Sometimes, when you don't listen carefully to the lyrics, a song sounds much cheerier than it really is. The Roberta Flack & Donny Hathaway hit, "Where Is The Love?," usually comes to mind first when I think this. I had a similar reaction yesterday while listening to Everything But The Girl's "Me And Bobby D." I thought, "Musically, this is pleasantly breezy, the way Tracey Thorn sings it. This almost sounds like one of Basia's uptempo tunes." Listen closely, however, and you'll realize that the men about whom Thorn sings in "...Bobby D" shouldn't be anyone's role models, to say the least.
That juxtaposition between lyrics and delivery is why I respect the song--but stopped short of including it in yesterday's Online radio sampler highlights post. I'll stick to recommending the Everything But The Girl songs that I've liked best for decades, including "One Place," "Driving," and "Downtown Train."
