Speak Now – Taylor Swift – This took me two spins to get entirely hooked on. Great for anybody else but with Taylor? A disappointment it took so long! The problem is the first verse doesn’t click immediately and the chorus takes forever (nearly a minute) to kick in. But once it does. WOW. You know what she is referring to? Guess. Just Guess. Taylor is trying to stop the wedding of the man she loves. The second time round she gets it right with a tiny bridge: “You wish it was me, you wish it was me,” and then she lowers her voice, “don’t say it”. “Don’t wait, don’t say a single vow, you need to hear me out and it says SPEAK NOW”. This is the second complete fucking killer off the upcoming album. Complete. Gorgeous. Moving. Smart. Great story, Clever, clever, clever. This woman is unreal.
Runaway – Kanye West – The second official release from the newbie is better than “Power” and as good as “Monster” though with much less production . It is a mea culpa, almost standing back after the strum and drang from “Christian Dior” -all those TGIF songs. It is based open a piano motif and Kanye hits his mea culpa with a smile, almost a grin. It isn’t a rap song despite the rap, not hip hop either, nor rock or r&b. This is a pop song and a killer one. Like Cee Lo’s “Fuck You” Kanye is tripped on his profanity, “Let’s have a toast for the douche bags, let’s have a toast for the assholes…”, this could cross pop bigtime and it won’t. Still a brilliant song
(Just Like) Starting Over – John Lennon – As we bury ourselves in sorrow over Lennon’s ridiculous murder, this remix does nothing much but give us a reason to listen to him again. Like we ever stopped. In 2010 what I admire most is the lovely bridge… the “why don’t we take off alone, take a trip somewhere far far away, we’ll be together all alone again, like we used to in the early days.” Lennon’s voice is just lovely. Yoko got one thing right when she said the stripped down versions lets you appreciate his excellent diction. Plus? As a songwriter, the “again” -which holds a purpose also is like a tick more conversational. A masterpiece, of course.