Star Witness

Star Witness by Neko Case
The Sixth Best Song
Random Programing Note: So this week we are featuring our top eight songs, in order, of all time. These are songs that we consider to be the best of all time.

I named this the best song of 2006… and like fine wine, or left overs, it's getting better with age (I say left overs because it hasn't been a long time). As I wrote at the time:

"Star Witness is about lost teenage love... the poor girl's boyfriend just crashed and is all but dead. And during these five beautiful minutes, the narrator is recounting the last minutes of her loves life. The imagery is fantastic: "Trees break the sidewalk/And the sidewalk skins my knees/There's glass in my thermos/And blood on my jeans/Nickels and dimes of the fourth of july". It's a sad song and like 2006 there is a sliver lining... Neko Case's voice. Oh that voice... Micheal Jackson, Edith Paif, Billie Holiday, and Neko Case all have/had voices that were the voice of God. That's how amazing her voice is. And as the song begins to rap up, she sings, "please... don't let him die/oh how I forgot". You think it's over... but then maybe the saddest and most beautiful piano lick I've heard begins. You have to listen to it. It breaks my heart every time I hear it. And I don't think there's anything else I would rather listen to at 11:59pm on Dec. 31, 2006. What a fitting end to a sad year. Hopefully 2007 will be better."

I can't stress how amazing the ending of this song is, those pitiful, mellow, bittersweet pianocords ring out like a last gasp... a lost love... fading and dying in the clear night sky... alone.

Listen!

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