My favorite songs of 2006...

...that work together as a mix and fit on one CD. Here's this year's edition of my year end CD:Young Folks - Peter, Bjorn & JohnYankee Bayonet - DecemberistsWay Out - Yeah Yeah YeahsFake Tales of San Francisco - Arctic MonkeysLouisiana - The WalkmenThe President is Dead - Okkervil RiverWooden Heart - The FeaturesPlease Visit Your National Parks - Oxford CollapseWold Like Me - TV on the RadioHere I Come - The RootsIdlewild Blue - OutkastCellphone's Dead - BeckCould We - Cat PowerStar Witness - Neko CaseSexy Back (acoustic) - James EricParadise - Jenny Lewis and the Watson TwinsDarling, Please Come Home - Math and Physics ClubCollarbone - Fujiya and MiyagiEver Fallen In Love - Nouvelle VagueBearing Witness - Eric AndersonA few notes:I'm a sucker for male/female vocal exchanges (see first two songs - it started out as three in a row, but the Isobel Campbell/Mark Lanegan song just didn't fit - which is too bad)I'm a sucker for over wrought acoustic versions of songs that took themselves too seriously in the first place (see James Eric's Sexy Back - if you haven't heard this, go download it at: http://jameslaczkowski.com/covers.shtml). Also check out Nina Gordon's amazing version of Straight out of Compton - http://www.ninagordon.com/media (scroll down to bottom right of page).The last song is by a good friend who cancer took too soon in 2006. It is an acoustic version of an old Dreams So Real song. It is NOT in the same category as the acoustic songs above.I didn't dig too much "street" rap this year. Mostly uptempo guitar rock did the trick this year for me this year. That's usually the case. One of my favorite songs this year was Morrissey's "Life is a Pigsty" - it was too long to fit on the CD and it sucked all of the joy out anything played next to it. So it got dumped. Give it a listen on headphones sometime though if you get a chance.