"Time in a Bottle" and the ephemerality of life
"Mrs. Robinson": not (just) a film song
"The A Team"'s singular narrative makes me think deeply about the homelessness I see around Berkeley
"California Dreamin'," as heard from a Californian's perspective
"American Pie," a memorial to lost innocence as much as lost musicians
On "I Got You Babe," Groundhog Day, and diegetic music
"Little Boxes": a warning against blind conformity
In "Burning in the Sun," an early Coldplay-esque sound meets bluegrass influences
Joni Mitchell's re-recording of "Both Sides, Now" fully captures its lyrical essence
Shocking Blue's rocking "Venus" has a surprising country backstory
Remembering the tragedy of the Edmund Fitzgerald through Gordon Lightfoot's haunting "Wreck"
"The Weight": sonically genre-melding and restrained, but thematically heavy indeed
"Don't Know Why" and the calmer, number side of heartbreak
"She's Not There" combines various influences into a stirring pop rock hit
"Fast Car" isn't the feel-good track some people think it is... or is it?