269. Song No. 4,083: “Great Expectations,” The Gaslight Anthem
The ’59 Sound, 2008

There are those songs that are comfortable, instantly recognizable constants when they rise to the surface in a sea of comparatively more unfamiliar tunes, and then there are the tracks that make me go HOLY FUCK, I LOVE THIS SONG as I’m turning it up to sing along with a couple-four times before finally letting the 12,700 Songs playlist play on.

I mean, this song has everything. Nostalgic heartbreak Extended literary metaphors! Jersey boys proving that The Garden State scene will forever be the most fertile breeding grounds for incredible music! Undeniable Springsteen vibes! One powerful fuccin hook! A diner reference! I could count for miles all the reasons why this 15-year-old song wound up on my 2023 Spotify Wrapped and will never fail to demand significantly more than its three-minute-and-five-second tune time otherwise suggests.

It is so hard for me to write about the songs I love the most because so much of that fondness has been bolstered by time-deepened affection, shared experiences, self-curated autobiographical playlists, infinite applicability, new reasons to love an old favorite all over again, and all kinds of intangibles, personal associations and well-timed reconnections that defy language for being so richly steeped in the realm of the heart rather than ruled by the head. Not every piece of art demands endless exploration to justify the warm affinity and wild enthusiasm it inspires, and sometimes just turning the volume up, singing along, and playing a song over and over again every time you meet again should betray how deep and eternal that love has proven to always be.