Song Lyric Sunday this week is about songs that won a Grammy Award for Record Of The Year, as Jim sets out in his post, Songs That Matter. Wikipedia describes the criteria for this as being “awarded for a single or for one track from an album. This award goes to the performing artist, the producer, recording engineer and/or mixer for that song.” So now you know, in case you were wondering. The awards began in 1959, so if my fingers and toes are correct it has now been presented 66 times, the most recent being to Miley Cyrus. But it’s ok, I’m not playing her: I prefer her little sister’s music. The great majority of the awards, rather unsurprisingly, have been given to American acts, and I’m playing you two of my favourites from those today.

My lead song is the 1998 winner, from one of my favourite singer-songwriters:

And here are the lyrics of that rather disturbing little gem:

Sunny Came Home provided the title for both my title and Shawn Colvin’s fourth album, A Few Small Repairs, which was released in October 1996 and peaked at #39 in the US but only #100 in the UK. I must really have been out on a limb with my musical tastes, as I have all of Shawn’s records and love them – this one came out while I was in the days of a long car commute to work and it accompanied me on many a journey. This was the second track to be taken from the album as a single, in June 1997 – the timing of that is what qualified it to be considered for the Grammy that it won. It reached #3 in Canada, #7 in the US and even got to #29 in the UK after a re-release in May 1998, her highest chart placing here for either a single or an album. The album as a whole was a kind of concept for Shawn, as she was going through a marriage break up at the time she wrote the songs, and there is a theme running through the tracks. She chose the album sleeve before writing this song, as she described in an interview: “It was the last song to be written, or for me to put lyrics to, on that record. I had already chosen the cover of the record, which was a painting by a dear friend of mine, Julie Speed. And there’s a woman, obviously, with a match. A lit match, and what appears to be a huge fire in the background ― in the far, far, background ― and I thought, why don’t you write a story about her?” And there you have it. I still love this song and the whole album, and can recommend Shawn’s entire catalogue if you like good tunes, intelligent lyrics and warm vocals.

My second choice for today is the 2007 winner, which has a big back story to it. You may remember what was behind this one, which was very much a “fuck you” song in response to threats:

That is still one of the most powerful messages I know in a song, and the video renders it even more so. Not Ready To Make Nice was released by The (formerly Dixie) Chicks in March 2006, reaching #4 in the US, #3 in Canada, and #70 in the UK. It was then the third track on the band’s fourth mainstream label album, Taking The Long Way, which came out in May 2006 and got to #1 in the US and Canada, #2 in Australia, and #10 in the UK. The album sold more than 3m in the US (2x Platinum), 400k in Canada (4x Platinum), 210k in Australia (3x Platinum), and 100k in the UK (Gold). They really cleaned up at the 2007 Grammys, winning three for this song and another two for the album. In doing so they were well rewarded for their courage in standing up to the abuse and threats they received after Natalie Maines commented in a 2003 show in London that they were ashamed to come from the same state as the then US President (Dubya), who had taken the country into the Iraq War. The backlash saw mob burnings of their records and a whole raft of threats, including the one referenced in the lyrics about a woman telling her daughter that they should be killed for saying what they did. I saw them later that year and when Natalie said that she stood by her comments despite that reaction she brought the house down. Her response was a great song and a fine album.

That’s all for today, and for those who know my musical tastes it probably hasn’t come as a surprise that I have chosen two tunes by female singer-songwriters. But to my mind these are the best of all of those who have won the Record Of The Year Grammy, miles ahead of most of the others!

Enjoy your day. See you again on Tuesday? 🎶