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Every year I post a list of my favorite songs – you can see that list below. This year, stealing an idea from my friend David Isaacson, I am also posting a playlist of my favorite cover songs of 2024, that is, versions of songs originally done by someone else. Here are the liner notes for the favorite covers 2024 playlist.

1. Count the Days – Swamp Dogg with Jenny Lewis. This is a cover of a 1967 R&B hit by Inez and Charlie Foxx. Swamp Dogg was involved in the original, at least arranging it and perhaps writing (it was credited to his wife) and/or producing (Swamp Dogg has said he produced lots of records he didn’t get credit for). I have loved this song since I heard a cover of it on Stephanie Finch’s great but unsung 2010 record (Finch is the wife of Chuck Prophet, who produced her album).  Jenny Lewis, at one time from the band Rilo Kiley, sings lead, but that is Swamp Dogg literally counting out the days.
2. Jardin d’Hiver – Waxx and Ibeyi. Jadin d’Hiver (Winter Garden) was written by Keren Ann (one of my favorite singer-songwriters) and Benjamin Biolay and brought to prominence by Henri Salvador. The song has become a French standard, recorded by tons of singers, including a nice version by Stacey Kent. This version is by Ibeyi, a duo of Cuban singers, along with somebody or somebodies called “Waxx.”  I saw Ibeyi at the Hollywood Bowl, and they have been favorites of mine ever since.
3. Compared to What – Robert Flack, Angela Davis, Kassa Overall, and Terri Lynn Carrington. The original of this song was written by Gene McDaniels. The first recorded version of the song was by Les McCann in 1966. It was also the first song on the first album by Roberta Flack in 1969. Neither of those two versions were a hit, and Compared to What became widely known through the live version recorded by Les McCann and Eddie Harris later that same year. The version on this playlist is a remix of Flack’s original 1969 version. How can you not love a great song featuring the words of Angela Davis?
4. I Will Survive – Melanie and Beau Jared. We lost the singer-songwriter Melanie a year ago. She was best known for her 1971 number one hit Brand New Key, but she continued to make good music up until her death. I like the way Melanie here undercuts the grandiosity of the Gloria Gaynor original, making you feel she really believes the lyrics.
5. Let’s Get Happy Together – Jim Kweskin and Maria Mudaur. These old folkies and friends played together in the 1960s and reunited for this cover of the 1938 song by Lil Hardin Armstrong, singer/songwriter/pianist/bandleader and wife of Louis Armstrong.
6. My Sweet Lord – Parlor Greens. An organ trio version of the George Harrison song. The organist Adam Scone comes from Daptone Records while the guitarist Jimmy James comes from the Delvon Lamarr Organ Trio.
7. Don’t Let Me Down Again – Andrew Bird and Madison Cunningham. Before they joined Fleetwood Mac, Mick Fleetwood and Stevie Nicks released a duet record Buckingham Nicks. The duet record was a commercial failure, but has since become a cult favorite, even though it has never been remastered or released on streaming or CD. Bird and Cunningham cover the entire album in 2024, and this is my favorite song from that cover album.
8. Black Haired Girl – Billy Joe Armstrong. The Green Day frontman covers rocker Jesse Malin’s 2022 song. It comes from an album of covers of Malin songs, a fundraiser for Malin, who had suffered a stroke in 2023.
9. Psycho Killer – Miley Cyrus. A contemporary-sounding, dance-rock cover of this Talking Heads classic.
10. Für Elise – Jon Baptiste. A solo piano, bluesy cover of this Beethoven song from his 2024 album Beethoven Blues.
11. Everybody Hurts – Al Green. One of my top-ten favorite singers records a version of this REM hit. Will Al Green record a full album again before it is too late?
12. La Mer – Caetano Veloso. Another of my all-time favorite singers covers this French song written by Charles Trenet who had a hit with it in 1946. You may know the song from its English version “Beyond the Sea,” first recorded by Harry James in 1947 and later covered by Bobby Darin among many, many others.
13. My Cherie Amour – Cherise. The London R&B singer covers this 1969 Stevie Wonder song.
14. Jeanne Seely – Suffertime. Jeanne Seely was a huge country singer in the 1960s and early 1970s. Though she hasn’t had a hit in decades and has largely faded from memory, she is still in good voice. She recorded this cover of the 1966 Dottie West song as a single “at Historic RACA Studio B.” There is more Jeannie Seely at this playlist. She should not be forgotten.
15. Blackbiird – Beyonce and friends. Paul McCartney wrote this song in response to the civil rights movement in the American South in the 1960s, and has said that “blackbird” in the song should be understood as “Black woman.”  How appropriate then that Beyonce covers the song backed up by four other African American country singers: Tanner Adell, Brittney Spencer, Tiera Kennedy and Reyna Roberts. Beyonce samples the Beatles version, taking the spare percussion (is it a foot tap or a metronome?) and perhaps the acoustic guitar, but she makes it her own.
16. Someone Like You – Lukas Nelson with The Travelin’ McCourys & Sierra Ferrel. A great country cover by Willie Nelson’s son of the massive Adele 2011 hit.
17. (Lying Here With) Linda on My Mind – Carson McHone. This is a perfect song, right from the parentheses in the title, and I could listen to it over and over again all day. The original 1975 country version of the song by Conway Twitty is fine. but this 2024 power-pop version by the Austin, Texas singer-songwriter Carson McHone is as good as it gets.
18. Rhapsody in Blue(grass) – Bela Fleck. Fleck has taken Gershwin’s classical-jazz concerto and transposed it for banjo and bluegrass ensemble. It is brilliantly done and makes me happy every time I listen to it.

Every year on my birthday (January 10), I post on Facebook a playlist of my favorite songs from the previous year. Here are the liner notes for that playlist:

1. Stevie Wonder – Can We Fix Our Nation’s Broken Heart.  A powerful new song by Stevie Wonder. I started and ended this playlist with songs that were a salve for me during difficult times. Can we fix our nation’s broken heart?  Spoiler:  no.
2. La Santa Cecilia – Alma Bohemia. Another amazing song by this great LA band featuring the powerful vocals of La Marisoul.
3. The Black Keys – Beautiful People (Stay High). A catchy blues-dance song by the Akron, Ohio band, fronted by Dan Auerbach.
4. Librarians with Hickeys – Hello Operator. Infectious power pop from another Akron, Ohio Band. Librarians with Hickeys are on the great LA powerpop label Big Stir Records. They deserve to be better known than they are.
5. Hermanos Gutiérrez – Barrio Hustle. Atmospheric instrumental guitar music by two Ecuadoran-Swiss brothers. It is if The Good, Bad and the Ugly were scored by a surf rock band from somewhere in Latin America.
6. Shelby Lynn – Over and Over. I have long loved the country-soul singer-songwriter Shelby Lynn, who put out another a great album in 2024. The horns on this song are amazing.
7. Pink Sweat$ – Bloom. Acoustic R&B that recalls Bill Withers while always sounding contemporary. Thanks to my nephew Ben for turning me on to Pink Sweat$.
8. Kasey Chambers – Backbone (The Desert Child). This Australian country singer-songwriter is another longtime favorite of mine. Her 2024 album is all equally as good as this song.
9. Moreno Veloso – Brasil Pandeiro. Brazilian superstar Caetano Veloso’s son releases a gentle samba in the tradition of his father’s music. I love this song.
10. Beyonce – Texas Hold ‘Em. There is no doubt that Beyonce’s album Cowboy Carter is the record of the year. The only problem for me was choosing which of the great songs on that album to put on this playlist. I considered Ya Ya and Bodyguard, but ultimately went with Texas Hold ’Em in part because it was the most country sounding of the three songs.
11. Market – Well I Asked You a Question. This catchy, quirky rock song is by Brooklyn singer/songwriter/multi-instrumentalist/engineer-/producer Nate Mendelsohn. I am proud to have known Nate his whole life. He is making great music. Check out his 2024 album Well I Asked You a Question.
12. Margo Price and Mike Campbell – Ways to Be Wicked. This rocker is by the country singer-songwriter Price and the guitarist Campbell from Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers. Ways to Be Wicked Sounds like it could be a lost Heartbreakers song.
13. Aaron Frazier – Payback. The drummer and vocalist from the soul band Durand Jones and the Indications has a smooth falsetto and usually sings pretty soul ballads. Not this time. Payback rocks.
14. Maria Bethania – Sabado em Copacabana. Caetano Veloso’s sister Maria Bethania is a star and a great vocalist in her own right. This is a beautiful Brazilian torch song.
15. Chetes and Calexico – Polvo de Estrellas. Mexican Rock-En Español Singer Chetes – aka Luis Gerardo Garza Cisneros – sings with the Tucson, Arizona “desert noir” rock band Calexico. Povlo de Strellas is a bitter-sweet song about endings. The title of the song means “Stardust,” so it gets extra credit for the Hoagy Carmichael reference.

I haven’t been posting for the last few years. I am still reading (my favorite recent novel is The Bee Sting by Paul Murray), listening to music (my favorite recent album is Speak to Me by jazz guitarist Julian Lage), and watching movies (my favorite recent film is The Beast, a French film directed by Bertrand Bonello), but I haven’t had time or energy to write about them here. Hopefully, I will resume posting soon. But no promises.

I wanted to note here that I posted a paper I wrote for an organizing seminar run by Hahrie Han’s P3 lab. The paper discusses three things: 1) what the progressive movement should do to win governing power in California in 30 years, 2) what RAC-CA, the social justice arm of the Reform Jewish movement in California should do to contribute to that thirty-year project, and 3) a look at a new housing campaign that is a model of what I propose in the first two sections.

You can find this paper by clicking on the link above entitled “Writings About Community Organizing.” Happy reading!

April 1. 2020 – Talking instead of watching

Wendey (reading from the internet):  “It says they have canceled all sales of liquor in California.”

Lee (thinking to himself): Panic!  I don’t think I can survive this pandemic without alcohol.

Wendey (reading further):  “Oh, never mind.  It was an April Fool’s joke.”

Lee (thinking to himself): I need a drink.