In "The Face of the Earth" the part where he sings, "It's been a couple years and I guess I'm fine about it" seems to stick out a lot more than the preceding verse; I think this has something to do with the song's appeal, as far as misunderstanding-lyrics-so-they-make-more-of-a-personal-connection goes.

(That is, the fact that the line sticks out makes it easier to ignore the possible lack of fit. Even to the point where the following line, "It's not like we were married it was 3 or 4 months", can be blithely ignored or mutated to fit the listener's own life, etc.)

Phrase to keep in mind: "keyed up".

I never noticed before but I cannot sing along at all to "Sentimental Man" from Change if I want to do it in the right range. I bet they never do that one live.

"Iron Man" was playing during a flashback on King of the Hill tonight (the one where Bill rejoins the football team to re-take his touchdown record) and it was really, really really really good.

Why isn't "Speedballin'" on the Outkast best-of, dammit?

The new Wu-Tang, Iron Flag, is built out of very short samples and loops.

Jay-Z's Unplugged appearance is great even though I wish he were a little looser, especially on the midtempo songs. The crowd interaction is fun. It's not just something special to this album; I get a little thrill out of any live recording where the audience takes a part in the proceedings, and where they do it as a group. Like here, where they fill in some of the gaps, like the "faaaame" and "laaaame" bits on "Takeover", or "vamoose/son of a bitch" on "Izzo", or plenty of other ones. Or some songs where you can hear everyone rapping along to all of the words. I don't remember people singing along on Nirvana Unplugged, but maybe that would have been inappropriate.

I'm sure there are other songs released in 2001 that I was captivated by, but this list gets at a pretty good cross-section of them, at least; some songs from my favorite albums, some from favorite artists, and a couple that just caught my ear.

Actual Blood - Shipping News
Bouncin' Back - Mystikal
Eclipse - The Beta Band
Following Through / Timebomb / The Other Side / Ellen and Ben - The Dismemberment Plan
Laser Beam - Low
Lord, Can You Hear Me? - Spiritualized
The Dismemberment Plan Gets Rich - The Dismemberment Plan
The Surgeon's House - Burning Airlines
2 Rights Make 1 Wrong - Mogwai
Two-Way Diamond I / II / Don't Wake Me (live) - American Analog Set

I listed the four ending The Dismemberment Plan's Change because I like them all so much and I listen to them in sequence so much; though I'll admit to liking "Ellen and Ben" less than the other three, it just seems to go with them to me, and I still love it. Other than that I have no idea how to choose just one.

I closed more shows in the spring with "Laser Beam" than any other song. It wasn't totally intentional; it just ended up seeming appropriate a lot.

Some things that I liked this year, which were slightly atypical for me, like Jay-Z, or Basement Jaxx, had plenty of songs I loved on them, but I'm not sure which to put on a list like this.

Similarly I could put on a lot of things I liked slightly less; then there would be some Aaliyah, Missy E, Basement Jaxx, tech-house from the Kompakt comp, Wu-Tang, "My Father, My King", some Autechre, Kid 606, AAS, Arab Strap, etc. I don't feel like thinking about those right now though.

I do mean to write something (anything) about this list and my album list, eventually. Got a bit of paperwriting left to do though.

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