My Top 25 Songs of the Decade

For reasons unbeknownst to me, out of the clear blue sky, I recently decided that I simply HAD to craft a list of my Top 25 Songs of the Decade. (This is what happens to you when you're unemployed.) I further decided that this list would encompass the years 2000-2009, as the 2010 songs have not had a chance to gel with me yet. And so, I sat down and started compiling.

This was no easy task. It wasn't easy to remember all the songs that have grabbed me over the years; I studied "Hot 100" lists for each year to help jog my memory. (Not a GREAT method with my personal taste, but a method, nonetheless.) My criteria for inclusion was simple: These are songs that GRABBED ME BY THE THROAT and would not let go. Songs that affected me viscerally. Songs that I really, REALLY loved, and in many cases, STILL love.

Some of these songs, I love simply because they're good, or great, or fantastic, or amazing. In other cases, I love them not only because they're good, but because they spoke to me at a particular time in my life, or they remind me of a great moment in time. (The inclusion of the Donald Fagen song is an example of the latter, as it reminds me of one of the best concert experiences of my life -- the "Morph the Cat" tour in 2006 at Santa Barbara's Arlington Theatre.)

If you think I've forgotten something, please, mention it in the comments! Even as I was typing this up, another song occurred to me, and I had to bump something off the list.

And so, I give you, in no particular order, THE SONGS!

(Please let me know if you encounter bad links.)

1. Linkin Park, "In The End" *

2. Evanescence, "Bring Me To Life"

3. Eliane Elias, "Running" *

4. Toto, "Falling In Between"

5. Simply Red, "Sunrise"

6. Death Cab for Cutie, "What Sarah Said"

7. Keane, "Bend and Break"

8. Drive-by Truckers, "Puttin' People on the Moon"

9. Michael Penn, "Walter Reed"

10. Dixie Chicks, "Not Ready To Make Nice"

11. Death Cab for Cutie, "Brothers on a Hotel Bed"

12. Coldplay, "Lost"

13. Iron & Wine, "Flightless Bird, American Mouth"

14. Liz Phair, "Extraordinary"

15. James Blunt, "1973"

16. Duncan Sheik, "Days Go By"

17. Art Garfunkel, "The Thread"

18. Sun Kil Moon, "Lost Verses" (possibly the most beautiful song on the list)

19. Midlake, "Branches"

20. Coldplay, "Fix You"

21. Death Cab for Cutie, "I Will Follow You Into the Dark"

22. Donald Fagen, "H Gang"

23. Sara Evans, "Born to Fly" (a holdover from my hardcore C&W days)

24. Vienna Teng, "Whatever You Want"

25. U2, "Beautiful Day"

HONORABLE MENTIONS:

Maia Sharp, "Home";

Taylor Swift, "Love Story" (if you heard my child sing this at the top of his lungs, you'd love it too);

Jem, "They";

Duffy, "Mercy";

Midlake, "Roscoe";

The Ting-Tings, "Shut Up and Let Me Go"

* These might be my theme songs for 2010.