80 Favorite Songs of 2024 - Part 2

Covers and Collaborations are the focus for episode 2

Right about now, the onslaught of “best of” lists is hitting not only your Substack inbox but all the media-focused newsletters and magazines as well. The last thing you need is another one from some dude obsessed with earworms. But that’s what you’re getting anyway!😁

You’ll be receiving my top albums of the year post shortly (hint: it’s a collaboration with three other fabulous Substack writers), but I am a bit more excited about the songs. Albums are great, but truly evaluating and ranking them takes too much time, especially when you are an indecisive and obsessive nutjob.

Here’s part 2 of my Favorite Songs of 2024 project. As before, I’m treating this like playing an actual album or cassette tape. Each playlist can be thought of as a side A and side B.

I’ll be exploring my favorite collaborations and cover songs in this episode, several of which are both!

I will be getting to some younger artists and bands in future segments, so don’t label me as an old fart obsessed with his dinosaur bands who happen to be still dragging their creaking bones around. Yes, you will find artists such as Boy George, Sparks, Marc Almond, Jah Wobble/Horace Andy, and Fastbacks on this list, but these ‘80s (and beyond) icons recorded fantastic music in 2024, and they deserve to be celebrated.

Like part 1, I’ve created a radio show featuring these 11 songs, so you can hit play on the audio bar below and listen in, or go old-school and play the YouTube clips below one by one. Again, a Spotify playlist is a 3rd option and can be found at the bottom of the post.

So, without further ado…

1. Orville Peck & Willie Nelson - Cowboys Are Frequently Secretly Fond of Each Other

The first few songs on the list are both collaborations and covers! This fabulously subversive track was originally written and recorded by Latin country musician Ned Sublette in 1981. Willie Nelson covered it in 2006 and is reprising it again here, with the great Orville Peck, who this year released a fun album chock full of cover songs, Stampede.

In a world (or maybe it’s just the U.S.) that seems to be expressing intolerance (homophobia, trans-hatred, racism, anti-semitism, misogyny….I could go on) at a frightening rate, this song is as important as ever. It honestly and humorously calls out the gay-culture qualities inherent in macho cowboy dress and behavior. It says it like it is, with an element of tongue-in-cheek, and just the right amount of yeehaw.

2. Horace Andy and Jah Wobble - One Love

No, this isn’t a dub/reggae take on the famous Bob Marley song. But it is a cover, this time of the great Massive Attack, which Horace Andy originally sang on for the Manchester trip-hop legends on their debut Blue Lines album. This time he teams up with another legend in Jah Wobble, the two turning “One Love” into a hypnotic dub classic.

It’s my favorite from their 2024 collaborative covers album, Timeless Roots. They also successfully pull off dub/reggae interpretations of songs from Stevie Wonder, The Temptations, The Five Stairsteps, The Beatles, America, and yes, even Bob Marley.

3. Trevor Horn and Mark Almond - Love is a Battlefield

I wrote about Trevor Horn’s excellent covers album, Echoes: Ancient and Modern, back in January (which you can read here). In that piece. I chose the Toyah and Robert Fripp take on Frankie Goes to Hollywood’s 1984 hit single “Relax.”

This time I’m going with Marc Almond (Softcell and many solo albums) who lends his gorgeously dramatic lead vocals to Horn’s lush technoesque reworking of Pat Benatar’s “Love is a Battlefield.”

4. The Linda Lindas - Found a Job (Talking Heads)

The Linda Lindas are fast becoming one of my favorite new bands. I got to see them perform live earlier this year with Illuminati Hotties and it was a top concert of the year. Their take on the Talking Heads classic “Found a Job” is the best cover on the Stop Making Sense tribute album Everyone’s Getting Involved. It’s hard to take on a Talking Heads song and imbue it with the energy of the original, but these four young female musicians pull it off with aplomb here.

Check out the band’s live version on The Tonight Show in the clip above.

5. The Fastbacks - I’ll Never Find Another You

Legendary Seattle pop-punk pioneers Fastbacks returned in 2024 for their first album of new music in 25 years with the wonderful for WHAT reason!

Every song is filled with catchy melodies and crunchy guitars, with none breaking the three-minute mark (save for the album closer, “The World Inside,” which lasts more than 7 minutes!).

My favorite track would have to be their cover of The Seekers’ 1968 hit, “I’ll Never Find Another You.” It retains the gooey sweetness of the original while adding the right amount of punk energy to give the song the necessary crunch to bring out its deeper colors.

6. Fantastic Negrito - This Little Light of Mine

Grammy-winning, Oakland-based Fantastic Negrito (represent!) released their eighth album in 2024, Son of a Broken Man. It’s loosely about Xavier Dphrepaulezz’ relationship with his father.

He tackles the civil-rights, children’s, religious, oft-covered anthem “This Little Light of Mine” here, imbuing the (often considered) African-American spiritual with a funky, bluesy energy and passion. If Sly and the Family Stone had covered it, it might sound something like this.

7. Andrew Bird/Madison Cunningham - Crying in the Night

When I read a few months ago that Andrew Bird and Madison Cunningham were working on a song-by-song remake of the first (and only) Buckingham Nicks album, I was super excited, even though I wasn’t familiar with that (self-titled) album. Now that I’ve played both the 1973 original and Cunningham Bird’s version, I can say that both are essential, but one doesn’t need to be familiar with Buckingham Nicks in order to appreciate the artistry of Cunningham Bird.

Boy, that was a tough paragraph to write!

But it’s not a tough listen in the slightest. I can’t get enough of the interplay of Andrew’s violin and Madison’s guitar; their voices are just as gorgeous.

8. Iron & Wine - All in Good Time (feat. Fiona Apple)

Another unexpected duet of two artists I have loved for decades makes this playlist. Sam Bean (Iron & Wine) invited the great Fiona Apple to join him for the eponymous song from his latest album, All in Good Time.

This is an original, not a cover, but it feels like a song that has existed for decades. The interplay of Bean and Apple’s voices (no AppleBean jokes, please!) is buttery smooth. It feels lived in like they’d been singing together since they were children.

Pay attention to the lyrics on this one. I catch more imagery and poetry on each listen. Its messages of recognizing the passage of time, resilience, and perseverance are timeless and heartfelt.

“Throw your bread to falling birds / Buried friends and wasted words.”

9. Max Richter & Sparks - Don’t Go Away (from ‘Spaceman’ Soundtrack)

Max Richter has scored countless films and television shows. I’m sure you’ve heard his music even if you didn’t realize it. One of my favorite series of all time, The Leftovers, was scored by Richter, which is when I first discovered him. I don’t often watch the shows and films he’s worked on (including this one, Spaceman, an Adam Sandler starring feature released in 2024 on Netflix), but I try to listen to the soundtracks as often as possible.

Here Richter is paired with Sparks (Russell and Ron Mael), who give the song a hypnotic energy, like a mantra, with the repeating lyrics “Don’t Go Away” and the (sort of) chorus: “Please don’t go/I’d be all alone/I need you/I need you. You seem to know me/Better than I know me/Better than I know myself.”

I love how this song conjures loneliness, not just in the lyrics but in the layers of lush and dissonant synthesizers. It puts me in a contemplative mood every time.

I know it’s long at 7 minutes (even some diehard Sparks fans complain about the length on the Sparks website message boards). But, to me, it’s like fine wine.

10. Boy George/Peter Murphy - Let the Flowers Grow

Two more icons of the ‘80s recently collaborated to create a memorable single in 2024. This time it’s Boy George (Culture Club, solo) and Peter Murphy (Bauhaus, solo) with their song “Let the Flowers Grow.” Murphy had heard an early Boy George composition, loved it, and knew he had to be a part of it. Will there be more to come from these two new-wave/goth legends? Let’s see what’s in store for 2025.

11. Justice w/Tame Impala - Neverender

We end side B with something a bit more modern, something that hints at the direction part 3 will be going next week.

Electronic French music duo Justice’s 2024 album Hyperdrama is filled with dance-floor bangers. My two favorites both feature Tame Impala’s Kevin Parker. I could have gone with “One Night/All Night” but chose the more immediate opening track “Neverender.”

This one is probably in my top 10 most-played songs of the year, so clearly I want “Neverender” to never end.

• Did any of these covers and collaborations surprise you?

• What was a stand-out track in this mix?

• Were you familiar with any of these songs? Which ones?

• Get ready for part 3, coming soon!