Today I continue my ongoing feature showcasing my personal picks for the best songs of the past decade, posting ten songs at a time.
100. Peter Bjorn and John – Young Folks
From that catchy whistling to the shaking maracas, how could this song not have been a huge hit? I knew it was gonna be everywhere the first time I heard it. I’m a sucker for the boy-girl conversation songs (Johnny and June’s “Jackson” is probably my all-time favorite, and “Paradise By the Dashboard Light” is up there as well), and “Young Folks” is no exception. It’s a percussive, melodic “I Got You Babe” for the iPod generation.
Once every three months I list the best of what I heard in albums/songs/remixes for the quarter. I do this to personally keep up with all the awesome music I hear, as it ultimately helps me at the end of the year when I do my overall listing for the previous twelve months. I also do it to introduce you cool cats to tunes you may have missed independently.
Today marks the official first day of autumn 2010. As far as music goes, there is usually one “song of the summer” – a track that we will forever associate with the previous season of this particular year. This song usually embodies the typical moods related to summer – laziness, partying, a carefree, optimistic attitude, et al.
While I’m not going to try and pick this song, I have my nominations – songs that will bring me back to this summer, my first few months in a new city, and, as with most summers, a good time in near-intolerable heat.
It’s dreadful and wet here in the LBK – the city famous for NO draining system. The streets are flooded and there are holes in my shoes. Time to turn the heater back on. But on the plus side: Rainy Day Playlist! These tracks will get you wet. Promise.