Like Bullets From A Candy Gun: Some of my Favorite Songs of the Last Ten Years

- Blur - Sweet Song

- A Girl Called Eddy - Somebody Hurt You

Extreme emotions are a dime a dozen in pop music. Declarations of eternal devotion from a song’s protagonist is as common as the disappointed statements of a jilted lover. Sympathy and antipathy are cheap. Empathy, on the other hand, is rarer, and a bit harder to express since pop songs do descend into sentimentality most of the time. Empathy (and its close relative, Understanding) can be found in its plainest in the lyrics to this song, the key track on A Girl Called Eddy’s debut album. It’s a song of comfort, delivered by an older, wiser narrator who, we can surmise, has experienced the world and all it offered, both good things and bad ones. She’s not blind to the fact of its often-cruel nature, and offers her knowledge to someone who’s new to it all (“Please don’t be afraid of the things that are real/And don’t be afraid of whatever you feel/I’m feeling it too”). She’s offering some advice on how to deal with it, but never sugarcoats the hard facts (“If you go looking for things like in the younger days/There wont be an answer/Only love can change your way”). And hey, she’s sweet on the guy, too (“Someone might hurt you/but it will never be me”). All the above, plus a tune that can break even the hardest of hearts, made this song one of the best of the last decade. Truthful, real, and sublime.

- IVY - One More last Kiss

Ivy's One More LAst Kiss was inspired by The Pet Shop Boys' October Symphony, as Andy Chase put it on his track-by-track commentary in their official website. And while it does share a certain wispiness in its musical backing plus some electronic blips here and there, it's a richer, more solemn composition compared to its inspiration. Some of its appeal rests on Dominique Durand's restrained delivery. Deeper than usual, she sang as if the song is something precious, something to be cherished and treasured. And, well, it is. It's one of the best songs in their repertoire.
The rest is down to its lyrics. For a simple pop song, One More LAst Kiss contains more truisms in its lines than an average philosophy book. It deals not with dreams, but reality. Not with making choices, but facing the inevitable. In a music world filled with stock emotions and greeting-card sentiments, It takes a courageous soul indeed to pen the line "I'm not afraid to be lonely. It's just a question of how long I have to wait". But wait! Isn't that what we all feel at some point of our lives? These days, in the age of "Miss Independent" and "Single By Choice", it's refreshing to hear someone telling it like it is.

- Ryan Adams- Strawberry Wine

Sometimes you associate a song with a certain event in your life, but more often you associate a song with a person. There are songs that soundtracked your first crush, your first breakup, and (maybe) your first paycheck. When I hear “Strawberry Wine” I always think of a girl I knew. I met her in 2005, right around the time Mr. Adams released his “29” album. Now, the second track on said album is the aforementioned “Strawberry Wine”, and it contains the lines “Strawberry blonde, with curls”, which perfectly describe this person’s looksw. Now this is a unique trait for an Indonesian, which is why it really struck me. Nothing else on the song matches the situation though. However, it is a lovely, lovely tune, the kind of song perfect for a balmy evening, to help you relax after a hard days work.

- TRavis - RE-offender