Little Malcolm: Turns 23. Serves Up 25 Songs

Been quite the year. Suffice it to say that cancer’s ever-present… untimely… unpredictable (Pick One) demand of my attention got in the way of my customary… er… “curation” of new music. On the one hand, I listened to a ton of music. On the other, I never got around to my normal (read: “obsessive”) annual process of picking a carefully selected “Top 25.” (That said, I do have a public playlist — See: “Little Malcolm ’25 Alive” — that I took stabs at intermittently. You’re welcome to it.)

So, just when I was thinking that I was about to end my decades-long streak of serving up my fave songs of the past year for your listening pleasure, this message popped up on my Spotify account asking me if I wanted to learn my listening age via its Listening Age Quiz. So, I took the test. It then put my musical age at 23. Not exactly sure what to make of that, but in the midst of pondering that questionable pronouncement, Spotify then fabricated a playlist consisting of the songs I actually listened to the most during 2025, complete with how many times I listened to each one. Hmmm… possibly cool?

Before serving them up in order (in descending order of “listens”), I note that algorithms don’t tell the whole story. It’s not like I consciously played these songs the number of times claimed. Most of these songs are spread across multiple playlists. But, in any case, it’s certainly accurate to say that I like all of these songs… a lot. Here goes.

https://open.spotify.com/playlist/37i9dQZEVXd1oFNMMAQFE1?si=bfa4b154b0f847ed

#1 (21 Listens) Karla Bonoff – “I Can’t Hold On” Off of her awesome 1977 eponymous debut album. Proud to have this #1. Ms. Bonoff may well top my list of musicians who have never gotten their just due. “I walk around the block and I think maybe you’ll change.”

#2 (20) Elton John & Brandi Carlile – “Swing for the Fences” (2025) Elton has been bringing it since I was in high school. Great rockin’ duet with the inimitable Ms. Carlile. “Be a heartbeat cannon in a quiet spot, A white picket fence in a parking lot.”

#3 (19) Delbert McClinton & Glen Clark – “Been Around a Long Time” (2013) Dedicated to my late great friend Mike Dawes. “If you don’t do nuthin’ you’re gonna live to regret, you won’t have to live with what you can’t forget. I ain’t old but I’ve been around a long time.”

#4 (19) Freedy Johnston – “Hotel 17” (1997) Off the Never Home album (1997) Along with Ms. Bonoff, Freedy is way up there on my underappreciated list. This one is about an obscure NYC hotel. “I did not leave a message because I’m never getting through at Hotel 17.”

#5 (18) Crash World – “Mysticism Blues” (2025) A fun, off-beat song with some great guitar licks. “Some call me Shaman or a medicine man, witch-doctor, straight-talker, they all know who I am. Voo-doo priest, prophet with the word, wise man on the mountain are all things you might have heard.”

#6 (17) Skeeter Davis & NRBQ – “Things To You” Off She Sings, They Play (1985) Such a great combination of eclectic talents! “Words don’t always come out like I planned. This I think that you will understand.”

#7 (17) Dan Bern (w/ Janes’ Great Dane) – “I’m In” Off Starting Over (2024) – If I have a cancer anthem, this may well be it. I am a latecomer to the cleverly talented Mr. Bern, but music appreciation comes with open timelines. “I’m in. I’m in. Throw my hat in the ring. My chips are stacked: brown, yellow, white, black. I’m in.”

#8 (17) David Bromberg – “Make Me a Pallet” (Live) Off How Late’ll Ya Play Til? (1976) Fifty years ago, Mr. Bromberg brought together an incredible ensemble of pros for this live album. This might be my fave number on this whole list. Never tire of it. “Make me a pallet on your floor. Make it soft; make it low. Honey, your husband doesn’t even need to know.”

#9 (16) Steve Earle & The Dukes – “No. 29” Off Exit 0 (1987) If you attended Hyde in the late 80s, you heard me sing this number in several performing arts shows. The premise is simple enough: Guy looking back on his high school football as maybe the best time in his life. But it hits me smack dab in the middle of my small town heart. “I was born and raised here. This town’s my town. Everybody knows my name.”

#10 (15) Other Brother Darryl – “Watch the Trees” (2025) A softer Bon Jovi, maybe? Catchy. Great harmonica. “So spin the dice, Mama won’t you turn that song up loud. I’ll watch the trees, you smoke your cigarette.”

#11 (14) Digable Planets – “Where I’m From” Off reachin’ (a new refutation of time and space) (1993) Not exactly a rap/hip-hop afficionado, but this group is my probably my fave of the genre. “So just watch me step along into the sunset, left foot, right foot, one, two, mic check.”

#12 (14) Bonnie Raitt (w/Charles Brown & Kim Wilson) – “Never Make Your Move Too Soon” Off Road Tested (1995) Three pros gettin’ after it! “The landlord said you moved away. Left me all of your bills to pay. Look out, baby, I think you made your move to soon!”

#13 (14) The Band – “Ophelia” Off Northen Lights-Southen Cross (1975) I once heard someone call The Band “The Boston Celtics of Rock & Roll.” Well, I bleed Celtic green and I have been infatuated with The Band since I was a high school sophomore. “Boards on the windows… mail by the door. Why would anybody leave so quickly for?”

#14 (14) Karla Bonoff – “Isn’t It Always Love?” Off Karla Bonoff (1977) Again, she appears! “Isn’t it always love that makes you hang your head? Isn’t always love that makes you cry? Isn’t it always love that takes the tears away? And you wouldn’t have it any other way.”

#15 (14) Briscoe – “Hooped Earrings Off Lone Star Live Cuts (2025) Catchy with a sweet sax as a nice touch. “She’s-got-those-hooped-earrings-on-couldn’t-ever-do-wrong, Talking-about-some-boy-from-LA.”

#16 (14) Rick Price – “Let It Go” (2025) A nice, upbeat 3-minute rock tune from a guy I had never heard of before. “Sometimes I get caught up in the opinion of my life, like I know the score. And I’m busy acting like I know what’s wrong from what’s right, when my feet are dragging on the floor.”

#17 (13) John Cafferty & The Beaver Brown Band – “Palisades” Off Sound of Waves (2025) Initially, I warily clicked “play” on this one as I had not really been a fan of this group when they started out 40+ years ago. Good song, though! Nice little rocker. “And we got nothing but time again. Let’s dream away. Tonight let’s dream just like young lovers out on the palisades.”

#18 (13) Bob Dylan & The Band – “Highway 61 Revisited” Off Live @ LA Forum (1974) – These guys… “Now, the roving gambler he was very bored; Trying to create a next world war. He found a promoter who nearly fell off the floor. He said, ‘I never engaged in this kind of thing before. But yes, I think it can be very easily done. We’ll just put some bleachers out in the sun. Have it out on Highway 61!'”

#19 (13) Ry Cooder – “LIttle Sister” Off Bop ‘Til You Drop (1979) An all-time fave song on an all-time fave album. (Americas Spirit alums may remember that we used to play this after shows while all of us were breaking down the sets.) “Little Sister, don’t kiss me once or twice, say it’s very nice and then you run. Little Sister don’t you do what your big sister done.”

#20 (12) Freedy Johnston – “Tryin’ to Move On” (2022) Freedy gets a two-fer! “The first thing is I break my neck; pickin’ up my last check. And then I totaled the rental car, backin’ it into the hotel bar.”

#21 (12) Bruce Springsteen – “All That Heaven Will Allow” Off Tunnel of Love (1987) A fave Boss song. “Hey, there, Mr. Bouncer. All I wanna do is dance. But I swear I left my wallet back home in my workin’ pants.”

#22 (12) NRBQ – “Shake, Rattle & Roll” – Off NRBQ at Yankee Stadium (1978) The boys do Joe Turner proud. “I’m lookin’ over the hill, way down underneath. You make me roll my eyes, yah, you make me grit my teeth.”

#23 (12) Taj Mahal – “Statesboro Blues” Off his 1967 eponymous debut. Ah, Taj… “Woke up this morning, had them Statesboro blues. Looked over in the corner, grandma and grandpa had ’em too.”

#24 (12) Jimmy Reed – “Bright Lights, Big City” Off Jimmy Reed at Carnegie Hall (1961) My fave blues man doing one of my fave blues songs. “Bright lights, big city… have gone to my baby’s head.”

#25 (12) The Cranberries – “Dreams” Off Everybody Else Is Doing It, So Why Can’t We? (1993) Dreams are good. So is this song. “Oh, my life Is changin’ every day, In every possible way. And oh, my dreams, It’s never quite as it seems. ‘Cause you’re a dream to me, dream to me.”

(Rock) Onward, Malcolm Gauld