Goddamn songs

God bless. God damn.
- James Thurber's final words

Today there are two collections by the group the Eels being released, one a best-of, the other a B-sides & rarities. Both of them have versions of "Mr. E's Beautiful Blues" on it. Call me silly and slap me hard, but I think it's the best song to prominently feature the word "goddamn" in music history, and that includes "Life in the Fast Lane" by the Eagles. In a free society this would have been number one for three weeks on the charts.

Here's a *cough* live version of it from British TV.



That's not to say there aren't other good songs that give the word star billing, sung from artists ranging from Nina Simone to Joey Ramone. One that I like a lot is Jens Lenkman's "Black Cab." (Of course, that opening sample comes from the Left Banke's "I've Got Something On My Mind.")



Finally, here are the primal, impossibly young Replacements doing "God Damn Job," before Paul Westerberg was discovered to be a sensitive male.