Parts of a whole

I've come to realize more and more that one of my favorite things about music is all the great parts of songs, and not necessarily always songs as a whole. That is, a song can be good or middling, but if there's a brilliant bridge or maybe nothing more than a particularly powerful chord I'll love the song and listen to it like no other. I might make this a recurrring feature on this blog, but I'll just post up a few illustrations right now.

David Pajo - Ten More Days
Time: 0:00-0:12
The opening nine seconds are great, but that single strum at the nine second mark is the best part of the entire song. It somehow reminds me of taking road trips with my family as a child and listening to James Taylor. The rest of the song is somewhere between mediocre and pretty good but at least I can just keep hitting back and listen to the opening over and over again.

Joanna Newsom - Sawdust and Diamonds
Time: 4:48-6:10
The entire song is fabulous, but that part smack in the middle of the song, the "why the long face" section...oh my God. It's a horrible cliché, but I literally get goosebumps every time I listen to it. And that's a lot of times.

The Wrens - 13 Months in Six Minutes
Time: 5:05-6:50
This one is only worth it after the payoff of listening to the rest of the song first. The song tells the tale of the disintegration of a relationship due to little more than apathy, and the regret that follows. Heartbreakingly good song. But the final section, when the band drops out leaving the single hestitantly strummed electric guitar to be overtaken by a propulsive and, basically, totally different 45-second song is not only one of the most awkward transitions I've ever heard but one of the best.