have a hard time believing anyone would not like his stuff.

In case anyone hasn’t heard of him, he’s a folk singer from the 60’s who died very young–before he received any recognition for his talent. He rarely played live. He suffered from depression and it’s been speculated that his death was a suicide, but his family and friends claim it wasn’t. He died of an overdose. If I remember correctly, it was an overdose of his anti-depression medication, which his family says he did not know was lethal in large doses, but I may be off somewhere with that.

Anyway, this song is my favorite song of all time. It’s been called the greatest English love song of modern times, and I wouldn’t dispute that. It’s not entirely indicative of his usual sound though–his stuff is generally more melancholy. But this one is lovely, beautiful.

Oh, and my favorite moment? The little crescendo at the 2:10 mark. Just before my favorite lines:

Would you love me for my money?
Would you love me for my head?
Would you love me through the winter?
Would you love me till I’m dead?

Opeth - Closure
Moment: 3:16/3:28

Song lyrics

Opeth is a death metal band, but don’t let that scare you away. They’ve taken the genre beyond death metal into their own thing.

Death metal doesn’t sound like you’d expect from the name, anyway. It’s generally really beautiful, somewhat complex music with growly, dark vocals, and annoying blast beats on the drums. But Opeth has moved beyond that–they’ll use growly vocals, but then juxtapose it with beautiful normal singing. Makes for a great tension in their music.

However, this song has normal vocals only–the entire album, Damnation, does, actually. The thing I love most about them is how they’ll often craft the music to reflect what’s going on lyrically. In this song, the whole thing builds up to the moment I live for–the last line of the song, “In the rays of the sun, I am longing for the darkness.” And then the song changes and you get almost two minutes of this incredible snake-charmer/belly-dance music that makes me wish I knew some Eastern dance moves.

I’ll be doing a full post about them after I see them live in a couple weeks, and it’s going to be called “The most brilliant band making music today is a death metal band.”

Bad Brains - House of Suffering
Moment: 1:13
Song lyrics

And now for some ’80s hardcore. Bad Brains are one of the most original bands ever, IMO. No one before them had ever fused hardcore punk with reggae. And had such a crazy vocalist. The moment? When he starts sounding like a little kid crying. Brilliant.

System of a Down fans, this is the original. And this song has the greatest lyrics. Favorite lines:

Oh where can Jah love be now?
My dear, it’s here in the underground
Inside the hearts of your own children
In this house of suffering

Billy Bragg and Wilco w/Natalie Merchant - Way Over Yonder in the Minor Key
Moment: 3:26
Song lyrics

Has everyone heard of the Mermaid Ave albums? If not, you should check them out. Woodie Guthrie’s niece found a bunch of song lyrics he’d written, with no music for the lyrics. She asked Billy Bragg and Wilco to write music for them and record them. So far they’ve released two albums, Mermaid Ave Vol I & II.

This is one of my favorites from the collection. Even my husband the thrash-metalhead loves this song. The lyrics are funny and sweet, and the song’s got a wonderful charm and nostalgia to it that I love. Billy Bragg’s voice is perfect for it.

The moment I live for is when Natalie Merchant, singing backup, goes up high rather than low. Listen for it. She only does it once. (I’m a sucker for harmonies.) At the 3:26 mark.

Cheap Trick - I Want You To Want Me (live)
Moment: 3:01

There’s a moment in this song when it breaks down to just the drums and the singer. Pure gold.

I only have the live version of this song, and I’m pretty sure the studio version does the breakdown better, but you just can’t beat the girls screaming the backup part. Cryin’! Cryin’! Cryin’!