Each Friday I pick a song–new, old, borrowed, blue–that’s been on my mind and in my ears, and write a short post about it.

Let’s sing in the new year with Jonathan Richman:

Seriously, is there anybody who doesn’t like this song? Jonathan Richman is a terrific songwriter.  Here he pulls off the trick of jamming a song full of references specific to Massachusetts, and turning those specific things about Massachusetts into things that belong to everybody, even if (like me) they’ve spent as little time in Massachusetts as they could.  Route 128 out by the power lines belongs to Jonathan Richman, and to you, and to you and to you and you and you and you and you and me, and all you have to do is put the radio on.  The song is about nothing more than driving around (with the, um, radio on!), but Richman’s lyrics, his delivery, and the simplicity of the song turn that into the best thing anybody could be doing, even though it isn’t something that amounts to much in the scheme of things.  Now listen to it again: one-two-three-four-five-six…bye-bye!