Top 50 Songs of the Decade, #5 - "Songs She Sang in the Shower," Jason Isbell

Well, it's been 41 days since my last post.  Has anything happened during that time?

This isn't the place to write my thoughts about "the new normal," but that will be coming eventually.  For now, to paraphrase Bruce Springsteen from his legendary 1978 show at the Roxy, "Y'all are just gonna have to settle for some rock 'n roll."

It's pretty funny to think that the original plan was to finish this Top 50 list before the New Year began.  But better late than never, a wise sage once said, so let's embark on the final stretch.

Clocking in at #5 is the estimable Jason Isbell, one-time Drive-By Trucker and current leader of a great band of his own, the 400 Unit.  The band's name alone is evidence of Isbell's humor, "400 Unit" being the nickname for the psychiatric ward of Eliza Coffee Memorial Hospital in Florence, Alabama.  There may have been a time when Isbell wondered whether he might end up there himself, after having been fired by the Truckers for being a mean and angry drunk and by all accounts (including his own), an insufferable jerk.  But the best stories are ones of redemption, and Isbell recovered to the point where he was one of the best artists of the last decade.



I loved this song from the very first time I heard it.  And it has survived the test of being overplayed, and still sounds fresh (and at times, very funny, although it's certainly no comedy routine).  It's a perfect example of Isbell's ability to spin a yarn, and this is a great one.

"Songs She Sang in the Shower," Jason Isbell.  Top 50 Songs of the Decade, #5.