Favorite Songs

Favorite songs of the year! These aren't necessarily singles, some are choice cuts from some of the year's best albums. I limited myself to one song per artist because otherwise we'll have a long list of songs by a handful of artists like Sufjan Stevens, Band of Horses, etc. The rankings themselves are almost pointless since they can change based on how I'm feeling, but I like to rank, so here they go with some choice lyrics.

01 Band of Horses - "The Funeral"

And every occasion I am ready for a funeral

02 Amy Millan - "Skinny Boy"

You've got lips I could spend a day with

03 The Format - "Dog Problems"

I blame postmodern things I can't relate,
Like summer camp and coastal states.
Like alcohol and coffee beans.
Dance floors and magazines.
I think its safe to say I've only got myself to blame
But boys in swooping haircuts are bringing me down,
Taking pictures of themselves.

04 Sufjan Stevens - "Springfield, or Bobby Got a Shadfly Caught in His Hair"

So we took the room
with a view of the runaway
I took off my clothes,
and she took it for a holiday
I was taken for all the things
that I never had before
Running out of Springfield
she left me with a note saying:
"Bobby, don't look back."

05 Teddy Thompson - "Everybody Move It"

Sat in the corner you could pass for dead
get up on the floor and shake your head

06 The Walkmen - "Louisiana"

Louisiana
Come go away with me
Drinking our coffee
Under the canopy

07 Guillemots - "Trains to Brazil"

It's 5 o' clock on a Friday morning
One hundred telephones shake and ring
One of those was someone who knew you

08 Chad VanGaalen - "Graveyard"

Who are you?

09 Beirut - "Postcards from Italy"

And I will love to see that day
That day
is mine
When she will marry me outside with the willow
trees

10 The Cardigans - "I Need Some Fine Wine and You, You Need to Be Nicer"

Sometimes we talk over dinner like old friends
Till I go and kill the bottle,
I go off over any old thing,
Break your heart
and raise a glass or ten

11 Ferraby Lionheart - "The Ballad of Gus and Sam"

On the ouija board we were talking to Gus
He k-k-k-killed a girl named Sam
And now she's coming for us

12 Cold War Kids - "Hospital Beds"

Tell me the story of how you ended up here
I heard it all in the hospital
Nurses are fussing, doctors are on tour
Somewhere in India

13 Jenny Lewis with the Watson Twins - "Rise Up With Fists!"

But she will wake up wealthy
And you will wake up 45
And she will wake up with babies
There before the grace of God go hide!

14 Tapes 'n Tapes - "Insistor"

And when you rush I'll call your name
Like Harvard Square holds all inane
And don't you know I'll be your badger
And don't be terse and don't be shy
Just hug my lips and say good lies
And know that I will be your bail bond

15 Belle and Sebastian - "The Blues Are Still Blue"

I left my homework in the launderette
I got a letter from my mamma which my stupid dog has ate

16 The Submarines - "Clouds"

When I said I'm not in love
You made me count the ways
But I couldn't hope to be
Both cause and balm for pain
Well it breaks my heart
To break your heart
I know that means I'm still in love

17 The Futureheads - "Skip to the End"

If I could cheat,
I would skip to the end,
And decide if it's worth going through with,
Skip to the last, paragraph, just before we start,
To see the happy ending, or the broken heart.

18 The Dears - "You and I Are a Gang of Losers"

We, we've got the same heart

19 Arctic Monkeys - "I Bet You Look Good on the Dancefloor"

Well, I bet that you look good on the dancefloor
Dancing to electro-pop like a robot from 1984

20 Midlake - "Young Bride"

My young bride, why are your shoulders like that of a tired old woman?
Like a tired old woman

21 Neko Case - "Star Witness"

My true love drowned in a dirty old pan of oil

22 Yeah Yeah Yeahs - "Cheated Hearts"

Well sometimes I think that I'm bigger than the sound

23 TV on the Radio - "Province"

Hold your heart courageously as we walk into this dark place
Stand, stare fast, erect and see that love is the province of the brave

24 The Changes - "On a String"

I'm not afraid of you no matter how hard you try
This is what's meant to be and you know why

25 Thao Nguyen - "Feet Asleep"

All these years, my feet asleep
Move them around that they might breathe

Other Notable Songs:
The Decemberists - "The Crane Wife 1 and 2"; Phoenix - "Long Distance Call"; Rhett Miller w/ Rachael Yamagata - "Fireflies"; Beyonce - "Irreplaceable"; Camera Obscura - "Lloyd, I'm Ready to be Heartbroken"; Cat Power - "The Greatest"; Final Fantasy - "Song Song Song"; Josh Ritter - "Girl in the War"; Justin Timberlake - "My Love"; Sleeping States - "Rivers"; Regina Spektor - "Fidelity"; The Little Ones - "Cha Cha Cha"; Damien Rice - "Grey Room"; Mat Kearney - "Nothing Left to Lose"; Snow Patrol - "Chasing Cars"