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"  &amp;quot;Hush Hush&amp;quot; Omar Kent Dykes &amp;amp;amp; Jimmie Vaughan (On the Jimmy Reed Highway) In Texas, they say, &amp;quot;Simplicity don&amp;#039;t need to be greased,&amp;quot; which goes a long way toward explaining why this all-star Austin collective&amp;#039;s low-down, no-bullshit take on a Jimmy Reed classic is so instantly spellbinding. Just add pulled pork and a Shiner.  &amp;quot;Fat Children&amp;quot; Jarvis Cocker (Jarvis)  The British have a grand tradition of unleashing relentlessly sneering rants, and this ex-Pulp leader is gamely carrying the torch. On a Stooges-meets-Cheap-Trick anthemic blast, power chords and snappy drums belie a narrative so snippy, Cocker outright calls children &amp;quot;maggots,&amp;quot; accusing them of trying to kill him for his cell phone.  &amp;quot;Body Baby&amp;quot; Pharoahe Monch (Desire) Upstaging and outshining Jay-Z on the remix of Amy Winehouse&amp;#039;s &amp;quot;Rehab&amp;quot; may have been this Queens MC&amp;#039;s highest-profile moment of the year, but that cameo only hints at the genius of this retro-themed, Elvis-bashing, juke-joint-styled single.  &amp;quot;Into a Swan&amp;quot; Siouxsie (Mantaray) Her voice carries an ache and authority you can only credit to age, yet if we didn&amp;#039;t already know her as the consistently inconsistent Siouxsie Sioux, this might&amp;#039;ve been one of the year&amp;#039;s biggest singles. Think Marianne Faithful sings Bj\u00F6rk, only in decipherable lyrics and without the posing.   &amp;quot;You&amp;#039;re a Wolf&amp;quot; Sea Wolf (Leaves in the River) More cello! Artsy &amp;quot;orchestral pop&amp;quot; is rarely goosebump inducing, but this string-laden rave-up from the nom de plume of Los Angeles&amp;#039;s Alex Church Brown memorably traces the fine line between sleekly sophisticated and instantly hummable.   &amp;quot;How You Going to Keep &amp;#039;Em Down on the Farm&amp;quot; Andrew Bird (Song of America) Bird&amp;#039;s chilling whistle solos dexterously mirror and reinforce the melodies on both his latest full-length, Armchair Apocrypha, and this breathtaking run-through of an 88-year-old postWorld War I standard (culled from a collection of patriotic tunes produced by former attorney general Janet Reno).   &amp;quot;Can You Feel It?&amp;quot; The Dynamites, featuring Charles Walker (Kaboom!)  When Nashville&amp;#039;s Charles Walker shouts &amp;quot;Funky!&amp;quot; five seconds into this R&amp;amp;amp;B workout, it&amp;#039;s already an understatement. He hustles like a man reborn -- and indeed, 40 years ago, he got his wings at the Apollo, opening for folks like James Brown, Etta James, and Wilson Pickett.   &amp;quot;99 and 1/2&amp;quot; Mavis Staples (We&amp;#039;ll Never Turn Back) In the fifties, Mavis Staples sang gospel with a voice sure to get the attention of the Lord. Then she met Dr. King, marched alongside him, and shifted toward songs of freedom. This is the best of both worlds -- a hell-raising, uplifting tribute to a higher power, civil rights, and the awesome power of forgiveness. Hallelujah and amen. "^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
<http://www.esquire.com/entertainment/music/a3930/bestsongs1207/>